Backup reports error “Unable to write the VMware backup's index in the database” (4040747)

Backup reports error “Unable to write the VMware backup's index in the database”

Backup completes with warnings but reports “Unable to write the VMware backup's index in the database”.

When checking back through logs We find that 1 of the VM’s selecte has failed to backup and reports an error similar to the examples below.

Example 1:

SevereError       2017/03/12 22:31:19     2827      Data Plugin        NV02     Failed to start segment file on Foreign RAS device

Error     2017/03/12 22:31:19     2827      Data Plugin        NV02     Stream has gone down

Error     2017/03/12 22:31:19     2827      Data Plugin        NV02     DMZ-01-TS04 Backup failed

Error     2017/03/12 23:13:09     2827      Media   NV         Attempt to save a zero length stream

Error     2017/03/12 23:13:09     2827      Media   NV         Failed to validate segment data for backup, record was not updated

Error     2017/03/12 23:13:09     2827      Media   NV         Failed to add backup record

Error     2017/03/12 23:13:09     2827      Data Plugin        NV02     Failed to write index of backup to the database

Example 2

Error     2017/03/26 18:00:38     217        Data Plugin        NetvaultProxy              [VMtest]  Failed to locate virtual machine with UUID '4208c2e7-8f85-a41f-2bb1-471cc13c51c7' in the server inventory

Job Message      2017/03/26 18:00:38     217        Data Plugin        NetvaultProxy              [VMtest]  Diagnosis Completed, backup failed

Error     2017/03/26 20:33:21     217        Media   IX1-NETVAULT   Failed to add backup record

Error     2017/03/26 20:33:21     217        Data Plugin        NetvaultProxy   Failed to write index of backup to the database

Warning             2017/03/26 20:33:30     217        Data Plugin        NetvaultProxy              Job completed with warnings/errors

Bug 32827

Netvault generally handels VM failures without reporting this error but there apears to be a few exceptions. These exceptions cause the “Unable to write the VMware backup's index in the database” error.

BUG  32827is scheduled to be fixed in netvault 11.4 please check release note to confirm .

Fix the underlying problem of the VM failure. Each failure will need to be diagnosed seperatly to find the reson the perticular VM failed.  If we don’t have the failing VM during the backup we do not get the error.

Some times these individulaVM backup failures amongst the many VM’s that are backed up are one off.  it is possible to run the backup again automatically if we get this errorby doing the following.

1/ configre the VMware backup in the backup options to be restartable.

2/ configure the backup in the schedule to use retries  afetr x hour  3 times

This will retry 3 time if nessesary when the backup gets this error if the problem is a one off the backup will complete sucsesfully and no action will be required.  If we still see the error we know that the failing VM that cause this error need attension and investigation will be required to find the cause of the failing VM within the VMware backup.