The origin of the snapshot failure: NetBackup or VMware?
When a NetBackup snapshot job fails with status 156, the problem may originate in your VMware environment rather than in NetBackup. You can begin to isolate the problem to one environment or the other by using vSphere Client to take a snapshot of the VM. NetBackup support often uses this approach to investigate a snapshot issue.
To identify the environment in which the snapshot error occurred
- In the vSphere interface, right-click on the VM and click Snapshots > Take Snapshot.
- In the Take VM Snapshot for dialog, click Quiesce guest file system if the NetBackup policy was enabled for virtual machine quiesce (the default).
In the NetBackup policy, the Virtual machine quiesce option is in the VMware - Advanced Attributes dialog.
Note:
In the Take VM Snapshot for dialog, make sure the Snapshot the virtual machine's memory option is not selected. NetBackup does not use that option.
- Start the snapshot and check the Recent Tasks pane for snapshot status.
If the snapshot does not complete, the problem with the NetBackup snapshot may be in the VMware environment. Consult your VMware documentation.
If the VMware snapshot is successful, the issue may be with NetBackup.
For relevant error messages, consult the NetBackup bpfis logs.
See NetBackup logging for VMware.
The following topic summarizes some common causes of 156 errors: