Jobs Incorrectly Report Snapshots are Not Deleted

Valid on Windows platforms.

Symptom

When you back up and restore virtual machines running on ESX Server, the operation deletes the snapshots for the guest virtual machine successfully, however, the jobs fail and the Activity Log reports that the snapshots were not deleted. The following is an example of the message that appears in the Activity Log:

AW0585 RMDMISLARCRW009 01/06/2013 11:03:38 AM 54

Failed to delete Virtual Machine Snapshot for the VM on ESX/VC server.

Solution

This behavior occurs due to the length of time that was required to delete the snapshots. By default, the agent reports timeout error messages when there is a period of inactivity for the job for 10 or more minutes. Because of the length time that was required to delete the snapshots, the agent interpreted the delay (deleting the snapshots) as a failed operation and returned message AW0585 in the Activity Log.

Use one of the following solutions to modify this behavior:

• Increase the timeout value: By default, the agent waits 10 minutes before reporting a timeout error. To increase the timeout value, open the following Registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ComputerAssociates\CA ARCServe Backup\ClientAgent\Parameters\VimTimeout

• Change the value data of the DWORD VimTimeout to a value of 10 through 20 (inclusive).
• Note: You may need to create the DWORD VimTimeout.
• Resubmit the job.
• Perform disk consolidation on the guest virtual machine: Use the VMware VI Client to consolidate the disks and then resubmit the job.
• Note: You can use this solution only on vSphere 5.0 (ESX Server) environments.