Backups halted at 1024 bytes - Part 2 (continued from Colin Weaver)

[systematic92]

Hi All,

I raised this original issue a while back here:

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/backups-always-stuck-1024-bytes

Believe it or not, the issue has never gone away. The way our engineers have been getting around it is to cancel the backup job and restart it again, which makes things work again.

Backups that stall are varied and coming from 2 different NETAPP controllers. They can stall up to 12 hours before a phsyical intervention.

The last time I raised this topic, Colin Weaver was looking at it. His last comment was:

"OK - that does mean my extra comment does not apply to your 1024 byte problem.

FYI - a Level 1 Incremental against NDMP option on a NetApp is equivalent to a Differential in terms of a standard Windows backup."

I am not sure if that holds any relevance to me resoling my issue. We are using BEXEC 2010 R3.

This issue has gone on for about a year + and I would be grateful for a resolution if possible.

[Colin_Weaver]

If the issue has gone on for about a year - did you ever log a formal support case?

If you didn't and this is some kind of software defect then you may have missed the boat as any new identifed issues with BE 2010 R3 are likely to be checked if working in the latest version and if they don't work in the latest version then any product changes may only be made in the newer version (depending on the nature of the problem). BE 2010 R3 is now 2 versiopns out of date and also goes officially into partial support very soon

As such to get a solution you may need to test with BE 2014 (assuming the version of OnTap is still on the HCL)  and then if still an issue log a formal support case for us to do a thorough inverstigation

[systematic92]

The version we have running is R3. Is it wise to upgrade to R4 or is there a newer version than that now?

How do I check the HCL/ON-Tap list too?

Thanks,

[VJware]

Post BE 2010 R3, there is BE 2012 and now BE 2014. Here are the links to the HCLs - http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH205797

[systematic92]

Chaps,

Thank you for your help however a couple of queries:

1. When I go to live update, I see two options available to me:

a) Backupexec 2012 is now available (2575.7KB)

b) Service Pack 4 (295748.1kb)

2. Which of the above is most recent?

3. When upgrading can I go directly to the new version or can do I stage the update in the order of release?

4. Where is Bexec 2014?

5. If I upgrade to a product other than the Service Packs i.e. BEXEC 2012 or 2014 (if that is even available), how does this affect my licensing - do I have to pay any extra?

Thank you gents.

[VJware]

LiveUpdate will allow one to just apply hotfixes/service packs. It will not do a major version upgrade.

I would recommend to first apply SP4 which is the most recent service pack for your version of BE.

You can then perform a direct upgrade to BE 2014.

BE 2014 can either be downloaded from the Fileconnect portal or from http://www.symantec.com/products-solutions/families/trialware-popup.jsp?fid=backup-exec

Licensing depends upon your maintenance support contract. I would recommend to contact Licensing to get details on the upgrade's pricing factor.

[systematic92]

Upgrading to SP4 wont cost me anything?

If upgrading to BE 2014 is going to cost us money then I dont think we will go for it. I was under the impressiont that it was free to upgrade to any products that show up in LiveUpdate or am I wrong?

Is there a way to determine my licensing/support contract without contacing a third party. Can I view this information via the console?

[systematic92]

Actually I just went to Toolx > Licensing and Maintenance Contract Information > Maintenance Contract Information and it says:

NONE

So I guess that means upgrading to BE 2014 is not valid?

Will I get charged for upgrading to Service Pack 4 and BE 2012? (which of these two product upgrades is the most recent)

Thanks 

[pkh]

If you have a current maintenance contract then you can upgrade for free to both BE 2012 or 2014. You should upgrade to BE 2014 because it is newer and it has the job monitor which you are used to. Make sure you get your new license keys before you upgrade. Your existing keys will not work. You either get your keys from the Symantec Licencing Department or from my.Symantec.Com

[pkh]

If you did not enter the maintenance license then it would show as None. Don't sell yourself short, contact the Symantec Licencing Department to ascertain your exact licensing status. Upgrade to either BE 2012 or 2014 is payable unless you have a current maintenance contract. You can upgrade to SP4 for free

[Colin_Weaver]

BE 2014 is the latest version and recommended peratice if you are on BE 2010 R3 or ealier is do not upgrade to BE 2012 but go to BE 2014 and skip the 2012 version.

Service packs are not chargeable and in fact the term "upgrade" is not usually used when talking about either Hotfixes or Service packs where the term "patch" is more appropriate

 The term "upgrade" is usually used for a complete version change and as previously mentioned complete version changes are not performed via LiveUpdate (the message you see in Live Update regarding BE 2012 is a marketting tool to make you aware that it is available)

Whether or not an upgrade (complete version change) to a new version has a cost is usually down to the state of your maintenance agreement (at the time the next version was released). Also, whether or not the BE Console actually knows the real state of your maintenance agreement does kind of depend on whether you ever entered the maintenance details/license into the BE software. As you can run BE without enabling the maintenance details the status you quoted may be invalid - although I suspect you do not have maintenance due to both the old version you currentl run (especially as the issue started in BE 2010 R2), and your own awareneess of the agreement being based on the console information and not on paperwork

Unfortunately it is therefore likely that you do not have a support agreement either and as your issue does not seem to have been specifically seen by any non-Symanetc forum posters and Symantec are also not specifically aware of your issue does leave you with a bit of a problem as these community forums are really here to provide solutions based on experience where troubleshooting new technical issues does need a formal support case.

[systematic92]

Hey Colin,

If we had a maintenance contract in place when BE2012 was released but we didnt have one when BE2014 was released, should we upgrade to BE2012 as opposed to upping the service pack level on BE2010?

I ask because I think we had a maintenance agreement in place through a middle-man and may have dropped it pretty recently.

Thanks,

p.s. what date was BE2014 officially released.

[Colin_Weaver]

Ther were some offers that might apply to situations like yours however you would have to speak to your reseller or our sales team about those as tech Support do not have thexact details

2014 was released 2014-06-02 (June 2nd)

BTW If you have a support agreemnet in place for 2010 R3 you could still log a support case for us to look at the issue. My earlier points about 2014 wee to make it clear that you should probably try 2014 as whatever we find against your issue it is unlikly to be fixed against the version you have installed.

Also I can't confirm that you won't see the issue in 2014 as obviously we have not yet confirmed what the problem is.
 

[systematic92]

Think I've narrowed down the 1024 BYTES stalling issue.

The backup is stalling for a job that is responsible for backing up User Roaming Profiles.

We use AppSense and store user profiles on a SAN (NetApp) and back them up using NDMP through BEXEC.. 

I figured the issue was trying to back up alot of data in one job and therefore decided to be more granular with the task by splliting the job from backing up 400 user profiles to 50 user profile. The job still stalls on 1024 bytes.

I wonder if this issue has anything to do with open files. The way I understand it is the roaming profile folder is the live data used in real time by the end user. There are no errors that relate to open files so I might be wrong but perhaps this helps you understand my issue more?

[systematic92]

So you can strike that last comment.

The job just kicked off after 20 mins of the task starting. Looks like the resolution is to split down the jobs, which I am now going to do and monitor.

[systematic92]

Colin,

So the 1024 byte stalling is resolved however, I have a greater issue, which I hope can be addressed.

As you know, we have a SAN location with a top-level folder called UserHome.

In order to get successfull backups, I want to break the jobs down into several tasks and backup:

A-C

D-F

G-I

and so on....

The problem is that 'Userhome' has EVERYTHING in it (over 3000 profiles) without a granular structure like sub-folder structure like A-C, D-F, G-I etc.

In order to achieve my idea, I have to manually select the criteria. This is a very cumbersome process and difficult to stay on top of as more and more new hires are taken on by the company.

Is there any script or way you know of that is able to target the top-level folder structure and automatically select A-C, D-F, G-I etc on a per job level basis?

[systematic92]

Looks like the answer is here (last message):

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/using-wildcards-selection-lists

Any chance youg uys can help me with how to achieve what the user did in the above pasted thread?

[systematic92]

Think I just figured it out.

[systematic92]

Yea I have. Thank you all.