Backup Exec 2014 Fails with Generic Connection Lost Message

[BernardJL]

I am having this problem on a number of servers since upgrading to Backup Exec 2014.  We spent a whole day working with one server to determine what can be causing this.  All to no avail.   

The system to be backed up is a simple physical machine running Window 7 Enterprise.  It has Microsoft Office and that is about it.  All updates, service packs, have been applied both to the client and the server.  All the updates to Backup Exec 2014 are applied and the current Backup Exec Client is on the machine in question.

Here are the actions we have taken with no change to the outcome:

1.  Removed Symantec End Point Protection - per the information from Symantec, it seems perhaps Backup Exec is getting cross ways with the End Point Protection product.

• No change.  V-79-57344-65072 - The connection to target system has been lost. Backup set canceled.

2.  Turned off the Windows Firewall - again perhaps causing the issue. 

• No change

3.  Turned off Advance File backup and tried to backup just one file. 

• No change

4.  Reviewed the link give by Symantec but nothing is helpful there.  All the items are related to configuration items that are either set or not relevant in this simple situation.

5.  Reviewed all error/event logs no both machines and found nothing.  Checked the disk on the machine being backed up, nothing there.  Removed all restore points--some item from Symantec suggested this may be an issue.  Nothing changes.

6.  Uninsllated the Backup Exec agent on the client and reinstalled, re-established trust.  No good.

Observation:  Watching with the Backup Exec Agent display up on the client and the Backup Exec server we can see they do "Snap Shot" processing, the server shows "mount media" and then in a few seconds the backup fails. 

Observation:  The Backup Exec Client is able to communicate with the server since when setting up the job you can see all the files.  The push install process also talks with the client and reports "no updates needed". 

Observation:  Shares and access to the drives work as expected.

While we are discussing this one machine, We have five (5) others behaving the same way.  At the same time about 10 other machines are backup up just fine. 

The error information provided by Backup Exec 2014 is of no use.  It is so general and the article that it refers too is likewise a very general document.

Is there any tool or something that can check the communications betweeen the Backup Exec Server process and the Backup Exec Client to determine what is going on here? 

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[Greg_Meister]

As stated, this error is very generic in nature, and it appears you have already performed most of the expected troubleshooting on your own to no avail.

I'd recommend running Symhelp, available here:

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH170752

Run this on the media server, and one (or more) of the affected remote servers. Running this on one of the machines that backs up successfully may help also as a point of comparison to see if there are any noticeable differences reported.

[BernardJL · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the quick response, Greg.  It looks like we have determined

It appears we have determined the cause of the problem.

For whatever reason, Backup Exec 2014 has taken to using IPv6 first to establish a connection with the client machine.  Some client machines accept the IPv6 connection which work for the initial setup. 

However, when it comes time to do the actual backup, the connection request from the Backup Exec 2014 server never gets established.  Then we get the "lost network connection" error. 

This does not happen on all the clients since that ones that are working do not accept the intitial IPv6 connection and Backup Exec 2014 then attempts to use IPv4which al works perfectly fine.

Our solution at this time is to configure the backups that fail under "Network" -> "Protocol" -> select "IPv4".

This makes the connection and everything no works.

It is clear the issue is realted to the Windows Firewall configuration and also with Symantec Endpoint Protection.  With Windows Firewall turn off, and with Symantec Endpoint Protection turned off the IPv6 connections work just fine. 

We have tried with just Windows Firewall turn on, and opening ports Symantec notes as requirements for Backup Exec 2014.  But that does not resolve the issue.  We have also configured Symantec Endpoint Protection as outlined by Symantec and that also does not resolve the issue.

Since we have spend a lot of time getting to this point, we are running backups as outlined below and specifying IPv4.

At a later time, we might be able to determine what needs to be done with Symantec Endpoint Protection and Windows Firewall to allow Backup Exec 2014 to run over IPv6 in our network.

Hope this helps anyone else experiencing this issue.

Again, thanks for the quick response.