VMware Image Backup fails with the message "Failed to initiate virtual machine backup or restore.

"

Symptoms When attempting to run a VMware Image Backup of a client, an error dialog appears containing the message "Failed to initiate virtual machine backup or restore." and the backup is never initiated. Cause There are several possible causes for this issue:
1. One or more Avamar Image Proxy virtual machines are using an IP address that is also configured on another virtual machine in the environment. This issue will occur even if the virtual machine is powered off, is in a different datacenter in vCenter, or not connected to a virtual network, etc. Most commonly, this occurs if an old proxy is retired but never deleted from vCenter. This is a known issue in Avamar 5.0. Bug number: 16357. 2. There is a hostname mismatch between the proxy's configuration and its registration information in Avamar Administrator, for example a case mismatch in the hostname. 3. All available Avamar Image Proxy virtual machines are configured for Windows backups and the client being backed up is a Linux virtual machine or vice-versa.

Resolution The resolution for this issue depends on the cause of the problem:
1. The issue caused by having the same IP address configured on multiple virtual machines is resolved in Avamar 5.0 SP1. 2. To resolve hostname conflict issues, delete the proxy from Avamar Administrator, reboot the proxy VM and follow the directions in the System Administration Guide to reconfigure and re-register the proxy. 3. If there are both Windows and Linux virtual machines in the environment, ensure that there is at least one proxy configured to back up Windows virtual machines and one proxy configured to back up Linux virtual machines.

Please refer to knowledge base article esg112278 for detailed explanation.

Generated by Jive on 2013-03-13-07:00 1