Troubleshooting
Problem
The BACKUP VM command is used to backup a VMware guest. The backup fails with the ANS9365E indicating a quiesce error with the VM machine.
Symptom
An example of errors logged follows.
ANS9365E VMware vStorage API error for virtual machine 'MYVM'.
TSM function name : CreateSnapshot_USCORETask
TSM file : vmvisdk.cpp (5259)
API return code : 1939
API error message : An error occurred while quiescing the virtual machine. See the virtual machine's event log for details.
ANS5250E An unexpected error was encountered.
TSM function name : vmVddkFullVMPrePareToOpenVMDKs
TSM function : snapshot targetMoRefP is null
TSM return code : 115
TSM file : ..\..\common\vm\vmbackvddk.cpp (12419)
Diagnosing The Problem
The above errors show a problem with preparing the snapshot of the VM guest. Examine the Vmware VM guest vmware.log. For example :
2014-12-11T00:12:30.566Z| vmx| I120: SnapshotVMXTakeSnapshotComplete: Snapshot 0 failed: Failed to quiesce the virtual machine (40).
This message shows that VMware was unable to take the VM snapshot because it was unable to quiesce the VM guest. For further information, examine the VM guest Windows system event log. For example :
Log Name: System
Source: volsnap
Date: 12/11/2014 11:13:16 PM
Event ID: 8
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: xxxx
Description:
The flush and hold writes operation on volume \\?\Volume{453bfb49-69bf-11e0-b5f1-806e6f6e6963} timed out while waiting for a release writes command.
Log Name: System
Source: volsnap
Date: 12/11/2014 11:13:16 PM
Event ID: 8
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: xxxx
Description:
The flush and hold writes operation on volume C: timed out while waiting for a release writes command.
This shows that Windows was unable to create the requested snapshot because of time-outs to the C: drive.
Resolving The Problem
Microsoft describes this type of event log error with the following article :
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd364883%28v=ws.10%29.aspx
Microsoft offers the following recommendation :
"To avoid having shadow copy operations fail because of operation time-outs, change the schedule for shadow copies so that they occur during periods of time when the system is less busy. "
To avoid this type of error, schedule the backup of the VM guest at a time when the VM guest is less busy, in order to avoid the failure in quiescing the virtual machine.
Was this topic helpful?
Document Information
Modified date:
17 June 2018
UID
swg21694600