Erratic Backup Times

[Heath_Richardso]

Hi

I have scheduled backups to happen at 10 pm every night on our server. The backups on regular occasion start way past the scheduled time and take twice as long to do the backup.

For example.
Night 1
Backup starts 10 pm takes 10 hours to perform the job
Night 2
Backup starts at 3 am takes 15 hours to do same job.

My question being:
1. Why does the backup start at different times
2. Why such a big variance in job times when performing the same backup job and the server performs the same functions each night.

Thanks in advance
HR

[priya_khire]

Hello,

What are you backing up in this job? Is there any other activity on the server during the backups or are the bcked up files open or in use during the backup?

Since when does the problem occur? Check for any error messages in the alerts tab in Backup Exec as well the Windows event logs. What device are you using for the backups? Test on a backup-to-disk folder and check the results.

The folowing steps might help:
1. Reconfigure the scheduled jobs
2. Install the latest device drivers from the following link:

VERITAS Backup Exec (tm) 9.1 - Device Driver Installer (20050115) - Includes Tape Driver Release (20041231) and Robotic Library Release (45) (Intel Only)
http://support.veritas.com/docs/273853

If the above solution doesn't help, revert with details.

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.

Regards.

[Heath_Richardso]

Hi,

I am backing up 2 servers which includes exchange data, SQL data and the local drives themselves. The data set equals about 120Gb of data.

I am backing up with a SONY SDX-700C tape drive.

I am getting errors in the alert tab stating "The job failed with the following error: Access is denied." (Event ID: 34113) I have been to the Veritas on the web support page and read articles on this but I can't seem to solve the problem as the account used to backup is the domain and local administrator.

To be honest I have had all different types of problems with the software for some time now and haven't had a completely successful backup for months.

Would doing a reinstall be the answer or a complete database rebuild?

Will do backup to file tonight and post results

Thanks
HR

[Heath_Richardso]

Hi

I have noticed that if I run the back up manually the backup job seems to run through with no dramas but if I schedule the backup to run at certain times that is when I run into dramas.

I tried another backup this morning and it has hung and the following message is repeated several times in the event viewer.

Drivers have been updated and still having problems

18272 :
I/O error on backup or restore restart-checkpoint file 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL$BKUPEXEC\backup\master4IDR.ckp'. Operating system error 3(error not found). The statement is proceeding but is non-restartable.

and

18264 :
Database backed up: Database: BEDB, creation date(time): 2005/06/14(18:18:10), pages dumped: 995, first LSN: 693:77:1, last LSN: 693:79:1, number of dump devices: 1, device information: (FILE=1, TYPE=VIRTUAL_DEVICE: {'BEDB_00__994e3916_6301_4cce_9b70_f3c1e1932aca_'}).

Thanks for any help
HR

[Deepali_Badave]

Hello,

while running scheduled backup jobs are you getting any alerts in Alert tab.

-- have you configure the alerts to respond automatically?
This can be due to the corruption in the scheduler, due to which the scheduled jobs are displaying incorrect time.

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.

[Heath_Richardso]

Hi Deepali

I seem only get an alert if I cancel the job or it fails at the end

Unsure what you mean by "configure the alerts to respond automatically"?

Ok if it is corruption to the scheduler how do I fix it?

Also yesterday the backup failed again and when I canceled the job and restart the Verities application all the job History was gone and then I found a log called 'dbrecover.log' under the Verities directory. The log seems to detail a recovery process of the backup database.

Thanks
HR

[Shyam_Sundar]

Hello,

To configure Backup Exec to respond to alerts automatically please follow document :

http://support.veritas.com/docs/254685

Please write to us if you have further queries.



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.


Thanks.

[Heath_Richardso]

Hi

Yes the automatic respond to alerts was already setup

but now back to my original problem my backup took 15hrs last night and only 11hr the previous day & 9hrs the day before that.

Why such a big difference in times??

Thanks
HR

[Amruta_Purandar]

Hello,

Please refer the following technotes.
Title:
What Backup Exec settings can be modified to reduce the amount of time it takes for a backup to run?
http://support.veritas.com/docs/249090

Title:
How to correct slow backup performance, slow virus or pre-job scans, and agent initialization problems on fragmented Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows 2003 server partitions
http://support.veritas.com/docs/237444

Title:
Reasons why the data throughput rate can be slower than the theoretical maximum when backing up to tape media
http://support.veritas.com/docs/231488


Also perform the following for tests purposes.
- Try same backup on a B2D and verify the time required.
- perform separate backup of each resource and check which resource takes most time for backup.


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.