By default, Druva uses snapshots created by the native Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS). If you are using a third-party VSS provider, Hybrid Workloads/Enterprise Workloads agents might not work as expected because they are configured to recognize snapshots created by the native VSS only. This can result in Hybrid Workloads/Enterprise Workloads agent crashes or backup failures.

To avoid this issue, you must configure Hybrid Workloads/Enterprise Workloads agents to recognize the third-party VSS provider that you are using.

📝 Note
As far as possible, we recommend that you use Microsoft VSS. However, if you must use a third-party VSS provider, ensure that you perform this procedure before configuring your servers.

Before you begin

Before configuring Hybrid Workloads/Enterprise Workloads agent to recognize a VSS provider, ensure that you log on to the server as an administrator.

Configure a VSS provider for all drives

For agent version 6.x.x and above

From the command prompt, run the following command:
vssadmin list providers

📝 Note
Running this command displays a list of VSS providers, and the provider IDs.
Stop the Hybrid Workloads agent Client service.
Open the Phoenix.cfg file in a text editor.
The Phoenix.cfg file is available at the following location:
Windows 2012 and 2008: C:\ProgramData\Phoenix
Add the VSS_PROVIDER_ID parameter, and set its value to reflect the provider ID using the following syntax:

VSS_PROVIDER_ID = '{Provider ID}'

For example, if you obtained b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5 as the provider ID, the VSS_Provider_ID parameter looks like this:

VSS_PROVIDER_ID = '{b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}'

📝 Note
Ensure that there is no whitespace between the curly braces and the single quotation marks.
Save the Phoenix.cfg file.
Start the Hybrid Workloads agent Client service.

For agent version 7.0.4 and above

From the command prompt, run the following command:
vssadmin list providers

📝 Note
Running this command displays a list of VSS providers, and the provider IDs.
Stop the Enterprise Workloads agent Client service.
Open the Config.yaml for FS Plugin file in a text editor.
The Config.yaml file is available at the following location:
Windows: C:\ProgramData\Druva\EnterpriseWorkloads\fs
Add the vss_provider_id parameter, and set its value to reflect the provider ID using the following syntax:

vss_provider_id :'{Provider ID}'

For example, if you obtained b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5 as the provider ID, the vss_provider_id parameter looks like this:

vss_provider_id : '{b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}'

📝 Note
Ensure that there is no whitespace between the curly braces and the single quotation marks.
Save the Config.yaml file.
Start the Enterprise Workloads agent Client service.
1. Go to service, service.msc.
2. Check the service (Druva-EnterpriseWorkloads Service).
3. Click Start.

Configure a VSS provider for specific drives

For agent version 6.x.x and above

From the command prompt, run the following command:
vssadmin list providers

📝 Note
Running this command displays a list of VSS providers, and the provider IDs.
Stop the Hybrid Workloads agent Client service.
Open the Phoenix.cfg file in a text editor.
The Phoenix.cfg file is available at the following location:
Windows: C:\ProgramData\Phoenix
Add the VSS_PROVIDER_ID_VOLUMES parameter, and set its value to reflect the drives for which you want Hybrid Workloads agent to recognize the third-party VSS provider that you configured.
Use the following format:
VSS_PROVIDER_ID_VOLUMES = {"<Drive>": "{<Provider ID>}", "Drive": "{<Provider ID>}"}
For example, if you obtained b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5 as the provider ID, and you want to set this VSS provider for C drive and D drive respectively, the parameter looks like the following:
VSS_PROVIDER_ID_VOLUMES = {"C:\\": "{b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}", "D:\\": "{b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}"}
Save the Phoenix.cfg file.
Start the Hybrid Workloads agent Client service.

For agent version 7.0.4 and above

From the command prompt, run the following command:
vssadmin list providers

📝 Note
Running this command displays a list of VSS providers, and the provider IDs.
Stop the Enterprise Workloads agent Client service.
1. Go to service, service.msc.
2. Check the service (Druva-EnterpriseWorkloads Service).
3. Click Stop.
Open the Config.yaml file for the FS plugin in a text editor.
The Config.yaml file is available at the following location:
Windows: C:\ProgramData\Druva\EnterpriseWorkloads\fs
Add the vss_provider_id_volumes parameter, and set its value to reflect the drives for which you want Enterprise Workloads agent to recognize the third-party VSS provider that you configured.
Use the following format:
vss_provider_id_volumes : '{"<Drive>": "{<Provider ID>}", "Drive": "{<Provider ID>}"}'
For example, if you obtained b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5 as the provider ID, and you want to set this VSS provider for C drive and D drive respectively, the parameter looks like the following:
vss_provider_id_volumes : '{"C:\\": "{b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}", "D:\\": "{b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}"}'

📝 Note
Ensure there is no whitespace between the curly braces and the single quotation marks. and single quotation and double quotation marks should be shown in the above format only. otherwise, the FS Plugin will not start.
Save the Config.yaml file.
Start the Enterprise Workloads agent Client service.
1. Go to service, service.msc.
2. Check the service (Druva-EnterpriseWorkloads Service).
3. Click Start.

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