GRT with SharePoint does not work

[ChristianE]

I have  a brand new install of Backup Exec 12 installed on a Windows XP machine. Windows is updated and Backup Exec is updated with all current hotfixes. When backing my SharePoint farm, i can only see the main document database and one in particular to us is our Content DB, in previous version we were able to expand this database down to the individual files and folders. In Backup Exec 12, we don't seem to get the same function. We would like to see the individual files and folders for restore purposes, in which we are not able to do. Also, our GRT for Exchange works fine except for SharePoint.

[mpapier]

Are you backing up to tape or disk. There is a known bug with BE12 wherein you cannot see the document level when restoring from tape. If you copy the backup to disk or create a new backup that backs up to disk, you can then restore at the document level. They are planning to release a hotfix to remedy this, but no idea when - perhaps a few weeks out.

[ChristianE]

I am backing up to tape and to disk. Also, I am currently with a Tier 2 support with Symantec in which they can't seem to give me a clear solution for this issue. Previously we had Backup Exec installed on a virtual machine with the same problem, so we tried a physical box (current setup) with a new install and still seem to get the same issue.

[HelpAdmin]

I have the same issue in that when I back up to disk then I can recover individual files from WSS 3.0/MOSS2007 but when I backup to tape I cannot see the file structure just the database.

Anyone heard when this fix is due?

After upgrading from 11d which was breaking my Sharepoint crawl now to find that 12 doesn't restore individual files from tape is rather annoying.

[mpapier]

Still no idea when the the fix is due out to remedy the restore issue from a tape backup.

We have moded to a product called AvePoint (http://www.avepoint.com/) since Symantec cant seem to get their act together. The support is horrid as well!

[Eddie_Wilson]

I too have this problem. I opened a case on 03/24/2008. I back up to disk then copy to tape. I can drill down to the individual document when restoring from disk, but, the job fails with Access Denied. We purchased AvePoint DocAve last year because Symantec Backup Exec doesn't work well with Sharepoint. If Symantec could resolve this issue, I could eliminate the need for DocAve.

[moorken]

Did anyone receive an update on this yet? I'm suffering from the same problem too, we did a backup to disk, everything seems to run fine, however if we want to restore a single document we just can't drill down the three, i presume i need to restore the GRT data under

windows sharepoint services web applications > default website  since we have about a 5Gb folder there, so this should be it.

however, if i drill down the folder,  the only thing i can see are subfolders without a name, they are all displayed with a square symbol,  and no further data could be found under it.

we have been struggling with backup exec for sharepoint for over 4 months now and it still doesn't work.  i have the feeling that they couldn't get any closer to a good working product so they just released it as is....

anyway, we need urgent help for this....

[MatBeard]

Keeping this problem at the forefront....

We perform a backup-to-disk once a week, and we have no problems selecting invividual files from SharePoint.

However, the daily to-tape backups (which include a full SharePoint backup with GRT) are unable to restore individual files.

This is a BIG problem. Is there a solution yet?

[moorken]

Matbeard,  did you need to do something special in order to get the backuptodisk to work?  or did you just need to select the "server farm" without anything extra?  Since we even can't get the backuptodisk to work :(  if we would already be able to backup this we can backup the backuptodisk files to tape, because currently we have no backup at all.  its terrible that there's no input from the support desk at all at this forum,  when you click on the symantec support site on "email support" you get a message "email support has been replaced by forum support since this wil improve our support".  I'm wondering what kind of support they gave then....

anyway.  if you would be so kind to give a subscription of what to do to do a succesfull backuptodisk we would already be helped a lot!  thx

[MatBeard]

Hi

Yes... all I've done to perform the backup is to select the content database from the server farm and make sure the full backup with GRT option is selected.

I haven't actually tried to restore a single file, but at least I can see them all from the backup-to-disk folders. I'm on the phone to tech support as I type, so I'll let you know the outcome.

[MatBeard]

moorken,

Just got off the phone with tech support.

There is a hotfix for the SharePoint GRT problem: http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/301044.htm

I haven't got around to installing it as yet, but I can re-open this case if the problem isn't fixed. I'll report back if need be, but otherwise, it looks like this will do the trick.

[Eddie_Wilson]

GRT Backup to disk works fine. Disk duplicated to tape following backup to disk. Tape Exported. When imported and inventoried the Tape is put in Retired Media media set. Can't catalogue tape either. Anybody experience this problem. Have turned off Software Encryption and Software/Hardware Compression on Tapes which is not good. Still not resolved. Opened new case yesterday, but, dealing with level 1 support is frustrating.

[ChristianE]

To up date everyone on the status of this issue, is that we currently we have GRT but we cannot restore back to SharePoint. We have resorted to using DocAve which works great but still need this product for other purposes. I am talking to a backline support engineer, they have already acquired tapes from our company for their testing and they have told me that most of the bulk of the SharePoint issues should be fixed in Backup Exec 12.5. Hopefully this is true as this has been a headache to my team for a year now.

[Eddie_Wilson]

My issue that I just posted is with BE 12.5. Had same problem with BE 12.0 and hoped BE 12.5 would fix it.  I am running debugging now on a test job at the request of Symantec Tech Support.

[GJP]

I am new to the Sharepoint Agent but am having the same problem as many describe here. I can use GRT to restore at file level if i backup to disk. If i backup to tape i cannot restore to file level.

Has anyone got a fix for this yet?

Thanks

PS. I am running Backexec v12.5

[Eddie_Wilson]

GRT tape media imported and inventoried as retired media has been fixed. The only way to get the GRT tape to be usable which is a duplicate of a backup to disk is to check the box in Advanced settings to Verify after job completes. This however causes the tape copy to run much longer. Without the Verify, job runs about 5 hours. With the verify, job runs about 8 hours. Symantec Advanced Tech Support Engineer can't reproduce the problem or explain why turning on Verify makes the tape usable.

On the issue of not being able to perform a file level restore from tape to Sharepoint, my understanding is that the entire tape has to be restored to disk and then a restore from disk can be done at the file level.

[GJP]

Restoring individual files from tape is now working for me, i installed the 12.5 remote agent with aofo but must have forgotten to reboot because after i rebooted today it works. Thanks for the reponse though.

[Symanticus]

I also facing the same problem here.

after i successfully deployed BE 12.5 RAWS+AOFO on my Win2k8 x64 to backup my MOSS 2007 SP1 on SQL Server 200, I did the restart already but still I can contact the server from my BE 12.5 backup server.

any idea of how to install this agent properly please ?

[Symanticus]

I've found the solution to my problem at last

the solution is to change the port number to something else using this URL: http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/303736.htm

[Jeff_Calvin]

I have a problem on SharePoint content DB backup with GRT and duplication backup setting.

For unknown reason, the BE Remote Agent on Backup Server is stopped while duplicate the SharePoint disk backup image to tape on "Update Catalogs" process.
If I disable the GRT, backup on tape directly, the problem didn't happen.


It is the job alert error:
Selection List - SharePoint Farm(Student)-Policy - SharePoint Farm-Daily Duplicate Backup
-- The job failed with the following error: A communications failure has occurred.

The backup server (BE 12.5) is fresh installed with latest hotfix and updates.

Have any solutions and idea for me on my case?

Best Regards,
JC