System State not listed in job details or restore options

[Drew_Gossage]

I upgraded to 11d a few weeks ago and just noticed that my System State and Shadow Copy Components are not showing in the backup job log or in the restore selections. These are selected for all 8 of my servers in the selection list. I have the remote agent installed and running on all servers. I have recreated the jobs and the selection list from scratch with the same results.

Any ideas would be wonderful.

[Greg_Meister]

Hi Drew,

I'd like to ask a few questions, in order to clarify this issue:

1) Backup Exec was upgraded to 11.d from what previous version?

2) Were the Shadow Copy and System State able to be backed up with the previous version?

3) Does the current job show a failure on those items, or do they just not show in the job log at all?

4) Can you backup the local System State on the media server successfully?

Please get back to me with this information, and we'll see if we can nail down a solution for you.

Regards,

Greg

[Michael_McKenne]

Is your remote agents working?  Are they on the same patch and version as BE?  Do they have an account that has administrator rights to backup the system state?   You can't backup a remote system state without the proper agent and rights.

[Drew_Gossage]

Greg,
1) Veritas Backup Exec 8.0. It acted like a full installation though.
2) Yes
3) They do not show at all except for the local system
4) Yes


Michael,
They are all the same version as the server and are set to run with a domain admin password in Services.


I tried another test with a server that is separated from the domain (Web Server on a different segment) and it was able to back up the System State. It had not previously had the remote agent installed until the test, all the other servers had the old version uninstalled prior to the upgrade.

[Greg_Meister]

Drew,

You say "are set to run with a domain admin password in Services". Please make sure that the Remote Agent service on all servers are set to log on with the  "Local System" account.

Greg

[Drew_Gossage]

I apologize, but I was mistaken.  The CPS Agent is installed with a Domain Admin account.  The Remote Agent is using the Local System account.

Message Edited by Drew Gossage on 03-29-200705:16 AM

Message Edited by Drew Gossage on 03-29-200705:22 AM

[Greg_Meister]

Drew,

Thanks for the update. Please make sure that the Remote Agent service on the remote servers is also set for Local System account. Also, verify that the Beremote.exe files on both ends show the same revision. We need to make sure the 8.0 didn't leave anything behind itself. Another item to check, that is frequently overlooked, is to verify thet the Remote Agents are licensed within Backup Exec.

Greg

[Drew_Gossage]

I have verified the version on the server against the remote agent servers.  All are on 11.0.6235.0.

All of the remote agents are licensed in Backup Exec.

Another thing to mention is that I was not able to install the Remote Agents via the wizard in Backup Exec.  It returned an Access is Denied error and was advised by Symantec Tech Support to manually run the install from the server and that it would not cause any issues by installing this way.

[Drew_Gossage]

Thread Bump

[Greg_Meister]

Drew,

Open a command window, and run netstat -a. Verify that port 10000 is in LISTENING state. Stop the Backup Exec Remote Agent service. Run netstat -a again. If port 10000 is still in LISTENING state, there is another process using that port. Also, run nslookup.exe by name and IP for the remote server, to confirm that there isn't a WINS or DNS issue with name resolution.

If these steps do not provide any insight, I'd recommend opening a support case, so we can get some detailed logging of what is failing during authentication to that server.

Greg

[Michael_McKenne]

I would do a system state backup per server.   One at a time.   See if the remote agent is properly configured with administrator rights to backup the system state.   Are the servers logged in or logged off during the backup procedure?   I would go so far as add/remove the remote agent and doing a remote install to each box.  Do they each belong the the same domain.   Are they behind a firewire or on the opposite side of a firewall?   Do you have a firewall enabled on these boxes blocking system state backups? 

[Drew_Gossage]

Netstat showed no other processes using port 10000 and the nslookups came back OK too.

How do I go about opening a support case since you are no longer accepting e-mail support for this product?  I thought this was technical support now.

[Michael_McKenne]

You don't have a support contract?  It can be expensive to open a call. 

I would uninstall one of the remote agents and reinstall it remotely from the main server.    There is a remote installation feature in 11D.   I would add each server into the hosts. file of each box.   Make sure you can ping each box.   Do a remote install using the administrator as the backup user.    You need the 11D remote agent to backup the system state on remote boxes with 11D.    Once you install the remote agent, verify it is properly configured on that box.  Check to see if the IP address is pointed properly on the remote agent.    I would even check your NIC configuration.   Are you using a switch?  If yes,  100 Mbps NICs should be 100 Mbps/full duplex.   Only 1 Gbps NICs should be auto/auto.  Make sure to use a administrator group member for both BE and agents to work with so you can see everything.  

Message Edited by Michael McKenney on 04-02-200701:17 PM

Message Edited by Michael McKenney on 04-02-200701:19 PM

[Michael_McKenne]

Did you install the correct agent?  I noticed a 32-bit and 64-bit agent in the install directory. 

[Drew_Gossage]

I got it working.  I finally created a separate job for only system state and shadow copy and it worked without a hitch.  I guess it just doesn't like doing data and system state backups with the same job.  I'll reschedule my other jobs to work after the system state backup.

Thanks for all of you help with this.  Now to post my next issue in a new thread.

[Michael_McKenne]

Strange.  It should work fine.   I used to do it from my IIS Box with the agent.