Exchange Remote agent loses security rights

[John_Meredith_2]

We have a new Exchange 2003 server and purchased a remote agent, all was installed properly. Our file server runs Veritas 9.1 SP2 and I also re-pushed the updated agent after we did the SP2 upgrade.

This has happened twice in a row now --

After I installed the agent, I had no problem at all accessing the Exchange mailboxes with the default account we use for all our backups -- it's \administrator. This account has rights for everything and anything in the entire domain.

After setting up the backup job, I got successful backups for two nights, then suddenly they start failing when trying to back up the Exchange Mailboxes and Public Folders. Everything else on the Exchange server backs up just fine (C:\, E:\, F:\).

When I go into Job Setup in Veritas to try to check the security settings, I get the popup window saying that none of the accounts can access the resource, and to pick another one.

I know for a fact that no one has changed any rights or account settings on this network, nor has anything else changed in the two days since the first successful backup worked.

What is happening to cause Veritas to suddenly lose the ability to connect to the mailboxes and back them up?Message was edited by:
John Meredith

[Shyam_Sundar]

Hello,

Please write back with the exact error message so that we can have a better view of the issue.

Also provide more details like on which items of Exchange does this problem occur.

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.


Thanks.

[John_Meredith_2]

The error message is:

Cannot connect to \\server\Microsoft Exchange mailboxes


If I go into job setup now to check the login settings for the Mailbox resource and the public folder resource, I get the popup window asking which account to use to log in, and it will not accept the password for my domain admin account which has rights to everything everywhere.

I followed the steps located in the article on making sure the administrator account isn't hidden from the Global Address list, and that did not help. I have applied service pack 2 for 9.1 as well as another patch I found that seemed to apply to this issue. I also did the registry change that is suggested after applying Windows 2003 SP1, still no luck. The Exchange server is running WIndows 2003 Standard SP1, with Exchange 2003 SP1.

[Amruta_Purandar]

Hello,

- Are you able to successfully backup Exchange Information Store?
- Ensure that Backup Exec service account's (BESA) mailbox must be unique to the organization. No other mailbox can share the first 5 characters in common with this mailbox in the entire organization. This can be tested by composing a new mail message and then in 'To:' field type the first 5 characters of the mailbox display name, then press , this should resolve the name, if a menu pops up, then there are multiple accounts which share these first 5 characters. The matching names should be changed or the BESA mailbox name should be changed to something unique.

- The Backup Exec service account must have its own mailbox that has been tested with Outlook prior to configuring mailbox backups. If the mailbox has not had mail traffic, it can be flagged as "Inactive" by Exchange. This can be corrected by simply sending this account mail.

- When configuring mailbox backups, always log on as the Backup Exec service account.

- Create an account in Backup Exec under Network | Logon Accounts that contains the Exchange mailbox name as the name and has domain admin password.

- If there are multiple message stores on this server, make sure the Backup Exec mailbox is located in the last or most recently added message store.

- Enable restrict anonymous on Media server as well as the remote server. Refer the following technote.
Title:
How to enable support for "Restrict Anonymous" when using Backup Exec 8.6, 9.x, and 10.0 for Windows Servers
http://support.veritas.com/docs/238618


- Stop and re-start the Backup Exec services after making any of the above changes.


Revert with the results and answers to the above questions.


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.

[John_Meredith_2]

I have no idea why but the backups started working again over the weekend, after nothing changed. The only thing I can think of is a replication issue?