Backup Exec 12.5 & Exchange 2007

[Edu-IT]

Does this error mean anything to anyone? I've done some browsing online but it seems that people are just speculating as to what this is. Most of the discussions I found were over a year old. Surely there must be a fix for this by now?

 

I've got a remote agent installed on the 2007 server and on the media server I've told it to backup all the fixed drives and information stores on the Exchange server.

Edited September 3, 2009 by Edu-IT

[Edu-IT]

Okay I'm at a loose end with this so I'm wondering, what alternative ways are there to backup Exchange 2007?

[DavePoole]

First thing you should do is run 'vssadmin list writers' from cmd prompt and check for errors. A reboot of the server is usually the easiest fix I've come across for vss writer issues in the past.

[PiqueABoo]

NTBackup to a file on a disk somewhere (which is backed up by BE later). If that works with Exchange stores selected for backup you've learnt something i.e. the Exchange VSS writer does work and it's possibly BE's interaction with it that's the problem

 

Is the Exchange VSS writer OK before the BE backup ("vssadmin list writers")?

[cookie_monster]

I don't normally promote rival forums but there's a few people on here who really know BE, NTBackup should also backup Exchange.

 

Symantec: Backup Exec back-up Forum - Tek-Tips

[Edu-IT]

Is the Exchange VSS writer OK before the BE backup ("vssadmin list writers")?

No, retryable error.

 

There's been a few restarts, no change.

Edited September 4, 2009 by Edu-IT

[PiqueABoo]

Okay... there are some [fuzzy] VSS errors that just go away with a server restart, but we can discount those.

 

Did it ever work? If so then have you renamed the storage group since creating the BE job? That will break BE Exchange backups and the soln. is to remake the selection list (use the text view to make sure it's got the new names).

 

Again you can see how ntbackup gets on (I'd just test selecting the Exchange bits).

 

My instincts say it's the Exchange side of things, so how patched is Exchange? [Has anyone spotted folk having issues with installing SP2 yet?]

 

Also I'm not sure what it fixes, but MS have an OS VSS rollup somewhere that gets updated every now and then. Not the first thing I'd try but it's an option.

[Edu-IT]

New installation, so this is the first backup.

 

Exchange is 2007 SP1.

 

I've read that restarting the Information Store service can solve this, May give that a try although a server reboot will have done this anyway.

 

]I'll give ntbackup a whirl and see where that gets me.

Edited September 5, 2009 by Edu-IT

[PiqueABoo]

restarting the Information Store service can solve this

 

Yes, that should reinitialise the Exchange VSS writer i.e. is a quicker way to get it in a stable state again than restarting the server.

 

a server reboot will have done this anyway.

 

Are you saying the Exchange VSS writer is broken immediately after a reboot i.e. before you have attempted a backup? It shouldn't be i.e. VSS writers normally only break when a backup program tries to use them during a backup.

 

Make sure the writer is OK before trying ntbackup or you will be wasting your time. You need to put ntbackup in expert/whatever mode to make the wizard go away. Then just use the tree-browse and tick boxes, same way you do in BackupExec. You can create a scheduled job in ntbackup.

Edited September 5, 2009 by PiqueABoo

[Edu-IT]

Are you saying the Exchange VSS writer is broken immediately after a reboot i.e. before you have attempted a backup? It shouldn't be i.e. VSS writers normally only break when a backup program tries to use them during a backup.

I haven't checked however I will restart the IS and then check.

[Edu-IT]

ntbackup appears to be backing up the IS okay.

 

So, if I backup this area using ntbackup, and shadow copy/system state etc using BackupExec then it should be fine? Obviously the ntbackup backup will be included in the BackupExec backup.

 

Restarting the IS service has made all the writers stable too so should I perhaps try backing up with BE again or will the interaction just mess it again?

Edited September 7, 2009 by Edu-IT