VAMI Backup Times out

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Attempting to run a VAMI Backup of the vCenter appliances fails with a Timed Out error.



There are no errors observed in /var/log/vmware/applmgmt/backup.log

Cause

The vCenter Appliance default shell is set to the appliance shell. SFTP will not work if the appliance shell is the default shell. 

Resolution

Change the appliance shell to the bash shell.

    * Open an ssh session to the vCenter and run the following command to change the default shell:

       chsh -s /bin/bash root


    * Re-attempt the backup.

 

NOTE:

You can verify that the vCenter can accept SFTP connections and that the backup bits are functioning by backing up the vCenter to itself. 

You can use the following location and credentials to backup vCenter to itself:

sftp://127.0.0.1/storage/core/

root

<root password>

If it succeeds and the backup to the backup server is still failing with the same behavior then more investigation is required on the connectivity between the vCenter and the backup server.