How to create a support case

December 22, 2016, 12:45 am

≪ Previous: Tape Jobs fail with I/O errors or (SCSI) Bus resets

Challenge

This KB article was created to document how to create a case with Veeam Support via the customer portal.
Note: In order to create a support case for Veeam Endpoint Backup, open the application and choose "Support" tab.

Solution

Any information you can provide regarding the issue you are experiencing could have a significant impact on how fast the issue is diagnosed and resolved. You will be asked to provide the following information:

Issue description, impact on your system and business operations, issue severity, and the exact text of error messages and diagnostic details.
Steps to reproduce the problem, known workarounds
Contact number where you can be reached
Best time to reach you, and contact method (i.e. email/phone)

1. Go to https://my.veeam.com
2. Enter your credentials and click Sign In

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3. Click on "Open Case" button in the menu on the left side.
4. On the right side of the page you need to fill in all the required details. Please remember to include the exact error message that is occurring. Screenshots inclusion can often help expedite resolution.

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5. After clicking "Next" you will be taken to a page listing several KB articles that may be related to your issue. You may want to save them, but anyway, please click "Next" again.
6. On the next page you will be asked to add attachments to your case. It is on this page that you will attach the logs related to the issue, and any screenshots you have gathered.

If the log package is large there will be an upload completion percentage listed in the status of the browser.

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7. On the last page of case creation you will have an opportunity to review all details provided and provide specific contact details.

After you have created a case you will be contacted within the time set forth in the SLA agreement for the severity you specified.

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More Information

For more information, please refer to our Support Policy: http://www.veeam.com/files/veeam_software_support_policy.pdf

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Service Provider Licensing

December 27, 2016, 6:38 am

≫ Next: How to use DiskSpd to simulate Veeam Backup & Replication disk actions

≪ Previous: How to create a support case

Challenge

Starting with Veeam Backup & Replication 9.0 Update 2, there have been several changes to licensing for service providers.

Solution

Usage reporting

Veeam Backup & Replication 9.0 Update 2 introduces usage reporting by the backup server. This is considered a pilot and does not yet replace existing usage reporting processes. If using service provider rental licenses, monthly usage should be reported as usual. (Note that the new usage reporting functionality operates independently of current usage reporting processes and is only aware of usage reports submitted by the backup server. Thus, you might see messages about submitting your monthly usage report after you’ve already done so.)

We encourage service providers to also submit usage reports from their backup servers (or Enterprise Manager server, if present) and provide feedback on the experience. Usage reporting by the backup server is enabled by selecting the "Update license key automatically" check box in the License Information window. More information about usage reporting is available in the Administrator Guide .

Enforcement of VM counts

Veeam Backup & Replication 9.0 Update 2 also enforces VM license counts. Previous 9.0 releases issued warnings but did not restrict usage.

To accommodate customer growth, Veeam Backup & Replication and Veeam Cloud Connect allow service providers to exceed their license count for a period of time. So as you bring on new customers or your existing customers expand their use of your Veeam-powered services, you may be able to process additional VMs without having to get new license keys. (You are still responsible for reporting and paying for additional usage.)

• Veeam Backup & Replication: You can exceed your license count by 20 percent or 20 VMs (whichever is greater). If you use service provider rental licenses, your license count is based on reported usage, and you can exceed your license count for up to 2 months. If you use service provider perpetual licenses, your license count is based on the number of VM licenses purchased, and you can exceed your license count for up to 30 days.

• Veeam Cloud Connect: You can exceed your license count by any number of VMs for up to 2 months.

Please note that extra capacity is available exclusively with service provider licenses. Veeam licenses for end customer use do not include this feature.

If you anticipate customer growth exceeding the extra capacity built in to your service provider license keys, please contact your Veeam representative. Be sure to plan ahead and allow at least 2 business days for a larger license key to be approved and issued.

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How to use DiskSpd to simulate Veeam Backup & Replication disk actions

December 27, 2016, 7:06 am

≫ Next: Understanding the influence of different database recovery models on Veeam ONE operation

≪ Previous: Service Provider Licensing

Challenge

The test file created by these tests do not contain any diagnostic information and will need to be manually removed after testing has concluded. All diagnostic information regarding the performance results are displayed in the command line. Please do not send the testfile.dat into support, its contents will not help with troubleshooting.

This document contains information on how to use Microsoft© DiskSpd to simulate Veeam Backup & Replication disk actions to measure disk performance.

DiskSpd and additional info can be found here: https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/DiskSpd-a-robust-storage-6cd2f223

Solution

Below are some details on the options and some simulations you can do to measure disk speed independently of Veeam. Please keep in mind as with all synthetic benchmarks real-world results may differ.

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Common parameters

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Usage: diskspd [options] target1 [ target2 [ target3 ...] ]

Target
Available targets:
·         File on a volume with an assigned letter: D:\testfile.dat
·         File on a CIFS/SMB share: \\nas\share\testfile.dat
·         File on an NFS share, provided you have mounted it to a disk letter with Client for NFS: N:\testfile.dat
·         Disk: #X where X is the number of the disk in Disk Management. You can use a local disk or one attached by iSCSI, and it does not matter if they are Online are Offline. In this mode diskspd reads or writes directly from/to the disk ("RAW").

You can specify multiple targets. This way you can simulate several jobs running at the same time.

Block size
-b specifies the size of a read or write operation.

For Veeam, this size depends on the job settings. By default, "Local" storage optimization setting is selected and this corresponds to 1MB block size in backups. However, every block of data is compressed (unless using the Decompress option) before it is written to the backup file, so the size is reduced. It is safe to assume that blocks compress on average down to half the size, so in most cases picking a 512KB block size is a good estimate.

If the job is using a different setting, WAN (256KB), LAN (512KB) or Local+ (8MB), change the -b value accordingly to 128KB, 256KB or 4MB. And if the Decompress option is on don't halve the values.

File size
-c specifies the file size you need to create for testing. Typically 1 GB should be enough. Anything lower can be easily cached by hardware and thus yield incorrect results.

Duration
-d specifies the duration of the test. By default it does 5 seconds of warm up (statistics are not collected), then 10 seconds of the test. This is OK for a short test, but for more conclusive results run the test for at least 10 minutes (-d600).

Caching
-Sh disables Windows and hardware caching.

This flag should always be set. VeeamAgents always explicitly disable caching for I/O operations for greater reliability, even though this results in lower speed. Windows Explorer for example, does use the Cache Manager and in a very simple copy-paste test will get greater speeds than Veeam does, due to cached reads and lazy writes. That is why using Explorer is never a valid test.

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Active full or forward incremental

C:\diskspd> diskspd.exe -c1G -b512K -w100 -Sh -d600 D:\testfile.dat

-w100 indicates 100% writes and 0% reads. Sequential I/O is used by default.

IMPORTANT: Contents of testfile.dat will be destroyed without a warning.

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Reverse incremental

C:\diskspd> diskspd.exe -c1G -b512K -w67 -r4K -Sh -d600 D:\testfile.dat

-w67 indicates 67% writes and 33% reads to simulate 2 write and 1 read operations that happen in reverse incremental backup jobs.
-r4K enables random I/O that are 4KB aligned, for a more realistic simulation.

IMPORTANT: Contents of testfile.dat will be destroyed without a warning.

After the test has finished, take Total IO MB/s from the results and divide it by 3. This is because for every processed block Veeam needs to do 3 I/O operations, thus the effective speed is 3 times slower.

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Transforms, merges, and other synthetic operations
Includes transformation of incrementals to rollbacks, merge operations in forever forward incremental backups and backup copy jobs, and creation of synthetic full backup files and GFS points.

C:\diskspd> diskspd.exe -c1G -b512K -w50 -r4K -Sh -d600 D:\testfile.dat

-w50 indicates 50% writes and 50% reads to simulate reading data from one file and writing that data into another (or in the case of transform, reading the same number of blocks from two files as are written to two other files).
-r4K enables random I/O that are 4KB aligned, for a more realistic simulation.

IMPORTANT: Contents of testfile.dat will be destroyed without a warning.

After the test has finished, take Total IO MB/s from the results and divide it by 2 (4 for transform to rollbacks). This is because for every processed block Veeam needs to do 2 I/O operations, thus the effective speed is 2 times slower. For transform to rollbacks, each block must be read out of the full backup file and written into the rollback before the corresponding block can be read out of the incremental and written into the full, which results in 4x I/O.

To estimate an expected time to complete the synthetic operation, in seconds:
For synthetic full backup and GFS points: divide the expected size of the new full backup file (typically the same as previous full backup files) by the effective speed.
For all other synthetic operations, add the sizes of all of the incremental files which will be merged or transformed, and then divide the resulting sum by the effective speed. Typically only the oldest incremental file is merged, whereas all incremental files are transformed to rollbacks.

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Slow restore or Surebackup

This is typically when you're restoring from deduplication appliances with sub-optimal settings. See [1] and [2] for the recommended settings. As a workaround in case of slow restore, manually copy the backup files elsewhere (e.g. Veeam server), import and restore from there.

Worst case scenario where the backup file is heavily fragmented inside, which implies a lot of random read I/O:

C:\diskspd> diskspd.exe -b512K -r4K -Sh -d600 \\nas\share\VeeamBackups\Job\Job2014-01-23T012345.vbk

-r4K enables random I/O that are 4KB aligned, for a more realistic simulation.

Best case scenario where the backup file is not fragmented inside (no parallel processing), which implies linear read I/O:

C:\diskspd> diskspd.exe -b512K -Sh -d600 \\nas\share\VeeamBackups\Job\Job2014-01-23T012345.vbk

In both cases you need to pick an existing .vbk file as the target. Only read operations will be performed.

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Direct disk access speed

C:\diskspd> diskspd.exe -Sh -d600 #X

Where X is the number of disk that you see in Disk Management.

This will not overwrite any data, it is a safe test, and it works for Offline disks too. You can simulate and measure maximum possible reading speed in SAN or hot-add modes, however this of course will not take any VDDK overhead into account.

More Information

FAQ
Q: Can diskspd be used to stress-test NAS boxes for reliability ("specified network name is no longer available" errors in Veeam)
A: Unfortunately, no. If the SMB share disappears, diskspd will just ignore that issue. It is better to use Wireshark.

User-added image

Q: Active full starts fast but then gradually becomes slower and slower. Target agent runs on Windows 2008 (not R2).
A: This is a known (yet undocumented) performance degradation issue on Windows 2008. Upgrade to or deploy 2008 R2 (or newer). In case of a CIFS repository you can force some other 2008 R2 server to be used as gateway/proxying. The issue itself can be demonstrated with diskspd if you set it to run for several hours, then observe how the write rate slowly goes down in Resource Monitor.

Q: I am getting extremely high I/O speed like 4 GB/s in any test I try, even though I have set the -Sh flag, what's going on?
A: Most likely you're running diskspd on a Hyper-V VM, testing performance of a virtualised (.vhdx) disk, so the data is cached by the Hyper-V host. Run the test on the datastore where that .vhdx is located instead.

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Understanding the influence of different database recovery models on Veeam ONE operation

December 28, 2016, 4:11 am

≫ Next: List of Ports Used by Veeam Backup & Replication

≪ Previous: How to use DiskSpd to simulate Veeam Backup & Replication disk actions

Challenge

Transaction log files for the Veeam ONE database grow too large or take up all available space on disk.

Cause

If you use the Full or Bulk-Logged recovery model for the Veeam ONE database, and collect a large amount of data from the virtual environment and backup infrastructure, database transaction log files can quickly grow in size.

Solution

Starting with version 9.5, Veeam ONE forcibly sets the recovery model to Simple when the database is created during installation. This type of recovery model prevents uncontrolled growth of database files.
However, for some configurations, such as SQL Server Always-On Availability Groups, the recovery model cannot be set to Simple. To reduce the amount of collected and stored data, you may consider changing Veeam ONE data collection mode. For details, see KB2179.

More Information

If you have any questions, contact Veeam Support.

↧

List of Ports Used by Veeam Backup & Replication

December 9, 2016, 9:26 am

≫ Next: Upgrade to Veeam Backup & Replication 9.5 fails with "Unsupported SQL Version"

≪ Previous: Understanding the influence of different database recovery models on Veeam ONE operation

Challenge

You would like to know the ports used for Veeam Backup & Replication and what they apply to.

Solution

↧

Upgrade to Veeam Backup & Replication 9.5 fails with "Unsupported SQL Version"

December 18, 2016, 11:28 pm

≫ Next: Hyper-V Guest processing skipped (check guest OS VSS state and integration components version)

≪ Previous: List of Ports Used by Veeam Backup & Replication

Challenge

Upgrade to Veeam Backup & Replication 9.5 you receive the error "Unsupported SQL Version"

Cause

If you have a supported database (2008 or newer), the upgrade cannot be installed if the compatibility mode is set to 2005.

Solution

Manually update the compatibility of the VeeamBackup database (or custom named equivalent) via SQL Management Studio or using a query. The compatibility mode must be set to 2008 or newer.

Query:
Alter Database VeeamBackup set compatibility_level = 100

UI:
1. Connect to instance via SSMS
2. Right-click Veeam Database -> Properties
3. Select Options
4. Select Compatibility Level
5. Set to 2008, 2012, 2014 or 2016.

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Hyper-V Guest processing skipped (check guest OS VSS state and integration components version)

December 28, 2016, 7:43 am

≫ Next: Case administrators management: Guide for users

≪ Previous: Upgrade to Veeam Backup & Replication 9.5 fails with "Unsupported SQL Version"

Challenge

Guest VMs will fail to engage VSS when application-aware image processing is enabled generating an error:

Error Guest processing skipped (check guest OS VSS state and integration components version) (System.Exception)

Cause

This issue has multiple potential causes, usually related to the Integration Services version of the failing guest server. This issue occurs when Application-Aware image processing is utilized in the Backup or Replication job settings for transactional quiescence using Microsoft VSS

Solution

Solution
Integration Services

Make sure integration services are up to date. The Hyper-V Integration Services log in the event viewer of the Hyper-V host that maintains the failing VM. Look for the name of the failing server with any error events referencing the integration components being out of date. The following is an example of the event text.
Hyper-V Volume Shadow Copy Requestor connected to virtual machine ‘VM-Name’, but the version does not match the version expected by Hyper-V (Virtual machine ID). Framework version: Negotiated (3.0) - Expected (3.0); Message version: Negotiated (3.0) - Expected (4.0). This is an unsupported configuration. This means that technical support will not be provided until this problem is resolved. To fix this problem, upgrade the integration services. To upgrade, connect to the virtual machine and select Insert Integration Services Setup Disk from the Action menu.

If any Integration Service components are listed as out of date, update them on the guest server by following the Steps listed below. Please note this process applies to Windows Server 2008 R2, Server 2012 and Server 2012 R2
• Server 2012 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh846766.aspx#BKMK_step4
• Server 2008 R2 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee207413(v=WS.10).aspx

To determine the Integration services version on the guest:
• 2008R2: On the Hyper-V host server, browse to C:\windows\system32\vmms.exe > open the proprieties of the file and go to the ‘details’ tab.
• 2012 & 2012 R2: Run one of these two powershell commands on the host containing the VMs as Administrator:

Get-VM | ft Name, IntegrationServicesVersion
Get-VM | select VMName, IntegrationServicesState

Click here for a list of Hyper-V Integration Services and their corresponding build numbers.

Guest OS

The following steps and checks are to be performed within the Guest OS of the VM that is failing to backup.

for the list of supported guest OSes. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc794868(v=ws.10).aspxServer 2012 R2 guests are not supported for VSS-enabled (AAIP) backups on 2008 R2 hosts due to integration components incompatibility. Please see NOTE:

• Make sure Windows is running the most recent service pack.
• Open Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc), check for the following:

1. View the properties of a volume, then goto the Shadow Copies tab.
Check the settings for each Volume in the Shadow Copies section to make sure the Volume and the Storage area match.

(The VHD(X) itself can be dynamic, the volume within the Guest OS cannot.)Dynamic disks cannot utilize VSS and be backed up live. No Dynamic disks. 2.

3. No FAT or FAT32 Volumes. All volumes must be NTFS or ReFS. The System Reserved partition must have more than 42MB of space free. If less than 42MB is free, try creating a shadow copy for the volume.

   • Open Services (services.msc) and start “Hyper-V Volume Shadow Copy Requestor” service. If it is ‘Running’, restart it.
•   If the VM Guest OS is 2012 and the Host is 2008R2:

View the Guest OS Application Event logs for errors with source:

vmicvss

Event ID: 13.

If this error is present, open the Registry Editor (regedit) and navigate to:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore\

DWORD: Within that key create a new

ScopeSnapshotsName:

0Value:
Note: If the SystemRestore key is not present, you will have to create it.
  • If all other troubleshooting fails, restart the virtual machine. Once the VM has powered on and all services are started, restart the “Hyper-V Volume Shadow Copy Requestor” service.

VM Configuration
The following steps and checks are to be performed from the Hyper-V host level.

• Make sure the VM has a SCSI controller. One must be present, even if there are no devices to use the SCSI controller.

The error will present itself in the Hyper-V VMMS > Admin Event log. Example:
“The virtual machine ' Vm-Name' cannot be hot backed up since it has no SCSI controllers attached. Please add one or more SCSI controllers to the virtual machine before performing a backup. (Virtual   machine ID).”
• Within the Virtual Machine settings verify that the “Backup (Volume Snapshot)” option is enabled.

Make sure that the virtual machine files (VHD files) are not sitting in the root folder of the CSV, as this may prevent correct snapshot creation due to permission restrictions. We strongly recommend to keep virtual machine files in separate folder.

Verification

Use these steps to verify whether your troubleshooting has worked without having to run a Veeam backup or replication job. If the Hyper-V writer caption for the VM displays the wrong state, you can contact Veeam Support to verify your troubleshooting based on this article, or contact Microsoft support for additional troubleshooting steps.

Perform the following steps on the Hyper-V host that the VM is running on.

Open an Administrator Command Prompt1.
2. Run the command:
Diskshadow /L C:\writers.txt
3. Run the command:
list writers

When this completes you can then open writers.txt and locate the VM name in the section for the Hyper-V writer. For each VM there's a "Caption" entry that should read "online" or "child partition", and not "offline" or "saved state".

More Information

PowerShell script to tell you if you need to update your Integration Services
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/virtual_pc_guy/2013/04/29/powershell-script-to-tell-you-if-you-need-to-update-your-integration-services/

Recommended hotfixes for Hyper-V servers:

http://www.veeam.com/kb1838

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2009/02/02/looking-at-the-hyper-v-event-log.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/b/virtualization/archive/2008/08/29/backing-up-hyper-v-virtual-machines.aspx

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Case administrators management: Guide for users

December 28, 2016, 8:38 am

≫ Next: Unable to map tenant cache ID X to service provider side ID Y because it is already mapped to ID Z

≪ Previous: Hyper-V Guest processing skipped (check guest OS VSS state and integration components version)

Challenge

Starting in Feb. 2017, only case administrators and license administrators will be able to submit support cases. Please make sure to define valid case administrators for your Veeam licenses.

Customers are now able to list people who can manage support tickets on behalf of their company – case administrators. By adding a case administrator, you invite an employee of your company, a reseller or a third-party contractor to join you in managing your cases with the Veeam^® Support Team. Please note that case administrators can open cases, but they cannot manage your existing licenses.

If you are a primary or a secondary license administrator, you already have access to case administrators management on My Account. Here you can manage case administrators for all your licenses (Support IDs).

Solution

How do you assign case administrators to a license?

Click Create case administrator to invite someone to manage your support cases. A case administrator can be an employee of your company, a reseller or a third-party contractor. On the next page you will need to provide their e-mail address.

If the person to whom you would like to give case administrator rights does not have a profile on veeam.com, you may be asked to specify their name and company. If your case administrator's company is not yet registered on veeam.com some additional info may be requested.

Once all the necessary details are provided you will need to select Support ID(s) to which the newly created case administrator will be associated. By doing so you give them the right to use the Support ID(s) when opening cases on behalf of your company.

When the changes are saved, the new case administrator will be created and associated with the selected Support ID(s). Please note that if the specified user is not yet registered on veeam.com, they will have to complete the registration by following the corresponding link that they will receive by email. Should this be the case, the newly added case administrator will be able to access My Account and open cases only after confirming the registration.

If you would like to share a Support ID with one or several existing case administrators at the same time, please use the button Add administrator in the License view. Then, select administrators for this Support ID. Please note that the number of case administrators is limited – there can be no more than 20 case administrators per Support ID.

You can also assign several Support IDs at a time to one of your case administrators. For this please click Add Support ID in the Case administrator view.

How do you remove case administrators from licenses?

A case administrator can be removed from a license. Once this is done they will no longer be able to manage support cases for this Support ID (pic.1). Please note that you cannot remove other license administrators marked with a lock sign (pic.2).

You can also remove a case administrator from all your licenses at once by following the link Delete administrator in the Case administrator view. Please note that you will not see this link if the user is a license administrator.

What rights do case administrators have?

Case administrators can open, update and close support cases for the licenses assigned to them
Case administrators can also manage cases created by other case and license administrators
Case administrators can view your licenses but cannot manage them
Case administrators cannot view and manage other case administrators

More Information

Starting in Feb. 2017, only case administrators and license administrators will be able to submit support cases. Please make sure to define valid case administrators for your Veeam licenses.

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Unable to map tenant cache ID X to service provider side ID Y because it is already mapped to ID Z

December 29, 2016, 6:44 am

≫ Next: Backup of passive node of Microsoft Exchange Database Availability Group does not truncate transaction logs

≪ Previous: Case administrators management: Guide for users

Challenge

Backups to a cloud provider may fail with the above error message. The X/Y/Z letters denote actual UUIDs that would be listed.

Cause

The database has invalid data contained in the new cache table.

Solution

ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR DATABASE PRIOR TO PERFORMING ANY DATABASE MODIFICATIONS

To back up your database, see http://www.veeam.com/kb1471

Once you have obtained a backup of your database, perform the following actions:

Connect to the SQL Instance hosting the Veeam Database. This can be found in RegEdit in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Veeam\Veeam Backup and Replication\ under SqlServerName and SqlInstanceName
Right click the VeeamBackup database, and select ‘New Query’
Run: delete from [cachedobjectsidmapping]
Rescan the cloud repository. This will rebuild the table.

More Information

If you are not familiar with SQL, please contact Veeam Support in reference to this KB article.

↧

Backup of passive node of Microsoft Exchange Database Availability Group does not truncate transaction logs

January 4, 2017, 11:00 am

≫ Next: Cannot read event log Veeam MP – Management Servers

≪ Previous: Unable to map tenant cache ID X to service provider side ID Y because it is already mapped to ID Z

Challenge

Transaction logs do not get truncated after backup.
Microsoft Exchange VSS writer reports zero databases in its metadata on the passive node.
Microsoft Exchange Replication service VSS writer is disabled and it is not present in the list of VSS writers (vssadmin list writers) on both active and passive nodes.

Solution

Enable the Microsoft Exchange Replication service VSS writer. This VSS writer is enabled by default when you install DAG, however legacy backup software might need this writer to be disabled and that could be the reason why it was disabled manually.

Open Registry Editor and navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\ExchangeServer\v14\Replay\Parameters (Exchange 2010)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\ExchangeServer\v15\Replay\Parameters (Exchange 2013)
Change DWORD value named EnableVSSWriter from 0 to 1.
Then restart the Microsoft Exchange Replication service.

More Information

Discovered by: Jason Matthews

↧

Cannot read event log Veeam MP – Management Servers

January 5, 2017, 6:41 am

≫ Next: Required modules and permissions for Multi-OS FLR and Repository support for Linux

≪ Previous: Backup of passive node of Microsoft Exchange Database Availability Group does not truncate transaction logs

Challenge

Error accessing event log on SCOM Management servers – Error 31551, 31552 in Event logs

Cause

Veeam MP Version 8 uses Dataset rules to collect host security profiles and snapshots, when a collector is installed on an agent no issue occurs as data is forwarded to the management server then written to the Data Warehouse under the Data Warehouse Account. On Management servers this data is processed under the health service run as account and fails.

Solution

Start SCOM Console and navigate to Administration > Run As configuration > Accounts and open Properties for your Data Warehouse Action Account > Distribution. Manually add your Management Server where the Veeam collector(s) is installed.
Open Profiles and double-click on Data Warehouse Account to open Run As Profile Wizard. Navigate to Run As Accounts. Click Add and select your "Data Warehouse Action Account". Then choose "Select class, group, or object" radio button and click Select > Object. Look for Veeam VMware Collector object there, select and add it.

More Information

The steps above are required to make sure that Run As accounts are correctly distributed to SCOM server that has a Veeam Collector role.

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Required modules and permissions for Multi-OS FLR and Repository support for Linux

January 5, 2017, 6:49 am

≫ Next: Missing Performance data in Veeam ONE Reporter

≪ Previous: Cannot read event log Veeam MP – Management Servers

Challenge

To configure Linux guests and repositories to work with Veeam Backup and Replication and utilize our software’s features.

Cause

There are several requirements that must be met, by a Linux OS, in order for us to effectively utilize all of our features and make sure they run consistently. On top of that we require root permissions to launch several modules. If these settings are not in place, then we won’t be able to properly write to and recover the system.

Solution

Authentication Methods

Linux servers registered with Veeam Backup & Replication infrastructure must use Password or Certificate-based authentication methods. At this time we do not support any other forms of authentication like biometrics, smart cards, etc.

Bash

We require Bash to be installed as shell on the Linux environment. At the time we do not support any other command shell. This is usually the default shell set in place by most Linux distributions.

"sudo"

Important Note: accounts using "sudo" must be in the "/etc/sudoers" file and have the ‘nopasswd’ setting put into the "/etc/sudoers" file.

In order to launch our script’s we require the "sudo" command to be able to launch from the credentials we are given at the time of setup. "sudo" is a command that allows us to make administrator level (root) changes and executions in the Linux environment.

One of the primary reasons that we use "sudo" is to make sure that we can access the /tmp folder and launch a script from it. There are many other ways you can launch scripts from the "/tmp" folder but "sudo" is the most consistent way across multiple distribution’s to do it. This also allows us to complete the operation without having change user permissions so the user doesn’t have to modify them afterword’s to get them back to their original configuration, as well as we will be able to relinquish root privileges on the fly.

Perl

Important Note: 64-bit Perl installations are not supported at this time. It must be 32-bit.

Many Linux distributions come with Perl pre-installed but this does not mean that it has all the Perl modules that are required for us to utilize the server in a backup and restore function and once all of the correct modules are install we must be able to launch these modules as needed. Some systems are setup with software called SELinux. This software will make it so that only certain modules can be launched from SSH. The Linux distribution must allow us to launch all of these modules from "SSH" at any amount at a time.

Here is a list of the modules that we require for Veeam to work properly with a Linux install:

Constant
Carp
Cwd
Data::Dumper
Encode
Encode::Alias
Encode::Config
Encode::Encoding
Encode::MIME::Name
Exporter
Exporter::Heavy
File::Path
File::Spec
File::Spec::Unix
File::Temp
List::Util
Scalar::Util
SOAP-Lite
Socket
Storable
Threads

You can find out which modules are installed by running:

perldoc -q installed

One of the most widely used Linux distribution’s currently is CentOS 6/7 and in this distribution the "Data::Dumper Perl" module is not installed by default.

SSH

SSH is a program for logging into a remote machine and for executing commands on a remote machine. This is software that we use to log in to a Linux environment. Most systems have this software installed by default but if the Veeam server is having issues logging into a Linux environment you should check if SSH is installed.

The configuration of your SSH install must allow using tunneled clear text passwords. Info on how to do this can be found on this KB: http://www.veeam.com/kb1512

SCP

SCP copies files between hosts on a network. It uses SSH for data transfer, and uses the same authentication and provides the same security as SSH. We use this software as our file mover on Linux. It is common for Centos core to not include this SCP module in the default install.

"mlocate", "gzip" and "tar"

"mlocate" is a new implementation of locate, a tool to find files anywhere in the file system based on their name, using a fixed pattern or a regular expression. We utilize "mlocate" to locate files on a Linux system.

"gzip" and "tar" are archive tools very much like WinZip. We use these to compress and decompress files going to and from the server.

All of these files and there required configurations must be installed on the Linux environment prior to its usage with Veeam Backup and Replication to fully use all of our features.

More Information

http://www.veeam.com/kb2007 merged

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Missing Performance data in Veeam ONE Reporter

January 5, 2017, 6:51 am

≫ Next: How to update or change the Veeam ONE License

≪ Previous: Required modules and permissions for Multi-OS FLR and Repository support for Linux

Challenge

Performance reports may be missing data if data collection is set to run every 4 hours or more frequently because a vCenter Server updates the history table only once every few hours.

Cause

Performance reports are not updated because vCenter Server updates the history table only once every few hours.

Solution

As of Version 8.0 Collection jobs cannot be scheduled in more than 3 hour intervals. If data issues persist adjust to run your collection jobs to run every 8 hours, but not more often. This will guarantee the performance data will be collected correctly.

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How to update or change the Veeam ONE License

January 5, 2017, 6:58 am

≫ Next: Veeam One - Steps to Compile Logs

≪ Previous: Missing Performance data in Veeam ONE Reporter

Challenge

How to apply a new license file or change an existing license file for Veeam ONE

Cause

License file is out of data for Veeam ONE

Solution

To change install or update an existing Veeam ONE License please follow instructions below.

1.   Log onto the machine where Veeam ONE is installed
2.   Open Veeam ONE
3.   From the Top navigation bar select Help -> License information
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4. Then Select Install License
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5. Browse to and then select the License file (.lic) file that you would like to use for Veeam ONE.

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Veeam One - Steps to Compile Logs

January 5, 2017, 7:40 am

≫ Next: Removing a Host from Monitoring in Veeam One 9.5

≪ Previous: How to update or change the Veeam ONE License

Challenge

In some cases, logs will need to be reviewed by Veeam Support to help diagnose issues.

Solution

Monitor Client logs (If Remote Monitor client is being used these logs may be requested in addition to server logs) –
Open Veeam ONE Monitor and navigate to Help -> Support Information
Once complete click Open folder to open location of extracted logs then upload to Customer portal or FTP as explain below.
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Server Logs –
In Veeam One Monitor console navigate to Options > Server Settings > Other Settings > Launch Support Utility
or
Browse to or run "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Veeam\Veeam ONE Settings\VeeamOneSettings.exe". In the lower left corner click Export Logs.
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Exporting logs may take a while. When it is finished, you will be asked to choose the location for the logs to be saved to.
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Please attach these to your case, or in the event that the total attachment size is under 3.5MB, you may attach via email reply.
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If none of these options for upload are working, please notify Veeam Support and an engineer will provide FTP credentials for the case. Once you receive the FTP link, follow the below instructions to upload the logs via FTP. You can start by copy and pasting the URL with credentials, as this has the credentials built into the link. Once you have copied the URL, you can use a Windows\File Explorer browser (windows key + e) and paste the link into that browser, or your preferred FTP client.

Note: Internet Explorer, Firefox, or any other browser will not work for the FTP upload.

1. Open Windows\File Explorer.
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2. Paste URL with credentials.
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3. Drag and Drop the Zipped folder or individual logs into the browser.
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4. Once completed, e-mail your Veeam Support engineer to inform them the logs have been successfully uploaded to ensure the quickest review and response.

More Information

Below are the relative log path lists for Veeam One. If there are difficulties compiling the logging requested via the Veeam One support tool instructions above, please obtain the files from the appropriate directory below and provide Veeam Support a .zip file copy.

Veeam ONE Monitor - C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Veeam\Veeam ONE Monitor
Veeam Reporter\Business View Service logs - C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Veeam\Veeam ONE
Veeam Reporter Web logs - C:\Program Files\Veeam\Veeam ONE\Veeam ONE Reporter Web\Veeam\Veeam ONE Reporter
Veeam Business View Web logs - C:\Program Files\Veeam\Veeam ONE\Veeam ONE Business View Web\Generated
VeeamOneSettings - C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Veeam\VeeamOneSettings

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Removing a Host from Monitoring in Veeam One 9.5

January 5, 2017, 8:10 am

≫ Next: Error "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" during mailbox backup with Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365

≪ Previous: Veeam One - Steps to Compile Logs

Challenge

To assist in removing hosts from monitoring if it causes a conflict with the amount of CPU socket licenses they have available or they no longer wish to monitor this host.

Cause

In Veeam One 9.5 we changed the way that we select which hosts to monitor. This has caused some confusion so this How-to will show how to remove hosts that you don’t want to be monitored from Veeam One.

Solution

In Veeam 9.5 we removed the setting for disabling Hosts right from the menu. Now we do it through the Managed VM’s tab. Removing a host this way will also remove the sockets that were used for that host. You should see the licensed socket count change after this KB has been finished.

The first thing to do is go into the Server Settings for Veeam One.

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After the server settings window is open we are going to go into the Monitored VM’s tab and hit the ‘Create New…’

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This will open a new window where we will put in the information for this new exclusion rule. In this window name and describe the rule in any way you want. Click next when you are finished.

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In the next window we will click ‘Add…” and then ‘Infrastructure Tree’.

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When the tree shows up in a new window, go ahead and find the host you no longer wish to be in Veeam One.

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Once the host is selected click ‘OK’ and hit ‘Next’. This will send you to the last window which will give you an overview of the change. Just hit finish and your all done.

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More Information

Once the host is selected click ‘OK’ and hit ‘Next’. This will send you to the last window which will give you an overview of the change. Just hit finish and your all done.

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Error "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" during mailbox backup with Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365

January 6, 2017, 7:08 am

≫ Next: Create VSS processing exclusion for vCenter Database

≪ Previous: Removing a Host from Monitoring in Veeam One 9.5

Challenge

Mailbox backup may fail with error:
"Processing mailbox %mailbox@name.com% failed with error: Object reference not set to an instance of an object."

You will also find these entries in "C:\ProgramData\Veeam\Backup365\Logs\Veeam.Archiver.Service_%date_time%.log" log:


Processing mailbox: mailbox@name.com...
Syncing folder items: name...
Sync time: 0.562066
Changed items: 26, deleted items: 0
Estimated changed items size: 1.77 MB
Error: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
Stack:
   at Veeam.Archiver.Source.SyncPage.SaveChanges(IFolderRepository repository)
   at Veeam.Archiver.Source.ItemProcessor.ProcessFolder(Byte[] id, ExFolder folder, Byte[] currentState)
   at Veeam.Archiver.Source.ItemProcessor.<>c__DisplayClass6_0.<Process>b__0()
   at Veeam.Archiver.Source.FolderRetry.<>c__DisplayClass14_0`1.<Process>b__0()
   at Veeam.Archiver.Source.FolderRetry.Process(Action action)
   at Veeam.Archiver.Source.FolderRetry.Process[T](Func`1 func)
   at Veeam.Archiver.Source.ItemProcessor.Process(ExFolder folder)
   at Veeam.Archiver.Source.FolderProcessor.DoMailboxWork(CancellationToken cancel)
   at Veeam.Archiver.Source.MailboxAction.DoWork(CancellationToken cancel)
Mailbox processing failed: mailbox@name.com

Solution

We are aware of the issue and currently working on resolution. Once available, hotfix and implementation steps will be attached to this article.

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Create VSS processing exclusion for vCenter Database

January 12, 2017, 12:03 am

≫ Next: Replication job to VMware Virtual Volumes (VVols) fails with VDDK error: 7 (A file access error occurred on the host or guest operating system)

≪ Previous: Error "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" during mailbox backup with Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365

Challenge

The vCenter database in most cases will be automatically excluded from the Application-Aware Image Processing process, preventing the database from being frozen or quiesced. If this does not happen automatically backing up the VM where the vCenter database is stored may fail with the following error.

" VSSControl: Failed to prepare guest for freeze, wait timeout 900 sec."

More information regarding this error can be found in http://www.veeam.com/KB1377

Solution

The solution below will instruct you on how to enable and use the DBExclusion menu that is built-in to Veeam Backup & Replication v7 and higher.

1. Close the Veeam Backup & Replication console.

2. Open Regedit.exe

3. Navigate to the key HKLM

4. Add a new DWORD ‘EnableDBExclusions’>

5. Set the Value to 1

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6. Close the Registry Editor and open Veeam Backup & Replication

7. Open “Database Exclusions” from the Main Menu
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8. In the window that pops up, click Add.

9. Specify the DNS name (case sensitive) or IP address, and Database Name (case sensitive) that you wish to exclude from VSS Freezing and being Quiesced.

10. Specify the Database name (case sensitive) that you wish to exclude from application-aware image processing.

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10. Allow the writer service account access to the Volume Shadow Copy service via the registry:
On the VM you are backing up, open regedit.exe and navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\VSS\VssAccessControl
If a DWORD value for the account assigned to the writer service is present in this key, it must be set to 1. In most cases, the relevant service account appears in services.msc as the log-on account for the service listed in KB2041. However, some writers have special accounts. For example, in MS SQL Server 2012 and later, if the DWORD value “NT SERVICE\SQLWriter” is present in the VssAccessControl key, it must be set to 1.

On next job run the specified database will be excluded from the Application-Aware Image Processing freeze task.

*Note - If you are using a default or unnamed SQL instance (example: MSSQLSERVER) then only the server name (or IP address) should be added in the "Add Database" screen.

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Replication job to VMware Virtual Volumes (VVols) fails with VDDK error: 7 (A file access error occurred on the host or guest operating system)

January 12, 2017, 5:12 am

≫ Next: Veeam Backup & Replication - SureBackup Configuration Guide

≪ Previous: Create VSS processing exclusion for vCenter Database

Challenge

Replication job to will fail with the error below:

Task.<VM name>.vm-<vm-ref> will contain following error:
[TIMESTAMP] <21> Info [AP] (5e06) disconnecting
[TIMESTAMP] <55> Error [AP] (5e06) error: VDDK error: 7 (A file access error occurred on the host or guest operating system). Value: 0x0000000000000007
[TIMESTAMP] <55> Error Failed to write to a virtual disk

Cause

Due to a change in VMware vSphere 6.0 Update 1, replication to VVol datastores is no longer possible with either Veeam or vSphere replication. This article will be updated in case more recent VMware vSphere updates fix this newly introduced issue.

Here is an official statement from VMware VDDK release notes:
Avoid creating snapshots for restore on VVol datastores. Due to Virtual Volume (VVol) implementation in the vSphere 6.0 release, VMware recommends against creating a snapshot (then reverting and deleting it) when restoring files on a VVol datastore. This is because writing to a non-leaf disk (such as a snapshot backing file) is considered a layering violation and throws an error on many VVol storage devices. Writing to the leaf disk of the snapshot is not a layering violation. The restore snapshot remains mandatory for SAN transport, which is not supported on VVol datastores anyway.

Solution

Replication job to VMware Virtual Volumes (VVols) is no longer supported.

More Information

For more information please review http://pubs.vmware.com/Release_Notes/en/developer/vddk/65/vsphere-vddk-65-release-notes.html

↧

Veeam Backup & Replication - SureBackup Configuration Guide

January 12, 2017, 6:42 am

≫ Next: Dell EqualLogic Group Manager throws an error "Request target not found" after successful backup

≪ Previous: Replication job to VMware Virtual Volumes (VVols) fails with VDDK error: 7 (A file access error occurred on the host or guest operating system)

Challenge

This guide was created to help you configure and use SureBackup in Veeam Backup & Replication.

Cause

There is a lot of flexibility that you can use vPower and SureBackup labs for in a VMware environment, so learning how to leverage it is a fantastic tool set to employ.

Solution

Download SureBackup Configuration Guide for Veeam Backup & Replication v8

Download SureBackup Configuration Guide for Veeam Backup & Replication v9.5

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