Solved: Hi VJware, Thanks for the

DonsMan · ‎05-29-2014

Hi,

Our backups have been causing trouble since the weekend and I'm not sure what the answer is. We are running Backup Exec R2 on an SBS 2008 box, backing up to LTO3 tapes.

The initial problem surfaced on Friday with completed job with exceptions:

"Backup- xxxx
- AOFO: Initialization failure on: "C:". Advanced Open File Option used: Microsoft Volume Shadow Cop...
V-79-10000-11231 - VSS Snapshot error. Activity on a volume is preventing all volumes from being sna...

The next run then failed completely with error E000FF14.

I then rebooted the server in an attempt to clear out any issues, this often has resolved things in the past. Unfortunately the next backup failed as well this time with an error E0008821,

"AOFO: Initialization failure on: "xxxx\SBSMONITORING". Advanced Open File Option used: Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS).
V-79-10000-11217 - VSS Snapshot error. The Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) snapshot failed. Make sure that all provider services and tasks are running. Check the Windows Event Viewer for details."

The server also has BESR 2010 installed which I run on Saturdays for backing up to disk. I changed schedules last night and ran BESR instead of BackUp Exec. BESR completed successfully, just as it did last Saturday.

Any ideas would be very welcome!

Thanks,

Stephen.

VJware · ‎05-29-2014

Would recommend first to upgrade to BE 2010 R3.

Secondly, split off the Exchange backup from the regular file backups. Keep Advanced Open File Option (AOFO) off for the former and on for the latter. Enable the option "Process Logical Volumes for backup one at a time" and explicitly choose the System Microsoft VSS provider for the AOFO backups.

Do ensure there is sufficient time between the BE and BESR backups so that they do not conflict. And do ensure there isn't any other activity (BESR or native Windows backup or Exchange maintenance) during the BE backup.

Lastly, setup AV exclusions for the BE processes as well.

View solution in original post

VJware · ‎05-29-2014

Would recommend first to upgrade to BE 2010 R3.

Secondly, split off the Exchange backup from the regular file backups. Keep Advanced Open File Option (AOFO) off for the former and on for the latter. Enable the option "Process Logical Volumes for backup one at a time" and explicitly choose the System Microsoft VSS provider for the AOFO backups.

Do ensure there is sufficient time between the BE and BESR backups so that they do not conflict. And do ensure there isn't any other activity (BESR or native Windows backup or Exchange maintenance) during the BE backup.

Lastly, setup AV exclusions for the BE processes as well.

DonsMan · ‎05-29-2014

Hi VJware,

Thanks for the response. The backup job in question has run fine for 3.5 years, with the odd hiccup every now and again. The job has AOFO on with Microsoft VSS explicitly selected and the "Process Logical Volumes one at a time" selected too.

The BE and BESR backups never run on the same day. BE is Mon-Fri and BESR is only a Saturday, so no overlap at all.

Do you think the fact it fails during one of the SQL Server backups (the last failure was at the SBSMonitoring database) is a red herring?

I shall try and create two test jobs as described to see if that helps.

Thanks,

Stephen.

DonsMan · ‎05-30-2014

I ran the newly split backup jobs last night and they both completed successfully.

We find the SBSMonitoring database can get out of control over time and we do a regular clear out. I cleared it out in the usual way too, so I don't know if that had any impact on things since it was SBSMonitoring it failed at the previous time.

In anycase, thanks for your help.

VOX

Backup Exec 2010 R2 - error E0008821