Dell PowerPath - Veeam Agent for Linux Limitations

All individual IO paths must be excluded using the ignoreDevices parameter within the /etc/veeam/veeam.ini configuration file.

The ignoreDevices parameter must be manually created under the [backup] section of the veeam.ini file.
 

Example

1. Use the following command to list the Dell PowerPath aggregated device name and underlying devices:
   ^{For more information about powermt and PowerPath CLI, please review: CLI and System Messages Reference}

Example output

[root@localhost ~]# powermt display dev=all
 
Pseudo name=emcpowerea
Symmetrix ID=000343607604
Logical device ID=07BA
Device WWN=60000980000262604497023030364553
state=alive; policy=SymmOpt; queued-IOs=0
==============================================================================
--------------- Host ---------------   - Stor -  -- I/O Path --   -- Stats ---
###  HW Path               I/O Paths    Interf.  Mode     State   Q-IOs Errors
==============================================================================
   6 lpfc                   sdef       FA 10f:00 active   alive      0      0
   5 lpfc                   sdcm       FA  6f:00 active   alive      0      0
   4 lpfc                   sdau       FA  7f:00 active   alive      0      0
   3 lpfc                   sdb        FA 11f:00 active   alive      0      0

In this example, there are the following devices:

• /dev/emcpowerea — aggregated Dell (formerly EMC) PowerPath device
• /dev/sdef, /dev/sdcm, /dev/sdau, /dev/sdb — underlying block devices representing the network paths

Accordingly, the mount table lists /dev/emcpowerea device mounted under /data folder:

root@localhost:~# mount | grep emcpowerea
/dev/emcpowereap1 on /data type ext4 (rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro,stripe=256,data=ordered)

2. From the example above, the following is a formatted list of individual IO paths for the /dev/emcpowerea block device:

   /dev/sdef;/dev/sdcm;/dev/sdau;/dev/sdb
   

3. Specify those paths with the ignoreDevices parameter created under the [backup] section of the veeam.ini file. Use a semicolon without whitespace as a separator.
   
   Example:

   [backup]
   # Backup cluster alignment logarithm
   # clusteralign= 3
    
   # Ignore inactive LVM logical volumes during backup
   # ignoreinactivelvm= false
    
   # IO rate limit, from 0.01 to 1.0
   # ioratelimit= 0.9
    
   # CPU priority for veeamagents, from 0 to 19
   # priority= 10
     
   # Verbose logging of device enumeration
   # verbosedevenumlogging= false
    
   ignoreDevices= /dev/sdef;/dev/sdcm;/dev/sdau;/dev/sdb
   

4. Save the veeam.ini file and ensure no backup or restore sessions are running on the Veeam Agent machine. If no backup or restore sessions are running, restart the veeamservice daemon to pick up the new values from the configuration file.