Tag: backup

Veeam Backups Failing – Network path not found

Recently a backup job was created to backup and VM from an ESXi host to a backup repository on a QNAP. Everything appeared to be configured correctly and all usernames and passwords were correct but it would still fail every time it was tested.

This is the error message I would see each time.

The network path was not found. Agent failed to process method {Stg.OpenReadWrite}.

After testing and removing and adding almost every part of the configuration again I finally figured out what the issue was. The credentials for the QNAP shared were correct but for some reason when I removed them from the credential manager and added them again the backup worked.

I have no idea why this worked because when I would choose the backup repository to use it could see used and free space details along with existing backups. The backup is now running without issue so it’s worth a try if you are having a similar issue.

Install Veeam Endpoint Backup on Hyper-V Server 2012 R2

Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 is a bare metal hypervisor which Microsoft makes available for free with the idea being that it will be managed remotely. Since it is only intended to be a host for VMs there is no GUI and the basic setup is done using the command line or Powershell. While Hyper-V Server is perfect for it’s intended use there are times when more applications like backup and monitoring software would be useful.

Thankfully Microsoft has not stripped out all the parts of the OS which support the use of applications with a GUI. There may not be a normal desktop or start menu but a large number of applications can still be used. The application I install most on Hyper-V Server is Veeam Endpoint Backup which I use as a quick and easy backup solution for test servers.

The install process is the same for most applications, just the file names and directories would be different.

  • From another computer on the network open \\192.168.0.50\C$ (where 192.168.0.50 is the IP of the Hyper-V server)
  • Enter the login details of an account with administrator privileges
  • Copy the install files to the C: drive of the server, I usually create a folder with a short name like C:\Veeam
  • Connect to the Hyper-V server using RDP
  • At the command line navigate to the folder created on the C: drive
  • Run the install by typing the full file name (I changed the install EXE name to installveeam.exe when I copied it across)
  • Follow the normal prompts to install Veeam including .NET framework

After the install has finished Veeam can be run by navigating to C:\Program Files\Veeam\Endpoint Backup\ and running the file veeam.endpoint.backup.exe

Most of the usual functions work with the exception of creating recovery media and some of file browse windows. I have successfully used recovery media created on another Server 2012 R2 system to recover a Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 using Veeam.

 

ESXi 5.5 error occurred consolidating disks

The setup is two ESXi 5.5 hosts, one is the main host with three live servers and the second is the backup host with three server replicas, Acronic Applicance and vCenter Server. There is a separate physical machine used as the backup target for the scheduled backup tasks. In addition to backing up to the physical target the three virtual servers are replicated to the secondary host each night.

Nightly backups of the three virtual machines using the Acronis appliance were failing and the Acronis appliance was powering off. According to the Acronis log it was running out of space while running the backups. Normally it is just a matter of deleting all the snapshots using vSphere Client but this time one of them just would not delete.

After reloading the vSphere client one of the replica VMs had a warning saying that it’s disks needed to be consolidated. Several attempts resulted in a error saying the disk images were locked. The Acronis appliance was turned off but it turns out that it was locking files relating to the replica VM. I had to boot and then shutdown the Acronis appliance three times before it would release the lock on the files and the consolidation worked perfectly followed by the removal of the snapshot.