"One of: 1. invalid directory path; 2. sftp server disk is full; 3. Check if the directory path length is beyond 256-character limit on Windows server" error observed when modifying NSX Backup configuration

Products

• VMware SDDC Manager
• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

• After upgrading NSX to version 4.2.0 or 4.2.1, the system prevents users from enabling scheduled backups or modifying backup configurations. However, if the settings were saved prior to the upgrade, manual backups continue to function using the same SFTP server details.
  
  
• • The following error appears while trying to update the backup configuration:
    

    One of: 1. invalid directory path; 2. sftp server disk is full; 3. Check if the directory path length is beyond 256-character limit on Windows server (Error code: 29111)

         

• The VCF upgrade failed to start because NSX is unable to write a backup file.
  
  
• The /var/log/proton/nsxapi.log  file shows the following error:
  

  BackupAsyncStatus [BackupStatus [status=URI_NOT_FOUND, statusDetail=Specified uri '<path to tmpdir cluster backup file>' not found., remoteUri=<sftp remote uri path>, errorCode=null, startTime=#####, endTime=#####]; responseBody=null]

This behavior is limited to NSX 4.2.0 and 4.2.1, while older versions continue to function with the same SFTP destination.

Verify the following items:

1. Validate the backup directory path and ensure the SFTP server has adequate storage
2. The directory path length remains within the 256-character limit
3. For Windows SFTP deployments, verify the operating system version and ensure long-path support is active: NSX-T backups are failing with error "either bad directory path or sftp server disk full"

Environment

VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2.x
VMware NSX 4.2.0.x, 4.2.1.x
SFTP platform: OpenSSH on Windows

Cause

Scheduled backups created before the NSX upgrade may fail on Windows-based SFTP servers with a 'Bad message' error. This occurs because original file attributes preserved during the upgrade are rejected by the Windows SFTP service.

Resolution

This issue has been resolved in VMware NSX versions 4.2.0.2 and 4.2.1.2, which can be found at: Broadcom Downloads.

If an upgrade is not feasible and a workaround is required, reach out to Broadcom Support for assistance.

Additional Information

For additional information see Troubleshooting NSX Backup and Restore Failures

For finding and downloading the software, please review Download Broadcom products, patches and software