IC98858: INCORRECT RETURN CODE = 0 (ZERO) ON 'BACKUP VM' AND 'RESTORE VM'

APAR status

• Closed as Vendor Solution.

Error description

• Interactive or scripted 'BACKUP VM' or 'RESTORE VM' commands can
  show a successful completion of rc=0 when they should return a
  return code other than zero.
  Backups scheduled with the Tivoli Storage Manager Scheduler
  display the correct return code.
  
  Example :
  
  dsmc backup vm nonexistentvmguest -mode=ifi 2>&1
  
  IBM Tivoli Storage Manager
  Command Line Backup-Archive Client Interface
    Client Version 6, Release 4, Level 1.5
    Client date/time: 29/11/2013 17:02:09
  (c) Copyright by IBM Corporation and other(s) 1990, 2013. All
  Rights Reserved.
  Node Name: <datamover node name>
  Session established with server <server name>: AIX
    Server Version 6, Release 3, Level 4.0
    Server date/time: 29/11/2013 17:02:09  Last access: 29/11/2013
  17:01:49
  
  Accessing as node: <target node name>
  Full BACKUP VM of virtual machines 'nonexistentvmguest'.
  
  Backup VM command started.  Total number of virtual machines to
  process: 1
  ANS4155E Virtual Machine 'nonexistentvmguest' could not be found
  on VMware server.
  Accessing as node: <target node name>
  
  ANS4174E Full VM backup of VMware Virtual Machine
  'nonexistentvmguest' failed with RC=4390 mode=Incremental
  Forever - Incremental, target node name='<target node name>',
  data mover node name='<datamover node name>'
  
  ANS1228E Sending of object 'nonexistentvmguest' failed.
  ANS4291E Virtual Machine could not be found on VMware server.
  Statistics for Virtual Machine 'nonexistentvmguest'.
  
  Total number of objects inspected:            1
  Total number of objects backed up:            0
  Total number of objects updated:              0
  Total number of objects rebound:              0
  Total number of objects deleted:              0
  Total number of objects expired:              0
  Total number of objects failed:               1
  Total number of subfile objects:              0
  Total number of bytes inspected:              0  B
  Total number of bytes transferred:            0  B
  Data transfer time:                        0.00 sec
  Network data transfer rate:                0.00 KB/sec
  Aggregate data transfer rate:              0.00 KB/sec
  Objects compressed by:                        0%
  Total data reduction ratio:                0,00%
  Subfile objects reduced by:                   0%
  Elapsed processing time:               00:00:00
  Removing snapshot for virtual machine 'nonexistentvmguest'
  
  Backup VM command complete
  Total number of virtual machines backed up successfully: 0
  Total number of virtual machines failed: 1
    virtual machine nonexistentvmguest
  Total number of virtual machines processed: 1
  
  To display the return code, run the command :
  echo %errorlevel%
  
  A 0 (zero) is returned instead of the expected 12
  
  Tivoli Storage Manager Versions Affected:
  Tivoli Storage Manager Client versions 6.4.1 and later on
  Windows and Linux
  
  Initial Impact: Medium
  
  Additional Keywords: rc return code successful %errorlevel%
  ERRORLEVEL  VMWare tdp4ve
  

Local fix

• A possible workaround can be to add the 'testflag
  SHOWALLCONSISTENTRC' to the client options file as this would
  print out these missing messages when you use dsmc
  interactively or in a script :
  
  ANS1900I Return code is 12.
  ANS1901I Highest return code was 12.
  
  This will not change the ERRORLEVEL value but these command
  output lines can then be parsed to report the correct result to
  the calling process.
  

Problem summary

Problem conclusion

Temporary fix

Comments

• This problem occurs due to a problem in the VMware VDDK 5.5 run-
  time library as described here:
  
   http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2066935
  
  If and when VMware provides a fixing VDDK level, it will be
  considered for inclusion in an appropriate future Tivoli Storage
  
  Manager release or maintenance level.
  
  The fix in VDDK 6.0 was included in TSM client 7.1.2.
  

APAR Information

• APAR is sysrouted FROM one or more of the following:

• APAR is sysrouted TO one or more of the following:

Fix information

Applicable component levels