Dell PowerPath - Veeam Agent for Linux Limitations

Challenge

If a Linux server has Dell PowerPath devices attached, all the underlying block devices representing the network paths to the server are skipped from processing. This will result in the error “No objects to backup” or PowerPath devices missing from the backup. If non-PowerPath devices are part of the backup scope (i.e., the Entire Computer scope is selected), the backup will technically be green, but the PowerPath devices will be silently skipped.

Cause

Veeam Agent for Linux detects only the DM-Multipath-based devices as aggregated. Additionally, block devices with the same MBR/GPT ID cannot be backed up. Because of this, both individual paths and aggregated devices are considered different block devices and are skipped from processing.

Solution

All individual IO paths must be excluded using the ignoreDevices parameter within the**/etc/veeam/veeam.ini**configuration file.

The ignoreDevicesparameter must be manually created under the [backup] section of theveeam.ini file.

Example

1. Use the following command to list the Dell PowerPath aggregated device name and underlying devices:
   For more information about powermt and PowerPath CLI, please review: CLI and System Messages Reference

powermt display dev=all 

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Example output

[root@localhost ~]# powermt display dev=all
 
Pseudo name=emcpowerea
Symmetrix ID=000343607604
Logical device ID=07BA
Device WWN=60000980000262604497023030364553
state=alive; policy=SymmOpt; queued-IOs=0
==============================================================================
--------------- Host ---------------   - Stor -  -- I/O Path --   -- Stats ---
###  HW Path               I/O Paths    Interf.  Mode     State   Q-IOs Errors
==============================================================================
   6 lpfc                   sdef       FA 10f:00 active   alive      0      0
   5 lpfc                   sdcm       FA  6f:00 active   alive      0      0
   4 lpfc                   sdau       FA  7f:00 active   alive      0      0
   3 lpfc                   sdb        FA 11f:00 active   alive      0      0

In this example, there are the following devices:

• /dev/emcpowerea – aggregated Dell (formerly EMC) PowerPath device
• /dev/sdef, /dev/sdcm, /dev/sdau, /dev/sdb – underlying block devices representing the network paths

Accordingly, the mount table lists /dev/emcpowerea device mounted under /data folder:

root@localhost:~# mount | grep emcpowerea
**/dev/emcpowereap1** on**/data** type ext4 (rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro,stripe=256,data=ordered)

2. From the example above, the following is a formatted list of individual IO paths for the /dev/emcpowerea block device:

   /dev/sdef;/dev/sdcm;/dev/sdau;/dev/sdb

3. Specify those paths with the ignoreDevicesparameter created under the [backup] section of theveeam.inifile. Usea semicolon without whitespace as a separator.

Example:

    **[backup]**
# Backup cluster alignment logarithm
# clusteralign= 3
 
# Ignore inactive LVM logical volumes during backup
# ignoreinactivelvm= false
 
# IO rate limit, from 0.01 to 1.0
# ioratelimit= 0.9
 
# CPU priority for veeamagents, from 0 to 19
# priority= 10
  
# Verbose logging of device enumeration
# verbosedevenumlogging= false
 
**ignoreDevices=** /dev/sdef;/dev/sdcm;/dev/sdau;/dev/sdb

4. Save the veeam.ini file and ensure no backup or restore sessions are running on the Veeam Agent machine. If no backup or restore sessions are running, restart the**veeamservice **daemon to pick up the new values from the configuration file.

systemctl restart veeamservice

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