PowerProtect backup intermittently performing a full instead of the synthetic full

Summary: The virtual machine (VM) backups have been intermittently performing a full level backup instead of the scheduled synthetic incremental full.

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Symptoms

The PowerProtect appliance is used to protect the vSphere environment with the Transparent Snapshot Data Mover (TSDM) solution.
The VM backups have been intermittently performing a full level backup instead of the scheduled synthetic incremental full. 
The VM incremental backups take ~6 minutes to complete, while the unexpected full backup is taking ~12 hours to complete.

The backup session log shows the Snapshot Data Mover (SDM) Full sync was requested for the backup session: 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO:   [944fbb66c50e5f64;ab0948490ff0d754] SDM Data Mover: SDM Full Sync: SDM Full Sync required by client.
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS TRACE:  [944fbb66c50e5f64;ab0948490ff0d754] SDM Data Mover: SDM Full Sync: Created TSDM progress dir 'MY_STORAGE_UNIT/MY_PLC-17062183-88d6-434e-afd3-91e382a5c066/Stagings/86c027d3-5cfb-483b-a081-a5b664de34d7/50168553-e634-31eb-2159-82ed1327680b/progress-dir'.
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS TRACE:  [944fbb66c50e5f64;ab0948490ff0d754] SDM Data Mover: SDM Full Sync: Created temporary directory 'MY_STORAGE_UNIT/MY_PLC-17062183-88d6-434e-afd3-91e382a5c066/Stagings/86c027d3-5cfb-483b-a081-a5b664de34d7/50168553-e634-31eb-2159-82ed1327680b/1680134428680401976/fullSyncTmp' for SDM full sync.
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO:   [944fbb66c50e5f64;ab0948490ff0d754] SDM Data Mover: SDM Full Sync: Performing SDM Full Sync on Hard disk 2, Hard disk 4, Hard disk 3, Hard disk 1.
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS TRACE:  [944fbb66c50e5f64;ab0948490ff0d754] SDM Data Mover: SDM Full Sync: vCenter SOAP call 'DpSync' was accepted
The vmdm log shows that there were no copies found for the affected asset: 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-75] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:944fbb66c50e5f64;JOB_ID:ab0948490ff0d754][] [c.e.b.v.v.a.VPEProtectOp.getBackupCopies(1217)] -  Copies size : 10 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-75] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:944fbb66c50e5f64;JOB_ID:ab0948490ff0d754][] [c.e.b.v.v.a.VPEProtectOp.getBackupCopies(1244)] -  No copies found for asset MY-VM-NAME on MY-VCENTER-NAME.MY-DOMAIN.COM

Cause

This is a known issue in PowerProtect 19.13 and prior versions.  

The backup logic checks the last 10 copies of the virtual machine.
These 10 copies are sorted by creation time and the most recent dataTargetId.
The dataTargetId is compared against the running Protection Policy stage dataTargetId.
If the first retrieved dataTargetIds are not the same during the comparison, the copies are not considered (no copies found).  
In some instances, the first copy returned is a valid replication copy (Replica dataTargetId) which was different than the current copy target (Target dataTargetId).

Resolution

The issue has been resolved in PowerProtect 19.14 (PPDM-231108). If required, contact Dell Technical Support for more details.

Additional Information

As a comparison, the previous synthetic full shows it retrieved the previous copies: 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.a.VPEProtectOp.getBackupCopies(1217)] -  Copies size : 10 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.a.VPEProtectOp.getBackupCopies(1240)] -  Retrieved last 10/10 copies for asset MY-VM-NAME on MY-VCENTER-NAME.MY-DOMAIN.COM 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.a.VPEProtectOp.getBackupCopies(1242)] -  Last copyId=91334d20-6f46-5715-a131-7fc7150b8e3e, created at YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.u.VPEProtectionUtils.addStat(594)] -  Add MY-VM-NAME disk 'Hard disk 1' size=128.8 GB, cbtSize=853.1 MB, Type=SyntheticFull created: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.u.VPEProtectionUtils.addStat(594)] -  Add MY-VM-NAME disk 'Hard disk 2' size=5.5 TB, cbtSize=124.5 GB, Type=SyntheticFull created: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.u.VPEProtectionUtils.addStat(594)] -  Add MY-VM-NAME disk 'Hard disk 4' size=2.2 TB, cbtSize=1.1 GB, Type=SyntheticFull created: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.u.VPEProtectionUtils.addStat(594)] -  Add MY-VM-NAME disk 'Hard disk 3' size=859.0 GB, cbtSize=4.4 GB, Type=SyntheticFull created: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.u.VPEProtectionUtils.addStat(594)] -  Add MY-VM-NAME disk 'Hard disk 1' size=128.8 GB, cbtSize=1.2 GB, Type=SyntheticFull created: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.u.VPEProtectionUtils.addStat(594)] -  Add MY-VM-NAME disk 'Hard disk 2' size=5.5 TB, cbtSize=122.2 GB, Type=SyntheticFull created: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.u.VPEProtectionUtils.addStat(594)] -  Add MY-VM-NAME disk 'Hard disk 4' size=2.2 TB, cbtSize=1.2 GB, Type=SyntheticFull created: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.u.VPEProtectionUtils.addStat(594)] -  Add MY-VM-NAME disk 'Hard disk 3' size=859.0 GB, cbtSize=5.5 GB, Type=SyntheticFull created: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.u.VPEProtectionUtils.addStat(594)] -  Add MY-VM-NAME disk 'Hard disk 3' size=859.0 GB, cbtSize=5.5 GB, Type=SyntheticFull created: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.u.VPEProtectionUtils.addStat(594)] -  Add MY-VM-NAME disk 'Hard disk 1' size=128.8 GB, cbtSize=1.2 GB, Type=SyntheticFull created: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.u.VPEProtectionUtils.addStat(594)] -  Add MY-VM-NAME disk 'Hard disk 2' size=5.5 TB, cbtSize=122.2 GB, Type=SyntheticFull created: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.u.VPEProtectionUtils.addStat(594)] -  Add MY-VM-NAME disk 'Hard disk 4' size=2.2 TB, cbtSize=1.2 GB, Type=SyntheticFull created: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.u.VPEProtectionUtils.addStat(594)] -  Add MY-VM-NAME disk 'Hard disk 1' size=128.8 GB, cbtSize=570.9 MB, Type=SyntheticFull created: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.u.VPEProtectionUtils.addStat(594)] -  Add MY-VM-NAME disk 'Hard disk 2' size=5.5 TB, cbtSize=94.7 GB, Type=SyntheticFull created: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.u.VPEProtectionUtils.addStat(594)] -  Add MY-VM-NAME disk 'Hard disk 4' size=2.2 TB, cbtSize=910.7 MB, Type=SyntheticFull created: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.u.VPEProtectionUtils.addStat(594)] -  Add MY-VM-NAME disk 'Hard disk 5' size=214.7 GB, cbtSize=65.5 KB, Type=SyntheticFull created: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.u.VPEProtectionUtils.addStat(594)] -  Add MY-VM-NAME disk 'Hard disk 3' size=859.0 GB, cbtSize=4.8 GB, Type=SyntheticFull created: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.u.VPEProtectionUtils.addStat(594)] -  Add MY-VM-NAME disk 'Hard disk 1' size=128.8 GB, cbtSize=570.9 MB, Type=SyntheticFull created: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.u.VPEProtectionUtils.addStat(594)] -  Add MY-VM-NAME disk 'Hard disk 2' size=5.5 TB, cbtSize=94.7 GB, Type=SyntheticFull created: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.u.VPEProtectionUtils.addStat(594)] -  Add MY-VM-NAME disk 'Hard disk 4' size=2.2 TB, cbtSize=910.7 MB, Type=SyntheticFull created: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.u.VPEProtectionUtils.addStat(594)] -  Add MY-VM-NAME disk 'Hard disk 3' size=859.0 GB, cbtSize=4.8 GB, Type=SyntheticFull created: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.u.VPEProtectionUtils.calculateAverageCBT(617)] -  VM MY-VM-NAME CBT size for 'Hard disk 2', size=5.5 TB, estCbtSize=111.7 GB, count=5 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.u.VPEProtectionUtils.calculateAverageCBT(617)] -  VM MY-VM-NAME CBT size for 'Hard disk 1', size=128.8 GB, estCbtSize=876.8 MB, count=5 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.u.VPEProtectionUtils.calculateAverageCBT(617)] -  VM MY-VM-NAME CBT size for 'Hard disk 3', size=859.0 GB, estCbtSize=5.0 GB, count=5 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO [https-jsse-nio-0.0.0.0-8447-exec-51] [00000000-0000-4000-a000-000000000000][][][TRACE_ID:a810d50c6250bf05;JOB_ID:a853ce13ee4fd5b6][] [c.e.b.v.v.u.VPEProtectionUtils.calculateAverageCBT(617)] -  VM MY-VM-NAME CBT size for 'Hard disk 4', size=2.2 TB, estCbtSize=1.1 GB, count=5

Article Properties
Article Number: 000214523
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 21 Nov 2025
Version:  3
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