OFO: Snapshot error (0xfffffed1): A failure occurred querying the Writer

[Tom_Earle]

I can not find any resources to help with the following error during backup:

OFO: Initialization failure on: "Shadow?Copy?Components". Advanced Open File Option used: Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS).
OFO: Snapshot error (0xfffffed1): A failure occurred querying the Writer status.

[Amruta_Bhide]

Hello Tom,
Can you give us a bit more detailed description about:
- What exactly are you backing up?
- Is it a lokal or a Remote backup?
- Do you use AOFO? Is it Installed?
- Are you backing up exchange and System State in one backup job?
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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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Thanks.

[Support_Vereyck]

We are experiencing the same problem since july 13, 4 backups out of 16 have failed with this error.

On july 13 we have installed the Microsoft Security Patches for the month of July. On our server KB901214 and KB903235 have been installed. I don't know if there is any relation between these security patches and our recent errors. But apart from these updates no other configuration changes have been applied to this server.

We are using Backup Exec for Windows Servers 9.1 Rev.4691 on a fully patched Windows 2003 server.
We do a daily local backup of our server (Exchange is not installed on this server). We are using AOFO and the configuration is set to 'Automatically select open file technology'.

This backup job has been running without any problems until july 13.

We have performed the steps as indicated in Veritas document id 261993, including rebooting the server. But the problem seems to be reocurring after a while.

Any help would be appreciated.

Jan

P.S. Following errors are reported in the job log:

Errors
Click an error below to locate it in the job log
Backup - W2K3SERVEROFO: Initialization failure on: "Shadow?Copy?Components". Advanced Open File Option used: Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS).
OFO: Snapshot error (0xfffffed1): A failure occurred querying the Writer status.

Exceptions
Click an exception below to locate it in the job log
Backup - W2K3SERVEROFO: Initialization failure on: "C:". Advanced Open File Option used: Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS).
OFO: Snapshot error (0xfffffed1): A failure occurred querying the Writer status.

OFO: Initialization failure on: "D:". Advanced Open File Option used: Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS).
OFO: Snapshot error (0xfffffed1): A failure occurred querying the Writer status.

[priya_khire]

Hello,

Does the problem regarding the AOFO error persist? If so, you can refer to the following technote mentioned in the 2nd reply to this post. Here is the link:

Title: How to troubleshoot the error "A failure occurred querying the Writer status" (a000fed1 HEX or e000fed1 HEX) using VSSADMIN http://support.veritas.com/docs/261993

Also check the Microsoft Q article mentioned at the end of the technote. If errors are indicated, you can also contact Microsoft as it could be a problem with the Microsoft application.

In case of further doubts, revert with details.

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.

Regards.