PowerProtect VM Backup fails ABV0016 "The operation is not allowed in the current state"

Summary: The virtual machine (VM) Transparent Snapshot Data Mover (TSDM) backups intermittently fail with error code ABV0016.

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.
Check out other resources

Symptoms

PowerProtect Data Manager is used to protect the vSphere environment with the Transparent Snapshot Data Mover (TSDM) solution. The vSphere Installation Bundle (VIB) was successfully deployed against the ESXi hosts in the cluster. The virtual machine (VM) backups intermittently fail with error code ABV0016. The PowerProtect Data Manager user interface shows:

ABV0016: VM Direct engine 'localhost' is unable to back up the virtual machine 'my-vm-name' on vCenter 'my-vcernter-name' because of a vCenter API issue.

The VM Direct engine cannot complete the backup of this virtual machine because of a vCenter API operation did not complete successfully.

To troubleshoot this issue: 1) Verify that the vCenter can be reached. 2) If the vCenter is busy, wait for some activities to complete and then retry the operation. 3) Verify that the virtual machine exists on the vCenter.

Read Less

Unable to successfully complete SDM Full Sync operation.  Unsuccessful after 41 attempts over 7m39.351435799s.  The vCenter task for 'SDM Snapshot Sync fullSync' completed with state 'error'.  The vCenter task failed.  The operation is not allowed in the current state.


The backup session log shows:

...
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS TRACE:  [ab2a1fb6155aefd7;be89174dd4d08446] SDM Data Mover: Create LWD Snapshot: vCenter SOAP call 'DpSnapshot' was accepted.
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS ERROR:  [ab2a1fb6155aefd7;be89174dd4d08446] SDM Data Mover: Create LWD Snapshot: The vCenter task failed.  The operation is not allowed in the current state.
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS ERROR:  [ab2a1fb6155aefd7;be89174dd4d08446] SDM Data Mover: Create LWD Snapshot: The vCenter task for 'Create SDM Snapshot' completed with state 'error'.
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS ERROR:  [ab2a1fb6155aefd7;be89174dd4d08446] SDM Data Mover: Create LWD Snapshot: Unable to create SDM snapshot.
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS TRACE:  [ab2a1fb6155aefd7;be89174dd4d08446] SDM Data Mover: Create LWD Snapshot: Retrying in 500ms...
...
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS TRACE:  [ab2a1fb6155aefd7;be89174dd4d08446] SDM Data Mover: Create LWD Snapshot: Retrying in 500ms...
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS TRACE:  [ab2a1fb6155aefd7;be89174dd4d08446] SDM Data Mover: Create LWD Snapshot: vCenter SOAP call 'DpSnapshot' was accepted.
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS ERROR:  [ab2a1fb6155aefd7;be89174dd4d08446] SDM Data Mover: Create LWD Snapshot: The vCenter task failed.  The operation is not allowed in the current state.
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS ERROR:  [ab2a1fb6155aefd7;be89174dd4d08446] SDM Data Mover: Create LWD Snapshot: The vCenter task for 'Create SDM Snapshot' completed with state 'error'.
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS ERROR:  [ab2a1fb6155aefd7;be89174dd4d08446] SDM Data Mover: Create LWD Snapshot: Unable to create SDM snapshot.
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS ERROR:  [ab2a1fb6155aefd7;be89174dd4d08446] SDM Data Mover: Create LWD Snapshot: Unsuccessful after 99 attempts over 1m0.536375553s.
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS TRACE:  [ab2a1fb6155aefd7;be89174dd4d08446] SDM Data Mover: Snapshot failure can't be remedied by a Full sync.
...

The vSphere Web Client tasks for the VM show:

vsphere_error.jpg

 

 

Cause

The ESXi hypervisor hosting the affected VM does not have the Data Protection Daemon (DPD) service started. The issue was occurring intermittently as vMotion was moving the affected VMs to the ESXi hypervisor with the stopped DPD service.
vSphere_stopped.jpg
 

Resolution

Ensure that the DPD service is started on all the ESXi hosts in the cluster. If the service is stopped, select the DPD service and the start option.
vSphere_start.jpg

The DPD service may also be restarted using an SSH session to the ESXi host. 
[root@my_esx:~] /etc/init.d/dpd status
dpd is stopped
[root@my_esx:~] /etc/init.d/dpd start
Starting dpd:Setting the memory limit for dpd resource pool on this host to 300 MB
Setting max number of file descriptors to 800
Setting MALLOC_ARENA_MAX to 20
success
[root@my_esx:~] /etc/init.d/dpd status
dpd is running

Additional Information

If the DPD service does not remain in a running state, contact VMware Support to determine the cause of the DPD service problem.
Article Properties
Article Number: 000212050
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 03 Dec 2025
Version:  2
Find answers to your questions from other Dell users
Support Services
Check if your device is covered by Support Services.