Unable to back up due to missing transfer directory in VMware Cloud Director

Products

• VMware Cloud Director

Issue/Introduction

• When attempting to take a backup from the VMware Cloud Director management interface, an error similar to the following occurs:
  
  You need to mount the nfs share to view and create backups
  
  
• When reviewing the file system on the cell appliance(s), there is not a mounted share at the following location:
  
  /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/data/transfer

Environment

VMware Cloud Director 10.6.x

Cause

The transfer directory is requirement for a fully functional VMware Cloud Director environment, as discussed in the following:

VMware Cloud Director Hardware and Software Requirements

If this is not mounted as required, the backup interface cannot collect or retrieve backups.

Resolution

Mount our remount the NFS share on all cells participating in the VMware Cloud Director environment with appropriate permissions and sufficient space to accommodate the backups as well as day-to-day operations.

Additional Information

For more information on configuring the shared storage for use as a transfer directory, please refer to the following:

Preparing the Transfer Server Storage for Your VMware Cloud Director on Linux

If you notice the error 'access denied by server while mounting' when attempting to mount the transfer directory, the exports file on the server should be reviewed. The entries for the cells may require the full IP address and subnet for each.