Exchange Server Locks Up

[Dave_Zabawski]

We are implementing Exchange 2003 on Server 2003. I have just installed the remote agent and when the job starts everything runs fine until the job gets to the 'Pre-prcessing' status and locks the server up hard. No errors are logged and the server needs to be cold shutdown and restarted, not good for Exchange. We are using 9.1 with all the updates. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

[Joshua_Small]

Are you using AOFO?
Try disabling it.

[Amruta_Bhide]

Hello Dave,
Can you give us more Information about your Job configuration.
1) Is this a remote or a Local Exchange backup?
2) What selections do you have in your Backup Selection List?
3) Do you have an Exchange agent?
4) Have you seleted AOFO for Exchange selections?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
We recommed that the Exchange Agent be used for Exchange backups. Not the AOFO.
================================================
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.

[Dave_Zabawski]

That seemed to help a little, got through 3% of the job, but it crashed again. I think it just changed the timing of the crash. After further review, the system seems to crash about 30 seconds after the Shadow Copy Service Provider starts. I guess the next step would be to disable the Shadow Copy service to see what happens, but a real solution would still be needed.

[Dave_Zabawski]

Amruta,

This is a remote backup. I have everything selected on the system except Exchange under Shadow Copy Components. I do have the Exchange agent and have deselected AOFO as suggested before.
Thanks for the help!

[Dave_Zabawski]

Okay, I disabled the Shadow Copy Service and eliminated the Shadow Copy Components from the job and it ran fine except for some open file errors. So now what? Has anyone encountered a problem like this with VSS? Can it be repaired or reinstalled?

[Jay_Moore]

You might want to uninstall this agent, reboot, and then reinstall the agent. Definitely do not use the AOFO agent, I believe there is a KB article by MS about this (can't seem to find it at this time). Are you backing up just the store or are you backing up the mailboxes as well?

[Dave_Zabawski]

Jay,

I plan on backing up both the store and the mailboxes. It would also be nice to do a monthly entire backup, including shadow copy components for disaster recovery purposes. I will try to uninstall and reinstall the agent again and post the results.

[Dave_Zabawski]

Jay,
I thought you might have had the answer, but it failed again after 4 minutes into the job. Same scenario, failed about 30 seconds after the Shadow Copy Provider service started. ?

[Deepali_Badave]

Hello,

On Windows Server 2003, the Backup Exec Shadow Copy Components file system implements a Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) Requestor to protect critical operating system and application service data, and third party application and user data via VSS Application Writers. A VSS Application Writer is specific code within an application that participates in the Volume Shadow Copy Service framework to provide point-in-time, recovery-consistent operating system and application data. When a data protection operation of Shadow Copy Components is performed, the status of the involved VSS Application Writers must be queried to determine its status during the backup or restore.

To troubleshoot this error, please perform the following steps immediately after a failed Shadow Copy Components backup has been identified:
Refer the following technote:
http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/261993.htm

Are you getting an errors in the application event log?

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.

[Dave_Zabawski]

Deepali,

There are no events in any of the logs. When the system freezes, it is to the point where it is nonresponsive and requires a cold resart. On the Veritas interface side, the job hangs and the only way to clear it is by restarting the services. There are no errors to go from. I followed the steps in the article you listed and the results came up with no errors. This doesnt help much though if I cant run it while the system is locked up.

[Ashutosh_Tamhan]

Hi Dave,
see if running a backup of the system state alone brings the same issue.
Try the same with NTbackup.exe

It is worthwhile applying the following MS patch for VSS:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;833167


Regards,
Ashutosh

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.

[Dave_Zabawski]

I will have to wait for the weekend to try this. I will post the results.

[Sharvari_Deshmu]

Hello,

Please update us once you have tried the steps.

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,

[JB_Borden]

OK, I gave this a try ... http://support.microsoft.com/?id=830575