NVP-vProxy: VM Restore is missing disks during recovery disk selection

Summary: You have a VM which is configured with multiple disks. VM backups have been completing successfully. When recovering the VM, not all the VM disks are available for recovery. The missing disks are configured in VMware as Independent or RDM disks. VMware will not snapshot Independent disks, this is required for backing up the disk. RDM disks are bypassed during backup as they are not supported. ...

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Symptoms

You have a VM which is configured with multiple disks:
image.png
The VM has multiple disks selected in a NetWorker Protection Group:
image.png
When recovering the VM not all the VM disks are available for recovery.
image.png

Cause

The missing disks are configured in VMware as Independent or RDM disks.
image.png
 
The backup logs contain no errors as it did not attempt to backup the unsupported disks.  The DiskStats in the VM backup session log do not show the "missing disk", meaning it was not picked up for backups. 
2023-10-04T19:39:03Z INFO:   [@(#) Build number: 99] DiskStats: Disk Label    |  Mode  | Bytes Moved |  Read Rate   |  Write Rate  |     Overhead  |   VDDK Wait   |   Total Time  | VM MORef  | VM Name                       
2023-10-04T19:39:03Z INFO:   [@(#) Build number: 99] DiskStats: ------------- | ------ | ----------- | ------------ | ------------ | ------------- | ------------- | ------------- | --------- | ------------------------------
2023-10-04T19:39:03Z INFO:   [@(#) Build number: 99] DiskStats: Hard disk 1   | hotadd |      12 MiB |     13 MiB/s |    185 MiB/s |       0:00:16 |        1.4 us |       0:00:29 | vm-1011   | win-client02                  
2023-10-04T19:39:03Z INFO:   [@(#) Build number: 99] DiskStats: Total         |        |      12 MiB |     13 MiB/s |    185 MiB/s |       0:00:16 |        1.4 us |       0:00:29 | vm-1011   | win-client02                  
2023-10-04T19:39:03Z INFO:   [@(#) Build number: 99] DiskStats: CSV: Generate stats in CSV format for friendly import to spreadsheet.
2023-10-04T19:39:03Z INFO:   [@(#) Build number: 99] DiskStats: CSV: VM MORef,VM Name,Disk Label,Mode,Bytes Moved,Total Time (sec),Overhead (sec),VDDK Wait (sec),Read Rate (b/s),Write Rate (b/s)
2023-10-04T19:39:03Z INFO:   [@(#) Build number: 99] DiskStats: CSV: vm-1011,win-client02,Hard disk 1,hotadd,11796480,30,17,0,12605127,193072883
NOTE: VM Session logs can be found in the /nsr/logs/policy/POLICY_NAME/WORKFLOW_NAME directory on the NetWorker server, or under /opt/emc/vproxy/runtime/logs/recycle/vbackup/DATE on the vProxy appliance.
 
For Independent disks the backup log lists the "Independent" disk in the vmspec section at the top of the backup session log: 
2023-10-04T19:38:29Z NOTICE: [@(#) Build number: 99]         "VmSpec": {
2023-10-04T19:38:29Z NOTICE: [@(#) Build number: 99]             "Name": "win-client02",
2023-10-04T19:38:29Z NOTICE: [@(#) Build number: 99]             "VmMoref": "vm-1011",
2023-10-04T19:38:29Z NOTICE: [@(#) Build number: 99]             "VirtualDisks": [
2023-10-04T19:38:29Z NOTICE: [@(#) Build number: 99]                 {
2023-10-04T19:38:29Z NOTICE: [@(#) Build number: 99]                     "Label": "Hard disk 1",
2023-10-04T19:38:29Z NOTICE: [@(#) Build number: 99]                     "Key": 2000
2023-10-04T19:38:29Z NOTICE: [@(#) Build number: 99]                 }
2023-10-04T19:38:29Z NOTICE: [@(#) Build number: 99]             ],
2023-10-04T19:38:29Z NOTICE: [@(#) Build number: 99]             "IndependentDisks": [
2023-10-04T19:38:29Z NOTICE: [@(#) Build number: 99]                 {
2023-10-04T19:38:29Z NOTICE: [@(#) Build number: 99]                     "Label": "Hard disk 2",
2023-10-04T19:38:29Z NOTICE: [@(#) Build number: 99]                     "Key": 2001
2023-10-04T19:38:29Z NOTICE: [@(#) Build number: 99]                 }
2023-10-04T19:38:29Z NOTICE: [@(#) Build number: 99]             ],
This is expected behavior if the VM disk is an Independent or RDM disk. These disk types are not supported for image-based protection and is skipped by the backup workflow. This limitation is documented in the NetWorker VMware Integration Guide, available through: https://www.dell.com/support/home/product-support/product/networker/docs. Attempts to snapshot the VM in VMware reports the following failure:

image.png

Resolution

It will not be possible to recover data from these disks as they were never backed up. There are two options available to ensure that data on the unsupported disks is protected:


Option 1:

Leave the VM configuration as is. Remove the unsupported (Independent or RDM) disk from the disk selection in the NetWorker Protection Group. If you want to backup data on the unsupported disk, install the NetWorker client software on the VM and configure a NetWorker client for the VM, selecting the Independent/RDM disk as a save set.

 

Option 2 (only applicable for Independent disks):

If the VM disk is Independent, you can convert it to a dependent disk. This supports VMware snapshot capabilities and allows image-based protection of the disk. Consult with your VMware admin and the VM's system administrator before making any changes to the system.

1. If the VM is powered on, log in to the VM and Shut down the operating system.
2. Connect to the vCenter using the vSphere web client. Log in as a user which has privileges to modify VM configurations (example: administrator@vsphere.local).
3. Open the VM properties by right clicking the VM and select "Edit Settings."
4. Identify the "Independent" disk and change it from "Independent" to "Dependent":
image.png

5. Perform a backup of the VM, the backup log should report both disks backed up: 
2023-10-04T20:01:12Z INFO:   [@(#) Build number: 99] DiskStats: Disk Label    |  Mode  | Bytes Moved |  Read Rate   |  Write Rate  |     Overhead  |   VDDK Wait   |   Total Time  | VM MORef  | VM Name                       
2023-10-04T20:01:12Z INFO:   [@(#) Build number: 99] DiskStats: ------------- | ------ | ----------- | ------------ | ------------ | ------------- | ------------- | ------------- | --------- | ------------------------------
2023-10-04T20:01:12Z INFO:   [@(#) Build number: 99] DiskStats: Hard disk 2   | hotadd |      10 GiB |      2 GiB/s |    489 MiB/s |       0:00:16 |        1.3 us |       0:00:49 | vm-1011   | win-client02                  
2023-10-04T20:01:12Z INFO:   [@(#) Build number: 99] DiskStats: Hard disk 1   | hotadd |      35 MiB |     12 MiB/s |     96 MiB/s |       0:00:17 |        1.0 us |       0:00:33 | vm-1011   | win-client02                  
2023-10-04T20:01:12Z INFO:   [@(#) Build number: 99] DiskStats: Total         |        |      11 GiB |    971 MiB/s |    483 MiB/s |       0:00:33 |        2.3 us |       0:01:23 | vm-1011   | win-client02                  
2023-10-04T20:01:12Z INFO:   [@(#) Build number: 99] DiskStats: CSV: Generate stats in CSV format for friendly import to spreadsheet.
2023-10-04T20:01:12Z INFO:   [@(#) Build number: 99] DiskStats: CSV: VM MORef,VM Name,Disk Label,Mode,Bytes Moved,Total Time (sec),Overhead (sec),VDDK Wait (sec),Read Rate (b/s),Write Rate (b/s)
2023-10-04T20:01:12Z INFO:   [@(#) Build number: 99] DiskStats: CSV: vm-1011,win-client02,Hard disk 2,hotadd,10737418240,50,17,0,1434551729,512396687
2023-10-04T20:01:12Z INFO:   [@(#) Build number: 99] DiskStats: CSV: vm-1011,win-client02,Hard disk 1,hotadd,35782656,33,17,0,11556617,99708496

6. The previously missing disks should now appear during restores of backups taken since the disk was converted to dependent: 

image.png

 

Additional Information

=====================
You can identify VMs with Independent disks by performing the following:

On the NetWorker server run: 
nsrvim -d VCENTER_NAME
 
Where VCENTER_NAME is the name of the vCenter/hypervisor as its added in NetWorker.
 
This creates a couple of .xml files. If Linux, under /nsr/cores/nsrvim. If Windows, the files are generated in the directory from which the nsrvim command was run.

Open the vcenter.xml file and search/filter for Independent.  
example of vCenter.xml file

Affected Products

NetWorker

Products

NetWorker
Article Properties
Article Number: 000034600
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 30 May 2024
Version:  5
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