All devices "In Use" following services restart

[Andrew_May]

We are using BE2010.  Occasionally we need to restart the Backup Exec services, for example, changes to Deduplication folder settings.  When the services come back online all of the devices (Backup to Disk, Deduplication Folder and Tape Drive) all go to a status of “In Use” even though no jobs are running.  Usually the devices stop being “In Use” after a few minutes, but occasionally this does not happen and one device stays “In Use”.
 
What is happening to these devices after the services restart?  I assume some sort of check or scan, but this is not documented anywhere.  Also, no IO activity is reported on the storage containing the Backup to Disk or Deduplication Folder devices.  Knowing what is happening might help me troubleshoot the stuck devices.

[CraigV]

Hi,

Are you running all the latest patches for BE 2010?
For some reason the software locks the device...normally pausing/unpausing the server in Devices fixes this...

[Andrew_May]

Hello CraigV

Thank you for your reply.  Yes, the server is at the latest patch level, as far as LiveUpdate is concerned.  I have tried pausing and unpausing the device, restarting the services and restarting the server.  Usually this problem is fixed by one of the latter two, but not always and requires several attempts at each before it becomes usable again.  This isn't a constant problem, but occurs enough that I would like to fix it.  Do you know what BE does to the devices when the services are started up?

[tech29]

Hi There,

BE will redetect the devices when you restart the BE services.  So if you make any changes in the device or you connected a new device which is not getting detected by BE, then you should restart the BE services which will enable BE to detect the new device or changes in that device.

Regards,
Tech29 

[CraigV]

It could be stalling because of those changes to your Dedupe folder. Does it do the same thing with no changes made...?

[Andrew_May]

Yes, it does it when no changes are made to the Dedupe folder also.  Seems random, only happening every now and again.  Not to worry though, as I said, this is something I would like to get fixed rather than something stopping BE working altogether.

Maybe this new R2 release I keep hearing about will solve it?