cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

BE2014 DLM not delete already expired backup sets

ksattler
Level 3
Partner Accredited

Hello,

I have upgraded a BE2012 SP4 installation to BE2014. The backups go to a DataDomain DD160 using as a OpenStorage device.

There a lot of backup sets which are already have been expired. The DLM of BE2014 seems not deleting already expired backup sets (e.g. from BE2012).

For new expired backup sets the deletion works.

 

How can I delete the >1000 expired backup sets?

 

 

44 REPLIES 44

Dmitry_Vasilyev
Level 3

Have the same problem, today install sp1 and that not help me.

http://www.symantec.com/connect/forums/data-lifecycle-management

Laurie_Downey
Level 6
Employee

After reaching out to some internal resources I have been advised that the issue discussed in this forum thread is possibly related to the following tech document: http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH218049.

 

I say “possibly related” because detailed logs would need to be gathered for a precise determination on a per case basis. I would advise opening up a support case and referring to E-Track # 3527967 to confirm this information for your environment. 

 

Symantec has identified the issue as stated in the tech document above and we are looking into resolving the issue with the next service pack, planned for release in Q4, 2014.

 

 

Moltron1
Level 5

The workaround is to use tape?? We got rid of tape and spent lots of $$ getting 3 Data Domains and DD Boost!  First DD is now 100% full. 

Andy_S1
Level 2

I have the same issue on two 3600 Appliances. SP1 hasn't been released for the appliances yet so no idea if that will fix things, but it doesn't sound too hopeful. I don't have the option of using tape and I have one DD that is now full, the other has more used space so I guess it'll only last a couple of more days. Are Symantec really suggesting we have to wait months for a fix? I would sooner clear everything down and start again but it sounds like DaveyMG has tried that without success.

jerrys79
Level 4

Is it safe to say that everyone that is having this problem upgraded from BE 2012?  Have any BE 2010 to 2014 upgrades experienced this? 

I wonder if what DaveyMG says is correct in that "The only solution I see right now is to delete the whole database and face days of recataloging tapes."

JonathanK
Level 3

I'm having the same issue on a clean install of BE 2014, no upgrade.  It only seems to occur when there is some kind of major issue (BE and/or OS crash, etc.).  I'm just using a simple B2D folder, so if space becomes an issue I just manually go delete the related files/folders on the B2D device, but the annoying expired backup sets remain in the details of the B2D device in the BE 2014 interface.

DaveyMG
Level 4
Following on from my previous comments, I persevered with trying to delete my B2D volumes and finally got the volumes reconfigured with all of the old expired sets gone. Something is still broken though as after I deleted my B2Disk1 volume I couldn't recreate it and had to use B2Disk1A as the volume name. If I tried to use B2Disk1 it would say that the name already exists. I'll need to wait a few days now to see if the DLM is deleting newly expired sets.

almost_there
Level 3

Same issue here. Expired backup sets are being deleted. I saw Caleb's suggestion, but if you do this it will always delete expired backup sets and not leave the most recent if its the only copy. On top of this, the option to delete them manually is gone. Symantec???? Any suggestions?

Andy_S1
Level 2

I've tried running the manual space reclamation as described in http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH192557 but it didn't have any effect.

Also trying to manually expire items by right clicking and selecting expire. Oddly at some point some did disappear from the list but I couldn't get any others to go and I have no idea why they were deleted.

Symantec tech support suggested it's a known issue and to prove it I should change a registry key and run SGMon for an hour or so and send them the logs:

HKey_Local_Machine\Software\Symantec\Backup Exec for Windows\Backup Exec\Server\CheckReclaimSpaceIntervalMinutes = 240 (Decimal)

Change to 30 (decimal) mins and restart the Backup exec services.

Did this and uploaded the files to them.

I then tried to again manually expire some already expired  datasets and they went. I managed to get rid of quite a few but while doing this I noticed the used dedupe disk space was increasing, not decreasing. After about twenty minutes it stopped allowing me to expire the sets.

I've rebooted the appliances but it still won't let me expire any more sets.

I've currently left the reg key at 30 minutes to see if that was what let me delete them but it appears to be back as it was and I can no longer delete anything and no idea why, for a short period of time, I could.

maurijo
Level 6
Partner Accredited

It is normal behaviour that your used dedupe space increases after deleting backup sets. When you delete a backup set your "delete action" goes in to the dedup queue. This produces transaction logs, which are sometimes quite large in size. When these transaction logs get processed by your dedupe the backup sets should be removed from disk and your used space should decrease. Please note that your space used will only decrease if the backup sets that you deleted actually contain unique data. If this is not the fact then you will receive no free space on your dedup.

Andy_S1
Level 2

Has anyone had any success in deleting the expired sets. Both my appliances are now full and Symantec seemed to be pinning their hopes on SP1 fixing the issue although I noted that others had already applied SP1 without success. SP1 was released for the appliances yesterday, I have applied it to both devices and since then there has been no change.

ddominguez
Level 3

As Celeb IT said, you need to activated the Auto-Delete option 

Backup Exec button > Configuration and Settings > Backup Exec Settings > Storage > Allow Backup Exec to delete all expired backup sets.

When you do it, all expired backup sets will be automatically deleted (This could take some minutes). However, you will lost all expired backup sets, if you want to conserve some backups (may be if you are not sure if you have a recent backup) you can change the expiration date so you can conserve some backups.

After that you can deactivate that option again. Remember that DLM works saving all backup set until you have a recent full backup.

porka
Level 3

So I like others here have had this issue for sometime and just to reiterate service pack 1 makes no change to the issue nor does ticking the allow backup exec to delete all backup sets. I have 38 sites running backupexec 2014 and all are affected in the same way with at least 1 backup set that expired long ago and will not delete. The critical issue at one of the sites is that it now has a nas storage system for backups thats full because I have two backup sets totalling 3.8tb that expired according to backup exec on the 25th of august. Its ridiculous to suggest a workaround of backing up to tape, what about the people like me who dont have a tape drive whats the workaround then ???? Oh wait I think I know the workaround is stop using a ridiculous product and choose another vendor

Towdee
Level 2

Hi,

Any news about this issue?

DaveyMG
Level 4

I completely uninstalled BE2014 just over a week ago, deleted the database and reinstalled BE, installed SP1 and the hotfix, recreated backup jobs. So far I have some Exchange backup sets that show as expired on my disk storage and a couple of SQL server backups sets that show they are expired but show a dependent Tape backup set. Otherwise the rest of the backup to disk sets from other servers appear to be expiring and deleting OK. Cataloging of tapes from the previous installation has thrown up a different set of problems but I'll raise those elsewhere.

norm_tallant
Not applicable

I'm expeirencing a really similar issue.  I have a fresh install of BE 2014 on Server 2012 R2.  It's a pretty simple setup wth only one server and one B2D device.

Due to a power outage, we had to shut down the server in the middle of backups on a weekend.

Now, even though I have the "Allow Backup Exec to delete all expired backup sets" box checked, and I've expired every backup on the server, and the files got deleted, BE2014 is reporting that it's using 5tb of space on my B2D volume.  I sure wish I could find out what's using that space!

Do I need to have a full backup + duplicate complete sucessfully for BE to release that disk space?

Marco_H
Level 2

Hi,

BE2014 SP2 fixed the problem for me:

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH225093

CinColo
Level 2

Make sure it's not trying to backup your external drive (i.e. the media you're using for backup).

ksattler
Level 3
Partner Accredited

Hi,

my case is open since Jun 2014. Round about every two weeks a got a feedback like this "Just keeping you updated that I am still awaiting further updates from engineering team on this incident and will contact you as soon as have further news on this issue."

 

I'm wondering that I have not received an information from the support that SP2 was released in December.

Does it really fix the issue?

grumhelden
Level 2

Clean install on new servers, backing up a clean install on new hardware (BE2014, VMWARE 5.5), all patches applied *before* even establishing trust with servers.

 

And the disks get full and stay that way.

 

No upgrades, all Service Packs and hotfixes applied.

 

Product does not work.  Pure and simple.  It just doesnt work.

 

EDIT:  Just to contextualize, I am supposed to be taking my family on a day out, instead I'm chasing my tail trying to fix a broken product.  One that has no competition at the price point and which should at least have had this issue fixed by now.  So thanks for putting my family *and* my business at risk.