Avamar: Group Policy Backup Fails With "avtar FATAL <8941>: Fatal server connection"

Reproduction steps:

• Avamar Administrator > Policy > Policy Management > Groups
• Start a policy group (Group_A)
• The backups start, but they fail with the following error:

avtar FATAL <8941>: Fatal server connection problem, aborting initialization. Verify correct server address and login credentials and that your server supports un-encrypted network connections.

• Avamar Administrator > Policy > Policy Management > Clients
• Select a client and start the backup using the group policy properties (Group_A)
• The backup starts, but it fails with the following error:

avtar FATAL <8941>: Fatal server connection problem, aborting initialization. Verify correct server address and login credentials and that your server supports un-encrypted network connections.

In this specific scenario, the value of the Avamar encryption method parameter in this group policy was set to None instead of High (Default):

root@avamar:~/#: mccli group show --name="/Group_A"
0,23000,CLI command completed successfully.
Attribute                Value
------------------------ -----------------------------
Name                     Group_A
Domain                   /
Type                     Normal
Auto Proxy Mapping       true
Enabled                  false
Dataset                  /Default Dataset
Schedule                 /Default Schedule
Retention Policy         /Default Retention
Avamar encryption method None
Rule                     Empty Rule
Rule Enabled             false
root@avamar:~/#:

Change the Avamar encryption method to High:

1. Avamar Administrator > Policy > Policy Management > Groups
2. Edit Group
3. Change the Avamar encryption method to High on the Group Properties tab
4. OK

root@avamar:~/#: mccli group show --name="/Group_A"
0,23000,CLI command completed successfully.
Attribute                Value
------------------------ -----------------------------
Name                     Group_A
Domain                   /
Type                     Normal
Auto Proxy Mapping       true
Enabled                  false
Dataset                  /Default Dataset
Schedule                 /Default Schedule
Retention Policy         /Default Retention
Avamar encryption method High
Rule                     Empty Rule
Rule Enabled             false
root@avamar:~/#:

Ensure to always use the same Avamar Administrator Client and Avamar Server version:

• Avamar Administrator > Help > About Avamar Administrator