vCenter Server Management - Backup to NAS

[CallMeBobMonks]

I am trying to backup the vCenter Server Management appliance. I am backing up to a NAS drive, which doesn't need any credentials to connect to. I have set up the protocal as the following SMB://*NAS_IP_ADDRESS*/OtherBackups/vCenterServerBackup but for some reason it keeps failing with the error "Failed to mount the remote storage."

Anyone have any ideas on what I can do? I am backing up to a BUFFALO TeraStation TS1400R NAS.

[Lalegre]

Hey CallMeBobMonks​,

Please make sure that you have enabled SMB v2 as this si the protocol that is uses for doing the backup. I was looking to Buffalo documentation and that can be done with just one check: https://www.buffalotech.com/knowledge-base/windows-10-cannot-access-shares-on-nas.

Also if you cannot backup using the protocol you can switch to NFS v3 if Buffalo supports it (I assume yes) as mention on this VMware Blog Post: vCenter Server 6.7 Update 2: What’s New - VMware vSphere Blog

[CallMeBobMonks]

Hi,

SMB v2 is already configured on the NAS drive. I also tried it via NFS but that didn't work either...

[scott28tt]

Moderator: Thread moved to the vCenter Server area.

[Lalegre]

To get more insight of the issue. What happens if you try to mount in manually con the VCSA from inside the Guest OS?

Are you sure you are allowing everyone to access that SMB Share? What about ACLs, are you applying them?

[depping]

I would definitely recommend testing to mount the share from another machine as well. Wouldn't surprise me if it is a security/acl issue as Leandro also mentions. Personally I would probably also test to ping the NAS device from the vCenter Server shell.

[CallMeBobMonks]

I am able to mount and navigate to the SMB share from a windows PC. I can map a drive to it and I can navigate to it without any issues or being asked for credentials.

[CallMeBobMonks]

The ping test works both ways and both devices can see each other.

[Lalegre]

I know as per VMware documentation everything should work as expected but here there is a whole thread about the SMB backup that makes me doubt about it: VCSA 6.7 U2 - New Backup Over SMB

As you can see that thread has been updated since 2019 till now going for multiple versions.

However what do you see in this logs whenever you try to access the SMB share: /var/log/vmware/applmgmt/applmgmt.log

[depping]

try doing the mount from the vCenter shell that should give you an error message probably.

[CallMeBobMonks]

depping How would I do that? I'll give this a try tomorrow.

[CallMeBobMonks]

Lalegre​ I'll get back to you on this tomorrow... just off site at the moment. Thanks for your help so far.

[depping]

you SSH in to the vCenter Server appliance, then use the "mount" command:

mount -t smbfs -o username=<your_username>,password=<your_password> //server/share /mountpoint

[nachogonzalez]

Hey Duncan, tanks for the tip. you saved me.
Just one tiny correction smbfs is not supported anymore its cifs now.

If anyone encounters this issue:

mount -t cifs -o username=<your_username>,password=<your_password> //server/share /mountpoint

A few other things i noticed:
- When adding the login credentials use the user@domain format
- use the SMB Server FQDN or IP
- Please note that (at least in VCSA 7 u1) when you hit an error when configuring the backup you will need to close the wizard and start again because there is no refresh. 

[nachogonzalez]

mount -t cifs -o username=<your_username>,password=<your_password> //server/share /mountpoint