File-Based Backup fails on vCenter Server 7.0 configured with a proxy

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• vCenter is configured to use a proxy.
• The following errors are seen in /var/log/vmware/applmgmt/backup.log

2021-10-26T17:06:06.380 [20211026-150504-18778458] [ComponentScriptsBackup:PID-27160] [ComponentScripts::ComponentScriptsBackup:ComponentScripts.py:88] ERROR: Component backup command "/etc/vmware/backup/component-scripts/wcp/wcp_backup_restore.py --startBackup" failed 1.
2021-10-26T17:06:06.380 [20211026-150504-18778458] [ComponentScriptsBackup:PID-27160] [ComponentScripts::ComponentScriptsBackup:ComponentScripts.py:115] ERROR: Error during component wcp backup

• The following errors are seen in /var/log/vmware/wcp/wcpsvc-backup-restore.log

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3.7/site-packages/requests/adapters.py", line 449, in send
    timeout=timeout
  File "/usr/lib/python3.7/site-packages/urllib3/connectionpool.py", line 727, in urlopen
    method, url, error=e, _pool=self, _stacktrace=sys.exc_info()[2]
  File "/usr/lib/python3.7/site-packages/urllib3/util/retry.py", line 446, in increment
    raise MaxRetryError(_pool, url, error or ResponseError(cause))
urllib3.exceptions.MaxRetryError: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='host.example.local', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /wcp (Caused by ProxyError('Cannot connect to proxy.', OSError('Tunnel connection failed: 403 Forbidden')))
 

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 7.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 7.0.3

Cause

This issue occurs when the vCenter PNID cannot be resolved through the configured proxy.

Resolution

This issue is resolved in vCenter Server 7.0 Update 3c.

Workaround:
To workaround this issue, the proxy configuration can be updated to disregard the traffic to the vCenter PNID.

1. Use this command to get the vCenter PNID

/usr/lib/vmware-vmafd/bin/vmafd-cli get-pnid --server-name localhost

2. Use a text editor such as vi, update the NO_PROXY line of the /etc/sysconfig/proxy file to include the vCenter PNID.

Example:
NO_PROXY="localhost, 127.0.0.1, 192.168.1.0/16, vcenter.example.local,  .*.example.local"

Note: Alternatively, the proxy which vCenter is using can also be configured so that it is able to resolve the vCenter PNID.