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VMware backup - API error message : The server refused connection

Troubleshooting


Problem

Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments is used to backup VMware virtual machines. The backup fails for some machines with the ANS9365E message.

Symptom

The schedule log (dsmsched.log) shows the following messages :


04/05/2014 19:33:38 TSM for Virtual Environments TDP VMware 6.4.0.00
04/05/2014 19:33:38 Creating snapshot for virtual machine 'MYGUEST'
04/05/2014 19:33:53 Backing up Full VM configuration information for 'MYGUEST'
04/05/2014 19:34:02 17,855 VM Configuration [Sent]
04/05/2014 19:34:20
04/05/2014 19:34:20 ANS4174E Full VM backup of VMware Virtual Machine 'MYGUEST' failed with RC=-1 mode=Incremental Forever - Incremental, target node name='MYDC', data mover node name='MYDM'
04/05/2014 19:34:20
04/05/2014 19:34:20 ANS1228E Sending of object 'MYGUEST' failed
04/05/2014 19:34:20 ANS5283E The operation was unsuccessful.

Diagnosing The Problem

Examine the error log (dsmerror.log) for additional errors. For example :


04/05/2014 19:34:08 ANS9365E VMware vStorage API error for virtual machine 'MYGUEST'.


TSM function name : VixDiskLib_Read
TSM file : vmvddksdk.cpp (2770)
API return code : 14009
API error message : The server refused connection
04/05/2014 19:34:08 ANS0361I DIAG: VmProcessExtent(): Retrying failed read: vddksdkRead() rc=-1, startSector=65043968, numSectorsToRead=128
04/05/2014 19:34:08 ANS9365E VMware vStorage API error for virtual machine 'MYGUEST'.
TSM function name : VixDiskLib_Read
TSM file : vmvddksdk.cpp (2770)
API return code : 14009
API error message : The server refused connection
04/05/2014 19:34:08 ANS0361I DIAG: VmProcessExtent(): Read failed: vddksdkRead() rc=-1, startSector=65043968, numSectorsToRead=128
04/05/2014 19:34:20 ANS1228E Sending of object 'MYGUEST' failed
04/05/2014 19:34:20 ANS5283E The operation was unsuccessful.

Resolving The Problem

The messages show that VMware failed the operation. This type of error is known to happen when there is a firewall timeout setting for communications between the VMware host and the data mover host. Verify your firewall and make sure that port 443 does not timeout connections. Also, verify the amount of concurrent work being done. In this example, the following option was used :

VMMAXPARALLEL 5

This indicates that there will be five (5) Virtual machines backed up simultaneously. If your environment cannot sustain this concurrent workload, reduce the value. In this case, reducing the VMMAXPARALLEL value resolved the error.

[{"Product":{"code":"SS8TDQ","label":"Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU058","label":"IBM Infrastructure w\/TPS"},"Component":"Data Protection for VMware","Platform":[{"code":"PF033","label":"Windows"}],"Version":"7.1","Edition":"","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB26","label":"Storage"}}]

Document Information

Modified date:
17 June 2018

UID

swg21670711