NetWorker: save failed to authenticate with nsrmmd on host <Networker server>: Timed out..

Summary: Backups are failing with timeout error.

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.

Symptoms

Backup failing with the below error:

175297:save: Unable to set up the direct save with server 'NW_server_name': 
Unable to connect to the storage node on host <storage_node_name>: 
save failed to authenticate with nsrmmd on host <NW_server_name>: Timed out..

Cause

nsrmmd stopped responding, and the server parallelism was set 32 (default); due to which no additional processes could be started for backups. The existing jobs were failing with timeout error.

Resolution

Stop NetWorker services to remove all the processes in hung state. Kill jobs manually if the process does not stop when services are stopped.

Linux: 
Stop Services: nsr_shutdown
Confirm that all processes have stopped and collect the Process ID (PID) of any processes that do not stop: ps -ef | grep nsr
Kill any hung services: kill -9 PID
Start services: service networker start

Windows:
Stop Services: net stop nsrexecd /y
Confirm that all processes have stopped and collect the Process ID (PID) of any processes that do not stop: tasklist | findstr nsr
Kill any hung services: taskkill /PID PID /F
Start services: net start nsrd && net start gstd
 

Increase parallelism to a higher range and initiate the backup. Server --> Server Properties --> General

NOTE: View --> Diagnostic View must be enabled.

Increasing server parallelism  
The server parallelism attribute controls how many save streams the server accepts simultaneously. The more save streams that the server can accept, the faster the devices and client disks run. Client disks can run at their performance limit or the limits of the connections between them. The default Server parallelism is 32; you can configure the parallelism up to 1024. When increasing values, it should follow: 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024.

Server parallelism is not used to control the startup of backup jobs, but as a final limit of sessions accepted by a backup server. The server parallelism value should be as high as possible while not overloading the backup server itself.
 

Additional Information

This content is translated in other languages: 
​​​​​​
https://downloads.dell.com/TranslatedPDF/PT-BR_KB534251.pdf
https://downloads.dell.com/TranslatedPDF/ZH-CN_KB534251.pdf
https://downloads.dell.com/TranslatedPDF/ES_KB534251.pdf
https://downloads.dell.com/TranslatedPDF/DE_KB534251.pdf
https://downloads.dell.com/TranslatedPDF/FR_KB534251.pdf
https://downloads.dell.com/TranslatedPDF/IT_KB534251.pdf
https://downloads.dell.com/TranslatedPDF/JA_KB534251.pdf
https://downloads.dell.com/TranslatedPDF/NL_KB534251.pdf
https://downloads.dell.com/TranslatedPDF/KO_KB534251.pdf
https://downloads.dell.com/TranslatedPDF/RU_KB534251.pdf
https://downloads.dell.com/TranslatedPDF/PT_KB534251.pdf
https://downloads.dell.com/TranslatedPDF/SV_KB534251.pdf

Affected Products

NetWorker

Products

NetWorker Family
Article Properties
Article Number: 000055445
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 09 Jul 2025
Version:  3
Find answers to your questions from other Dell users
Support Services
Check if your device is covered by Support Services.