2008 R2 - Fresh install - ASR writer fails on backup

[Mark_Valpreda]

I have set up a few new Server 2008 R2 machines with Hyper V role recently and every time I run a backup that includes System State, the backup will fail and the ASR Writer will show a state of 7 - Failed.

This happens with Windows Backup or Backup Exec 2012. Symantec says it is a Microsoft issue. Microsoft says it is a Symantec issue. I don't care who the issue is with, I want clean backups!

I don't see anything in the logs.

[lmosla]

Hi Mark,

Please run SGMon during the backup to identify problem http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=HOWTO11932

[Donald_Eady]

What is being reported in the event viewer in relation to the failure... 

[Mark_Valpreda]

Nothing in event viewer, that is what is nuts. The writer immediately fails. Does this on 2 or 3 systems....Hyper V with a couple of VMs and backing up to USB hard drives. Have a few other ones backing up to tape or NAS that don't fail like this.

I'll run SGMon here in a bit.

[Mark_Valpreda]

C:\>vssadmin list writers
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2005 Microsoft Corp.

Writer name: 'Task Scheduler Writer'
   Writer Id: {d61d61c8-d73a-4eee-8cdd-f6f9786b7124}
   Writer Instance Id: {1bddd48e-5052-49db-9b07-b96f96727e6b}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'VSS Metadata Store Writer'
   Writer Id: {75dfb225-e2e4-4d39-9ac9-ffaff65ddf06}
   Writer Instance Id: {088e7a7d-09a8-4cc6-a609-ad90e75ddc93}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Performance Counters Writer'
   Writer Id: {0bada1de-01a9-4625-8278-69e735f39dd2}
   Writer Instance Id: {f0086dda-9efc-47c5-8eb6-a944c3d09381}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer'
   Writer Id: {66841cd4-6ded-4f4b-8f17-fd23f8ddc3de}
   Writer Instance Id: {386761aa-7ac8-47a3-9228-8a76da205087}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'System Writer'
   Writer Id: {e8132975-6f93-4464-a53e-1050253ae220}
   Writer Instance Id: {d0571bd7-8624-4838-a9fb-1f278d5f9cd2}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'ASR Writer'
   Writer Id: {be000cbe-11fe-4426-9c58-531aa6355fc4}
   Writer Instance Id: {00e9d7a2-202f-47c3-932e-b4e5dbf18467}
   State: [7] Failed
   Last error: Timed out

Writer name: 'BITS Writer'
   Writer Id: {4969d978-be47-48b0-b100-f328f07ac1e0}
   Writer Instance Id: {f18598b7-8585-43db-b91c-344645fa452f}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Shadow Copy Optimization Writer'
   Writer Id: {4dc3bdd4-ab48-4d07-adb0-3bee2926fd7f}
   Writer Instance Id: {5184e9e0-101d-417d-80b3-075852ad9dec}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Registry Writer'
   Writer Id: {afbab4a2-367d-4d15-a586-71dbb18f8485}
   Writer Instance Id: {0cee0388-c907-4b15-9b83-258eb604ccf1}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'COM+ REGDB Writer'
   Writer Id: {542da469-d3e1-473c-9f4f-7847f01fc64f}
   Writer Instance Id: {744680ec-8413-42d6-ad13-0682eaf3706b}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'WMI Writer'
   Writer Id: {a6ad56c2-b509-4e6c-bb19-49d8f43532f0}
   Writer Instance Id: {de872968-03fb-43e6-8e56-43b13dfd49b8}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

[Mark_Valpreda]

Running the backup job with SGMon running as well. Will post the output file once complete. The ASR Writer failed as soon as the job was started. Says "Timed Out" but that seems a little quick to time out! Should be plenty of shadowstorage space

C:\>vssadmin list shadowstorage
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2005 Microsoft Corp.

Shadow Copy Storage association
   For volume: (S:)\\?\Volume{ea31e6d6-b426-11e2-adc4-806e6f6e6963}\
   Shadow Copy Storage volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{ea31e6d7-b426-11e2-adc4-806e6f6e6963}\
   Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 7.422 MB (0%)
   Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 2.936 GB (0%)
   Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: UNBOUNDED (-858308786%)

Shadow Copy Storage association
   For volume: (D:)\\?\Volume{e3aeba68-bac2-4b16-b1f3-9b08db202e0a}\
   Shadow Copy Storage volume: (D:)\\?\Volume{e3aeba68-bac2-4b16-b1f3-9b08db202e0a}\
   Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 197.444 GB (6%)
   Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 200.194 GB (6%)
   Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: UNBOUNDED (532730093%)

Shadow Copy Storage association
   For volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{ea31e6d7-b426-11e2-adc4-806e6f6e6963}\
   Shadow Copy Storage volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{ea31e6d7-b426-11e2-adc4-806e6f6e6963}\
   Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 8.54 GB (1%)
   Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 11.235 GB (2%)
   Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: UNBOUNDED (-858308786%)