Problems backing up Exchange mailboxes

[Ron_Wolff]

I am runnng BE v9.1 rev 4691 on Win2000 sever. I use remote agent to backup my Exchange server, but when I back up the mailboxes I get about a dozen errors. All the errors look like they fall into three catagories. The first is a warning that a file is corrupt in a user mailbox, (I get 6 of these pointing to thee different files in 5 different user mailboxes). The second error type is Directory not found, (I get 5 of these in different users than the corrupt files). And finally I get Access denied to file in two other user mailboxes. I am not getting complaints from users about email problems, so I do not think that their mailboxes are corrupt. I am running BE as domain administrator, so should have no permission problems. Also, I am trying to use AOFO, but get a message early on saying that AOFO snapshot was unable to get a minimum quiet time window for physical volume. Any ideas on what is wrong here?

[priya_khire]

Hello,

It seems that you are using AOFO for Exchange backup. We recommend you not to use AOFO as it can cause corruption of the Exchange database. For more information on this, refer to the following technote:

Title:What is the intended use of the Open File Option and the Advanced Open File Option?
http://support.veritas.com/docs/263784

The error directory not found can occur if the users associated with a particular mailbox are deleted and yet the mailbox is backed up. In order to resolve this, you can follow any of the steps mentioned in the technote: http://support.veritas.com/docs/241981

Hope this helps. If the issue persists, you can write back to the forum with the exact error message. However if we do not receive your update within two business days, this post would be marked ‘assumed answered’ and would be moved to ‘answered questions’ pool.

Regards.

[Dave_Bunye]

You can increase the OFO quiet time setting in the OFO Wizard on the Tools menu. It is set to 5 seconds for minimum quiet time, change it to 3 or so and give it a shot. You can also increase the time allowed that it will continue to search for the quiet time before failing.

The corruption message may be a side effect of Anti-Virus programs doing realtime scanning on mailbox messages. This has been seen to cause the corruption message in some people's backup (the backup is still valid though) To see if it is affecting you, disable the antivirus scanning of mailboxes while your backup runs and see if those messages go away. If it is always the same mailboxes, do a specific backup of just those mailboxes and you'll be able to see the results.

Access denied can be a variety of things. Most common of course is Rights issues (but you are accessing the mailbox already so shouldn't be your issue) Make sure you are not backing up the system mailboxes. Also, verify that the mailboxes belong to active employees. Sometimes the employee has been fired/quit but the mailbox has not been purged and does not match a user account in AD.

Directory not found can also be a variety of things. Verify if you can what is failing to be found. IE: did the user delete a folder in the mailbox which is still marked for backup in the job? Always the same user?

[Deepali_Badave]

Hello,

we want to know if the solution provided has helped you in getting resolve your problem?

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.

[Ron_Wolff]

I did find out myself that the Directory not found errors were caused by user accounts that had been disabled in Active Directory Services. I have turned off the AOFO for the Exchange server. I also ran a consistancy check on the mailbox database, and did get errors, so I ran a recovery. I am going to try to run a full backup today to see if my problems are fixed. I will let you know. Thanks for your help.

[Deepali_Badave]

Hello,

Thank you for the update.

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.

[Sheetal_Risbood]

As per our previous reply, marking the case as assumed answered and moving it to answered questions pool.