Symptoms

Engineering introduced a new parameter called page_fail_times_to_timeout_wo in the /usr/local/avamar/var/mc/server_data/prefs/mcserver.xml configuration file. When generating a Work Order (WO), Management Console Server (MCS) pages the client if the Avamar server has available capacity. If the number of page failures exceeds page_fail_times_to_timeout_wo, the client is considered offline. In that case, MCS will timeout the Work Order immediately without further attempts. The recommended value for page_fail_times_to_timeout_wo is 10 for optimal behavior. If the value is too high, like 9999, the job times out only at the end of its schedule. Windows client backups stay in "Waiting-Client" and finish after about 6 minutes with "Timed Out - Start." On-Demand group backups complete successfully without issues. In this scenario, the Avamar environment includes only Linux and Windows client backups. Affected versions: 7.4.1-58 with MCS hotfix 302283 or later 7.5.0-183 with MCS hotfix 301047 or later 7.5.1-101 with MCS hotfix 302282 or later 18.1.0-33 with MCS hotfix 304540 or later 18.2.0-134 or later (apply latest cumulative update)

Cause

Since applying the hotfixes listed earlier, MCS now handles pageable clients differently during backup job processing. MCS creates a backup Work Order for the client.If the server has enough resources, the job enters the "Waiting-Client" status.If the client is pageable, MCS sends a wake-up message to initiate the backup.If the client does not respond, MCS retries after about 30 s.By default, MCS attempts paging twice before marking the job as "Timed Out - Start." NOTE: For more information about pageable clients, see the Avamar Administration Manual. NOTE: The change is made to recycle offline clients faster so that MCS would not allocate resource for those "offline" clients.

Resolution

There are two solutions: Disable automatic paging for the clients that are off the network or offline for extended periods of time such as Desktop Laptop clients.Increase MCS wake up tries before setting the job as time-out start. Solution 1: Dell Avamar 19.10 Administration Guide > Client Management > Client paging > Add or modify client paging settings. Solution 2: Apply the latest MCS cumulative update. If the problem persists, perform following steps: Log in Avamar server as admin Back up the mcserver.xml cp -p /usr/local/avamar/var/mc/server_data/prefs/mcserver.xml /usr/local/avamar/var/mc/server_data/prefs/x-mcserver.xml.`date -I` Edit the file /usr/local/avamar/var/mc/server_data/prefs/mcserver.xml and search for <node name="wo">.Add the following line in the end of this form: <entry key="page_fail_times_to_timeout_wo" value="10" /> Save the file and restart MCS. mcserver.sh --restart dpnctl start sched Check if the next schedule backup works. Note: Contact Dell Avamar Technical Support if you are not comfortable to perform this change which requires a restart of MCS service.

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