Shadow Copy Components cannot be added to backup jobs

[willj1]

Our backup is not seeing our Shadow Copy Components anymore and I'm not sure why.  We have a 'G:' drive shown in the server's disk management that previous was accessable through Backup Exec's Shadow Copy Components but now that option isn't available.  This is the entire exception we are receiving:

Resource \\SERVERNAME.DOMAIN.local\Shadow?Copy?Components was found in the previous instance of this job, but it is not present in this job.

I've attempted to create a new backup job, but the 'G:' drive or Shadow Copy Components are not available within the selection details.  One thing I've noticed is that the service 'Volume Shadow Copy' is not running and set to Manual.  I'm not familiar with this service and how/if it relates to Backup Exec backup jobs.

How do we get back access to our Shadow Copy Components again?

Thanks in advance,

-Will

[DevG]

Assuming the server you are referring with G: volume is different than BE media server and perhaps running DFSR, run the following command from command prompt on the that server:

VSSADMIN LIST WRITERS

Confirm if DFSR writer is listed in the output received. If it's not listed, just reboot this server and run the above command and check if now DFSR writer is listed. If it's now listed, then check the job selection and now Shadow Copy Components should be visible.

The service 'Volume Shadow Copy' is set manual by default and does not run unless invoked (during snapshot backups using VSS).

[willj1]

Thank you for your quick reply!

The 'G:' drive is different from a BE media server.  The DFS Replication Service is currently running on this server.

I checked the writers to find 'DFS Replication service writer'.  I'm assuming this is the one you are referring to?  It shows with no errors and Stable.

After checking that, I went back to the backup job and the Shadow Copy Component was still not available.  That is including a new backup job as well.

Let me know if I may have missed something.

[DevG]

You must be using BE 2014 as noticed in TAG. If this was an upgrade to BE 2104, can you also confirm if the Remote Agent on the DFSR server is updated to BE 2014 and not running a previous version. This was a known problem in past with previous BE version (000020111) and was fixed with BE 2014 and so if remote agent is not updated, may still see this issue.

[DevG]

Also if this is a DFSR Clustered resource and it's recently failed over, Shadow Copy Components may show up in new active node after 2-3 hours.

[willj1]

The only issue I see is that we haven't had any problems until the 7/9/18.  We have not recently updated any Backup Exec software.  It doesn't make much sense why it started now.

Anyways,

SERVERNAME2 has the backup software and remote agent. SERVERNAME1 only has the remote agent.

SERVERNAME2's remote agent is version 14.1.1786.1093

SERVERNAME2's administration console is version 14.1.1786.1103

SERVERNAME1's remote agent is version 14.1.1786.1093

It looks like there is a difference in versions.  Is 1103 the most up to date version of the agent?  Does the update process require a reboot?

Thanks for your help,

-Will

[DevG]

Remote agent version on both server is showing same and hence it's updated and the different version shown for Administration console is because HF 227745 is installed that changes the version to .1103, however does not change the version of remote agent so it still show .1093

Can you check if there is a DFSR Writer XML file under \Program Files\Symantec\BackupExec\Raws\Logs folder. If it exist, stop BE Remote agent service on server1 (which only contains remote agent) and rename this DFSR Writer XML file by adding .old at the end of .xml
Now start the BE remote agent service on server1 and go to BE server and try to browse the selection for this server one and see if it now show shadow copy components and if it does, confirm a new DFSR Writer XML file is created on server1 at the location mentioned above.
If it still does not fix the issue, again stop the remote agent service on server1 and remove .old from the DFSR Writer XML file on server 1 and agian start remote agent service to revert to original XML file again and open a formal support case to get the issue investigated.

[willj1]

Neither server1 or server2 have logs for the DFSR writer.  Now to go further, the DFS services are running, but the DFS isn't running anymore.  Previously, we had some issues with it and removed all the DFS configurations as far as I'm aware.  The cluster is still available within Backup Exec and adding that server shows the missing files.  Adding this to our backup job looks like it'll work, but it isn't a permanent solution.  My assumption is that our incomplete DFS configuration is causing our issues with the Shadow Copy Component.  Is that a possibility?  

-Will

[DevG]

You got it right as Shadow Copy Components will only be visible in selections if either Deduplication folder or DFSR resources is detected by the software. So, if currently DFSR is not working in the environment, BE won't show Shadow Copy Components in the job selections. Once DFSR resources starts working, check the job selections and it shall show Shadow Copy Components.

Let me know if you have any further queries on the same and I'll be happy to respond back.

[willj1 · Accepted solution]

Sorry for the delayed response.  We have found a solution to our issue.  Without DFS configured, we decided to backup the specific cluster servername.  Unfortunately, that failed as well because I wasn't aware that the Agent for Windows license wasn't installed properly.  Once we properly installed the agent, the backup worked without using Shadow Component Copy.  

Thanks again for your help.