Testing BE16 - not all data is in the backup

[bandit61]

We are testing BE16 before upgrading our BE14-infrastructure. When we compare ByteCount between BE14 and BE16, it looks like BE16 is not backing up all necessary data. First the results from BE14, then the first test today with BE16 and HF-124683, the secont BE16 already with  BE16 and FP1 installed:

On BackupServer W2k8R2 with BE14.1.1786.1103, SP-2, HF-227745
On Client-Server W2012R2 Agent with BE14.1.1786.1103, SP-2, HF-227745
Drive-B
Backed up 93 files in 47 directories.
Processed 271995137 bytes in  16 seconds.
Throughput rate: 973 MB/min
Compression Type: Hardware

Drive-C
Backed up 176694 files in 35655 directories.
Processed 21'934'131'728 bytes in  13 minutes and  37 seconds.
Throughput rate: 1536 MB/min
Compression Type: Hardware

SystemState
Backed up 18 System State components
Processed 16'498'291'354 bytes in  18 minutes and  7 seconds.
Throughput rate: 868 MB/min
Compression Type: Hardware


First Test BE16
on BackupServer W2016 with BE16.0.1142.1009, HF-124683
on ClientServer Agent with BE16.0.1142.1009, HF-124683

Drive-B
Backed up 8 files in 8 directories.
Processed 252987916 bytes in  8 seconds.
Throughput rate: 1810 MB/min
Compression Type: Hardware

Drive-C
Backed up 10237 files in 4224 directories.
Processed 5'660'202'278 bytes in  2 minutes and  31 seconds.
Throughput rate: 2145 MB/min
Compression Type: Hardware

SystemState
Backed up 18 System State components
Processed 15'162'026'743 bytes in  17 minutes and  9 seconds.
Throughput rate: 843 MB/min
Compression Type: Hardware


Second Test BE16
on BackupServer W2016 with BE16.0.1142.1327 with FP-1
on ClientServer Agent with BE16.0.1142.1327 with FP-1

Drive-B
Backed up 8 files in 8 directories.
Processed 252987916 bytes in  7 seconds.
Throughput rate: 2068 MB/min
Compression Type: Hardware

Drive-C
Backed up 10560 files in 4239 directories.
Processed 5'999'773'253 bytes in  2 minutes and  39 seconds.
Throughput rate: 2159 MB/min
Compression Type: Hardware

SystemState
Backed up 18 System State components
Processed 15'162'041'686 bytes in  17 minutes and  23 seconds.
Throughput rate: 832 MB/min
Compression Type: Hardware

Are there any restrictions in the trial-version? we can get be16-licenses cause our contact already went for easter-holidays, so we are using the trial. In earlier be-versions this was never a problem. Any other idea, what the difference in the bytecount may solve

[jurgen_barbieur]

did you check the exlusions on different levels? see admin guide p160. Also pay attention  on the section "global exclusions"

[jurgen_barbieur]

how is the security on your server? does the user used within backupexec have all the necessary rights to access all folders and files?

[bandit61]

the user within be16 is member of the domain admins group. same user as on the other (be14/be15-severs), that's why he has definitely access to all file/folders.

[bandit61]

globally excluded selections is empty

[jurgen_barbieur]

have a look at the registry (The registry location for all OS exclusions is at HKLM/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/BackupRestore/FilesNotToBackup)

[bandit61]

checked and found no difference between the new w2016 server with be16 and the old w2k8r2 with be14 (attached files). so after removing one server from the old to the new be-server, updating the agent, reboot both systems the result is still the same:

be16 on w2016std doesn't backup all files from the selections!

it must have something to do with w2016std, but still no clue. checked all job settings, beserver settings in be16, checked all roles/features on the w2016server.

[jurgen_barbieur]

is the backup selection SDR enabled or not?

[Colin_Weaver]

Are you really comparing a Windows 2008 R2 result with a Windows 2016 result? - The files that are defined as being inside the System State will have changed massively between those two OS versions and we silently exclude anything linked with the system state from drive letter backups.

Note: We also silently exclude anything that should be backed up using a specific mehod (DFSR, Exchange, SQL etc)

[bandit61]

for jurgen_barbieur: yes the selection is sdr-enabled

for colin_weaver: yes the old be14-server is a w2k8r2, the server i compared between the old and new be-version is a w2012r2 hyper-v host with 3 hyper-v-guests. I installed an agent to a guest running w2012r2 as well and the interesting thing was, that on the guest-server it showed files in C.\windows\assembly: 3106 files, 3272 folders with a size of 2,51gb. these files could be selected from the normal restore "files, folders or volumes", where on the host (same os) the folder showed up as empty. If they were in the systemstate, I assume the size of the systemstate shouldhave been bigger on be16 instead of smaller. also under systemstate, where would i make the selection to get these files back?

[Colin_Weaver · Accepted solution]

If they are in the System State - you have to restore the whole of the system state to get them back (which you can do as a redirect to a temp folder on one of your local disks if you don't really want to restore the system state as a live syste state.)

However if you think you genuinely are missing data files youy should probably log a formal support  case for us to look at it in more depth.

[bandit61]

I'll give it a try. attached you see the folder I would like to restore (as a test). But you agree with me, that if the total size of c-drive + systemstate is different between BE14/BE16. You loose confident, that everything will be prepared for a sdr in such a case, because we never had such differences between BE10/BE12/BE14/BE15 and I wont use a software for backup, when I'm not certain it does the restore-job as well.

[Colin_Weaver]

Acually I don't agree with the comparison between BE versions as what does not need to be backed up at all (or is backed up by a specific method) will change between versions (because we identify more things over time). It will also change between operating systems, or even installations if different third party applications are installed (which could include .NET versions) 

However as far as I could understand from your various comments you have the same OS virtualized and non-virtualized with the same version of BE and a specific folder is backed up on one of the servers and not in the other

[bandit61]

special thanks to Colin!!! found the folder and its content in the systemstate. Sorry, have I not seen this new behaviour in the introduction fo BE16. 

Why was this done "silently"? 

Is the compression rate in the systemstat so much different to normal filestructure on a drive?

Will create sdr-iso, wipe a server and restore the server, just to feel comfortable with the new product.

[Colin_Weaver]

If everything that was meant to be backed up in the System State (or other specific backup methods) was not silently excluded but instead was excluded with a warning in the job log you would have an awful lot of warnings to have to manually check after every backup (and due to this might miss a warning against something that is not meant to be automatically excluded)

oh and in most (but not all)  cases if we do not exclude them at all you would have a backup failure against each file instead, as often such files are blocked from standard VSS requests and are locked as held open.