Product & Version: NVBU Any
OS Version: ANY
Module & Version: NDMP Plugin Any
Application version: Any Filer
Symptoms:
NDMP Job sometimes fails with "NDMP_ILLEGAL_ARG" error and sometimes it is successful
This indicates that the filer is complaining that one (or more) of the arguments sent for preparing the backup stream was not correct.
This can happen when the customer decides to choose individual files to backup and those files are removed and recreated, like snapshot files of VMs or similar, when the file is deleted the job would fail, but when it is recreated the job succeeds.
You can see that it is the case by the following: in the log of the job you will see such message:
Job Message 2011/01/29 07:49:05 145 Data Plugin BR-MUNICH Backup Request
Error 2011/01/29 07:49:06 145 Data Plugin BR-MUNICH Failed to start backup: NDMP_ILLEGAL_ARGS_ERR
Error 2011/01/29 07:49:06 145 Data Plugin BR-MUNICH Data operation aborted
If you open the first job manager message, it will show a configuration similar to this:
________________________
Backup Environment:
LEVEL = 0
UPDATE = Y
NO_ACLS = N
HIST = Y
NDMP_UNICODE_FH = N
FILESYSTEM = /vol/vol1_vm/.snapshot/test.0
DIRECT = Y
_________________________
and as shown above, the FILESYSTEM argument (ARG) shows that it is backing up a specific file, which in this case is clear that it is a snapshot.
The /log/messages on the filer will contain more information about it.
The solution/workaround for this is to target the nearest parent directory that is not temporary and backup from there.
