Troubleshooting CA ARCserve Central Host-Based VM Backup › Backups Fail with Snapshot Creation Errors

Backups Fail with Snapshot Creation Errors

Valid on Windows platforms.

When you submit backups of VMware based virtual machines, the following symptoms occur:

Symptom 1

Backup jobs fail and the following message appears in the Activity Log:

Failed to take snapshot. ESX/vCenter report error. A general system error occurred. Protocol error from VMX.

Solution 1

This error is a VMware issue. To correct this problem, uninstall and then reinstall VMware Tools inside the guest operating system and then resubmit the job.

Symptom 2

Backup jobs fail and the following message appears in the Activity Log:

Could not take snapshot of the virtual machine. ESX Server/vCenter Server reported the following error: Cannot create a quiesced snapshot because the create snapshot operation exceeded the time limit for holding off I/O in the frozen virtual machine..

Solution 2

This error occurs when VSS encounters errors when creating snapshots. VSS can encounter errors under the following conditions:

A VSS writer is in an unstable state.

To determine the source and correct this behavior, perform the following remedial actions:

1. Run the command "vssadmin list writers" from the command line on the guest operating system on the virtual machine.
2. Verify that all VSS writers are in a healthy state.
3. For writers that are in the following states, contact Microsoft or the vendor of the writer for information about how to fix the errors.

   state=Stable
   Last Error=No Error
   

   Note: Restarting writers usually solves the problem.

VSS encountered errors when creating snapshots.

To determine the source and correct this behavior, perform the following remedial actions:

1. Review the Windows event log in the guest operating system. Check for errors that are related to the VSS components about the time the backup started.
2. When VSS reports errors due to insufficient disk space, free disk space on the volume that is associated with the error.
3. When VSS or the Windows Volsnap driver generates time-out errors, the applications running inside the virtual machine are in a highly active state. The highly active state prevents VSS from creating consistent snapshots. To remedy this condition, schedule backups at times when the applications perform fewer input and output operations to the volume.
4. When the Windows Event Log indicates that the VolSnap driver encountered errors, see the article Volume Snapshot Driver Integrity at the Microsoft Technet Library for information about how to correct VolSnap driver errors.