PowerProtect Data Manager 19.16 Microsoft SQL Server User Guide

Agent registration

On Windows, if the agent fails to establish a connection with the PowerProtect Data Manager server, agent registration might fail with the following error message:

During a network connectivity test, the agent is unable to reach the PowerProtect Data Manager server by using ping. 

1.	If the ping command is blocked in the environment, the agent registration can still complete successfully. 
Review the agent service logs at INSTALL_DIR\DPSAPPS\AgentService\logs to verify that the registration is successful. If the registration is successful, the status of the agent host indicates Registered in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI.
2.	If the ping command is not blocked in the environment, the agent registration might not complete successfully because a network connection cannot be started. If this occurs, complete the following steps to troubleshoot the issue:

If agent registration fails with this error message, complete the following operation:

1. Use any network packet tracing tool to trace the packets from the agent system to PowerProtect Data Manager.
2. Start the packet tracing between the source IP of the agent system and the destination IP of PowerProtect Data Manager.
3. Start the network traffic between the agent system and PowerProtect Data Manager.

   Wait 10 to 15 seconds.

4. Analyze the captured packets.
5. Look for SYN and SYN_ACK packets to see if a 3-way handshake is being performed.

   Determine whether the source agent or the destination PowerProtect Data Manager is blocking the connection.

   If network traffic is blocked, contact your network security team to resolve the port communication issue.

PowerProtect agent service operations

To troubleshoot PowerProtect agent service operations, you can check the PowerProtect agent service log file OpAgentSvc-<timestamp>.log, which is created in <agent_service_installation_location>\logs on Windows. To modify the log level and retention of temporary files, you can modify specific parameter settings in the config.yml file.

To modify the log level and retention of temporary files, you can perform the following steps:

1. Stop the agent service.
2. Open the config.yml file in an editor.
3. Modify the log-level settings in the following parameters, as required:
   • DEBUG
   • INFO
   • WARNING
   • ERROR
   • CRITICAL
   NOTE:These parameters are listed in order of decreasing number of messages in the debug information output. The default log-level is INFO.
4. To retain the temporary files, set the keepTempFiles parameter to True in the config.yml file.
   NOTE:The agent service and application agent communicate through the temporary files, which are typically deleted after use but can be useful for troubleshooting purposes. Do not leave the keepTempFiles parameter set to True permanently, or the temporary files can use excessive space on the file system.
5. Start the agent service.

PowerProtect Data Manager UI display of localhost.localdomain hostname

In the PowerProtect Data Manager UI, the Application Agents, Asset Sources, and Protection Jobs windows might list the asset primary hostname as localhost.localdomain instead of the expected FQDN.

The display of localhost.localdomain as the hostname in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI windows might occur when you specify the host's actual FQDN setting for the loopback address in the /etc/hosts file. For example, when you add the following settings in the /etc/hosts file, the first setting value, localhost.localdomain, appears as the hostname in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI windows, instead of the actual FQDN:

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost6 localhost6.localdomain6
127.0.0.1 blrv027d233.blr.lab.dell.com blrv027d233

Ensure that the host's actual FQDN is not specified for the loopback address and do not specify hostnames that start with "local" in the /etc/hosts file.

PowerProtect agent service installation failures

A PowerProtect agent service installation might fail with the following error message:

Service 'PowerProtect Agent Service' (AgentService) could not be installed. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to install system services.

Possible causes of the installation failure are as follows:

• The installation was attempted on a passive node of a Failover Cluster Instance (FCI).
• The installation was canceled and a rollback left some stale entries of PowerProtect agent services.

As a workaround, clean up the PowerProtect agent service entries, and retry the installation.

PowerProtect agent service fails to start on Windows

After the application agent is installed, the PowerProtect agent service might fail to start on the Windows operating system.

Check for the following timeout error messages in the event viewer logs:

A timeout was reached (30000 milliseconds) while waiting for the PowerProtect Agent Service service to connect.
The PowerProtect Agent Service service failed to start due to the following error:
The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.

If these error messages appear in the event viewer logs, apply the following workaround: A slow service does not start due to time-out error in Windows

Asset discovery failure causes databases to not appear in PowerProtect Data Manager UI

Asset discovery by PowerProtect Data Manager might fail with the following error message, which causes the Microsoft SQL Server databases to not appear in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI:

agent-id is missing in the Agentsvc logs

As a workaround, confirm whether the agent-id.yml file exists under the \DPSAPPS\AgentService\ directory and then perform the appropriate action:

• If the agent-id.yml file does not exist under the \DPSAPPS\AgentService\ directory, run the Microsoft application agent installation with the Change option and then run a discovery operation.

• If the agent-id.yml file exists under the \DPSAPPS\AgentService\ directory, run a manual discovery operation on the Microsoft SQL Server hosts. Then if the databases still do not appear in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI:

  1. Delete the existing agent-id.yml file.
  2. Run the Microsoft application agent installation with the Change option.
  3. Run a discovery operation on the Microsoft SQL Server hosts.

Asset discovery failure in an FCI environment

If reverse DNS lookup is not configured for the Microsoft SQL Server virtual server name used in a Failover Cluster Instance (FCI), asset discovery can fail and leave the assets unprotected.

As a workaround, configure the reverse DNS lookups for the Microsoft SQL Server virtual server names used in all Failover Cluster Instances.

Error during configuration of Microsoft SQL Server application-aware protection

When you configure the support for Microsoft SQL Server application-aware protection, the configuration job might fail with the following error message:

Unable to register PowerProtect Agent Service. SSL certificates are not present.

After this error message is displayed, restart the configuration job.

Deletion compliance for SLA validation job marked as "Failed" in PowerProtect Data Manager UI

Due to a cancel request and create-new-copy deletion request occurring simultaneously, deletion compliance for an SLA validation job is incorrectly shown as "Failed" in the UI, even though the copy deletion has succeeded. This issue can occur if replication copies exist, but the corresponding backup copy has been deleted. In this case, the retention time of the replication copy is greater than the retention time of the backup copy. Once the replication copies expire or are manually deleted, it triggers the catalog deletion request, which marks the copy as "Deleted."

Deletion compliance for SLA validation job marked as "Failed" due to copy deletion delay

When the deletion of backup copies is delayed, the deletion compliance for an SLA validation job might be shown as "Failed" in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI. The following error message also appears:

One or more copies have exceeded their Retention Window.

This issue can occur when the deletion of specific backup copies are delayed due to a large number of backup copies being deleted simultaneously. As a result, when the compliance check job runs at a preset time, the specific backup copies are not yet deleted. You can ignore the error message, and confirm later that the specific backup copies have been deleted.

Issue with trailing spaces in Microsoft SQL Server database names

Due to a VSS limitation, you cannot use trailing spaces within the names of Microsoft SQL Server databases protected by an application-consistent data protection policy.

Incorrect database size in PowerProtect Data Manager UI

If a file stream Microsoft SQL Server database is offline, the database size might be displayed incorrectly in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI.

The incorrect database size is displayed when you go to Infrastructure > Assets in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI and select the SQL tab.

If the database comes online later, the database size is displayed correctly after the next assets discovery operation.

Uninstallation issue in a UAC enabled environment

In a UAC enabled environment, an issue occurs when a domain user or local user that is added in the "Administrators" Active Directory group performs a manual uninstallation of the VM Direct agent. The User Account Control window appears with the following prompt about the XXXXXX.msi program:

Do you want to allow the following program to update software on this computer?

This prompt message can be ignored.

Exit of agent service register.bat with error code 2

When you try to add a host to an existing virtual machine application-aware protection policy, the agent service register.bat script might exit with error code 2:

Unable to register PowerProtect Agent Service. Registration script returned with exit code 2.

To resolve this issue, complete the following steps.

1. Edit the PowerProtect Data Manager protection policy, and remove the Microsoft SQL Server client.

2. On the Microsoft SQL Server client, uninstall the Microsoft application agent and VM Direct agent:

   • To uninstall the Microsoft application agent, refer to the uninstallation topics in Enabling the Microsoft Application Agent for Microsoft SQL Server.

   • To uninstall the VM Direct agent, complete the following steps:

     1. Select Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features.
     2. Right-click Dell VM Direct Agent in the list, and select Uninstall.
3. Rename the DPSAPPS and VM Direct installation directories. The VM Direct installation directory is C:\Program Files (x86)\EMC\vProxy FLR Agent.

4. Complete the following Microsoft instructions to change the default control manager timeout limit to 120000 (about 2 minutes):

   A slow service does not start due to time-out error in Windows

5. Reboot the Microsoft SQL Server client.
6. In the PowerProtect Data Manager UI, edit the protection policy, add the Microsoft SQL Server client to the policy, and wait for the configuration job to finish.
7. Confirm that the PowerProtect agent service is running on the Microsoft SQL Server client. Check the PowerProtect agent service status from the Services Manager.

VM Direct support issue with an AAG cluster in an IPv6 environment

In an IPv6 environment, registration with PowerProtect Data Manager might fail for a node in a clustered Always On availability group (AAG) that is configured for VM Direct operations. The following error message might be displayed:

Unable to register PowerProtect Agent Service. Registration script returned with exit code 13.

In an IPv6 environment with VMware Tools version pre-12.0.5, Microsoft SQL Server VM Direct operations are not supported for an AAG cluster that is configured with file share witness in PowerProtect Data Manager.

As a workaround, upgrade the VMware Tools to version 12.0.5 or later and then register the clustered AAG node with PowerProtect Data Manager.

Multiple virtual networks (MVLANs) for Microsoft SQL Server application-aware protection

PowerProtect Data Manager cannot automatically configure a virtual network connection between an agent in a virtual machine and PowerProtect Data Manager when PowerProtect Data Manager is configured with multiple virtual network connections.

If you use multiple virtual networks, the virtual machine asset must have a connection to the default interface for PowerProtect Data Manager. Manually configure the VLAN to provide access to the virtual machine before you add the virtual machine to the protection policy.

Edit Retention button is disabled for asset copies

On the Infrastructure > Assets page > Asset <asset name> page, the Edit Retention button is disabled.

The Edit Retention button is enabled only when the copy status of the asset source is Available. In detail, if deleting a copy of a protected asset fails, the Copy Status will be updated to another state from Available, and the Edit Retention button is disabled.

Workarounds are:

• Edit the retention period of an asset copy if its status is Available.
• Do not try deleting an asset copy before its retention period.

Non-English asset names appear as question marks

On an English OS, when you add databases with non-English names as assets in PowerProtect Data Manager, the asset names appear as question marks (??) in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI. The asset names appear in the Infrastructure > Assets > SQL window.

As a workaround, ensure that the OS and the asset names that you create in Microsoft SQL Server are of the same language.

Asset configuration job is queued when a policy configuration job fails to create a storage unit

An asset-level configuration job runs only after the corresponding policy configuration job creates the required storage unit for the protection policy. If the policy configuration job fails to create the storage unit, the asset configuration job is queued, waiting for the storage unit to be created. The asset configuration job remains queued for a maximum of 24 hours and is then canceled automatically.

You can monitor the status of policy configuration jobs and asset configuration jobs in the System Jobs window in the PowerProtect Data Manager UI.

As a workaround, try to restart the failed policy configuration job while the asset configuration job is queued. If the policy configuration job succeeds in creating the required storage unit, the asset configuration job restarts and runs to completion. Otherwise, if the policy configuration job cannot create the storage unit, the asset configuration job is canceled after being queued for 24 hours.

File System agent is also disabled when Microsoft SQL Server application agent is disabled on the same host

When the Microsoft SQL Server application agent and File System agent coexist on the same host, you cannot disable the agents separately. In this case, the host is registered to the same PowerProtect Data Manager instance. When you disable the Microsoft SQL Server application agent by deleting the asset source, the File System agent is also disabled.