vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 U2 backup via SMB fails with error: "SMB location is invalid"

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• VCSA 6.7 U2 backup via SMB fails with error:

SMB location is invalid

• When configuring scheduler it fails with error:

Error in method invocation module 'util.Messages' has no attribute 'ScheduleLocationDoesNotExist'

• In the /var/log/vmware/applmgmt/applmgmt.log file, you see entries similar to:

<YYYY-MM-DD>T<TIME> [43441]DEBUG:backupRestoreAPI:com.vmware.appliance.recovery.backup.job.create(Structure('BackupRequest', dict(comment=None, locationUser='administrator', parts=['common'], location='SMB://jump/vami_backup', backupPassword='****', locationType=LocationType(string='SMB'), locationPassword='****')))
<YYYY-MM-DD>T<TIME> [43441]ERROR:backupRestoreAPI:Failed to mount the cifs share //jump/vami_backup/ at /storage/remote/backup/cifs/jump/GeZrNlvQ/0mIKTRQz; Err: rc=32, stdOut:, stdErr: mount error(112): Host is down
Refer to the mount.cifs(8) manual page (e.g. man mount.cifs)
.
<YYYY-MM-DD>T<TIME> [43441]ERROR:backupRestoreAPI:Failed to mount the cifs share //jump/ at /storage/remote/backup/cifs/jump/GeZrNlvQ/0mIKTRQz; Err: rc=32, stdOut:, stdErr: mount error(112): Host is down
Refer to the mount.cifs(8) manual page (e.g. man mount.cifs)
.
<YYYY-MM-DD>T<TIME> [43441]ERROR:backupRestoreAPI:Couldn't mount the cifs share //jump/ at /storage/remote/backup/cifs/jump/GeZrNlvQ/0mIKTRQz
<YYYY-MM-DD>T<TIME> [43441]DEBUG:backupRestoreAPI:
Exception:
 Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/applmgmt/backup_restore/py/vmware/appliance/backup_restore/plugins/backupRestoreDispatchSMB.py", line 36, in validate
    self.mount()
  File "/usr/lib/applmgmt/backup_restore/py/vmware/appliance/backup_restore/plugins/backupRestoreMountedFS.py", line 159, in mount
    (self.fsName, shareLocation, self.localMountPath))
Exception: Couldn't mount the cifs share //jump/ at /storage/remote/backup/cifs/jump/GeZrNlvQ/0mIKTRQz

<YYYY-MM-DD>T<TIME> [43441]DEBUG:backupRestoreAPI:Mount doesn't exist at /storage/remote/backup/cifs/jump/GeZrNlvQ/0mIKTRQz
<YYYY-MM-DD>T<TIME> [43441]DEBUG:backupRestoreAPI:Mount doesn't exist at /storage/remote/backup/cifs/jump/GeZrNlvQ/0mIKTRQz
<YYYY-MM-DD>T<TIME> [43441]ERROR:vmware.appliance.vapi.impl:pint.Error('com.vmware.applmgmt.err_invalid_remote_loc', '%(0)s location is invalid.', **{'args': LocationType(string='SMB')}

Environment

VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.7.x

Cause

The issue occurs due to SMBv1 being disabled on SMB server.

Resolution

This is a known issue in VMware vCenter Appliance 6.7 U2 and above.

Currently, there is no resolution.

Workaround:

Enable the SMBv1 protocol on the SMB server.

For more information, see Detect, enable, and disable SMBv1, SMBv2, and SMBv3 in Windows.