Backups do not run During the Expected Policy Defined Schedule

KB#: 11939
KB Title: Backups do not run During the Expected Policy Defined Schedule
Table of Contents
Overview
Symptoms
Issue Verification
Procedure
Procedure
Delete a backup policy rule
Procedure overview
Procedure
Add a backup policy rule
Procedure overview
Procedure
Customer Support
Article Information
KB Properties
Server Platform: CN3400-12bdc
OmniStack Software Version: 3.0.10.91
Information Level: 1
Date Created: Monday, September 26, 2016
Date Revised: Friday, April 28, 2017

Overview
Backups do not run during the expected policy defined schedule, identified by receiving the following vCenter
alarm: SimpliVity VM Automated Backup Not Enabled.
• The steps below outline the process for verifying the existing backup rule's configuration, and for removing and
recreating the suspected failing policy rule.
• Expected backups may be missing, resulting in the inability to restore to a given time.
• There is no risk to performing the workaround outlined in this article.

Symptoms
Backups do not run during the expected policy defined schedule.
The following vCenter alarm may be displayed: SimpliVity VM Automated Backup Not Enabled.
Expected backups with specific timestamps are not available for restore.

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Issue Verification
View the backup policy for a virtual machine to determine if the expected backup time is configured correctly .
A SimpliVity backup policy can be viewed for a particular virtual machine, as well as access different tabs to view
SimpliVity details for it. For example, the Summary tab can be accessed to view summary information on the virtual
machine and access the backup policy to edit it.

Procedure
From vSphere Web Client Home, click SimpliVity Federation.
1. Click Virtual Machines to open the Objects tab.
The Objects tab lists all the virtual machines in the Federation.
3. Double-click the row with the virtual machine that has the backup policy that is to be accessed.
4. Click the Summary tab.
5. Scroll down to the SimpliVity portlet.
The portlet displays the details available on the CPU, memory, storage High Availability status, used storage
capacity, total capacity available, number of virtual hard disks, and the backup policy name.
6. At the Backup Policy Name field, click the link with the policy name.
This opens the tabs for the policy selected.
7. Click the tab needed for access.
View the current backups for the virtual machine to see if they are following the researched schedule.

Backups can be viewed at any time. For example, if details on the backup of a datacenter, or virtual machine need to be
viewed, it is possible to search the SimpliVity backups for any of those objects, as well as search for the backup needed.
Some of the details that are immediately apparent, are the datastore, virtual machine, and backup name. The
application consistent status, type (policy, manual, or locked), and status (new, saving, protected, canceled, failed,
queued, degraded, or rebuilding) are also viewable. The view also includes details on the datacenter name, timestamp
and size of the backup, bytes sent over the network, virtual machine state, virtual machine template indicator (yes or
no), expiration date and time, and the unique backup (if greater than
or equal to the used size), and time when the unique size was calculated.
Up to 500 backups at a time may be viewed. The SimpliVity Home tab also contains a Search Backups option to open
the Search Backups tab.

Procedure
1. From vSphere Web Client Home, click SimpliVity Federation.
2. Click Datacenters or Virtual Machines to open the Objects tab.
Backups for a datastore can be viewed by double-clicking the datacenter containing the datastore, clicking Manage >
SimpliVity Search Backups , and then filtering the backups based on the datastore.

3. Double-click the object with the backup needing to be accessed.

4. Click the Manage tab.

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 5. Click the SimpliVity Search Backups subt-ab. The sub-tab opens with information on the number of filters used to
list the backups (up to 500 backups at a time). Inactive fields that show the virtual machine previously selected are
also shown..
6. Optional: If there is a need to filter the backups listed, click the plus (+) button to open a Select a property field.
Select the property that is to be used to set up filtering equations to search for backups. Once the filters are set up,
click Search Backups. The list refreshes with the criteria specified. (To remove a property, click the minus [-]
button.)

Resolution
Delete and recreate the backup policy rule that is not running as expected.

Delete a backup policy rule

Procedure overview
A rule can be deleted from a backup policy at any time.

Procedure
1. From vSphere Web Client Home, click SimpliVity Federation.
2. Do one of the following:
1. For the Backup Policies view, click Backup Policies to open the Objects tab. Click the backup policy with the
rule that is to be deleted.
2. For the Virtual Machines view, click Virtual Machines to open the Objects tab. Double-click the virtual
machine row with the backup policy rule to be deleted. Click the summary tab and scroll down to the
SimpliVity portlet. Click the Backup Policy Name link.
3. Do one of the following to open the Edit Backup Policy dialog box:
1. From the Actions menu, click Edit Backup Policy.
2. From the Rules field, click Edit.
4. Select the rule to be deleted and click Delete Rule.
1. If more than one rule is to be selected, hold down the Shift key while making the selection.
5. Click Yes when prompted.
6. Click OK.
If the last rule in the policy has been deleted, a message will appear indicating that automated backups cannot continue
without at least one rule. Click Yes to stop the backups for all the virtual machines using that backup policy if that is
needed.

Add a backup policy rule

Procedure overview
A rule can be added to a backup policy at any time. However, when the total system's backups reach 100%, a backup
policy rule can no longer be added.

Procedure
1. From vSphere Web Client Home, click SimpliVity Federation.
2. Do one of the following:

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 1. For the Backup Policies view, click Backup Policies to open the Objects tab. Select the backup policy where
the rule is to be added.
2. For the Virtual Machines view, click Virtual Machines to open the Objects tab. Double-click the virtual
machine with the backup policy to which a rule is to be added. Click the Summary tab and scroll down to the
SimpliVity portlet. Click the Backup Policy Name link.
3. From the Actions menu, click Edit Backup Policy.
4. Click Create Rule to open the Create Policy Rule dialog box.
5. In the Frequency field, set the time interval when backups are taken in minutes, hours, or days. The backup
frequency must be less than 24 hours (or 1440 minutes). The minimum frequency interval is 10 minutes.
6. In the Retain Backups For field, set the retention time in minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years. This
determines when OmniStack automatically deletes the backups to create room for more backups.
7. In the Destination Datacenter field, select the datacenter where the backups reside from the drop-down menu. To
select the local datacenter of the vCenter Server, select <local>.
8. Click Advanced to specify additional details or skip to the last step.
9. In the Server Local Time Start field, set a start time for the server to start the backups. The default start time is
midnight (12:00 AM) based on the time zone set for the datacenter.
10. In the Server Local Time Stop field, set a stop time for the server to stop the backups. The default end time is
midnight (12:00 AM) based on the time zone set for the datacenter.
The "Server Local Time" start and stop times control the time period when backups can start. The frequency of the
backups applies to this time period. A default rule creates a backup every hour for the entire day.
11. In the Days field, select one of the following:
1. Days of the week: Days on which to create the backups. One or more days can be selected. The default is all
seven days.
2. Days of the month: Days in the month on which to create backups. Click the date(s) wanted. For the last day
of the month (28, 29, 30, or 31), select Last Day of the Month.
12. Select Application Consistent to preserve the application data and state in the backup or leave the default
setting (off).
13. Click OK.

Customer Support
There is no Customer Support content at this time.

Article Information
Article Author: Pete Nisler
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