Hello,
I had archiware running backups on my ESXI 7.0 (free licence) absolutely fine until I updated my ESXI to update 1. As soon as I have done that I cannot backup using archiware. I get these errors:
Any idea whats happening?
backup started for snapshot ::CSM::Snapshot: VM-253e5535-8ifc-4baf-42b2-05dbce8d9edb@ 162283531 20:35:11) backup started block tracking: cannot enable preparing virtual disks: preparing virtual disks: 1/1 enabled creating new VM snapshot Closing leftover disks: Closing leftover disks: done. UniFi: none of the disks were processed. RestrictedVersion: Current license or ESXi version prohibits execution of the requested operation.
Hi joe,
I'm afraid that there is no possibility for Pure to support unpaid ESXi/vSphere licenses. This is not a matter of our decision but an imposed limitation by VMware - free ESXi licenses allow read-only access to vSphere API (e.g. listing vSphere inventory, gathering basic VM information) but do not allow any changes. Not even the most elementary operations such as taking a VM snapshot are possible which renders backup software, including Archiware Pure, unable to perform their tasks. In fact, in your log example you can see that backup job fails at snapshot creation, proceeds to close any disks that might still be open (none in this case) and ends the job with a failure message received from VMware side "Restricted Version:..."
However, this limitation is not something new and has been in existence for as long as I can remember which makes it hard to believe that Pure used to work for you on a free hypervisor license. Could it be that you did, in fact have a paid license for the older version without realizing it? Or maybe you were still covered by the trial period (60 days, if I remember correctly)? During trial, VMware will allow full API access so that might explain it.
If however, you somehow managed to find a workaround to enable backups of free hypervisor versions, I am sure many of our free users would be very interested in knowing more details about that.
Thank you for your answer. I think you may have joined the dots up in my head. I was originally running the trial ESXI version and for a long time after it expired it ran without affecting my backups. One day I had a power blip and my licence stopped my server running. As this is only a home setup I reverted to the free hypervisor license and at this point Archiware probably stopped working. After doing some googling, my now workaround all be it a little faffy is to reset my licence to the trial every 59 days. This can be easily be done by doing the following:
---- EDITED: @joe, I am glad that you have solved your issue. Normally, we do not edit user posts but since the suggested workaround could be interpreted as a circumvention of licensing agreements, we will have to remove the actual instructions. Free ESXi hypervisor is not supported by Archiware Pure and any attempts to make it work are discouraged.
---- END OF CHANGES.
WARNING: This is for education/informational testing/development purposes only. It should not be used on a production server.
WARNING: This trick will only work with an ESX(i) stand alone server. It will not work if the ESX(i) server is connected to a vCenter Server, as the vCenter Server knows better than to let you do this. (you can always remove and readd the ESX(i) server to vCenter.)
This how now enabled me to start using archiware again. For me and maybe for others to have the security of a reliable backup far out ways a little faff in resetting the licence every 59 days.
Looks like some of the commands have been blocked, let me know if you want me to try and add them again.
Yes, the system automatically removes links from posts by new users. However, as you can see, in this case I took the liberty to additionally make some edits to keep the forum content in the safe zone.
Ok no worries, I did state this was for testing purposes only.
@technicusart
I will give you the benefit of doubt, hoping that English is not your first language. Because honestly, your questions makes so little sense that unless you explain yourself, I will have to assume you are just another spammer.
So, what exactly did you want to ask?
