STATUS CODE: 99 "NDMP backup failure" occurs when backing up a NDMP client.

Overview:
When backing up a NDMP server, it is possible for a status code 99 (NDMP backup failure) to occur.  This error can occur in any of the following scenarios:
 

This error message has been reported on a variety of operating systems and NetBackup versions.  This is not specific to any operating system or NetBackup version and could occur in other configurations.

Troubleshooting:
Check the NetBackup All Log Entries report for more information, or check the logs for the ndmpagent originator ID for the server that is being created.  

Log Files:
The unified logs for ndmpagent originator id 134 may list the following errors at the time the backup failure occurred.  In this example, localhost (127.0.0.1) is being used as the name of the NDMP server.  This was caused by having the NDMP server name appear for the localhost entry in the /etc/hosts file of the system.
# vxlogview -o 134 -b "10/17/2006 12:07:38 AM"
10/17/2006 12:07:38.263 [NdmpMoverSideShm::CreateServer] Creating server for 127.0.0.1 in Server Port Window 1025 to 5000
10/17/2006 12:07:38.271 [NdmpMoverSideShm::CreateServer] MoverListen address = 127.0.0.1 port 1393
....
10/17/2006 12:07:38.572 [Error] V-134-91 ndmp_data_connect_v3 failed, status = 23 (NDMP_CONNECT_ERR)
10/17/2006 12:07:38.869 V-134-19 [NdmpAgent::SetErrorAndHalt] NdmpDataSideNas.cpp(659) - error code 114 (unimplemented error code 114)

Resolution:
If the NDMP backup job is an Incremental backup job, and none of the files in the Backup Selections list have changed, the Status 99 message is normal. This occurs since NetBackup did not receive any files from the filer.  This is a normal condition.  As a workaround, ensure that at least one file in the Backup Selections list has changed on the filer.

If the ndmpagent logs show a connection to the wrong IP address, check the /etc/hosts or Domain Name Service (DNS) information to make sure they are configured correctly.  If any entries are found with the wrong IP or hostname information, or entries that are pointing localhost to a NDMP server name, then correct the entries.

Consider the following example:
127.0.0.1   localhost   ndmpserver1
x.x.x.x    ndmpserver1  ndmpserver1.domain.com

In this case, ndmpserver1 should be removed from the localhost line.  This can cause problems when NetBackup tries to look up the IP address for the system ndmpserver1 , which can cause a connection error to occur.