Backup of a virtual machine using the Agent for VMware Virtual Infrastructure fails or completes with exception when the Virtual Machine has Mount Points

Article:TECH154707

Created: 2011-03-03

Updated: 2012-08-28

Article URL http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH154707

Article Type
Technical Solution

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Problem

When attempting to backup a virtual machine that is running Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL, or Active Directory with Application Granular Recovery Technology (GRT) enabled, if the data is stored on a mount point that links to a separate volume or external disk (such as a RDM) the backup will either fail (BE 2010 and previous versions) with the error message as below or complete with exception (in BE 2012 or later)

Error

Error in BE 2010 -

Backup- VMVCB::\\ESXHOST\VCGuestVm\vCenter\vm\VM NAME
- Error. Cannot backup directory \zzzVirtApp000zzz and its subdirectories.

Exception reported in Job Log in 2012 -

Backup Exec was unable to prepare Microsoft Exchange resources for Granular Recovery Technology (GRT) operations. Therefore you will be unable to perform GRT-enabled restores of Microsoft Exchange data for '\\<ServerName>\Microsoft Information Store\Storage Group' from this backup.

Cause

This issue occurs when data used by either Exchange, SQL or Active Directory is stored on mount points that point to a different VMDK or external volume (such as an RDM).

Solution

This configuration is currently not supported for GRT operations (file or application level) with the Agent for VMware Virtual Infrastructure (AVVI).

Disable the use of GRT on the backup.

To fully protect virtual machines in this configuration a Remote Agent will need to be installed and then backed up via the Remote Agent instead of AVVI.

Supplemental Materials

Source	UMI
Value	V-79-57344-38748
Description	Backup Exec was unable to prepare Microsoft Exchange resources for Granular Recovery Technology (GRT) operations. Therefore you will be unable to perform GRT-enabled restores of Microsoft Exchange data for '\\<Server Name>\Microsoft Information Store\Storage Group' from this backup.

Source	UMI
Value	v-79-57344-65247
Description	Cannot backup directory \zzzVirtApp000zzz and its subdirectories