Backup hangs at Snapshot Processing state

[Andrew_Perry]

Hi,

We are running Backup Exec V10 Revision 5520 and are having problems where when a job is started, the job hangs at 0 bytes completed during the "Snapshot processing" state for approx 45 minutes.

If I try to cancel the job, this also hangs, however after about 15 minutes, the job will eventually cancel.

This problem also occurred whilst running the previous revision of V 10 which had Service Pack 1 installed.

I have also noticed that when Backup Exec is installed, there is an error in the system event log (Event ID 11, which states "The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Scsi\nfrd9601"

Whenever, i un-install Backup Exec and restart the server, this message is no longer reported, and again, upon re-installation, the error starts appearing again.

Whilst I have seen many articles and posts on the veritas website about similar problems, I cannot seem to find a resolution for this.

I am informed by our Server Analyst who built the server that the drivers and firmware is up-to-date and that before Backup Exec was installed, there was no problem with the SCSI device.

Has anybody got any suggestions?

Cheers

Andrew Perry

[Renuka_-]

Hello,

What resources are you backing up in this backup.?
How many servers are included?
Evidently you are selecting AOFO for the backup, is that right?
Do you have media alerts during this time?
Are the device and the server both online?
Please try the same backup to disk and check the results.

Additional Information :
For information on the recent VERITAS Backup Exec security vulnerabilities, including links to the downloads for the necessary hotfixes, please refer to the following document:
Patch summary for Security Advisories VX05-001, VX05-002, VX05-003, VX05-005, VX05-006, VX05-007

http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/277429.htm

NOTE : If we do not receive your reply within two business days, this post would be marked assumed answeredand would be moved toanswered questions pool.

[Andrew_Perry]

Hi, thanks for your reply.

I am backing up SQL ( I have SQL Agent ) however, I have also tried to just back up C: Drive to test further and this also hangs.

Yes, I do have AOFO selected, and selected to choose the technology automatically.

There is only the 1 server being backed up, and this is a local backup. Even the SQL is local, so it is not crossing the network to back up other servers.

I was off on Friday, however, It appears that our Server Analyst has run a job of C: with ntbackup and it has worked successfully (Just checked the event logs) and he has since un-installed BE and there has been no SCSI event logged since.

There were no alerts created during the time the backup was hanging.

This is crucial, as we are currently in the process of reviewing all of our backup software, and possibly upgrading all to Veritas, however, if these problems are going to occur, we will need to re-consider. It is not going to go down well, if I have to explain that all the servers will need upgrading with all the latest firmware just to allow backup exec to run.

Please help.

TIA

Andy Perry

[Chaitanya_Khurj]

Hello Andrew,

We believe the tape device you are using is connected to a RAID Controller nfrd9601.

We recommend that tape devices should never be connected to RAID controllers and hence suggest that you connect to its own dedicated SCSI controller.

Please refer to the following technote.

Why is it recommended that tape devices should not be connected to RAID controllers?

http://support.veritas.com/docs/191488

NOTE : If we do not receive your reply within two business days, this post would be marked ‘assumed answered’ and would be moved to ‘answered questions’ pool.

Additional Information :
For information on the recent VERITAS Backup Exec security vulnerabilities, including links to the downloads for the necessary hotfixes, please refer to the following document:
Patch summary for Security Advisories VX05-001, VX05-002, VX05-003, VX05-005, VX05-006, VX05-007

http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/277429.htm

[Glen_Potter]

You can reduce the amount of time it hangs by using the AOFO Wizard and set the timeout (bottom option) to 200 seconds rather than the default 2000 seconds.

While you're in there you might set the Min% Max% to 10%, but I didn't really notice that this affected the overall time that much.

After 4 weeks of Direct Assist, Veritas cannot resolve why it is trying to build a vsp file to the max available on the drive, but they are currently blaming it on PCAnywhere (AWHOST32) and McAfee.

[Andrew_Perry]

Thanks for your reply

Well, we don't have McAfee or PCAnywhere on this particular server :)

I have checked with our guy who built the server and he insists that the Tape device is on a seperate card, however he is trying to sort out the firmware upgrades to see if that has any affect.

He isn't convinced though as ntbackup works perfectly fine :)

Oh well, will see how things progress and report back.

Thanks for the info John

Andy

[Shilpa_pawar_2]

Hi,

As suggested earlier if the device is connected to RAID controller, move it to SCSI controller.

Also do not activate AOFO while backing up databases like Exchange or SQL.

For more information refer this technote:
What is the intended use of the Open File Option and the Advanced Open File Option?
http://support.veritas.com/docs/263784


Additional Information :
For information on the recent VERITAS Backup Exec security vulnerabilities, including links to the downloads for the necessary hotfixes, please refer to the following document:
Patch summary for Security Advisories VX05-001, VX05-002, VX05-003, VX05-005, VX05-006, VX05-007

http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/277429.htm



NOTE : If we do not receive your reply within two business days, this post would be marked "assumed answered" and would be moved to "answered questions" pool.

[Renuka_-]

Hello Andrew,

It is true that since NT backup is working, the card does not seem to be a problem. But backup exec cannot work properly via RAID controolers it needs the SCSI or IDE interface to communicate with the device.

These two are the only compatible interfaces.This can be confirmed in the hardware compatibility list


Additional Information :
For information on the recent VERITAS Backup Exec security vulnerabilities, including links to the downloads for the necessary hotfixes, please refer to the following document:
Patch summary for Security Advisories VX05-001, VX05-002, VX05-003, VX05-005, VX05-006, VX05-007

http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/277429.htm

NOTE : If we do not receive your reply within two business days, this post would be marked assumed answeredand would be moved toanswered questions pool.

[Andrew_Perry]

The thing is though, the tape device IS connected to SCSI, the error message states that the error is with SCSI device nfrd960

The backup that I am testing is just a local backup of C Drive and as I type the job has taken 18 minutes so far and is still on 0 bytes and is still on "Snapshot Processing"

All drivers and firmware has been updated and this event error is still occuring as soon as Backup Exec is installed and the server re-booted.

I have also just tried a backup without AOFO selected for local C Drive and this has worked fine, so does this mean that buying AOFO is useless? I have selected this option on other servers running V10 and I don't have a problem, so why would i not be able to select AOFO on a local hard disk selection?

By the way, the job with AOFO selected also takes ages to cancel. This also hangs for about 10 minutes before disconnecting.

Should i be installing BE with Microsofts device drivers? (even though it states Veritas's is recommended)

AndrewMessage was edited by:
Andrew Perry

[shilpa_Pawar]

Hi,

Did you test backup to backup to disk folder?

Also modify AOFO cache file settings. e.g:
minimum - 5
maximum - 15

Ensure that there is enough free space available on the drive, where AOFO is installed.

- IF antivirus is active, exclude the backup exec aofo store folder from antivirus scans.

- If using windows 2003
You could apply the MS patch by referring the following :
A Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) update package is available for Windows Server 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;833167

- If all the above steps do not help, uninstall and reinstall AOFO ( uninstall and reinstall both would require reboot).


Additional Information :
For information on the recent VERITAS Backup Exec security vulnerabilities, including links to the downloads for the necessary hotfixes, please refer to the following document:
Patch summary for Security Advisories VX05-001, VX05-002, VX05-003, VX05-005, VX05-006, VX05-007

http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/277429.htm



NOTE : If we do not receive your reply within two business days, this post would be marked "assumed answered" and would be moved to "answered questions" pool.

[Andrew_Perry]

Just an update....

I have now been working on this problem for over a week with no successful backup to tape.

I have tried a backup to folder, and that works fine.

I have reduced the maximum time and yes, this now only hangs for the time i have set, however the verify fails with a semaphore timeout message.

We have updated the drivers and firmware for the SCSI card (4L) and updated the tape drivers and firmware, and also tried updating the Veritas drivers, all with no joy.

We have tried different SCSI ID numbers to which makes no difference.

I am unable to find the settings suggested in the "how to solve SCSI timeout" documents that relate to the SCSI settings. There are no options for these in the SCSI configuration at startup. The termination is correct as it is an internal tape drive to which according to the manual the cable is self terminated.

I have used different tapes, and even today used a different tape drive, which seems to have made matters worse in that Backup Exec won't even do an inventory now, and hangs. The tape device in "Computer Management" under removable storage is now disabled (sometimes it enables) however the Inventory eill still not work

I have downloaded the Utility programs for firmware updates and that currently tells me that there are no devices that will work with the update.

I am at a loss! Close to breaking point! as to why i am having so many problems with Backup Exec. Without Backup Exec, the tape drivers load fine, there are no errors with the nfrd9601 device and ntbackup will perform a backup and verify. However, we purchase Backup Exec with the SQL agent thinking that this would be better than ntbackup.

If i run BEGather, will this provide any information that can help you to help me with this?? I don't know what else to try!!

Please Help!

Andy

[Matt_Schillerst]

Are you running a Win 2003 box? Do you have the shadow copy volume box checked? Try unchecking this if you do.

[Andrew_Perry]

We are running Windows Server 2003, and the option that I have selected in AOFO is to automatically select the best method. Some of the backup selections have just been a folder on C: which still seems to fail as soon as it starts to verify. If I disable AOFO and do not verify, then it backs up.

We have at the moment un-installed Veritas completely, as we need to start getting backups, we are now dumping SQL and then using ntbackup and all is connecting to the tape drive just fine.

i'm not looking forward though, to explaining to the directors, why we have purchased software costing over £800 which does not backup properly.

I keep getting told on here that it is a SCSI issue, however, why would ntbackup be able to communicate properly with the SCSI card and not Veritas??

Clutching at straws now, but has any problems been previously reported with an IBM x226 running a 4L and 6i cards? Tape drive is on the 4L. I know this should be irrelevant, but hey, if tried everything else :)

Thanks

Andy Perry

[Amruta_Purandar]

Hello,

As mentioned SYMANTEC does not recommend using RAID controllers. Please refer the following technote.
Title:
Why is it recommended that tape devices should not be connected to RAID controllers?
http://support.veritas.com/docs/191488

Unless you change this we cannot provide further troubleshooting. Also unless you have Backup Exec installed we cannot troubleshoot it.

Please update us on the status of this issue so that we may further troubleshoot this issue.

Additional Information :
For information on the recent VERITAS Backup Exec security vulnerabilities, including links to the downloads for the necessary hotfixes, please refer to the following document:
Patch summary for Security Advisories VX05-001, VX05-002, VX05-003, VX05-005, VX05-006, VX05-007

http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/277429.htm

NOTE : If we do not receive your reply within two business days, this post would be marked assumed answered and would be moved to answered questions pool.

[Andrew_Perry]

Thanks for the reply.

Unfortunately I am not in a position to proceed any further with this now, as the person responsible for the server build is not prepared to alter the configuration, as he is under the impression that if ntbackup is able to work with the device connected to the 4L SCSI controller without any problems then Veritas/Symantec software should also be able to achieve this.

I appreciate what you are saying and I understand the related document regarding not using tape devices on RAID controllers, however I am caught in the middle now and i'm afraid I will have to class this as answered and closed. The server administrator is sticking to ntbackup.

Thanks for all your help on this matter. Maybe if he leaves or someone else takes over the administration of the server, i may be in a position to try out your suggestions :)

Andy