Unappendable (end marker Unreadable) Problems

[lapidarynewbie]

Backup Exec 2010 running on Windows Server 2003 (latest SP and patches)

Dell PowerVault 110T external drive SDLT 160/320

1. Even though compression is implemented (hardware, software if hw not available), Full backups are no longer compressing.

2. When spanning to a 2nd tape, BE 2010 will write a few thousand bytes, then kick the tape out indicating the tape is no longer appendable. In most cases the tape winds up being unappendable (end marker unreadable).

3. Same thing happens when yet a 3rd tape is inserted.

4. Drive has the latest firmware

5. Tape drive diagnostics all pass.

6. Backup job was using encryption. That has been removed.

7. Tried moving the tape to scratch pool and doing both short and long erases. Same problem.

This all seems to have started when a reboot after (unanticipated) Msft patch installation interrupted a full backup. The unexpected reboot caused the loss of IPsec information in the registry and cut off all communication with the other servers in the network (that were being backed up.) Re-creation of the missing registry information restored communication to the remotes.

What are we dealing with here? How do I diagnose/determine the real problem? How to fix?

[sksujeet]

Please check if you are getting it on all the tapes if not then run the quick erase on the tape you getting it.

If happens for all the tapes then run the cleaning on the tape drive and then try the backup.

[Kiran_Bandi]

BEREMOTE, Backup Exec Remote Agent service is responsible for writing the End of Set marker on a tape at the end of a remote server backup.

Check out the following tech note...

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH50884

[Kiran_Bandi]

May be the Backup Exec Windows Server database on media server which used to perform this backup job has been corrupted.

Check out the following tech note...

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH87296

[Larry_Fine]

re: 2. When spanning to a 2nd tape, BE 2010 will write a few thousand bytes, then kick the tape out indicating the tape is no longer appendable. In most cases the tape winds up being unappendable (end marker unreadable).

My experience with end-marker-unreadable is a little different and may clarify things for you.  When something bad happens (in my case it was a power fail or loss of connection to the tape drive, in your case I suspect a network issue), then end marker doesn't get written.  In my case, the tapes appear perfectly fine, UNTIL YOU TRY AND APPEND TO THEM.  It is at that point that BE cannot find the end marker, flags that media as unappendable, ejects it and asks for  another tape.  So the actual issue might have happened days or weeks before you actually see a tape marked as unappendable.  I don't know that network glitches (or loss of the remote agent) work exactly the same way.

Therefore, I have a hunch that the "few thousand bytes" you mention in #2, may be misleading and may jsut be BE filling same cache buffers before it discovers the tape is unappendable?

In any case, moving the media to the scratch pool (so it has to be overwritten) or runnign a quick erase is sufficient to resolve the end-marker-unreadable issue.  The rough aspect is that you may still have some other media in the end-marker-unreadable condition and not know it.

[lapidarynewbie]

The problem evidently goes much deeper than the tapes. Cleaning had no effect. Moving tape to scratch and doing either a short or long erase had no effect.

The problem appears to actually be in BE communication to the remotes as backup of local drives on the media server runs normall.

[lapidarynewbie]

We have posted the problem under another entry as it appears to not be the tape or the drive at all.