Avamar: Backups fail with "Time Out - End" because an initial backup is still being performed

Summary: An Avamar backup fails with "Time Out - End" because it is still performing an initial backup.

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Symptoms

An Avamar backup fails to complete within the scheduled backup window, reporting in the activity monitor with "Client Time Out - End".

Cause

This occurs if the Avamar client has not previously completed a backup to the Avamar grid.

When performing a first-time backup, the client requires a time to process (chunk, compress, hash) files within the dataset. This may not be achievable within a single backup window.

To check if the client has backups on the grid:

1. Log in to the Avamar Utility Node as admin.

2. Run the following command mccli command:

mccli backup show --name=/<full-path-to-client> --verbose=true
 

Example and sample output:

mccli backup show --name=/clients/client1.customer.com --verbose=true
0,23000,CLI command completed successfully.
Created                  LabelNum Size    Retention Label                                     Plugin              Expires                  Server
------------------------ -------- ------- --------- ----------------------------------------- ------------------- ------------------------ ------

The output confirms that there are no completed backups.

 

This can also occur for clients which have existing backups on the server, but client experiences behavior similar to a L0 or initial backup.

Changes that could cause this include:
  • The dataset has been redefined to back up a different drive or collection of data.  
  • The client is directed to back up to a different storage backend compared with existing backups (this could mean Data Domain or Avamar server or using a different Data Domain to previous backups)
 

The example below (using the same mccli command) shows output for a mature client. 

mccli backup show --name=/clients/client1.customer.com --verbose=true

0,23000,CLI command completed successfully.
Created                 LabelNum Size    Retention Hostname                     Location Label                                        Plugin              Expires                 Server
----------------------- -------- ------- --------- ---------------------------- -------- -------------------------------------------- ------------------- ----------------------- ------
2016-10-28 08:07:30 IST 91       3.0 GB  D         server.customer.com Local    Default Schedule-Galactica Group-1477623600015    Windows File System 2016-12-27 04:00:00 GMT Avamar
2016-10-27 08:01:54 IST 90       3.0 GB  D         server.customer.com Local    Default Schedule-Galactica Group-1477537200014    Windows File System 2016-12-26 04:00:00 GMT Avamar
2016-10-26 08:06:17 IST 89       3.0 GB  D         server.customer.com Local    Default Schedule-Galactica Group-1477450800015    Windows File System 2016-12-25 04:00:00 GMT Avamar
2016-10-25 07:48:37 IST 88       3.0 GB  D         server.customer.com Local    Default Schedule-Galactica Group-1477364400014    Windows File System 2016-12-24 04:00:00 GMT Avamar
2016-10-24 07:38:24 IST 87       3.0 GB  DW        server.customer.com Local    Default Schedule-Galactica Group-1477278000015    Windows File System 2016-12-23 04:00:00 GMT Avamar
2016-10-23 11:34:23 IST 86       2.9 GB  D         server.customer.com Local    Default Schedule-Galactica Group-1477191600014    Windows File System 2016-12-22 04:00:00 GMT Avamar
2016-10-21 06:58:01 IST 85       3.0 GB  D         server.customer.com Local    Default Schedule-Galactica Group-1477018800016    Windows File System 2016-12-20 04:00:00 GMT Avamar
2016-10-20 07:51:01 IST 84       2.9 GB  D         server.customer.com Local    Default Schedule-Galactica Group-1476932400015    Windows File System 2016-12-19 04:00:00 GMT Avamar
2016-10-19 07:56:45 IST 83       2.9 GB  D         server.customer.com Local    Default Schedule-Galactica Group-1476846000014    Windows File System 2016-12-18 04:00:00 GMT Avamar
2016-10-18 08:05:46 IST 82       2.9 GB  D         server.customer.com Local    Default Schedule-Galactica Group-1476759600014    Windows File System 2016-12-17 04:00:00 GMT Avamar
2016-10-17 12:19:52 IST 81       50.0 MB N         server.customer.com Local    MOD-1476703163000                                 Windows File System 2016-12-16 12:19:22 GMT Avamar
2016-10-17 12:18:55 IST 80       50.0 MB N         server.customer.com Local    MOD-1476703110644                                 Windows File System 2016-12-16 12:18:30 GMT Avamar
2016-10-17 12:17:34 IST 79       50.0 MB N         server.customer.com Local    MOD-1476703029055                                 Windows File System 2016-12-16 12:17:08 GMT Avamar
2016-10-17 12:16:27 IST 78       50.0 MB N         server.customer.com Local    MOD-1476702962378                                 Windows File System 2016-12-16 12:16:01 GMT Avamar
2016-10-17 12:15:19 IST 77       50.0 MB N         server.customer.com Local    MOD-1476702892944                                 Windows File System 2016-12-16 12:14:52 GMT Avamar

Reviewing the LabelNum, Size, Label, Plugin and Server columns can help to identify these kinds of configuration changes.

Resolution

Configure the client to run with 'overtime' until the next successful backup.
-- Or --
Allow the backup to end gracefully at the end of the scheduled window so that a 'partial' backup can be created on the Avamar server.  
 

The client may require several days to complete the backup. This can depend on the dataset size and the amount of new data which must be transferred over the network to Avamar.

Additional Information

Partial backups:
  • Expire after 7 days
  • Cannot be restored
  • Are not visible from the Avamar Administrator interface.  

Related articles:

Affected Products

Avamar

Products

Avamar
Article Properties
Article Number: 000025653
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 13 Nov 2025
Version:  8
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