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DnsError when backing up virtual machines using Virtual Appliance for ESXi

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Hopefully, someone has already seen this problem before.

I get DnsError - Failed to connect to the Storage Node error ( Error code 2 module 3 ) when backing up virtual machines through a firewall using the ESXi Virtual Appliance.

My system is not using a DNS server so I updated the Storage Node hosts file including the Virtual Appliance IP address to avoid DNS errors. In addition, the virtual appliance uses the Storage Node IP address instead of its name and it has been successfully registered in the Management Server.

Now, the Management Server and the Storage Node are configured in the same server. Also, there is a Cisco firewall in between the ESXi Virtual Appliance and the Storage Node. I have configured required rules (based on documentation) to allow this traffic and I can successfully backup physical machines, but not VMs. In addition, in my troubleshooting process I moved the ESXi server and the Storage Node to the same network (bypassed the firewall) and VMs backups execute successfully using the Acronis VA.

I believe I'm missing some firewall configuration. I’m hoping I don’t need to open DNS port 53 for this to happen.

Any help will be greatly appreciated, Thanks!

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Posts: 22
Comments: 3800

Hi Fernando,

The main thing to ensure is that the Acronis Storage Node (ASN) address is accessible from the virtual appliance by the name defined in the location properties. To confirm it:

1) Check the location properties via web console interface: Backups->Locations->select location managed by ASN -> Details -> All properties -> look for "locationId" field. In my example the address of ASN is "ABA12-AMS"

2) Open appliance local UI console in vSphere client and press Ctrl+Shift+F2 to switch to command line interface (Alt+F1 will return back to UI)

3) Next ping the ASN address using the discovered value from location properties:

4) If the pings don't pass, then you can add the ASN address into /etc/hosts file to ensure proper name resolution ('vi /etc/hosts' for example).

If the above doesn't help then the issue should be investigated with help from our support team.

Thank you.

Vasily,

Thank you so much for the quick reply and the step by step details. I followed your instructions and all backups completed successfully!

Regards,

Fernando