Exchange Backup fails with Database was not found or could not be accessed Final error 0xe00084af.

[Starkadder]

Hello all,

Exchange Server 2003.

Backup Exec 11d with Exchange Agent

Backing-up to Backup to Disk folder.

We are having a problem with our Exchange backups. The backups run every night (we can see the IMG folders at the end of the backup), but when the backup finishes we receive the error message:

Backup- \\mailhostname\Microsoft Information Store\First Storage Group

Database  was not found, or could not be accessed.

Database  was not found, or could not be accessed.

The job log shows that the 17GB of data was backed up in a little over 5 hours, and that the data was verified however the completion status is always:

Completed Status: Failed

Final error: 0xe00084af - The directory or file was not found, or could not be accessed.

Final error category: Job Errors

For additional information regarding this error refer to link V-79-57344-33967

Where is the job actually failing. Is it communication to the Exchange server, is it a problem with the job or selection setup, or is this a problem with my Backup Exec server? I have checked all the online documents, hints and tips and I still can't get a successful backup.

Any help would be gratefully accepted as at the moment we are having to do two backups a day, the failing Backup Exec one and then a successful NTBackup one.

Thanks in advance,

Paul

[Ben_L_]

Paul,

It is most likely failing during the catalog process of the exchange backup, which is after the backup has already transfered all the data to disk.  Can you turn off the GRT option in the job and run it again?  Just uncheck the box labeled "enable restore of individual items..."

[Starkadder]

Hi Blipsey,

I can certainly try that overnight and let you know how it goes, but assuming that clears my problems, how can I then get back individual mailboxes or items?

That is one of my requirements and I would hate to lose that ability.

I will try your suggestion with tonights backup, the backup is taking 5 hours a time as it backs up the entire store so I can't get an answer to you any sooner.

Paul

[Ben_L_]

That is not a fix, it's just a test to make sure that the information store is getting backed up correctly.

With Exchange 2003/2007 you can use the Recovery Storage Group (RSG) and exmerge if need be to pull information from the store and put it into a PST if need be.

[Starkadder]

Hello Blipsey,

You suggestion worked. I now have a successfull backup of my Information Store.

Have you a suggestion so that I can get it back to the stage where I can backup and recover individual mailboxes etc? I obviously must have the option 'Enable the restore of individual messages and folders...' turned on to achieve this but that seems to have an adverse affect on the backup.

I also noticed that the backup went to my daily media pool rather than create an IMG set. Is this the behaviour that you would have expected?

Thanks for all your help to date,

Paul

[Ben_L_]

Paul,

"I also noticed that the backup went to my daily media pool rather than create an IMG set. Is this the behaviour that you would have expected?"

Yes, that was expected since the backup was not using the GRT technology. Sorry forgot to mention that.

Which Revision of 11d are you running and what patches do you have installed?  I forgot to ask that as well before.  You can check those from the Help - About menu item.

[Starkadder]

Hello Blipsey,

The information from my server reads as follows:

Media Server and Administration Server Version 11.0 Revision 7170.

Installed patches: None.

Does this mean I need to download some patches before we can proceed?

Thanks for all you help so far,

Paul

[Ben_L_]

Paul,

Yes you have a lot of updates that need to be applied.  Just run LiveUpdate from the Tools menu.  You will need to run it a few times to get all the updates.  After you have all the updates make sure to push out the updated agent then run your backup again.

[Starkadder]

Hello Blipsey,

I had already started to do that. Once complete I will re-enable GRT on my backup and see how it goes overnight,

Thanks for all your help,

Paul

[Starkadder]

Hello,

No joy I am afraid.

I now have Service Pack 1 and hot fixes 17 through 27 installed.

Unfortunately when I ran my backup again, with GRT enabled, I got exactly the same error as before.

I will disable GRT and run it again this evening but I suspect that the patches have made no difference.

Any further suggestions?

Thanks for all your help so far,

Paul

[Ben_L_]

Paul,

Can you give me some details on the backup to disk location?  Is it a raid array? are the drive fragmented? how is it attached?  That sort of information.

[Starkadder]

Hi Blipsey,

The device is on a SATA raid 5 array, as are all my backup-to-disk devices. There is about 600GB available on the 1.3TB array. Windows reports a high amount (50%) of fragmentation.

Hope this helps,

Thanks for your help so far,

Paul

[Ben_L_]

Just for a test, do you have a different disk not on the array that we could run the backup to?

[Starkadder]

Unfortunately not, all of the disks on that system are in the raid 5 array.

Paul

[Ben_L_]

somehow I knew you were going to say that.

Alright follow these steps.

1. On the BE media server as well as the Exchange server (assuming Exchange is on a separate server) create the following registry value:
(Check your private messages for the registry key)

2. Stop Backup Exec services and put the Remote Agent (media server and remote server) and Job Engine (media server only) in debug mode. (http://support.veritas.com/docs/254212)

3. Run the Exchange backup.

4. Run VxGather on both servers use all 3's for the case number and click on send via ftp when prompted. (http://support.veritas.com/docs/285911)

5. Private Message me the file names

[Starkadder]

Does capitalisation in the dword value name matter?

[Ben_L_]

no, all lower case will be fine.

[Starkadder]

You will also get debug information for the other 6 or so backup jobs that will run overnight, will that cause any problems in trying to isolate the information specific to my Exchange problem?

[Starkadder]

Forget my last message. I will try to do this all via a remote login over the weekend so the logs are not confused by my other backups. If it all goes terribly wrong, it may be Tuesday before I can get information to you.

Thanks for all your help so far.

Paul

[Starkadder]

Hello All,

I finally have a solution to my issue.

I was backing-up the Exchange server to a backup-to-disk device which was a compressed folder. When I uncompressed the folder the backup worked perfectly. Not only did it work but it also took less than a third of the time it had taken to complete previously.

Many thanks to Blipsey for all his assistance and his patience with this Backup Exec novice.

Regards,

Paul