Troubleshooting Guide

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Icon archived docs.png This is documentation for SEP sesam version 5.0.0 Jaglion.
This is not the latest version of SEP sesam documentation and, as such, does not provide information on features introduced in the latest release. For more information on SEP sesam releases, see SEP sesam Release Versions. For the latest documentation, check SEP sesam documentation.

Introduction


This guide is intended to help you quickly identify and resolve problems and errors during setup, installation and during normal operation of your SEP sesam system. SEP sesam often indicates that there has been a change or event that impacts overall system performance. Changes in SEP sesam backup performance are usually caused by system changes or failures.

First steps

To solve problems quickly and efficiently, make yourself familiar with the general troubleshooting information. Attempt to identify and resolve the problem by yourself. If you cannot find a solution to your problem, report it to SEP sesam support. The support team will then provide you with further instructions.

Identifying the problem

It is important to identify a problem as accurately as possible so that the best solution to the problem can be applied. Answer the following questions to identify the problem you are experiencing:

  1. What was the message or error?
  2. When did the error first appear?
  3. Does the error always occur after a specific action?
  4. Does the error always occur at the specific time, e.g., in the morning, in the evening, etc.?
  5. What steps are necessary to duplicate the error?
  6. Did you make any changes to your SEP sesam environment before the error occurred?

Common problems you can solve by yourself

Below is a list of the most common problems you can solve by yourself. Most of the errors you are likely to encounter can be solved by following these instructions.

  • Check with sm_main status to see if all processes are running. If necessary, start the missing process again with sm_main reload.
  • View the day log and search for errors.
  • Check if the failure was caused by a Newday event. You can prevent Newday from aborting running activities, as described at Newday Event.
  • Check if there is a time frame set in the schedule after which the scheduled event is cancelled (option Stop task if it runs longer...). See Creating a Schedule.
  • Check specific protocols for backups, restores.

Before contacting support

Before contacting SEP sesam support, make sure that you have exhausted any options that might enable you to solve the problem by yourself. Perform these general checks:

  1. Check whether your problem is described in the Error Messages Guide or Troubleshooting Guide.
  2. Browse through the FAQ and check the forum.
  3. Go through the Common problems you can solve by yourself checklist above.
  4. Collect all relevant data about the problem and send it to SEP sesam support:
    • error output
    • message ID
    • SEP sesam version (Server, RDS and Client)
    • operating system environment
    • LOGs (when there is a problem with a backup job, choose in the GUI 'JOB STATE'- 'BACKUPS' - Right click on the affected job and select the bottom menu item 'Download archive with all log files' -> Please send the created LOG archive too.) Proceed in the similar way for restore, migration or replication.

How to interpret SEP sesam's backup module's error messages?

SEP sesam backup modules are designed to produce extended error messages which may return information from 5 layers: SBC – XBSA – FTP – SMS – operating system. SEP sesam scans the protocol files for warnings and errors after backup and restore. In the event of a warning or an error, the first identified message is printed in the summary at the end of the protocol.

Every backup module uses the X/Open Backup Services API (XBSA) standard. SEP sesam XBSA is based on FTP implementation. The backup module connects to SEP sesam's FTPD daemon implementation – Sesam Transfer Protocol Daemon (STPD). Sesam Transfer Protocol Daemon (STPD) is a service that requests and delivers the backup data from or to the SMS Server and manages the data flow between the SEP sesam Server and a client. During a restore STPD receives the data from the SMS Server and sends it to the client, which then restores the data to the target system. Sesam Multiplex Stream (SMS) is a service that receives the backup data from STPD and writes the data to the backup media. During a restore, it reads the data from the backup media and sends it to STPD. Additionally, the SEP sesam backup client (SBC) module executes backup, migration and restore tasks. SBC collects and consolidates backup data on the client system and delivers it to STPD. A list of all SBC messages (C header file) can be found at SBC Messages.

An error message is composed of the messages from the triggering layer up to the upper layers. If an operating system returns an error, the error code and the operating system message are added to the SEP sesam error message. Because of this, error messages can also help troubleshoot problems that are not caused by SEP sesam (for example, OS problems).

Typical backup protocol

The following example shows a typical backup protocol. It is composed of 4 sections: about module, operational parameters, processing, and a summary.

2009-06-26 10:28:16: sbc-3036: Info:    # SESAM BACKUP CLIENT FOR Windows NT FILE SYSTEMS, VERSION: 3.2A17 Build
Revision: 1.257 (x64), Released: Jun 25 2009 #
2009-06-26 10:28:16: sbc-3063: Info:    -------------------- Operation Parameters --------------------
2009-06-26 10:28:16: sbc-3019: Info:    OS info:          Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Build: 6001 Service Pack 1 (x64)
2009-06-26 10:28:16: sbc-3100: Info:    Program PID:      42900
2009-06-26 10:28:16: sbc-3030: Info:    Operation:        BACKUP, Level: COPY
2009-06-26 10:28:16: sbc-3031: Info:    Storage Host:     qsbox3:11001,0-0:SESAM_SECURE_AUTHENTICATION:****
2009-06-26 10:28:16: sbc-3032: Info:    Control Host:     qsbox3:11001:SESAM_SECURE_AUTHENTICATION:*
2009-06-26 10:28:16: sbc-3040: Info:    Device:           SMS:disk1:SHARE:64
2009-06-26 10:28:16: sbc-3064: Info:    --------------------- Operation Messages ---------------------
2009-06-26 10:28:16: sbc-3002: Info:    Building file list from: [C:\SEPsesam\var\ini]
2009-06-26 10:28:16: sbc-3022: Info:    Command line ["sbc" "-b" "-C" "qsbox3:11001" "-S" "qsbox3:11001" "-l" "copy" "-s"
"SF20090626102812" "-d" "SMS:disk1" "-t" "weekly00001:1" "-j" "TEST_BACKUP" "-i" "job=TEST_BACKUP,nod=qsbox3,cmd=sbc,src=C/ /SEPsesam
/var/ini,ptf=WNT,typ=Path,exc=" "C:/SEPsesam/var/ini" ]
2009-06-26 10:28:16: sbc-3003: Info:    Opening saveset: SF20090626102812
2009-06-26 10:28:18: sbc-3104: Info:    Saveset info: [SEGMENT=3]
2009-06-26 10:28:18: sbc-3004: Info:    Begin writing to saveset...
2009-06-26 10:28:18: sbc-3074: Info:    Backup start time [20090626102818]
2009-06-26 10:28:18: sbc-3143: Info:    Starting with drive C:
2009-06-26 10:28:18: sbc-3006: Info:    Saveset size: 98304 bytes. Throughput: 189.820 MB/Hour.
2009-06-26 10:28:18: sbc-3005: Info:    Closing saveset.
2009-06-26 10:28:18: sbc-3052: Info:    Items processed correctly: [25]. Not processed or incorrectly processed items: [0].
2009-06-26 10:28:18: sbc-3007: Info:    Operation successful.
2009-06-26 10:28:19: sbc-3001: Info:    Exiting.

Backup error summary

The error message summary is prefixed by a short information string. The full error message is composed as follows:

{status}/{amount}/{saveset ID}/{SBCstart}/{message}

The components of this string have the following meanings:

{status} {amount} {saveset ID} {SBCstart} {message}

0 - successful
1 - warning
2 - empty LIS
3 - broken during backup
C - broken before data transfer
X - failed

Amount of data stored on media Automatically generated saveset ID Starting time on the client Message about the error

The following example shows a backup error summary with all 5 layers prefixed by a short information string.

X/0/SF20060629233007/20060629232907/Error: XBSA Call BSAEndData (closing saveset) failed:
System detected error, operation aborted. TRANSIENT or PERMANENT NEGATIVE reply:
553 STOR Failed. 1037: Writing data block on tape failed (23): Data error (cyclic redundancy check).
1039: Writing of Saveset Trailer failed.

The amount of details provided for backup or restore is defined by the log level.


How to set a log level

You can control the reporting (verbose) level to choose the details of messages that SEP sesam reports in various error logs. Running SEP sesam with a higher log level than default (0 for backup and restore) might be useful when you want to get more information about specific events or modules or when asked by support in the course of diagnosing your specific problem.

Note that increasing the log level increases the amount of information being logged and may negatively affect the performance of SEP sesam. Therefore you should only set a higher log level for your own analysis of a specific issue with backup or restore, or when asked by support to provide debugging information in case of troubleshooting. Once you have reproduced the issue, set the log level back to default if you have modified it in the debug.ini file.

You can set the log level in SEP sesam on the following levels:

The default SEP sesam directory for logs is <SESAM_VAR> (/var/opt/sesam/var). For more information, see Directory Layout.

SEP sesam log levels

SEP sesam uses different log levels for different modules. The following list represents the reporting level of the backup and restore protocol, which is set in GUI on a per-task basis. Log levels are listed in order of increasing amount of information logged, from lowest to highest:

Setting Log level details
0 print only standard and error messages together with summary
1 display a line for every item when its processing starts: sbc-3008: Info: Processing item: [xxx]...
2 display a line for every item when its processing finishes: sbc-3108: Info: Item processed successfully: [xxx]
3 display backup module processing information (with DB_API modules)
4 display underlying module processing XBSA and detailed DB_API modules
5 display packing data (mtf, cpio, sidf) trace messages


For details on how to set a log level for specific backup or restore task in the GUI or globally for SEP sesam kernel modules, see Setting Log Level.

Installation and configuration problems

Installation problems

SEP sesam Server installation on Windows failed

Problem

  • The SEP sesam Server installation on Windows failed with an error.

Cause

  • For SEP sesam Server installation a domain administrator account has been used.

Solution

  • Before starting the SEP sesam installation on Windows, make sure that you are logged in as a local administrator (not domain administrator).

SEP sesam database problems

PostgreSQL startup failure after changing SEP sesam service user (Windows only)

Problem By default, the SEP sesam service starts under the SYSTEM user account. At installation, postgreSQL database is set to start under this account. However, if the user name of the SEP sesam service is changed from SYSTEM (for example, to Administrator) after installation, PostgreSQL encounters startup issues and fails to start.

Cause

Changing the user name of the SEP sesam service affects the ownership and permissions of the PostgreSQL data directory, typically the db_pg folder. As a result, PostgreSQL is unable to access the necessary files and resources, causing failure to start up.

Solution

You can revert to the previous SEP sesam service account (SYSTEM), or change the ownership and permissions of the PostgreSQL data directory (db_pg folder) to the used SEP sesam service account user. In this case make sure you change ownership and permissions for subfolders and files as well (use Windows Explorer option Replace owner on subcontainers and objects). PostgreSQL regains the necessary access rights, enabling it to start successfully. Note that this workaround modifies the folder's ownership and permissions, so make sure that the used user account has appropriate privileges for managing the SEP sesam database.

Incorrect timezone setting in PostgreSQL

Problem

Exporting the system-wide environment variable TZ in the system-wide /etc/profile file can override the default system locales, leading to an incorrect timezone setting in the postgresql.conf file. As a result, the time values in the GUI may be incorrect. Mismatch between the system's default timezone and the TZ variable leads to inconsistent time values displayed in the GUI.

Solution

In the /etc/profile file update the TZ environment variable and set the timezone that matches the desired system default timezone. This will ensure that the timezone setting in the postgresql.conf file is aligned with the system default timezone.

License problems

SEP sesam Server license import fails

Problem

  • Licence problems after importing a newly created licence

Cause

  • The license is not correctly imported

Solution

  • If you encounter problems after importing a newly created licence (strange error messages; expiry message of the licence, although the licence file actually shows valid values; 'Valid until' shows a different value in the licence info than in the licence, etc.), then please try the following steps. ), then please try the following steps:
1 - In the GUI under HELP - LICENCE INFO, select IMPORT NEW LICENCE at the very bottom.
2 - Using the file manager, import the demo LIC file (sm_lic.ini) from <SEPsesam>/skel as a licence.
3 - Now select IMPORT NEW LICENCE in the GUI under HELP - LICENCE INFO at the very bottom of the window.
4 - Finally, use the file manager to import the newly issued licence.

-> A final check (again in the GUI under HELP - LICENSE INFO) should show that the newly created licence has been imported correctly and that all errors have disappeared.

Update problems

Client/RDS update does not start or does not work via GUI

Problem

  • The direct update of Client/RDS via the GUI does not start.

Cause

  • There is still old/wrong client information in the database, which hinders the update process.

Solution

  1. In the GUI, under Clients, right-click the client for which the update is not working, and then click the context menu option Reset Version Information.
  2. Then double-click the client to open its properties and click the trash icon next to the Last SEP sesam message field.

Now the update should start and run without any problems.

SEP sesam Server update failed

Problem

  • The SEP sesam Server update failed with an error.

Cause

  • SEP sesam services on the system that is being updated could not be started, causing SEP sesam Server update to fail.

Solution

  • Check if SEP sesam Server services are running. If not, start the SEP sesam services manually and then use the same update for the repair installation. For details, see How to Start and Stop SEP sesam.

SEP sesam Windows Client update from v. 4.4.3.64 fails with error

Problem

  • The SEP sesam Windows Client update from SEP sesam v. 4.4.3.64 Grolar to a newer version might fail with the following MSI installer error:
Unable to create a temp copy of transform


Cause

  • This issue occurs if the transform path specified in the registry points to the wrong folder.

Solution

  • To resolve this issue, you must rename the transform key in the Registry Editor.
Information sign.png Note
This procedure modifies the Windows registry; modifying Windows Registry incorrectly might crash your operating system and cause data loss. Ensure that you have a valid SEP sesam and operating system backup before proceeding!

Proceed as follows:

  1. Open Registry Editor: use Start and type regedit.
  2. Navigate to the Products folder:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products
  3. Depending on the installed SEP sesam Version find one of the following folders and click it:
    SEP sesam Version 5.0.0.X:
    7737007073521AA4885C03C7AEE4954D
    SEP sesam Version 5.1.0.X:
    7737007073521AA48A24533ED8EBE04E
  4. In the right pane with registry keys, right-click the Transforms key and rename it to Transforms_.


Automatic remote update from GUI fails with errors

Problem

  • On Windows, automatic remote update failed with the following error:
Windows error: (0x800703FA) Illegal operation attempted on a registry key that has been marked for deletion
  • The sm_msi.log log file on the client system shows the following:
InstallShield 11:08:04: Initializing Engine
InstallShield 11:08:04: Marshalling the , error = 0x800703fa
InstallShield 11:08:04: Open Script operation failed, error is 0x800703fa
InstallShield 11:08:04: Failed to invoke __ISWIUnInit, error is 0x80070057
InstallShield 11:08:04: Failed to shutdown script engine for script C:\Users\sepshare\AppData\Local\Temp\{A2C12F7B-F8D3-4D99-8E34-61600D67DBCC}\setup.inx, error is 0x80070057
InstallShield 11:08:04: Initialize() Failure, Failed to Initialize script support, Error = 0x800703fa

Cause

  • Typically, this error occurs when the sesam service is running under a specific user account instead of the default system account. An administrator uses this service user account to log on to the server (SEP sesam RDS or client) for the session and then logs off. This forcibly unloads the registry keys in the account profile and makes the keys unavailable for future use.

Solution

You have to enable the Windows User Profile Service which does not unload the registry keys after logging off:

  1. Open the Group Policy editor (Gpedit.msc) on the respective server.
  2. Open the UserProfiles folder: go to Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> UserProfiles.
  3. Look for the Do not forcefully unload the user registry at user logoff setting and select the option Enabled. For details, see Microsoft support article "800703fa Illegal operation attempted on a registry key" error .

Problems with interfaces

Alarm interface fails to send emails

The Alarm interface is designed to send backup logs, stored in the LIS file directory, to specified email recipients. In Apollon, changes have been made to the directory structure for LIS files to improve file management and optimize file system operations. LIS files are now stored in the <SESAM_ROOT>/var/lis directory, with a new sub-directory created for each Sesam day, which prevents accumulation of files in a single directory.

This change has inadvertently caused the Alarm interface to lose track of the required log files. The sm_alarm script is unable to locate the .not file, which leads to the NullPointerException error, and the Alarm interface cannot send emails.

Solution

To resolve this issue, you have to manually modify the sm_alarm script. This will ensure the correct variables are used and the script can locate the required files. Note that the procedure for modifying the sm_alarm script differs slightly between Linux and Windows. For detailed instructions, refer to the sections below.

On Linux

Open the sm_alarm.sh script and find the following line:

sm_smtp -A "sesam" -s "$mail_subject" -M "$( ls -tr ${gv_rw_lis}/$f*not|tail -1 )" ""

Replace that line with:

sm_smtp -A "sesam" -s "$mail_subject" -M "$3" ""
On Windows
  1. Open the sm_alarm.ps1 script in a text editor and find the function send_backup_mail:
     function send_backup_mail($type,$msg,$task)
     {
       ## Set mail subject
       $mail_subject = (write "Sesam ALARM: $type $task failed")
       ## Send Sesam not file as mail body
       $filename = ((Get-ChildItem  "$env:lis\*$task*.not" | sort-object -property LastWriteTime | select-object -last 1).FullName)
       sm_smtp -A "sesam" -s "$mail_subject" -m "$msg" -a "$filename"
     }

    Replace the function with:

     function send_backup_mail($type,$message,$filename)
     {
       $task = ($message -replace ":.*","")
       ## Set mail subject
       $mail_subject = (write "Sesam ALARM: $type $task failed")
       ## Send Sesam not file as mail body
       sm_smtp -A "sesam" -s "$mail_subject" -m "$message" -a "$filename"
     }
  2. Find the following line:
     {send_backup_mail $args[0] $args[1] $task

    Replace that line with:

     {send_backup_mail $args[0] $args[1] $args[2]

Alarm interface does not function as expected

The script that defines the functions of the Alarm interface can be modifed to customize the behaviour of the Alarm interface. In release 5.1.0.7, the script was rewritten to address an issue (see Alarm interface fails to send emails). As a result, any modifications made to the script prior to this release have been overwritten and the default behaviour of the interface is reestablished.

Solution

To resolve this issue and restore the desired behavior of the Alarm interface, it is necessary to redo the customizations in the script that modified its behavior. Users should carefully review their previous modifications and apply them again to the updated script.

Uninstallation problems

For uninstallation problems, see Uninstalling SEP sesam.

System limits adjustment problem

Problem

  • SEP sesam limits on the system have to be adjusted, however, the settings should not be overwritten by update.

Solution

The best way to adjust SEP sesam limits on the system is to create the Systemd override file. By using this file the settings are not overwritten during the update.

To adjust limits on the system, proceed as follows:

Example

>
> root@cefix:~# systemctl show sepsesam.service | grep ^LimitCORE=
> LimitCORE=2147483648
  1. Create the override file and adjust the value:
  2.  > mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system/sepsesam.service.d/
     > echo "[Service]" >
     > /etc/systemd/system/sepsesam.service.d/override.conf echo 
     > "LimitCORE=infinity" >> 
     > /etc/systemd/system/sepsesam.service.d/override.conf
  3. Reload the system by using the command:
  4.  > root@cefix:~# systemctl daemon-reload
  5. Then specify:
  6.  > root@cefix:~# systemctl show sepsesam.service | grep ^LimitCORE= 
     > LimitCORE=infinity

Windows installer (MSI) installation error

Problem 1

  • You receive the following warning: "An error occurred during the installation of assembly component... HRESULT: 0x80070bc9."

Possible causes

  • MSI locks the database to install new software after Windows updates were installed.

Solution

  • Reboot the host to unlock the database.
Information sign.png Note
The msi log file contains the line 'Transforming table Error' very often. This does not mean that an error occurred. It rather means that the table which is called Error has been transformed. Hence it is only an information not an error message.

Problem 2

  • Installation failed after uninstallation - you receive the following Popup:
    • English: "The SEP sesam server was installed using a server installation package. Please retry the update using a server installation package instead of the server package you are using. Update will be aborted."
    • German: "Der SEP sesam server wurde mit einem server Installationspaket installiert. Bitte wiederholen Sie den Update mit einem server Installationspaket statt des verwendeten server Pakets. Das Update wurde abgebrochen."

Possible causes

  • The uninstallation did not remove HKLM\SOFTWARE\SEP Elektronik GmbH registry key.

Solution

  • Open the MS Windows registry (e.g. call regedit) and remove HKLM\SOFTWARE\SEP Elektronik GmbH.

SLES

Problem

After upgrading the OS from SLES 11 to a newer version, SEP sesam server cannot read files in an XFS V4 datastore, whether connected directly or over iSCSI.

Cause

Starting from SLES 12, XFS no longer supports file systems in the V4 format. Newer versions, specifically SLES 12 or later, are incompatible with XFS V4, preventing SEP sesam from accessing the datastore. Note that this issue is caused by upgrading the operating system, and not by updates to the SEP sesam Server/RDS.

This may also affect other Linux distributions.

Solution

To solve this issue, create the file system XFS V5 on the partition containing the datastore:

  1. Migrate or back up your data from the affected datastore to another location. Make sure to retain the original file structure.
  2. Reformat the partition with the XFS V5 format, effectively deleting all data on that partition.
  3. Once the partition has been successfully reformatted with XFS V5, migrate or restore the previously backed-up data back to the datastore.

For more information, see SUSE Storage Administration Guide.


Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Problem

  • The following warning occurs on a Windows operating system: "ERROR: SMS0004: The specified device does not exist."

Solution

  • Reinstall the CBMR x.x SEP Sesam Version software package.

Powershell script not executed on a target machine

Problem

  • Why is the Powershell script not executed on a target machine?

Possible causes

  • By default, Microsoft installs Windows Powershell with the permission set to Restricted. This setting only allows the execution of commands in Powershell but no scripts.

Solution

  • This can be changed with following command in Powershell:
Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

For more information, see About Execution Policies.

IBM DB2

Problem

  • There are problems with SEP sesam operations.

Solution

  • Check contents of db user's $HOME/sqllib/db2dump/db2diag.log log file.
  • Check the messages on SEP sesam Server.
  • Find more information in the sdb2 log. Log filename is set by XBSA LOGFILE=<Full pathname of sdb2.log> and log level by XBSA TRACE=1.
Information sign.png Note
All sesam XBSA messages have the prefix XBSA. You can set XBSA TRACE to 2 to show more details, but then the log files can become quite large.

MacOS

Problem

  • There are problems with SEP sesam operations.

Solution

The Mac installer has its own log messaging system. To view the log files, proceed as follows:

  1. Execute the installation/update of the client or GUI package step-by-step until you get to the last installer step Summary.
  2. Go to the Installer Menu and click Window -> Installer Log.
  3. Select among the following options: Show Errors Only, Show Errors and Progress or Show All Logs.

AIX

Problem

  • After SEP sesam installation, an error occurs: STATUS=ERROR MSG=Some daemons offline

Solution

By default the sesam sshd daemon is not included in the AIX package. Therefore the command:

/opt/sesam/bin/sesam/sm_main status

will report the sshd as offline:

2016-08-27 16:20:05: sshd               : offline
  • Currently, this error can be ignored as only the CTRL access mode is supported for the AIX systems.
  • To disable the sshd daemon, edit the file:
/opt/sesam/var/ini/sm.ini

and change the option:

sshd=on

to

sshd=off

Debian repository

Problem 1

  • After running apt-get update, the following GPG error is shown:
W: GPG error: https://www.sep.de/downloadportal/ jessie InRelease: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 68111EBBD273917B

Cause

  • The SEP GPG key is missing in the system keyring.

Solution


Problem 2

  • During package installation the following warning (verification error) occurs:
 WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated!
 sesam-<package>
Install these packages without verification? [y/N]

Cause

  • The SEP GPG key is missing in the system keyring.

Solution

Problem 3

  • While running apt-get update, the following message appears:
N: Das Laden der konfigurierten Datei »main/binary-i386/Packages« wird übersprungen, da das Depot [...] die Architektur »i386« nicht unterstützt.

Solution

  • Insert [arch=amd64] between the word deb and the URL of the repository, as follows:
deb [arch=amd64] https://www.sep.de/downloadportal/linux/repositories/debian/ stretch main

Problem 4

  • While running the command apt-key add, the following message appears:
E: gnupg, gnupg2 and gnupg1 do not seem to be installed, but one of them is required for this operation

Solution

  • Install the package gnupg to fulfill the dependency via package manger:
apt-get install gnupg

Problem 5

  • SEP sesam provides signed Debian repositories for easier package installation, verification and updating of SEP sesam software. When installing SEP sesam Server via the Debian repository, the following message appears:
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
sesam-srv : Depends: postgresql-9.5 but it is not installable or
                     postgresql-9.6 but it is not installable or
                     postgresql-10 but it is not installable
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

Cause

  • This problem typically occurs if you have used the wrong version of the Debian distribution in /etc/apt/sources.list.

Solution

  • Correct the version of your Debian distribution, e.g., from stretch to buster, and then run apt-get update to refresh the repository information. For more details on the installation, see Debian Repository.

Troubleshooting SEP sesam authentication

After updating to SEP sesam version 5.0.0.x, no user other than the special user Administrator (Windows) or root (Linux) is elevated to Superuser

Problem

  • After updating SEP sesam to version ≥ 5.0.0 Jaglion, the GUI complains that superuser rights are required, but only Administrator rights are listed for this GUI user. The Administrator user is not elevated to Superuser and access to the GUI is not possible without authentication.

Cause

  • This is the normal behavior for Java policy authentication. After the initial installation of SEP sesam, no user other than the default Superuser is configured. As the name implies, the permissions of the Superuser account are unrestricted. As of 5.0.0 Jaglion, the Superuser is the only user type with full control over the SEP sesam environment. It is automatically assigned exclusively to the Administrator user when database-based authentication is enabled. If policy-based authentication is enabled, this user type with Superuser rights is assigned to Administrator (on Windows and Linux), root (Linux only) and sesam user. For more details, see User Roles and Permissions and About Authentication and Authorization.

Solution
If you use policy-based authentication (sm_java.policy) and log in from localhost, you can gain Superuser rights if your username is not listed in sm_java.policy. This is possible if the localFullAccess parameter is enabled (set to true in the <SESAM_ROOT>/var/ini/sm.ini file). There is no such workaround for database-based authentication, as only Administrator (on Windows and Linux) and root (Linux only) can become Superuser.


Tips for backup troubleshooting

In case of a failed backup, you should follow the tips below:

  • Find out when the problem occurred using the day log (.prt) and the status log (.status). The day log shows the causal progression of all SEP sesam activities of the backup day. The files with a file extension ending in .prt.err contain only the error messages from the day log.
  • Display the directory files chronologically (with ls -lart on Linux).
  • The log files should be read backwards from the end of the file. If a backup failed, you can usually find the indication of errors and their causes at the end of the respective log file.
  • Compare failed backups with working backups:
    • Check when the last successful backup of this task took place.
    • Identify the differences between not and bck logs by comparing two different backups.
    • Determine if there were any changes on the network or on the client.
  • The values of the database calls in DB_ACCESS have the following explanations:
    1. result = 1: Database access is OK.
    2. msg > 0: Amount of result > 0.
  • If the data throughput is very low and no backup is running, communication between hardware and RDS may have stopped . Use netstat to check if the connection over the STP ports (11001, 11002, etc.) still exists and check if RDS is still reachable.
  • If a process attempts to write to the hardware device and hangs, the kill -9 command on Linux will not help because the process is waiting for I/O and the kernel is unable to stop it. The only solution is to restart the server. These processes usually take only fractions of a second, but get stuck if there are hardware problems.
  • SEP sesam does not use kernel functions nor does it access the kernel while processing. All calls are done exclusively via GLIBC (GNU C Library). The command that goes deepest into the system is slu (SCSI Loader Utility). It accesses the SCSI interface directly. Only loader and tape mover commands are affected. When a backup is running, there is no direct access to the kernel or hardware with SEP sesam. For details about this command, see Using slu topology for detecting devices.


Backup problems

Client backup error

Problem 1

Backup of a Windows or Linux client fails with the following error:

"E020-HOSTS   [..] : Error:   Network communication problem: SOCKET error: 10060

Possible causes

The cause of this problem is most likely:

  • The active firewall on the SEP sesam backup Client. In this case, check the firewall settings and if ports 11322 or 11301 are blocked.

On Linux also check if the sesam SSHD daemon is running

ps axw | grep sm_sshd

and if port 11322 is open and in state LISTEN

lsof -i TCP | grep 11322
  • An active antivirus program is blocking access or running its own firewall and blocking access.
  • Third party firewall between the backup server and the backup client blocking access.
  • The SEP sesam Client agent is not running on the system.**Other network related errors.

Problem 2

A client backup did not function properly. How can I determine where the problem is?

Solution
Run the following commands to determine the error:

SEP Warning.png Warning
The following commands produce a high network load.

BACKUP SERVER UNIX, CLIENT WINDOWS

 sm_ctrlc -l system  {client name} sbc -b -s -  f:/test  >/dev/null

Data from the F:/ directory on Windows is written over the network to the directory /dev/null on Unix. To display it, append -v 1 to the command above. Everything written to /dev/null will be displayed.

 sm_ctrlc -l system  {client name}   sbc  -b -s  -  -v 1      f:/test  >/dev/null

BACKUP SERVER UNIX, CLIENT UNIX

 sm_ctrlc -l root  {client name}   sbc  -b -s -  /usr  >/dev/null

To display the read data:

 sm_ctrlc -l root  {client name}   sbc  -b -s -  -v  1   /usr  >/dev/null

BACKUP SERVER WINDOWS, CLIENT UNIX

 sm_ctrlc -l root  {client name}   sbc  -b -s -             /usr    > NUL

With backup data logging:

 sm_ctrlc -l root  {client name}   sbc  -b -s -  -v  1   /usr    > NUL

If the test backup is to be run on the target backup client only, execute the following command:

In the Unix directory <sesam>/bin/sesam/:

 sbc -b -s  -  /usr   >/dev/null

In the Windows directory <SESAM_ROOT>\bin\sesam\:

 sbc  -b -s  -  f:/test    > NUL

Enter -v 1 to show the backed up data on your monitor.

Failed backups will be automatically deleted

Problem

By default, SEP sesam deletes all failed backups after 3 days automatically to release the storage space. How can I keep such backups for a longer time? (< version 4.3.3)

Solution

If you want to keep your failed backups for more than 3 days, you may manually extend the backup EOL (expiration date) of this particular saveset. For details, see Manually extending EOL. Note that SEP sesam automatically retains the last successful backup saveset when the next backup fails. This means that SEP sesam extends the EOL of the previous 'successful' or 'with warnings' backup, thus ensuring that at least one successful backup is retained.

Failed to write the data to media during backup

Problem

During backup, operating system error "23 (ERROR_CRC)" is displayed.

Possible cause

The tape drive cannot write proper blocks onto the backup media.

Solution

Check the tape drive and backup media.

Backup to data store fails

Problem

Backup (or migration) to data store fails with the error message All available space of media is used, stop writing to media.

Possible cause

SEP sesam aborts a data transfer because less than 1 GB is available on the data store (disk storage). A disk failure can also cause this problem.

Solution The following points may help to resolve the problem:

  • Check the system messages on Linux or the event log on Windows for any hardware problems.
  • Remove orphaned savesets from the data stores by using the Clean up option, see Data Store.
  • Delete some savesets or backups on this datastore or start a purge process for the data store to delete the obsolete (EOL-free) savesets and to get enough free space. For details, see Purging a Data Store.
  • Increase the disk space.
  • Run FSCK on the disk storage.

If you cannot solve this issue, report it to SEP sesam support. The support team will then provide you further instructions.

Incorrect login or password

Problem

During backup, the message "Login incorrect. Password incorrect" is displayed.

Solution

Check your name resolution (DNS or etc/hosts file). The SEP sesam Server and SEP sesam Client must be reachable with or without FQDN and should be able to resolve each other correctly, including the reverse lookup. If the resolution is correct, do the following:

  1. In the SEP sesam GUI, go to Main Selection -> Tasks -> By Clients, and select the client with the backup problem.
  2. Open the backup properties and click the Options tab.
  3. Type -v 4 at Save options.
  4. Start the backup again, then go to Main Selection -> Job state -> Backups and double-click the backup task to open its properties.
  5. Go to Logging -> Day log and search for the line Login incorrect. Password incorrect then correct the name resolution.

Data transfer via FTP fails with XBSA Initialisation error

Problem

At the beginning of a backup data transfer via FTP, the following error message appears:

- XBSA Initialisation error. Access to the requested object is not possible. NEGATIVE reply: 425 Can't open data connection. WINSOCK: Connection timed out. (0x274c,10060)

Possible causes

This problem can be caused by the following:

  • Active firewall on the system that is supposed to transfer the backup data between SEP sesam Server and Client.
  • Routing or Network Address Translation (NAT) between the systems involved.

Solution

The following steps can help to solve the problem:

  • In the case of a firewall problem:
    • Disable the firewall.
    • Adjust the firewall application-based. This needs to be done on system, which should transfer the data. SEP sesam uses active FTP. When starting regular file backups on Windows add binary sbc.exe to the firewall exclude list. In case of BSR on Windows also add binary oodiag.exe to the firewall exclude list.
    • Customize the firewall port-based. Make sure that all required ports are available on the system and are not blocked by a firewall. If a port range is open, it is important that you configure that port range in the STPD options for the client. For details, see Port numbers for SEP sesam Client.
  • In case of a router/NAT, adjust the rules to allow SEP sesam RDS and Client to transfer data.

Network connection failure on physical or virtual systems

Problem

SEP sesam backup of physical or virtual systems fails due to network connection error (10054). The log files contain one of the following error messages:

10054 An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host

or

Error : Network communication problem: SOCKET error: 10054 - The virtual circuit which reset by the 
remote side . recv () call failed.

For more details on Windows error codes, see Microsoft Developer Network documentation.

Possible causes

Cause 1: Virtualization solutions

Citrix XenTools and VMware Tools may create their own network card driver on a virtual machine, which will be used instead of the regular Windows system drivers.

The paravirtual network drivers may cause some problems:

  • General CPU load of approx. 30% within a VM without any actions
  • Very poor throughputs, even in disconnected networks or gigabit LANs
  • Broken connections

According to Microsoft documentation, the above error message shows that the connection was reset by the client, i.e., the system to be backed up.

The problem is at the same time visible on the SEP sesam Server:

  • The backup remains in the active status with a 0 GB/h performance.
  • There are active sm_sms_backup processes.
  • There are active sm_stpd processes.

SEP sesam has no feedback from the client that the backup was aborted. The connection has been hard reset.

Cause 2: Network/Port trunking

In several customer environments, port trunking was disabled either on the system to be backed up or on the backup server side. After the trunks were resolved, the backups could be performed without problems.

To resolve trunking issues, see Trunking configuration guide.

Cause 3: Firewall

If network disconnection occurs in less than 5 minutes, is most likely a TSO/trunking issue described above. If the network disconnects after 5, 60 or 120 minutes, there is a KeepAlive problem with the NAT/PAT router or a firewall.

Cause 4: Virus scanner

Virus scanners intervene actively in the data transmission and related processes and may thus be the cause of the problem. It is recommended to use the antivirus exclusions for SEP sesam as they can have adverse effects on backup and restore operations, as described in Antivirus Exclusions for SEP sesam.

Cause 5: Error on the SEP sesam Server side

If a problem with the process sm_stpd.exe or sm_stpd occurs is recorded in the event viewer or the dmesg output of a SEP sesam Server at the time the backup is aborted, the problem must be analysed from the SEP sesam Sever side. Note that incorrect routing can also be the cause of this problem.

For example, the SEP sesam Server and SEP sesam Client are on two different networks. Routing is not controlled by one central router but via static routes on the other network. A ping from the SEP sesam Server to the client works, but not vice versa. In such case, the permanent route to the client's network was set on the SEP sesam Server, but it was not part of the active routes.

To solve this problem, delete and re-add the route as follows:

route delete <client_network>
route add -p <client_network> mask <network_mask_of_the_client_network> <SEP_sesam_Server_IP>

Cause 6: Disabling task offloading

For VMs

Disable the TSO (TCP Segment Offloading) feature in the VM.

Both Citrix XenServer and VMware ESXi use the existing TSO in the network cards. This feature allows you to swap out different operations that must be performed during the fragmentation of network packets to the network interface card (checksum calculation). The purpose of this is to reduce the CPU load. (The XenServer network card drivers (NIC) are more affected by this problem.)

On Windows

To disable this feature on Windows, the key DisableTaskOffload has to be set in the registry to prevent offloading to the network card, see Microsoft documentation. After setting this option on the backup client and then restarting, further backups run without any problems.

On Linux

On Linux, you can activate or deactivate the TSO settings during runtime using the ethtool tool as follows:

ethtool -K eth0 tso off

TCP retransmission

Fixing TCP retransmission errors at the network level fixes the root cause of the problem. To find TCP retransmission errors, the network analysis tool Wireshark is required.

You have to start a network analysis with Wireshark on the affected system (Capture -> Interfaces).

Information sign.png Note
Retransmission error appears as black lines in the Wireshark log.

ON WINDOWS

Information sign.png Note
SEP sesam uses Microsoft’s Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to perform backup for various task types. VSS failures are typically caused by system configuration and not by SEP sesam; this section may provide some instructions on how to troubleshoot such issues. If you cannot find your issue here, check also VSS Troubleshooting or refer to Microsoft's article Volume Shadow Copy Service for more detailed information on VSS.

Path backup on Windows is not working

Problem

SEP sesam Server failed to execute a path backup of a Windows client (however, a path backup without VSS is working). The following error is displayed:

Problem while loading dynamic link library: [WIN32 API error: 1114 - A dynamic link library (DLL) 
initialization routine failed. LoadLibrary() call failed for: [vss.dll]].

Possible causes

  • Typically, when dll cannot be initialised, a running antivirus solution is preventing it.
  • The client's VSS configuration is incorrect.

Solution

  • Disable the antivirus software during backup.
  • Check the client's VSS configuration by running the following commands:
    • vssadmin list writers - check the status of all writers on a daily basis
    • vssadmin list shadows - check existing VSS copies
    • vssadmin list shadowstorage - check how much space is reserved and available space for VSS
    • vssadmin resize shadowstorage - set the reserved space for VSS snapshots to unlimited

WIN32 API error: "1450"

Problem

  • What should I do when a client backup fails with a WIN32 API error: "1450 - Not enough system resources to execute the requested service"?
  • The backup of a client may end with the following error message in the backup log:
sbc-1148: Error:   W2KSS Error: [WIN32 API error: 1450 - Not enough system resources to execute 
the requested service. Cannot store registry key: [SOFTWARE]. RegSaveKey() call failed in BackupRegistry().].

Possible cause

Insufficient size of the registry/paged memory area. This problem affects SEP sesam as well as other backup tools, such as NTBackup.

Solution

The Microsoft article Backup program is unsuccessful when you back up a large system volume explains approaches for different versions of Microsoft Windows.

Unsuccessful backup of OneDrive files

Problem

SEP sesam is unable to access files in OneDrive remote storage. When attempting to back up files stored in OneDrive, SEP sesam log file displays the following warning:

Warning: Unable to open item - Access to the cloud file is denied.

Cause

OneDrive is a cloud-based service provided by Microsoft for storing, synchronizing, and sharing files. It has some unique characteristics that are specific to Microsoft's ecosystem and access to files is implemented differently than standard cloud solutions. SEP sesam may encounter difficulties in accessing and backing up the files that are stored in OneDrive cloud-like remote storage.

Solution

To resolve this issue, consider using the "offline mode" and syncing the files from OneDrive to local storage on the client device. This enables SEP sesam to bypass the issues with access and files are backed up from the local storage rather than the cloud. Ensure that you regularly update the local copy to reflect the changes in the cloud storage.

System state backup is backing up large amount of data due to DFS

Problem

When performing a Windows system state backup on the server that runs DFS (Distributed File System), large amount of data is backed up and the backup is slow.

Possible cause

If the DFS replication is enabled, the system state backup may include all the data from the DFS Replication service too.

Solution

Information sign.png Note
On a Domain Controller (DC) the DFS is used to replicate the SYSVOL, therefore it should be included in the system state backup. Use the following procedure only as a workaround if your system state backups are slow due to large amount of DFSR data.

Exclude the DFS writer from the system state backup task in the SEP sesam GUI: from the Main Selection -> Tasks -> By clients, select your Windows client then double click on your system state backup task. In the properties window switch to the Options tab, and under Additional call arguments -> Backup options exclude the DFS writer as follows:

-x "VSS:/DFS Replication service writer"

Next, you have to back up the file system data, served by the DFS, separately by performing a regular Path backup (create a Path task type instead of a System_state backup task). For details, see Backing up System State.

System_State backup (RegLoadKey) error

Problem

  • What does the warning "The system cannot find path. RegLoadKey()..." during System_State backup mean?
  • You may see the following output in NOT-log:
C:\Program Files\SEPsesam\var\tmp\usr_wf_S-1-5-21-220523388-1123561945-839522115-1003].
2020-04-13 02:04:20: sbc-2074: Warning: W2KSS Warning: [WIN32 API error: 3 -
The system cannot find path. RegLoadKey() call failed for
file: [C:\Documents and Settings\nn\ntuser.dat] in BackupUserProfiles().].

Possible cause

There are inconsistencies in the OS configuration. The reason is that a user profile has been deleted but the user account still exists. System_State backup is looking for files corresponding to the user in the file system but the files no longer exist.

Solution

  • Delete the user in question or restore the profile date in the file system.
  • Check the following in your registry to see whether it still includes references to usernames which no longer exist:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

Access denied during Microsoft Windows backup via VSS

Problem

Why does a Microsoft Windows backup via VSS stop with the message "[CVssBaseObject::CreateVssBackupComponents] - Access denied"?

Possible cause

SEP sesam is not allowed to create a snapshot with the current user.

Solution

Check the user running the SEP sesam daemon and make sure that the user has all permissions to access the volume(s).

Stream data length exceeds buffer capacity

Problem

What does the warning "Stream data length bigger than buffer can accept. Input buffer length = [65536], Stream data size = (High part)[0] (Low part)[65564]" ?

Possible cause

SEP sesam uses 64 kB to back up Windows ACL files and folders and one object exceeds this buffer. You can use the Windows command icacls to display the ACL of a file or folder. The output looks like this:

C:\>icacls "C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\Local Settings\Temp"
C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\Local Settings\Temp NT AUTHORITY\LOCAL SERVICE:(I)(F)
                                                           NT AUTHORITY\LOCAL SERVICE:(I)(OI)(CI)(IO)(F)
                                                           NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
                                                           NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(OI)(CI)(IO)(F)
                                                           BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
                                                           BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(OI)(CI)(IO)(F)
Successfully processed 1 files; Failed processing 0 files

If you get several hundred or thousand lines, there is something wrong with the ACL.

Solution

Reset the permissions of the file's respective folder by using the command:

C:\>icacls "C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\Local Settings\Temp" /reset

This command inherits the permissions of the parent object. You may have to adjust the permissions after running this command if manual settings have been applied for this object.

Backup on Windows 7 did not complete successfully

Problem

When you perform a Windows 7 backup, the backup might fail with one of the following errors.

sbc-1146: Error:   DB Module: [WIN32 API error: 55 - The specified network resource or device is no longer available.
sbc-2040: Warning: Cannot read item [\\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy730\Windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft-windows-sort_31bf3856ad364e35_6.1.7600.16385_none_ab9479767ad67fd7\sort.exe: (2) WIN32 API error]:[ 2 - The system cannot find the file specified. ]. Padding remaining bytes...
smk-3506: Info:     Backup finished. Status: ERROR Error: Item generator returns [WIN32 API error: 2 - The system cannot find the file specified. ] for item [\\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy136\Windows\winsxs\FileMaps\]
smk-3506: Info:     Backup finished. Status: ERROR Error:   DB Module: [Not all items have been processed]

To see more detailed error, view the Event Log on your Windows client: Event Viewer -> Windows Logs -> System. The Event Id 33, volsnap shows the following message:

The oldest shadow copy of volume C: was deleted to keep disk space usage for shadow copies of volume C: below the user defined limit.

Possible causes

  • There was not enough disk space for the Volume Shadow Service to take a snapshot; consequently, the operating system automatically deleted the snapshot due to the lack of space.
  • This error occurs if the snapshot size exceeds the snapshot Maximum size: Use limit configured for the volume.

Solution

Check the Maximum size: Use limit on your Windows 7 client: Open a Windows Explorer on the client and right-click the drive letter to open the drive properties. Select the Shadow copies tab -> Settings -> check the Maximum size: Use limit:

  • If you select No limit, Windows will not delete the snapshot regardless of how much space it consumes. Note, however, that in case of a large snapshot the process might be failing to create the snapshot because there is not enough disk space left on the respective drive.
  • If you specify Use limit, change the maximum size limit to a large enough value to contain the snapshot with room to spare. According to Microsoft, it is recommended to set the maximum size limit to a value that equals 10% of the volume size. For example, if the C:\ drive has 100 GB of data, the limit should be set to 10 GB. Or, you can store the shadow copy data on another disk. For details, see Microsoft forum answers Shadow Copy.

ON LINUX

SEP sesam Linux Client error during backup

Problem

A SEP sesam Linux Client (SBC) issues an error or warning during backup.

Possible causes

Backup on Linux may finish with an error or warning if:

  • the size of a file has changed during the backup
  • a file is deleted during the backup (between 'find' and data processing)
  • the 'find' function encountered an error

Solution

  • To avoid these warnings and resolve the above errors, double-click the backup task to open its properties and under the Options tab in the Backup options field enter the following command:
-o ignore_finderr=<regex>|ALL
  • If you want to avoid all such errors/warnings, specify:
-o ignore_finderr=ALL

GVFS error during Linux backup

Problem

  • If a user is logged on to the gnome or kde session and makes use of the GVFS layer, the directory ~/.gvfs is created. This directory cannot be entered by any other user (even root).
  • Additionally, the system call "stat" also errors out on this directory. The directory cannot be excluded, because while creating the file list and looking at the excludes, sbc_find once does a "stat()" call on the directory and receives an error.

Solution

  • Create a new file named /etc/profile.local with the contents below /etc/profile.local:
GVFS_DISABLE_FUSE=1 
export GVFS_DISABLE_FUSE
  • Run the following commands for each affected folder:
    • fusermount -u /home/$USER/.gvfs
    • test with stat /home/$USER/.gvfs


Restore problems

Error mounting a saveset on SLES 15 SP4

Problem

  • On SLES 15 SP4, when running guestfs tool to mount a saveset, the mount fails with the following error message:
error while loading shared libraries: libgcrypt.so.20: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Solution

  • Run the following commands on the affected SEP sesam Server:
    • echo '/usr/lib64/libgcrypt.so*' > /usr/lib64/guestfs/supermin.d/zz-libgcrypt
    • echo '/usr/lib64/libgpg-error.so*' > /usr/lib64/guestfs/supermin.d/zz-libgpg-error


Disaster recovery on Linux

Problem with a ReaR backup execution

Problem

  • SEP sesam Client package was successfully installed and path backups are working. If you have problems executing a ReaR backup check the backup log if there are some missing dependencies.
  • Example:
    There are binaries or libraries in the ReaR recovery system that need additional libraries
    /opt/sesam/bin/sesam/libvirtmod.so requires additional libraries (fatal error)
    	libvirt.so.0 => not found
    

Cause

  • In this case the package libvirt-client is missing.

Solution

  • Depending on your distribution, install libvirt-client as follows:
    • On RHEL/CentOS 7 use the command: yum install libvirt-client
    • On SLES 12/15 use: zypper install libvirt-client

The workflow mkrescue is not supported in the ReaR system

Problem

  • The workflow mkrescue is not supported in the ReaR rescue/recovery system.

Solution

  • Delete the file /etc/rear-release.

ReaR image hangs during bootup

Problem

  • The system hangs during bootup like shown in the following image:
  • Rear-hang.jpg

Solution

  • Boot the system with the ACPI=OFF option (this option can be specified on the command line in the boot menu prompt, after the options BACKUP=SESAM OUTPUT=ISO).

The recovered system does not boot

Problem 1

  • The system does not boot because /root/dev/console cannot be found.

Possible causes

  • Certain distributions rely on the existence of the directory /dev/ while booting
  • Certain static devices must exist before the udev daemon creates them.

Solution

  • Include the /dev/ file system in your backup.
  • If the restore cannot restore /dev/:
  1. Boot from the SEP sesam LIVE CD.
  2. Mount the ROOT partition of the restored system.
  3. Manually create the /dev/ directory.
  4. Manually create the /dev/console entry with:
mknod /path/to/target/mount//dev/console c 0 0

Problem 2

  • The system does not boot because of missing libblkid.so.1.

Possible cause

  • This is most likely caused by SELinux which is activated by default.

Solution

  • Especially on RHEL6 or CentOS6 systems, follow these steps after rebooting from the ReaR recovery:
    1. Press a key when prompted by the boot loader (GRUB):
    2. Rhelcentos grub1.jpg
    3. Select the appropriate boot loader entry:
    4. Rhelcentos grub2.jpg
    5. Press e to modify the commands for the selected entry:
    6. Rhelcentos grub3.jpg
    7. Add selinux=0 to the commands:
    8. Rhelcentos grub4.jpg
    9. Press Enter to confirm the changes and b to boot up the machine with SELinux disabled.
    10. When having access to the system, change the option SELinux of /etc/selinux/config to the following:
    11. SELINUX=permissive

    Afterwards, reboot the system and feel free to set the SELinux value back to enforcing if needed.

No bootable operating system can be found

Problem

  • The system is not able to find a bootable OS instance after the restore.

Possible causes

  • There may have been problems during the installation of the GRUB boot loader.

Solution

  • The restore protocol includes a statement whether or not the installation of the boot loader was successful:
2009-12-14 14:48:27: sbc-3500: Info:     Reinstall boot manager
[/sesam/bin/sesam//sbc_grub_auto /mnt/disk/ AUTO]

  • It is also possible to boot the system again from the live-CD, mount the target partitions and use grub-install to install the boot loader correctly.

The device does not have a corresponding BIOS drive

Problem

  • During the restore, the following error occurs:
/dev/sda1 does not have any corresponding BIOS drive

Possible causes

  • Check the file /boot/grub/device.map on the target system. If there are entries referring to the disk through /dev/by-disk/... as shown in the example below, the entry is most likely the reference to the hard disk partition of the broken system. GRUB will not find the proper device:
hd(0) /dev/disk/by-id/ata-SAMSUNG_SP2504C_S09QJ1GLA14263-part1

Solution

  • Reboot from the live-CD
  • Mount the root and boot partitions to /mnt/disk (and /mnt/disk/boot, if necessary)
  • Restart grub-install with the following options:
grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/disk --recheck hd0

Output:

grub-probe: error: Cannot open `/boot/grub/device.map'
/usr/sbin/grub-install: line 374: [: =: unary operator expected
Installation finished. No error reported.
This is the contents of the device map /mnt/disk/boot/grub/device.map.
Check if this is correct or not. If any of the lines is incorrect,
fix it and re-run the script `grub-install'.

(hd0)   /dev/hda
(hd1)   /dev/hdb

You can ignore the error line 374: [: =: unary operator expected.
More important is the result Installation finished. No error reported.

No corresponding BIOS drive for /dev/cciss/c0d0p2

Problem

  • You receive the message: /dev/cciss/c0d0p2 does not have any corresponding BIOS drive in restore log.

Solution

fsck.ext3: File system has unsupported features

Problem

  • During a restore of a system with kernel version 2.4 the system may not boot because the Live-CD creates a file system with features which are not supported by kernel 2.4.

Possible causes

  • Most likely the file system options resize_inode,dir_index,large_file,ext_attr are causing the problem and making the system unbootable.

Solution

  • Reboot from the Live-CD image, which includes the tool debugfs.
  • Show the file system features with debugfs:
root@recover#: debugfs -w /dev/sda2
debugfs 1.41.1 (01-Sep-2008)
debugfs:  features
Filesystem features: has_journal ext_attr resize_inode dir_index filetype needs_recovery sparse_super large_file
quit

Replace /dev/sda2 with the corresponding partition names on your system.

  • To remove file system features:
root@recover#: debugfs -w /dev/sda2
debugfs:  features -resize_inode -ext_attr -dir_index -large_file -needs_recovery -sparse_super
Filesystem features: has_journal filetype
quit

After removing the options, the system should boot correctly.

Incorrect inode size (256)

Problem

  • After a successful restore the boot process stops with incorrect inode size (256).

Possible causes

  • Older kernel versions (2.4) may use a different inode size than the one the file system's created through the Live-CD (which includes kernel 2.6). For example, this happens during the restore of SLES8 based systems which use an inode size of 128k.

Solution

  • This can only be solved by formatting the devices manually from the Live-CD, using the proper mkfs options:
mkfs.ext3 -I 128 /dev/sda1

After this step, remount the partition to /mnt/disk and repeat the restore operations. Changing the inode size is only possible by reformatting the devices.

Missing root file system

Problem

  • The restored system can't find a root file system and fails during resume.

Possible causes

  • The /etc/fstab file was configured with the root file system as UUID.

Solution

  • Specify the root file system device name in conventional device names if you are using a different physical disk. After booting, use YAST to reconfigure your boot loader or edit your /boot/grub/menu.lst manually:
root=/dev/sda2

Missing network cards

Problem

  • The restored system does not find any network cards.

Possible causes

  • If the restore was done to dissimilar hardware, SLES-based distributions may not configure the network devices correctly. SLES-based systems save their network configuration by using the system's MAC address. Most likely the system will not use eht0 as a device name, but eth1, as it has another MAC address.

Solution

  • Use YaST and reconfigure your network interfaces.

Client does not start on the RHEL6/Debian9 recovery image

Problem

  • The SEP sesam Client does not start automatically on RHEL6 and Debian9-based recovery images.

Cause

  • The file /etc/init.d/functions is missing within the recovery image.

Solution

  • The client can be started manually via:
/opt/sesam/bin/sesam/sm_main start


RHEL7-related issues

RHEL7 backup fails with an error

Error 1

  • The RHEL backup fails with the following error:
ERROR: The LSB package is not installed.

Solution

  • Install the lsb package as follows:
yum install redhat-lsb-core mkisofs syslinux


Error 2

  • The RHEL backup fails with:
ERROR: Cannot find required programs: mingetty

For more details, see Rear dependencies on RHEL7.


Solution

To solve this problem, proceed as follows:

  1. Edit
  2.  /var/opt/sesam/var/lib/rear/usr/share/rear/conf/default.conf

    and from the line:

    # required programs. Same as above, but if they are missing, we abort.
     REQUIRED_PROGS=(
     "$SCRIPT_FILE"

    remove the line:

     mingetty
  3. Run the backup again.

ReaR error occurred during grub2-mkimage of bootx64.efi

Information sign.png Note
In order to be able to create an UEFI/EFI bootable ISO image, the additional tool ebiso has to be installed on the client system as described in the section Installing ebiso for creating UEFI aware ISO images.

Problem

  • The ReaR error occurrs during grub2-mkimage of bootx64.efi.

Solution

  • To solve the problem, install the grub2-efi-x64-modules package.

SLES-related issues

SM_SSH does not work on SLES11 recovery image

Solution

  • In this case, execute
mount -t tmpfs none /dev/shm/ -o rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec
before starting the recovery process.

Client is unreachable after booting the rescue image

Problem

  • After booting the rescue image the client is not reachable.

Solution

  • Start the client manually using the following command on the rescue command line:
sh /etc/scripts/system-setup.d/59-start-sesam-client.sh

EFI bootable image cannot be created on SLES11

Problem

  • EFI bootable image of GRUB2 cannot be created on SLES11.

Cause

  • SEP sesam v. 4.4.3.64 Grolar is the last version that supports SLES11 with UEFI.

Solution

  • To continue using SLES with UEFI, you should not upgrade to a later version of SEP sesam.

Installing ebiso for creating UEFI aware ISO images

In order to be able to create an UEFI/EFI bootable ISO image the, the additional tool ebiso has to be installed on the client system. This package is not part of a regular SLES12/SLES15 installation and can be downloaded at the following URL:

http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Archiving:/Backup:/Rear/SLE_12/x86_64/

or

http://download.sep.de/utils/bsr-linux/

For other Linux distributions contact SEP support at support@sep.de for assistance.

Install ebiso as follows:

rpm -i ebiso-<version>.rpm

Note that in ReaR v. < 1.19, the generated ISO image mount migt be too small for storing all needed information and need to be adjusted.

In this case, under

/var/opt/sesam/var/lib/rear/usr/share/rear/lib/uefi-functions.sh (line 64)

change

(shim.efi|elilo.efi) size=128000 ;;

to

(shim.efi|elilo.efi) size=228000 ;;


Graphical User Interface (GUI) problems

After updating SEP sesam on Windows, GUI cannot be opened

Problem

After updating SEP sesam to version ≥ 4.4.3.82 Beefalo V2 on Windows, GUI cannot be opened when the group policy option Prevent access to registry editing tools is applied.

Possible cause

This issue seems to be related to the group policy (GPO) setting: if Prevent access to registry editing tools is applied for a specific user or group, opening the GUI does not work for the users which are prevented from accessing the Registry. In most cases, users with admin privileges will still be able to run the GUI as they are typically exempt for a GPO (and are able to access the Registry). If this policy is disabled (or not configured), the users may access the GUI regardless of their privileges.

Solution

To enable access to the GUI for the affected users (typically non-admin users), disable the group policy option Prevent access to registry editing tools.

SEP Warning.png Warning
Only experts should edit the registry; modifying Windows Registry incorrectly might crash your Windows operating system causing data loss.
  1. Press the Windows key + R to open the Run window.
  2. Type gpedit.msc and press Enter.
  3. In the Group Policy Editor -> User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System, double-click on Prevent access to registry editing tools setting in the right panel and select Disable. Then click Apply.

GUI Server not accessible

Problem

SEP sesam cannot access the GUI Server.

Possible causes

  • The network connection to SEP sesam is broken.
  • The GUI Server process is not running.

Solutions

  • Make sure that the computer is running.
  • Start the GUI server process by running the command sm main reload rmi.

Database connection failure

Problem

SEP sesam cannot connect to the database.

Possible cause

The DB or RMI servers are not running.

Solution

Run the commands sm main reload db or sm main reload rmi to restart the servers.

GUI does not start

Problem

The Graphical User Interface (GUI) fails to start.

Possible causes

  • There is a problem with Java rights.
  • A problem with the screen resolution.

Solution

In case of the screen resolution problem, set a resolution to at least 1920x1080 (full HD).

Wrong time values in the GUI

Problem

In GUI, the displayed time values may not correspond with the system's default timezone.

Possible causes

  • This can be caused by exporting the system-wide environment variable TZ in the system-wide /etc/profile file, which can override the default system locales, leading to an incorrect timezone setting in the postgresql.conf file.
  • On Debian, the timezone settings are stored in the /etc/timezone file. If the timezone on the system is changed using the timedatectl set-timezone command, only the /etc/localtime file is updated. The /etc/timezone file remains unchanged.

Solution

  • In the /etc/profile file update the TZ environment variable and set the timezone that matches the desired system default timezone. This will ensure that the timezone setting in the postgresql.conf file is aligned with the system default timezone.
  • On Debian, update the settings in /etc/timezone file to set the correct timezone.

Online guide not available

Problem

The online guide cannot be accessed.

Possible causes

  • Adobe Acrobat Reader is not installed.
  • Adobe Acrobat Reader is installed but not configured in the GUI.
  • The PDF file is not configured in the GUI.

Solution

Download Adobe Acrobat Reader from http://www.adobe.com.

Online help not available

Problem

The online help cannot be accessed.

Possible causes

  • There is no browser installed on the system.
  • The browser is installed but not configured in the GUI.

Solution

Install a browser.


Network problems

Network check

Problem

  • Network connection is not working.

Solution

  • Perform the network check. Use the commands ping, nslookup, address resolution etc. Check the connection with the corresponding SEP sesam access program (CTRL/SSH). The address resolution must be consistent, i.e., if for a TCP/IP name the resolution gives an IP-address, then the resolution for that IP-address must give the same TCP/IP name!

Example

  # nslookup decunix
  Server: seplinux2.sep.de
  Address: 193.28.59.40
  Name: decunix.sep.de
  Address: 193.28.59.94
  # nslookup 193.28.59.94
  Server: seplinux2.sep.de
  Address: 193.28.59.40
  Name: decunix.sep.de
  Address: 193.28.59.94


MS SQL Troubleshooting/en MS Exchange Troubleshooting/en NetWare Troubleshooting/en Micro Focus GroupWise Troubleshooting/en Oracle Troubleshooting/en Informix Troubleshooting/en Lotus Domino Server Troubleshooting/en VMware Troubleshooting/en Citrix XEN Server Troubleshooting/en SAP HANA Troubleshooting/en SAP ASE Troubleshooting/en SAP ERP Troubleshooting/en NetApp Troubleshooting/en MySQL Troubleshooting/en BSR Pro for Windows Troubleshooting/en NDMP Troubleshooting/en Hyper-V Troubleshooting/en KVM QEMU Troubleshooting/en Si3 Deduplication Troubleshooting/en Tape and Tape Devices Troubleshooting/en VSS Troubleshooting/en HPE StoreOnce Troubleshooting/en Proxmox VE Troubleshooting/en

See also

Analyzing SEP sesam Log FilesInterpreting Error Messages - Error Messages GuideSEP sesam Exit Codes

Copyright © SEP AG 1999-2024. All rights reserved.
Any form of reproduction of the contents or parts of this manual is allowed only with the express written permission from SEP AG. When compiling and designing user documentation SEP AG uses great diligence and attempts to deliver accurate and correct information. However, SEP AG cannot issue a guarantee for the contents of this manual.