Job Engine Terminates Unexpectedly

[Marty_Sage]

I'm writing on behalf of a client who has Backup Exec 9.1 with SP2

Recently the job engine began terminating and while I'm not exactly sure why, I realised the system was trying to back up more data than the tape could fit (by using a test backup job on the scheduled task). I think he has a HP DDS3 DAT drive.

I imagine the system was crashing at the point where the second tape was expected to be inserted or the job should have simply failed, but the Job engine was terminating instead.

Ever since I deleted old data off the server and the backup was tested again to fit on to a single tape, the job engine has been working again without a hitch. Even so, my cient has aked me to look into the problem so that it is fixed and the job fails rather than crashes the service -- just in case disk utilisation grows again.

Being a client site I can't really ask the client to make the backups fail again on purpose, so I'm stuck with assuming it was because of over capacity.

Can anyone assist with a possible fix?

--
Marty

[Amruta_Purandar]

Hello,

- Can you please specify the exact error message? This is will help in further troubleshooting the issue.
- Are you performing only local backups?
- Does it crash on any particular type of backup? For example does it crash only on full backups?
- Are you backing up any databases? If yes, please specify which.


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[Amruta_Purandar]

Hello,

Please answer the above questions which will enable us to further troubleshoot this case.

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[Marty_Sage]

We are performing local backups, and we only run full backups. We have 2 servers, one of which backs up Microsoft Exchange, and the other SQL. but both have exhibited the same problem. One is running Windows 2000 SP3 and the other SP4

The Event log has a message "The backup exec job engine service terminated unexpectedly. It has done this 3 time(s). The following corrective action will be taken in 0 milliseconds: No action" The event ID is 7031, Source: Service Control manager, Category: None, Type: Error.

The backup job has "error a00081d9 - The backup exec job engine system service is not responding." however i think this is reported in the scheduled job the next day, not in the job that actually fails the service.

I hope you find this information useful

[Deepali_Badave]

Hello,


If an active media request is not responded to and the job is canceled by the user or by automatic cancellation this will cause the Backup Exec Job Engine to terminate. If the service is not set to automatically restart the following next backup will fail with "A00081d9 - The Backup Exec job engine system service is not responding."
To prevent this error from occurring try the following steps:
1. Increase the cancellation time or uncheck "Enable automatic cancellation" for the backup.
2. Set the Backup Exec Job Engine Service to restart after it stops.
3. Schedule an Inventory job to run before the backup job runs.
4. Verify that you have enough media to complete the backup job.


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[Marty_Sage]

While this sounds like a reasonable answer to my problem, I have a number of clients which use Backup Exec 9.1 (albeit on Windows Server 2003, not Server 2000), all of whom have automatic cancellation after about 12 hours and who don't have the service set to Automatically Restart.

None of these clients have ever called me to say the service had stopped because there was an active media request which was automatically cancelled.

In fact I would consider terminating the service an an unusual thing to do. Surely the job shoul be terminated, not the job service itself? It seems like an unneccessary step for the user to have to restart the service if they cancel the job manually as you have suggested.

While I accept that this might be the design of the system, I would like to find out why it is designed this way, as the user finds it a pain to have to make sure the service has restarted simply because they canted to cancel a job that went slightly over.

--
Marty

[Jun_Alcanites]

How do I configure the BE engine to automatically restart when it stops in the middle of the job?

[Marty_Sage]

In Windows 2000 and above there is a "recovery" tab in the the properties of a service. You can set a service to restart if it stops there. This worked around my problem.

[Jun_Alcanites]

Oh..but the server I am having this problem is on NT4.0. My temporay remedy is to backup just the most important folders that fit on one tape. I have the same symptoms as you do; the backup engine stops when the job asks for the second tape.

[Marty_Sage]

You could run a series of "net start ..." commands via a batch file which is scheduled with the AT service to run every day before a backup? Or maybe it can be called and will work from a pre-backup program call.

Still it is better to be checking the backups daily and work on reducing the size of the backup, or maybe you are in a situation where you have to move to incremental backups or whatever.

I guess Veritas isn't going to comment on why the design is this way on why the service stops.

--
Marty

[priya_khire]

Hello,

The reason the job engine service stops is as explained in the previous reply sent.We wish to know if you have followed the steps suggested and if this has helped resolve the problem.

The reason why this happens and the steps to resolve are also given in the following technote:

Title: Dr. Watson error occurs on BENGINE.EXE if the media alert is pending when the automatic cancellation occurs.
http://support.veritas.com/docs/275603

Hope this answers your question.

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

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Regards.

[Jose_Zarate]

I am also getting this error of Error category : Job ErrorsError : a00081d9 - The Backup Exec job engine system service is not responding.

I've tried to set the job engine and all other BE services to automatically restart if stopped but it still does not work.

I am running on Win2000 sp4 with BE 9.1 rev 4691

It seems to just stop at the end of one LTO tape. Please help. Thanks

[Renuka_-]

Hello,

If you have this error:Backups fail with "A00081d9 - The Backup Exec job engine system service is not responding."

The reason could be:
If an active media request is not responded to and the job is canceled by the user or by automatic cancellation this will cause the Backup Exec Job Engine to terminate. If the service is not set to automatically restart the following next backup will fail with "A00081d9 - The Backup Exec job engine system service is not responding."
To prevent this error from occurring try the following steps:
1. Increase the cancellation time or uncheck "Enable automatic cancellation" for the backup.
2. Set the Backup Exec Job Engine Service to restart after it stops.
3. Schedule an Inventory job to run before the backup job runs.
4. Verify that you have enough media to complete the backup job.

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 answeredand would be moved toanswered questions pool.

[sam_narayanan]

We also have the same problem. The job will quit with the following message:

a00081d9 - The Backup Exec job engine system service is not responding.

Applied SP2 and recent security fixes, but still the same error shows up. Any help is appreicated.

Thanks

[Marty_Sage]

It almost seems like this particular thread is going nowhere. My client no longer experience this problem, however it is only because we are not putting Backup Exec into a situation it cannot handle normally.

To summarise I suggest:

* Reduce the number of selections in a backup so it all fits on one tape
* Clean up unused data off the system so it all fits on one tape
* Consider changing the backup methodology from daily Full Backups to differentials
* Set the Automatic Cancellation off or ahead into the future so you can manually intervene before the service stops

Since this is a discussion forum, I thought I would put some thoughts down in words;

I am still bewildered by the design implementation of this particular service. Veritas states that the service will be stopped if there is a pending media request and the automatic cancellation kicks in. To me the PURPOSE of an automatic cancellation is to stop the current backup job so that it can be rescheduled for the next day. WIthout automatic cancellation, the backup cannot reschedule and restart to overwrite the existing tape if it has not been ejected. I mean, whta is the point of Automatic Cancellation if it cannot automatically cancel a job gracefully? Some might say to protect the tape that was just written; but I say to protect a tape, use a media set with a tape retention period!

I still cannot understand why the service itself is stopped on purpose. Surely, doing this stops other jobs which are bound to be successful from executing? What Veritas are offering is a workaround to a DESIGN fault rather than a BUG? Even the Window Exent log states the service was "terminated unexpectedly" and not requested to be shutdown by a process. It makes me wonder if we are being fed quick fixes rather than genuine repairs.

I accept this service stopping business might be by design, but my question is really "for what purpose"?? How is it an advantage?

--
Marty

[Asma_Tamboli]

Hi,

Please try out the following steps:

* Please save the catalog folder ( C:\ Program Files\ Veritas\ Backup Exec\ NT)

* Stop all the Backup Exec services

* rename the Catalogs folder

* start the backup exec services.

Hope it helps!


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