Backup Exec as it operates out of the box will attempt to lock the file before backing it up. This is to ensure that the file is not being written to by the application. You can disable that behavior in the backup window but you could end up in a situation where as we are reading data from the file, the application writes to the same file causing the data on tape to be corrupt. In other words, the file wouldn't be readable after a restore.
There are a few solutions to this issue available to IT administrators. The first is our open file option. The software takes a "snapshot" of the drive before beginning a backup. The snapshot is a "picture" of your drive from a given point in time. The data is backed up from the snapshot rather than from the live data so there is no problem with file locks. OFO is pretty easy to install and use - just add the serial number to Backup Exec and check the use OFO checkbox in your backup jobs. Generally no additional configuration is needed.
The second option is to use Backup Exec's pre- and post-commands to start a batch file that will shut down Quickbooks before the backup starts. VERITAS Support doesn't assist with scripting but it should be possible to shut down Quickbooks from a script.
