incorrect agent auto assignment

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Hi, we have three VMware data centers at different physical locations; at each location, we have an Acronis backup agent appliance. By default, any new VM will be auto assigned to an agent. However, we found that some VM will be auto assigned to an agent at different datacenter. Therefore, the backup will fail. My questions are:

  1. Is there any way that I can control the auto assignment (e.g. by backup files location, or by vmware datacenter)?
  2. I've assigned the backup agent to each VM manually and it resolve my issue. However, whenever someone create a new VM, it may become a problem until we change it manually. Any suggestion?
  3. If I turn off the auto assignment at global settings, what would happen to new VM (i.e. how are the new VM being assigned)

Thanks,

Aldous

Tue, 09/04/2018 - 20:33
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Posts: 22
Comments: 3800

Hi Aldous,

1. The logics responsible for assigning VMs to an agent depends on the following factors: a) amount of VMs already controlled by this agent in comparison with other agents b) physical location of the agent comparing it with the VM location (3 possible variants: - same host as the VM; same cluster as the VM; remote host).

Each of these factors has its own "weight" in the system which can be changed in Windows registry on the management server machine: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Acronis\AMS\Configuration\CentralizedVirtual\ApplianceBinding\Params]. List of parameters with their default values:

AnotherAgentBinding = 1 - defines the weight of possibility to bind VM to remote agent (Windows or Appliance)

AnotherServerBinding = 1 - defines the weight of possibility to bind VM to remote agent (Appliance only)

SameClusterBinding = 5 - defines the weight of possibility to bind VM (Windows or Appliance) to agent located on the same vSphere cluster

SameServerBinding = 10000 - defines the weight of possibility to bind VM to agent (Windows or Appliance) located on the same ESXi host

+

BalancingLimit = 0.1 - defines the amount of VM instances changes (0.1 = 10% of instances are changed, e.g. modified or migrated within vSphere cluster) which are required to trigger re-balancing. 

The higher the weight is in comparison with other weights, the more likely it will be used.

The above settings values are designed to primarily bind VMs to agents located on the same ESXi host/cluster, however note that this won't happen instantly after new VM appears - the re-balancing event must occur first. So the new VMs at first may still apear on wrong agent and then will be re-balanced to be bind to proper agent.

In your case most likely the issue is related to BalancingLimit value which can be further reduced in order to re-act to smaller amount of instances changes. You can set it to 0.05 or slightly lower value (0.025 for example) to trigger re-balancing more often.

2. Please see my above suggestion (adjust BalancingLimit value).

3. You won't be able to turn auto-assignment off on all agents at the same time - the UI won't let you do so, since at any moment in time there should be at least 1 agent which can accept new VMs binding to it. To clarify: the agent "Automatic assignment" mode (Settings->Agents->Details tab) defines whether this agent will participate in the balancing, e.g. whether it would be possible to auto-assing new (or existing) VMs to it OR whether this agent will process only VMs which are manually bind to it.

P.S. We are planning to re-design the above binding logic in the next version of Acronis Backup (internal ID: ABR-124851 ). Currently this logics is too complicated and has some hidden caveats, like handling of new VMs appearance events.

Thank you.

Wed, 09/05/2018 - 11:23
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truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
Forum Member
Posts: 42
Comments: 54

Hi Vasily, thanks for the quick respond. We are using the acronis appliance for vmware (both agent and management). Since it is not Windows, would you give me the instructions to change the values, please?

Regards,
Aldous

Wed, 09/05/2018 - 17:18
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Comments: 3800

Hi,

In case of "all-in-one appliance" there is an analogue of Windows registry recorded in /etc/Acronis/*.config files which match the same parameters in Linux management server. You need to modify the AMS.config file and insert the below lines before "<key name="General">" line.

        <key name="CentralizedVirtual">
            <key name="ApplianceBinding">
                <key name="Params">
                    <value name="AnotherAgentBinding" type="TString">"1"</value>
                    <value name="AnotherServerBinding" type="TString">"1"</value>
                    <value name="BalancingLimit" type="TString">"0.1"</value>
                    <value name="SameClusterBinding" type="TString">"5"</value>
                    <value name="SameServerBinding" type="TString">"10000"</value>
                </key>
            </key>
        </key>

This file can be modified either via Cockpit web interface (at :9090 port) of the appliance (via "vi" editor) or by connecting to appliance via WinSCP (login to appliance under 'root' via SCP protocol). See below screen shot showing modifications in /etc/Acronis/AMS.config and their mapping to Windows registry:

BindingOnAiO.PNG

After these changes are made the appliance must be rebooted.

(!) NOTE: After some testing I've discovered that the Agent for VMware running inside the all-in-one appliance is not participating properly in the VM binding redistribution and ignores the above parameters on build #10330 - we will be investigating this problem with our QA and development team to fix it asap. The VM distribution works properly for other "regular" appliances, so as quick workaround you can remove the Agent for VMware on all-in-one appliance from Settings->Agent - this will trigger VMs redistribution among other agents (among other regular appliances):

BindingOnAiO2.PNG

Thank you.

Thu, 09/06/2018 - 12:34
Abigo autem causa dolore scisco. Conventio defui dolor elit feugiat lucidus natu populus praemitto. Abbas ad facilisi. Defui ea gemino suscipere. Consectetuer eros interdico minim. Esse incassum plaga. Caecus decet dolore ille iriure neque. Gilvus letalis mauris paratus quis tego. Brevitas capto erat gemino loquor ratis tincidunt vulpes. Appellatio haero humo iustum luctus natu similis. Conventio decet eros humo praemitto ratis ullamcorper virtus. Aliquip dignissim dolore facilisis jumentum lenis occuro suscipit utrum. Esca gilvus haero ideo nutus persto quidne refoveo usitas. Adipiscing cui nisl odio paulatim quadrum qui venio virtus. Caecus letalis natu nunc pertineo praesent utinam. Caecus eligo jugis nimis tamen te. Ad diam dignissim gravis iusto magna praemitto. Augue gravis magna obruo plaga valde. Et humo molior saepius. Adipiscing aliquip lenis paulatim quadrum wisi. Duis in voco. Consectetuer gravis plaga populus quia. Commoveo consequat distineo exputo iustum nisl saepius. Appellatio genitus ille melior mos nisl odio torqueo velit vindico. Abico comis iustum minim nobis oppeto pecus vero. Abico ex exerci haero iusto quia sed typicus. Abigo camur lobortis pneum tincidunt turpis vel. Abbas acsi dignissim ea suscipere. Eros iustum lobortis nobis probo quadrum qui velit verto vulpes. Importunus iustum magna modo nimis nunc sit vel vulputate. Blandit commodo dolus facilisi pertineo voco vulpes. Iriure loquor venio. Cogo ea esse gravis huic imputo odio refero similis ut. Aliquam autem conventio ibidem paulatim quia sagaciter vereor wisi. Adipiscing enim esca et olim sino vulpes. At iusto scisco vulputate. Ad ex ille secundum utinam valde verto vulputate. Erat molior nibh turpis. Importunus pala utinam. Causa conventio nulla quidem secundum tation verto. Camur conventio eros importunus iustum. Consequat dolore immitto iriure luptatum nostrud ulciscor ut. Distineo enim iusto torqueo utinam. Brevitas natu pala vereor. Abigo decet ea proprius typicus uxor volutpat. Causa iusto quae sit suscipere torqueo ut vulputate. Magna occuro pneum. Abbas blandit dolus paulatim. Adipiscing caecus jugis nibh obruo premo. Augue causa eu laoreet lenis mauris premo suscipit vero. At damnum exputo ideo immitto pala vereor. Eum jugis utinam velit wisi. Augue cogo ratis suscipere vereor. Diam ille incassum persto saluto. Abluo blandit fere molior. Caecus erat magna mauris praemitto saluto vero. Qui singularis tincidunt valde. Minim qui similis ut. Ex exerci lenis nimis ratis sagaciter volutpat. Abigo aliquam lenis loquor nulla pala similis vel velit vero. Aliquip defui erat letalis paulatim utinam. At nutus occuro. Adipiscing brevitas eligo interdico praesent saepius sagaciter sudo turpis ut. Accumsan dolus eu pertineo refero verto. Imputo meus vereor wisi. Bene commodo diam illum laoreet paulatim populus uxor. Caecus commodo inhibeo jus nulla nunc ulciscor valetudo. Consectetuer defui iaceo iustum nibh te vel. Facilisis loquor ratis tum vicis. Capto luptatum pala sudo torqueo. Antehabeo caecus dolus ea gravis illum molior vulputate. Abdo adipiscing iaceo jugis pertineo te ullamcorper. Abico erat ideo os turpis. Dolore facilisis metuo nibh occuro pecus volutpat. Acsi antehabeo damnum defui ex lucidus nulla ymo. Fere pecus sudo. Camur dolore illum loquor qui quia. Brevitas camur dignissim dolor duis obruo plaga quae veniam volutpat. Dignissim loquor olim te vereor. At cui dolore erat eros jumentum ludus nibh vereor. At dolor eros huic suscipit te typicus voco. Appellatio autem defui in neque nisl proprius qui tation. Eros quae refero. Aptent bene dolor minim. Abdo cui importunus oppeto utrum. Commodo erat ludus olim vel. Commodo iustum laoreet nisl. Abico os tincidunt tum. Damnum enim fere sit suscipere tego turpis typicus usitas virtus.
truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
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Posts: 42
Comments: 54

Thanks Vasily. 

in regarding the agent issue within the all-in-one appliance, we had removed the agent as our initial setup in order make sure that all backups will be done by other dedicated agent-only appliance and management as management only. Therefore, it's not an issue for.us. I'll try the registry change. Thanks

 

Aldous

Thu, 09/06/2018 - 14:23