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#1 2021-08-28 13:55:22

michib
Member
Registered: 2020-02-02
Posts: 28

XSIbackup-DC 1.5.0.14: cannot backup at datastore root

Dear,

Version 1.5.0.14 seems to have changed behaviour with respect to datastores. I am using an NFS datastore to backup VMs. With 1.5.0.0 no problem taking a backup inside /vmfs/volumes/nfsdatastore. Now I get error:

./xsibackup --backup "VMs(testXX)" "/vmfs/volumes/nfsdatastore/" 

/!\ It looks like you are trying to backup to the root of an (c)ESXi DS
Please, set some repository at least one level under the datastore

Then if I backup inside a level 1 directory Test I get other errors:

2021-08-27T18:53:30 | Error code 1474 at file common.c, line 1474 | Error description: error running command, returned: 127
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2021-08-27T18:53:30 | Error code 1499 at file common.c, line 1499 | Error description: could not get remote FS available space at /vmfs/volumes/nfsdatastore/Test, details: No such file or directory
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Available space in backup volume:           -1 (17179.87 PB)

backup completed ok and created inside datastore under Test all repository stuff.



thanks,
regards,
M. Baresi

Last edited by michib (2021-08-28 14:19:56)

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#2 2021-08-28 16:48:22

admin
Administrator
Registered: 2017-04-21
Posts: 2,057

Re: XSIbackup-DC 1.5.0.14: cannot backup at datastore root

In regards to these errors:

2021-08-27T18:53:30 | Error code 1474 at file common.c, line 1474 | Error description: error running command, returned: 127
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2021-08-27T18:53:30 | Error code 1499 at file common.c, line 1499 | Error description: could not get remote FS available space at /vmfs/volumes/nfsdatastore/Test, details: No such file or directory
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Available space in backup volume:           -1 (17179.87 PB)

They can happen when backing up to some ESXi builds that come with a somewhat broken OpenSSL implementation. We have removed that dependency in version 1.5.1.0 so that compatibility is extended to almost any build of ESXi and Linux.

Regarding the creation of repositories in the root of a volume: NO, don't do that.
Leaving aside all considerations regarding less experienced users, which count and do count a lot, assuming that you are a really experienced sysadmin: why would you want to do that?, what is the advantage of doing so?:
What if tomorrow you want to create another repository in that volume?
What if you need to add some replicas to the volume?

Through the years we have seen all kind of situations in which people were creating nested repositories, copying replicas inside repository folders etc..., we got to the conclusion that we had some responsability in helping users to maintain some minimum order. Preventing weird things from happening is part of that responsability.

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#3 2021-09-04 09:40:47

michib
Member
Registered: 2020-02-02
Posts: 28

Re: XSIbackup-DC 1.5.0.14: cannot backup at datastore root

Dear,

Thanks for you answer, I was OOO so I'm reading it now.

Regarding the creation of repositories in the root of a volume. I was complaining that you changed behaviour of XSIbackup-DC inside a minor revision of the software. Sorry but this is not anyway a good software developing practice. You could have issued a warning saying: "beware the next major version won't allow this...". Then I understand your point but in my particular case using Synology as NAS backend is very easy to export NFS directories so that managing a new arrangement in backups is easy.

Regarding the particular available space issue I will update to 1.5.1.1 and let you know.

thanks,
Michele

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#4 2021-09-04 14:06:16

michib
Member
Registered: 2020-02-02
Posts: 28

Re: XSIbackup-DC 1.5.0.14: cannot backup at datastore root

Dear,

regarding the particular available space issue, unfortunately, it is still there in 1.5.1.1:

2021-09-04T14:08:01 | Error code 1517 at file common.c, line 1517 | Error description: error running command, returned: 127
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2021-09-04T14:08:01 | Error code 1542 at file common.c, line 1542 | Error description: could not get remote FS available space at /vmfs/volumes/nfsdatastore/Test, details: No such file or directory
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Available space in backup volume:           -1 (17179.87 PB)

Backup is launched on /vmfs/volumes/nfsdatastore/Test maybe XSIbackup should try to get free space at /vmfs/volumes/nfsdatastore/ instead?

thanks, regards,
Michele

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#5 2021-09-06 11:15:57

admin
Administrator
Registered: 2017-04-21
Posts: 2,057

Re: XSIbackup-DC 1.5.0.14: cannot backup at datastore root

Please, provide the job string as well as the full output when you request support, otherwise our view on the issue is limited and we can't do anything but to guess.

The space of a volume (total, free, used), is the same in any point in the volume.

As we state in the 1.5.1.0 change log, there is a new base64 binary in the bin folder which must be updated in the eventual remote server. We also added an xsibackup binary in the /bin folder some releases ago.

In your case we have to guess whether you are running a local command, if so: please make sure that you have set execute permissions in the /bin folder inside the installation root directory too.

When you run the install script, all these things are automatically tweaked. If you just update the main binary manually, you may miss something.

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#6 2021-09-09 12:32:00

michib
Member
Registered: 2020-02-02
Posts: 28

Re: XSIbackup-DC 1.5.0.14: cannot backup at datastore root

Dear,

The full job string was stated in my first post, it's a simple --backup on an NFS datastore. Here's again:

./xsibackup --backup "VMs(testXX)" "/vmfs/volumes/nfsdatastore/Test"

Nothing else strange in command output, only that error I posted.

I've updated by unzipping and lauching

chmod -R 0700 xsibackup* bin gui

to set execution permissions (as found inside README.txt).

Really I'm the only one experiencing this? I have this behaviour on 3 esxi 6.7 nodes (with different patchlevels).

thanks, regards,
Michele

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#7 2021-09-10 10:09:36

admin
Administrator
Registered: 2017-04-21
Posts: 2,057

Re: XSIbackup-DC 1.5.0.14: cannot backup at datastore root

What version are you using?
Have you updated the installation to latest version?.
There are some versions of (c)ESXi that require latest version. Please do update and try again.
Please use the installer, don't just copy the xsibackup binary, there are new binaries in he package.

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#8 2021-09-28 13:59:59

michib
Member
Registered: 2020-02-02
Posts: 28

Re: XSIbackup-DC 1.5.0.14: cannot backup at datastore root

Dear,

admin wrote:

Please use the installer, don't just copy the xsibackup binary, there are new binaries in he package.

I finally had the opportunity to test with installer on one of our production node. Having updated with install solved the problem.
It would be great if you could update also manual procedure cause on production nodes I prefer checking every step performed on datastores.

thanks, regards,
Michele

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#9 2021-09-29 12:11:28

admin
Administrator
Registered: 2017-04-21
Posts: 2,057

Re: XSIbackup-DC 1.5.0.14: cannot backup at datastore root

Just use the installer when upgrading

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#10 2021-09-30 08:08:58

michib
Member
Registered: 2020-02-02
Posts: 28

Re: XSIbackup-DC 1.5.0.14: cannot backup at datastore root

admin wrote:

Just use the installer when upgrading

Dear,

If the customer finds a README that says MANUAL INSTALLATION, maybe the customer is legitimate to think that is up to him to choose whether go for it?

MANUAL INSTALLATION

        Even easier than using the ./install script. Just unzip the main file 
        and then the xsibackup-dc.zip file inside of it, then apply permissions.

        # unzip XSIBackup-DC_*.zip
        # unzip xsibackup-dc.zip        
        # chmod -R 0700 xsibackup* bin gui
        # rm -rf *.zip

        And run: 
        # ./xsibackup-gui

If the only way is using install script, please update your README file accordingly!

It has been a long time since I am using XSIBackup but recently I am a bit disappointed; I think overrall product quality and support quality has suffered a little bit. IMHO XSIBackup-DC is not enterprise production ready, sorry. XSIBackup-Pro was pretty rock solid instead.

thanks, regards,
Michele

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#11 2021-09-30 16:29:02

admin
Administrator
Registered: 2017-04-21
Posts: 2,057

Re: XSIbackup-DC 1.5.0.14: cannot backup at datastore root

Using the installer or installing manually is the same, in any of the cases ALL files are installed. We insist in using the installer cause some people are used to just overwritting the main binary and when doing so they might miss some new file that we have added to the bin folder. We publish this info in the change log too, still some people mis important facts.

We remind important facts all the time. That does not mean that we believe you are not understanding us, it's just a procedure, as we don't know all the details on your installation but just the information that you share with us.

(c)XSIBackup-Pro Classic is a toy when compared to (c)XSIBackup-DC. You may very well have recently fallen into annoying situations while having been lucky enough to have skipped them with older versions.

We have recently added many new features which we believe to be bround breaking and well worth going through an installation. Still if some version is working for you and you have all the features that you need, you don't need to reinstall to upgrade the software.

Latest versions are more stable and our support department statistics show that clearly: less support requests per sold license.

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