Setting VDR (設定 VMWare Data Recovery 服務)

Solving the "Another task is already in progress" error in VMWare ESXi Server

by  Albert Tedjadiputra

Hi guys, just wanted to add something here,

I'm using ESXi 4.0, and i was facing the problem of "Another task is already in progress" error, practically the VM could not be used at all (turn on restart or even force off).

in ESXi 4.0 SSH console, using the command "service mgmt-vmware restart" will do no good :-(

therefore the solution is by using: services.sh restart command, quite simple and it doesn't kill the whole VM process which is currently running on production, the only thing that is affected is the VCB backup, it failed when that command issued. Finally in your vCenter console, right click on your ESXi host in which you run the command and then click on reconnect.

hope this can be a blessing for everyone.

Cheers, 

Albert

Note: enabling SSH on ESXi 

http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/ESXi_enable_SSH.php

1.

Use SSH to perform service console restart

The restart doesn't affect the working VM in production so it is safe to run this command during busy hours

或此頁面 quoted from http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/ESXi_enable_SSH.php：

ESXi 3.5 does ship with the ability to run SSH, but this is disabled by default (and is not supported). If you just need to access the console of ESXi, then you only need to perform steps 1 - 3.

1) At the console of the ESXi host, press ALT-F1 to access the console window.

2) Enter unsupported in the console and then press Enter. You will not see the text you type in.

3) If you typed in unsupported correctly, you will see the Tech Support Mode warning and a password prompt. Enter the password for the root login.

4) You should then see the prompt of ~ #. Edit the file inetd.conf (enter the command vi /etc/inetd.conf).

5) Find the line that begins with #ssh and remove the #. Then save the file. If you're new to using vi, then move the cursor down to #ssh line and then press the Insert key. Move the cursor over one space and then hit backspace to delete the #. Then press ESC and type in :wq to save the file and exit vi. If you make a mistake, you can press the ESC key and then type it :q! to quit vi without saving the file.

6) Once you've closed the vi editor, run the command /sbin/services.sh restart to restart the management services. You'll now be able to connect to the ESXi host with a SSH client.

Tip - with some applications like WinSCP, the default encryption cipher used is AES. If you change that to Blowfish you will likely see significantly faster transfers.

Update for ESXi 3.5 Update 2 - With Update 2 the service.sh command no longer restarts the inetd process which enables SSH access. You can either restart your host or run ps | grep inetd to determine the process ID for the inetd process. The output of the command will be something like 1299 1299 busybox      inetd, and the process ID is 1299. Then run kill -HUP <process_id> (kill -HUP 1299 in this example) and you'll then be able to access the host via SSH.

You can also download an oem.tgz file which will enable SSH (and FTP). Copy the file to a datastore with the VI client and then to bootbank with the command cp /vmfs/volumes/<datastore>/oem.tgz /bootbank/oem.tgz and then reboot.

另一個 3948 錯誤，會伴隨 unable to access file unspecified filename since it is locked 的錯誤訊息:

3960 error:

Option 2 - Disable VSS application quiescing using VMware Tools (在 windows 2003 server 中):

Open the C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware Tools\Tools.conf file in a text editor, such as Notepad. If the file does not exist, create it.

Add these lines to the file:

[vmbackup]

vss.disableAppQuiescing = true

Save the file and exit the editor.

Restart the VMware Tools Service for the changes to take effect. Click Start > Run, type services.msc, and click OK.

Right-click the VMware Tools Service and click Restart.

原文引用：

http://www.ntueees.tp.edu.tw/wordpress/?p=1040

機房vm化後限於$$$的關係，datastores未100%建置完成，雖有qnap牌8T供使用，但畢竟不是太高檔貨，2個NIC就想拿來模擬HBA那是異想天開，流量保證讓你有接不完的抱怨電話。因此所有的VMDK就存在DL585 G7本機SAS上，深怕哪天SAS死掉又沒備援HD不知如何是好，所幸VDR可備份在類SAMBA磁碟，至少有「備」無患！

但VDR仍有限制，至少測試上是這樣的，第一個限制是基於校能關係，它「建議」遠端儲存空間不要大於500G，第二個限制是你不可以「同時」備份許多VM，它也會死機，全部error或鎖死給你看。在第二個限制上我認為是最麻煩的一件事，一旦鎖死就必須把VDR看開機。

上圖為標準的error -102 (I/O error)，http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1037859

另有最常出現的error -2241 ( Destination index invalid/damaged)http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&docTypeID=DT_KB_1_1&externalId=1018060

若按照上面KB可以解決那最好，事實上我即便是按KB來做一樣無法解決問題，而且問題更是千奇百怪，例如umount磁碟之後仍然可以連線該磁碟，超神奇的是df指令不會列出該磁碟；再例如出錯之後於Configuration下的Destination出現/dev/hdb,/dev/hdc/,dev/hdd,/dev/hde等奇怪磁碟；再來一例是若我將mount進的磁碟(samba)調整大小時，它會另外再多加相同名稱的destinations，而且容量還秀出不同，然後二個destinations會mount在一起，超神奇。無論如何神奇，我最後都重開機解決，login到RDV command並無助於解決我的問題。

最重要的備份不能同時進行，四個vm同時備份還可以，但有出錯的機率，三個vm差不多，你可以用backup job的方式將三個vm同時備份，VDR預設時間都是在在傍晚6時到隔天6時，接著每個job再間隔一小時以免死機。

原文引用 http://blog.vmpros.nl/2010/06/21/vmware-data-recovery-failed-to-create-snapshot-for-server-vcb-api-exeption/#more-2855

My backup starts > Create a new snapshot > Few seconds later… the snapshot is removed and get this warning..

 

Solution:

Edit the VDR machine hostfile and add the ESX + vCenter server hosts by name and ip:

- Open the VDR console: login with Root / vmw@re

- Type: “vi /etc/hosts”

- Add your ESX hosts + name;

- : x to safe your configuration;

Rerun your backup schedule: