Preprocessing state of job with remote selections

[Raf_Verbeeck]

Veritas Backup Exec 9.1 Rev. 4691
- Backup Exec for Windows Servers
- Agent for Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server

Final error: 0xa000fe30 - A communications failure has occurred
Final error category: Server Errors

The job remains in a "preprocessing" state forever.
Only a reboot of the server will release the job (or even the tape)

I've noticed in the forum this is apparantly a very common error for which there is no cure yet.
In our setup it worked just fine until 2 weeks ago and nothing was changed.

Any help would be most welcome since our (largest) customer is now running without the safety of a backup.

Please also contact me with any support options other than this forum.

[Amruta_Bhide]

Hello,
Please go through the following Aritcles:
When using Backup Exec 9.x or 10.0 for Windows Servers, jobs stop responding in the "pre-processing" state indefinitely.
http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/256287.htm

Backup job operations using Open File Option appear to stop responding and is set to the "Pre-processing" state.
http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/236601.htm
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If the problem persists, or if this is not what you are looking at, please explain your environment and your backup setup a bit in detail.
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Hope that helps you.

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Thanks.

[Raf_Verbeeck]

Hi there,

I went through both articles, and I modified the registry settings according to the first article.
Since we don't use the OFO, the second article isn't really relevant.

The tapesystem runs on a 2003 server ent.ed., based on a Compaq ML-370 box, with two processors and 4 GB of memory.
The disk subsystem is based on a Compaq RAID controller and the tapedrive is an external Ultrium device from Compaq.
The Exchange version running on that box is 2003 ent.ed.

The remote box is an ML-370 as well, equipped with the same type RAID controller and stuffed with as many disks as the box will take. That system pulls files of of other machines through an elaborate scriptsystem and serves as a file-backup device.

Both devices are multihomed and can see each other on both networks. The "backside" lan connection is used exclusively for backup purposes.

The setup has been working for over a year now without a single glitch till about two weeks ago.
And nothing has been changed on the systems, aside from security patches from MS.

I really hope you can help out on this one since the scripted box, together with the Veritas tape machine provides the only backup there is for an organisation of 2000+ users.

Kind regards.

[Sharvari_Deshmu]

Hello,

We would like to know whether there are any alerts related to the device in the event logs.

Also are you taking a local backup or remote backup?

Are you backing up exhcange or SQL files?


Thanks,

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[Raf_Verbeeck]

Hi,

I don't get any device related alerts in the event logs.
I'm performing both a local and a remote backup.
The local backup includes both files and Exchange mailboxes, and it succeeds every time.

The remote backup, which appends data to the "Exchange" tape, only includes files, and fails with the errors mentionned before.

Kind regards.

[Amruta_Purandar]

Hello,

Has the preprocessing problem been resolved?
Please revert with the latest updates.


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.

[Raf_Verbeeck]

Hello,


The preprocessing issue has not been resolved.
What do you mean by "please revert with the latest updates" ?

This is taking way too long ; anyone outthere who can put me in touch with a Veritas engineer ?
I manage over 1000 Veritas servers and it doesn't strike me as logical Veritas support is not available via email.

Veritas support, kindly lend a hand here ; I broke my own right hand last week, so the additional one will be more than welcome.

Kind regards.

[Amruta_Purandar]

Hello,

Please try the following steps.
Are you backing up to a B2D or a tape?
1. Update to the latest drivers.
VERITAS Backup Exec (tm) 9.1 - Device Driver Installer (20050115) - Includes Tape Driver Release (20041231) and Robotic Library Release (45) (Intel Only)
http://support.veritas.com/docs/273853

2. Update controller firmware

3. For test purposes, backup the same selection list using NTBackup and verify the results.

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There is no Email support. You may contact our voice support for a one to one contact with Symantec engineers.


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[Raf_Verbeeck]

Hello,

I'm backing up to a tapedrive (LTO ultrium 2).
I updated the tape device drivers as I did the controller firmware.

The result remains the same.
I also recreated the backup job - to no avail and I then tested with ntbackup which works from the first attempt, strangely enough.

Issue is getting extremely urgent. I will kick Veritas out if no solution is presented in the next 48 hours.
Not having email support won't do for me at all.

[Ashutosh_Tamhan]

Hello Raf!

Please perform a backup of a single file from the exchange server and check if the same issue persists.

Also check if there is any antivirus software or any proxy software accessing ports on the exchange server. Is there a firewall between the media server and backup server?
This will help you find out which ports are being accessed by which application..etc
sysinternals.com/Utilities/TcpView.html


Regards,
Ashutosh

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[Raf_Verbeeck]

Hello,

Unfortunately the issue is not in backing up the Exchange server (which is the mediaserver) but in backing up a remote fileserver.

There are no firewalls between the machines and the portissue is irrelevant since the Exchange backup is local.

So I tried backing up a single file from the remote fileserver, and this job also remains in a "preprocessing" state forever.

[Sharvari_Deshmu]

Hello,

1.Please uninstall remote agent from add-remove programs and reinstall using the technote below:

http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/265736.htm

2.Also please install SP3
http://support.veritas.com/docs/278302

3. please check using tcpview provided earlier whether port 10000 is free on both servers for BE


Thanks,


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