Challenge
After upgrading VMware servers, all backup jobs have the following error:
"Invalid SoapPath link: "/vmfs/volumes/YourPath" 'Text' is an invalid XmlNodeType."
Cause
The issue occurs because we are not able to use local storage on an ESXi server as the target for a repository because Windows cannot write to a VMFS volume.
Solution
You have a couple options. You can still use local storage of the ESXi host for your backups but you have to do it at the OS level. You would need to create a VMDK and attach it to a VM residing on that host and make the VMDK the size necessary to store your backups. You can then create a Windows or Linux repository depending on the OS you are using, to write to that storage through the OS level.
More Information
This is a common issue when upgrading from ESX 4.1 to ESXi 5.0. This can also occur when switching from any version of ESX to ESXi.
