WAL archive: FAILED (please make sure WAL shipping is setup)

I am trying to configure Barman to backup. When I do a barman check replica I keep getting:

Server replica:
WAL archive: FAILED (please make sure WAL shipping is setup)
PostgreSQL: OK
superuser: OK
wal_level: OK
directories: OK
retention policy settings: OK
backup maximum age: FAILED (interval provided: 1 day, latest backup age: No available backups)
compression settings: OK
failed backups: OK (there are 0 failed backups)
minimum redundancy requirements: FAILED (have 0 backups, expected at least 2)
ssh: OK (PostgreSQL server)
not in recovery: FAILED (cannot perform exclusive backup on a standby)
archive_mode: OK
archive_command: OK
continuous archiving: OK
archiver errors: OK

I am using Postgresql 9.6 and barman 2.1; I am not sure as to what the issue is could someone help?
Here is my Barman server configuration:

description = "Database backup"
conninfo = host= user=postgres dbname=db
backup_method = rsync
ssh_command = ssh postgres@
archiver = on

When running into an error like this, be sure to run barman switch-xlog --force --archive as noted in the barman documentation to verify the WAL archiving process.

StackExchange Database Administrators Q#166195, answer score: 18