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SSPI Authentication Errors

KB ID: 4542
Product: Veeam Backup & Replication | 12 | 12.1 | 12.2 | 12.3 | 12.3.1 | 12.3.2 | 13
Veeam ONE | 13
Published: 2024-01-26
Last Modified: 2025-10-22
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Challenge

In Veeam Backup & Replication

When installing updates, restoring configuration, or directly interacting with the database (e.g., using pgAdmin), the following error occurs:

SSPI authentication failed for user

In Veeam ONE

When upgrading to Veeam ONE v13, the following error may occur:

28000: sspi authentication failed for user "postgres".

Cause

This error occurs when the account used to interact with the PostgreSQL instance is not authorized.

When PostgreSQL is deployed by the Veeam Backup & Replication or Veeam ONE installer, that PostgreSQL database engine is configured to use SSPI Authentication, allowing for authentication using Windows accounts. During the installer's configuration of the PostgreSQL instance, only two Windows accounts are automatically added for access:

  • The Windows account that was used during the initial install.
  • The NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM account (The account used by the Veeam services.)

If the SSPI authentication error occurred during an upgrade of the product, and PostgreSQL is already installed, the user account used to run the upgrade is likely not configured within the PostgreSQL settings for access.

Solution

To resolve this issue, identify which accounts have access to PostgreSQL, and use one of those. If you cannot use one of those accounts, add your user account to the PostgreSQL configuration to gain access to the PostgreSQL instance.

Identify Which Windows Accounts Have Access to PostgreSQL

  1. Open the following file in a text editor: 
    C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\15\data\pg_ident.conf
  2. At the bottom of the file, you will find at least two uncommented lines with a format similar to this example*: 
    veeam   User@Domain   postgres
    *This is true if the PostgreSQL instance was created by the Veeam Backup & Replication or Veeam ONE installer. However, if the PGSQL Instance was user-created, the mapname and pg-username may differ.
# Put your actual configuration here
# ----------------------------------
# MAPNAME       SYSTEM-USERNAME         PG-USERNAME
veeam   Backupsvc@DOMAIN   postgres
veeam   "SYSTEM@NT AUTHORITY"   postgres
Example pg_ident.conf File
  1. If the non-SYSTEM account is available to you, use that account to perform the action that initially failed with the SSPI error.

    For example, based on the example pg_ident.conf file above, the account DOMAIN\Backupsvc would be used.

    If the non-SYSTEM account is no longer available, review the next section for information about adding a new authorized user to access the PostgreSQL instance.
Hostname Change Impact

If Veeam Backup & Replication or Veeam ONE was deployed using a local administrator account, and the hostname was changed after the software was installed, the entry for that local account within the pg_ident.conf file will be invalid.

Update the pg_ident.conf file with the new hostname for all local user accounts.

For example, if the hostname was changed from WIN-JQN7UPJGBHG to vbrsrvr after installation, and installation was performed with the local Administrator account:

Old Entry

veeam    Administrator@WIN-JQN7UPJGBHG    postgres

Updated Entry

veeam    Administrator@vbrsrvr    postgres

Adding a Windows Account to The Authorized Users List

If none of the non-SYSTEM accounts presently listed in the pg_ident.conf file are available to you, review the following steps to add your user account for access to the PostgreSQL instance.

Security Considerations

For day-to-day tasks involving Veeam Backup & Replication and Veeam ONE, a user does not need direct access to the PostgreSQL instance. Therefore, from a security standpoint, it may be best to only add accounts to the pg_ident.conf file when necessary. (Consider assigning a single account as the account that will be used for performing product updates or Configuration Restores for Veeam Backup & Replication.) 

Part 1: Identify Which Account Was in Use When the SSPI Error Occurred

These steps assume the SSPI error has recently occurred and is still in the latest log file.

  1. Navigate to the PostgreSQL log folder.
    The default PostgreSQL 15 path: C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\15\data\log
  2. Sort the folder contents by last modified, and open the latest log file.
  3. Scroll to the end of the log file and begin scrolling up. Look for entries like this: 
    LOG:  no match in usermap "veeam" for user "postgres" authenticated as "pgadmin@VBR12"
FATAL:  SSPI authentication failed for user "postgres"
  4. Take note of the account indicated in the error.
    (In the example above, the account pgadmin@VBR12 is listed at the very end of line 1.)
To prevent issues, use the username and its format exactly as found in the error message within the PostgreSQL logs. The user mapping error shows the username format precisely as PostgreSQL expects it to appear in the pg_ident.conf mapping file.
Part 2: Add the Windows account as it appears in the error to pg_ident.conf
  1. Open the mappings file in a text editor: 
    C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\15\data\pg_ident.conf
  2. Add a new line at the bottom of the file in the following format:
    Replace pgadmin@VBR12 with the account you identified in your logs on Step 4.
    veeam   pgadmin@VBR12   postgres

The username value must be enclosed in double quotes if it contains a special character (e.g., an underscore) or a space, as seen with the default "SYSTEM@NT AUTHORITY" entry.

The separator between items on a row can be any white space (e.g., one space, three spaces, one tab).

  1. Save the file. The changes to pg_ident.conf will be taken into account as soon as it is saved.
  2. Reattempt the initial failed action.

If this KB article did not resolve your issue or you need further assistance with Veeam software, please create a Veeam Support Case.

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