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NDMP Backup Fails on SnapMirror Synchronous Source with Non-Replicated Snapshot

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Applies to

  • NetApp ONTAP 9.13.1P11 and later
  • SnapMirror Synchronous (SM-S) relationships
  • NDMP backups (Commvault and similar backup applications)
  • Any FAS/AFF/ASA platform

Issue

  • NDMP backup jobs fail with errors similar to the following:

Error(Snapshot specified for backup of SSMSRC volume is not a replicated one. snapshot: snapshot_for_backup_cv_2_1234 errval=0 vol:cifs_vol_a3_fs_tsd01_Data(1) fsid:1165)

Error(Dump failed to initialize.)

Error(DUMP IS ABORTED)

[uninitialized] Error(Snapshot specified for backup of SSMSRC volume is not a replicated one. snapshot: snapshot_for_backup_cv_2_1234 errval=0 vol:cifs_vol_a3_fs_tsd01_Data(1) fsid:1165)

  • ONTAP event log may show:

sms.snap.not.replicated: Snapshot copy 'snapshot_for_backup_cv_2_1234' is not successfully replicated for the relationship ... Reason: Request failed on secondary.

Cause

  • With ONTAP 9.13.1P11 and later, SnapMirror Synchronous (SM-S) relationships require that the snapshot specified for NDMP backup must be present (replicated) on both the source and destination volumes.
  • If the backup application (e.g., Commvault) requests a snapshot that exists only on the source (not yet replicated to the destination), ONTAP will reject the backup to ensure data consistency.
  • This is by design and prevents backups from using potentially inconsistent or non-replicated data.
  • In this case, Commvault automatically creates a snapshot for backup, but it is not replicated to the destination, resulting in backup failure.

Solution

To ensure successful NDMP backups in ONTAP 9.13.1P11+ with SnapMirror Synchronous:

  • Option 1 (Recommended):

Configure the backup application to allow ONTAP to create a new backup snapshot at the time of the backup. ONTAP will create a consistent backup snapshot (tagged NDMPCreated) based on the latest replicated state. This snapshot is used for the backup and deleted automatically upon completion.

  • Option 2:

If the backup application must specify a snapshot, ensure it selects only snapshots that have already been replicated (i.e., common SnapMirror snapshots such as CSS/ACS, or application-generated and replicated snapshots).

Partner Notes

N/A

Additional Information

  • In Commvault, there is currently no option to select the snapshot type; a new snapshot is created automatically for each backup job.
  • In this scenario, the backup application vendor (Commvault) should be engaged to confirm if recent product changes or settings can address this behavior.

Workaround:

  • If the backup application cannot be configured to use only replicated snapshots or to allow ONTAP to create the snapshot, consider running a manual SnapMirror update before backup to ensure the required snapshot is present on both source and destination.
  • However, this is not a long-term solution and may not be practical for scheduled backups.

Internal Notes

internalNotes_text

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