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5 Posts
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5998
March 2nd, 2015 22:00
Not traversing symbolic links
We have deployed Avamar solution for backing up desktops and laptops. The configuration has been done to backup a specific directory from each system. The expectation is that users will dump their data in this directory that they want to be backed up. Mostly Windows clients.
We were hoping that instead of moving all files and folders to this folder, it would be possible to create a symbolic link in this directory to point to other directories that need to be backed up. So we used the mklink command with the /D option.
However, when the Avamar backup runs, it does not traverse the links created and throws an error in the log file that reads
2015-02-25 10:10:02 avtar Info <16280>: Not traversing 'C:\Avamar\Desktop' since it's a 'REPARSE_USER_SYMLINK_DIR' and 'dereference' flag not specified
The configuration of clients has been done using the GUI and we could not see any such flag in the options presented. Can anyone suggest what needs to be done to overcome this hurdle?
Thanks
Shirish
Shirish_Lele
5 Posts
0
March 4th, 2015 09:00
The problem has been resolved. Our team opened a ticket with EMC support and they helped with the configuration.
The agent can now traverse symbolic links and backup the target folders.
Nayaks1
77 Posts
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March 2nd, 2015 22:00
check this once. Not sure if you are facing the exact same issue. Could you share the log once ?
https://support.emc.com/kb/193742
Shirish_Lele
5 Posts
0
March 3rd, 2015 00:00
Thanks but I do not have access to EMC support site. Is there any other way for me to get a solution?
Nayaks1
77 Posts
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March 3rd, 2015 01:00
it would help if you get us more details ....or the activity log
Nayaks1
77 Posts
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March 3rd, 2015 01:00
KNOWLEDGE BASE
Knowledge Base Article: 000193742
Avamar backup of dataset containing many symbolic links is running very slowly (000193742)
Version:3
Audience: Level 30 = Customers Article Type: Break Fix
Last Published: Fri Jan 23 14:33:34 GMT 2015 Validation Status: Technically Approved
Summary:
Issue:
An Avamar backup of a dataset which contains many symbolic links is running very slowly
The are many entries in the backup log which show we are backing up symbolic links 2014-10-21 21:26:35 avtar Info <16280>: Not traversing 'E:\folder\folder\
folder\folder\folder\folder\someotherfile.zip' since it's a 'REPARSE_USER_SYMLINK_FILE' and 'dereference' flag not specified
Additionally there may be many logging entries which show that the symbolic links may be broken.
2014/10/21-15:50:34.96600 [avtar] GetReparsePointInfo() 'E:\folder\folder\folder\folder\folder\folder\folder\folder\folder\file.exe' does not have a resolveable target
Environment: Avamar client for Windows v7.0.102-43
Avamar client for Windows v7.1.100-370
Cause: The data was previously hosted on another drive, which had been replaced and reconfigured.
The backup dataset included a directory which contained over half a million symbolic links which, due to the drive reconfiguration, were
detected by avtar as broken ("does not have a resolveable target")
The act of checking the symbolic link and finding that it is broken appears to have introduced a great deal of delay. The backup took
around 9 hours longer when attempting to scan half a million broken symlinks
This appears to have occurred even though the backup was not configured with --dereference, a flag which instructs avtar to not back
up the target of a symbolic link
-dereference. 2014/10/21-15:50:15.90899 [avtar] --dereference NOT specified, not
adding any Cross-Volume Symlinks to freeze volumes list
Resolution: The folder containing the broken symlinks (~0.6 million) was excluded from the backup.
The completion time reduced from 11 hours to around 2 hours
Product: Avamar Client for Windows7.0.102-42,Avamar Client for Windows7.1.100-370
Nayaks1
77 Posts
0
March 3rd, 2015 01:00
that's inside that KB....also! in an old discusion they were facing a similar issue and fixed it by reinstalling avamar client and rebooting the machine
Not Traversing Files Error msg
Nayaks1
77 Posts
0
March 3rd, 2015 02:00
are you sure you can access those links locally on the client ? This is from the logs
Line 69: 2015-03-03 15:22:29 avtar Error <0000>: Unable to retrieve volume information for 'D:\' (Code: 0x3 code 3: The system cannot find the path specified)
Line 71: 2015-03-03 15:22:29 avtar Error <0000>: Unable to retrieve volume information for 'E:\' (Code: 0x3 code 3: The system cannot find the path specified)
Line 76: 2015-03-03 15:22:30 avtar Error <7553>: Specified source path "D:\Avamar" does not exist; ignored
Line 77: 2015-03-03 15:22:30 avtar Error <7553>: Specified source path "E:\Avamar" does not exist; ignored
Shirish_Lele
5 Posts
0
March 3rd, 2015 02:00
Here is the client log file.
Tried reinstalling client. Did not work.
Excluding directory as mentioned in the KB article was not an option. I want Avamar client to traverse those sym links so it gets to the actual data that is to be backed up.
Thanks for all your help
Shirish
1 Attachment
Redacted_DrillDown_of_USERS.txt
Shirish_Lele
5 Posts
0
March 3rd, 2015 03:00
Please ignore those messages. The standard config being used considers that there may be systems with D and E drive as well whereas the system I am working on, only has C drive.
I am able to traverse the links using windows explorer and from command prompt. So if I open c:\avamar\Documents_Office then it does open the target directory. Same with command prompt. If I do a cd to c:\avamar\documents_office and do a directory listing then it shows me the contents of the target directory.
Thanks
Shirish
Nayaks1
77 Posts
0
March 3rd, 2015 03:00
I'm with you now. Was looking at the wrong messages
Nayaks1
77 Posts
1
March 3rd, 2015 03:00
I'd suggest logging a support call and have someone look at this system.
Nayaks1
77 Posts
0
March 4th, 2015 20:00
Thank you for the update. Would you like to share the final resolution for this issue ?