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VernBolinius
Contributor
Contributor
‎04-16-2024 04:14 PM

Solved: Invalid parameter: Validation failed for directory path /srv/sftpuser/data...

I recent had a HUGE amount of trouble getting VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) SDDC Manager backups working with my SFTP server.  After much troubleshooting, and with the help and input from VMware (by Broadcom) colleagues Peter Kieren and @DougBaer , I FINALLY got it resolved.  Sharing will hopefully help others avoid the frustration.

My environment:

  • VCF 5.0
  • SFTP server built on Ubuntu 22.04 using this excellent guide: https://www.ionos.ca/digitalguide/server/configuration/set-up-an-ubuntu-sftp-server/.  Note that I did not need to separately install OpenSSH server as it is a checkbox option during the Ubuntu build.
  • Here’s the Match Group section at the end of my /etc/ssh/sshd_config file which DID NOT work.  NOTE: I changed nothing else in the file, I just added the Match Group section:
Match Group sftpgroup
X11Forwarding no
AllowTcpForwarding no
ForceCommand internal-sftp
PasswordAuthentication yes
PermitTunnel no
AllowAgentForwarding no

 

  • My VCF Backup configuration:

VernBolinius_0-1713307730653.png

 

The symptom is the error message received after clicking “SAVE”:

“Invalid parameter: Validation failed for directory path /srv/sftpuser/data on server 10.0.0.5. Please make sure backup directory is intact and sftp server has write permissions on backup path.”

 

VernBolinius_1-1713307730664.png

 

Based on a post by @DougBaer  in this forum (https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Cloud-Foundation/Backup-Server-for-SDDC-Manager-and-NSX-Man...), I added his suggested lines to my Match Group:

Match Group sftpgroup
X11Forwarding no
AllowTcpForwarding no
ForceCommand internal-sftp
PasswordAuthentication yes
PermitTunnel no
AllowAgentForwarding no
HostKeyAlgorithms=+ssh-rsa
PubkeyAcceptedAlgorighms=+ssh-rsa

 

When restarting sshd, I got the following error:

Job for ssh.service failed because the control process exited with error code.

See “systemctl status ssh.service” and “journalctl -xeu ssh.service” for details.

 

After much trial and error, we realized that those very important two lines must come ABOVE the Match Group:

HostKeyAlgorithms=+ssh-rsa
PubkeyAcceptedAlgorighms=+ssh-rsa

Match Group sftpgroup
X11Forwarding no
AllowTcpForwarding no
ForceCommand internal-sftp
PasswordAuthentication yes
PermitTunnel no
AllowAgentForwarding no

 

The sshd service will then successfully restart and the VCF SDDC Manager Backup proceeds without issue.

 

 

 

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