SCS KB 1060: Issues utilizing DFS shares when using a virtual appliance

Applies to:

• Acronis SCS Cyber Backup 12.5 Hardened Edition
• Acronis Cyber Backup 12.5
• Acronis Cyber Protect 15

Use Case

Backup or replication to a DFS or SMB share when the agent being used is a virtual appliance deployed in a VMware environment

Symptoms

Errors in activities when a backup or replication plan is run:

• Operating System error: Host is down
• Operating System error: invalid argument
• Access denied

Root Cause

• Operating System error: Host is down
  • This is likely due to SMB2/3 being disabled on the DFS or SMB host, validate these are enabled on host. If these are enabled contact support for further analysis of the issue
• Operating System error: invalid argument
  • Issues with the virtual appliance resolving in DNS
• Access denied
  • This is typically an issue with either the DFS or SMB location permissions

Solution

• Operating System error: Host is down
  • Validate SMB 2/3 are enabled on host for both DFS and SMB. If these are enabled contact support for further analysis of the issue
• Operating System error: invalid argument
  • This should be resolved in your DNS however a work around for this is to add the DFS and any hosts of shares to the virtual appliances hosts file
    • Remote in to the Acronis Virtual appliance
    • Press Ctrl+Shift+F2 to open Virtual Appliance's console.
    • To open the hosts file, issue:
      vi /etc/hosts
    • To enter the editing mode, press the "O" key.
    • Write the IP address and the name of the hosts of the DFS role and any reshared targets:
      XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX machinename
    • To save changes, press Escape and type:
      :x
    • Press Enter.
    • To exit the console, press Ctrl+Shift+F1.
• Access denied
  • Ensure the username used in adding the backup destination needs to have read/write access to both the DFS and SMB locations. For the SMB both share and file/folder permissions need to be granted to this user.