Granular Recovery for Active Directory with Open File Backup VSS

[Alzoo]

Hi,

We've put in place Granular Recovery for Active Directory for out two Windows 2008 domain controllers with the 6.5.4 clients.  it works great, thing is if we set the Open File Backup option to use VSS in the client attributes of the properties of the master server, the backup is successful but it is only 1Kb in size.  Any reason why this would not work properly?

Here are the job details of the two different jobs. - no difference except the time difference.

with VSS enabled.
23/02/2010 22:00:00 - requesting resource FR-PTX-SUG-DISK
23/02/2010 22:00:00 - requesting resource bkp-fr-ptx-master.ptx.fr.sopra.NBU_CLIENT.MAXJOBS.wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra
23/02/2010 22:00:00 - requesting resource bkp-fr-ptx-master.ptx.fr.sopra.NBU_POLICY.MAXJOBS.FR-PTX-PL-MSAD
23/02/2010 22:00:00 - granted resource bkp-fr-ptx-master.ptx.fr.sopra.NBU_CLIENT.MAXJOBS.wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra
23/02/2010 22:00:00 - granted resource bkp-fr-ptx-master.ptx.fr.sopra.NBU_POLICY.MAXJOBS.FR-PTX-PL-MSAD
23/02/2010 22:00:00 - granted resource MediaID=@aaaas;Path=/staging/disk3;MediaServer=bkp-fr-ptx-media1.ptx.fr.sopra
23/02/2010 22:00:00 - granted resource FR-PTX-MEDIA1-STU-DISK3
23/02/2010 22:00:01 - estimated 40204 kbytes needed
23/02/2010 22:00:02 - started process bpbrm (23854)
23/02/2010 22:00:03 - connecting
23/02/2010 22:00:03 - connected; connect time: 00:00:00
23/02/2010 22:00:08 - begin writing
23/02/2010 22:00:34 - end writing; write time: 00:00:26
the requested operation was successfully completed(0)

without VSS enabled
24/02/2010 20:00:00 - requesting resource FR-PTX-SUG-DISK
24/02/2010 20:00:00 - requesting resource bkp-fr-ptx-master.ptx.fr.sopra.NBU_CLIENT.MAXJOBS.wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra
24/02/2010 20:00:00 - requesting resource bkp-fr-ptx-master.ptx.fr.sopra.NBU_POLICY.MAXJOBS.FR-PTX-PL-MSAD
24/02/2010 20:00:00 - granted resource bkp-fr-ptx-master.ptx.fr.sopra.NBU_CLIENT.MAXJOBS.wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra
24/02/2010 20:00:00 - granted resource bkp-fr-ptx-master.ptx.fr.sopra.NBU_POLICY.MAXJOBS.FR-PTX-PL-MSAD
24/02/2010 20:00:00 - granted resource MediaID=@aaaas;Path=/staging/disk3;MediaServer=bkp-fr-ptx-media1.ptx.fr.sopra
24/02/2010 20:00:00 - granted resource FR-PTX-MEDIA1-STU-DISK3
24/02/2010 20:00:01 - estimated 40204 kbytes needed
24/02/2010 20:00:02 - started process bpbrm (11833)
24/02/2010 20:00:03 - connecting
24/02/2010 20:00:03 - connected; connect time: 00:00:00
24/02/2010 20:00:07 - begin writing
24/02/2010 21:11:16 - end writing; write time: 01:11:09
the requested operation was successfully completed(0)

here is the all log entries list
with VSS enabled.
23/02/2010    22:00:01    bkp-fr-ptx-media1.ptx.fr.sopra    wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra    Info    441829    Backup    started backup job for client wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra, policy FR-PTX-PL-MSAD, schedule FULL on storage unit FR-PTX-MEDIA1-STU-DISK3
23/02/2010    22:00:01    bkp-fr-ptx-media1.ptx.fr.sopra    wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra    Info    441829    Backup    client wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra handling path System State:\
23/02/2010    22:00:08    bkp-fr-ptx-media1.ptx.fr.sopra    wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra    Info    441829    Media Device    begin writing backup id wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra_1266958801, copy 1, fragment 1, destination path /staging/disk3
23/02/2010    22:00:32    bkp-fr-ptx-media1.ptx.fr.sopra    wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra    Info    441829    Backup    successfully wrote backup id wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra_1266958801, copy 1, fragment 1, 1 Kbytes at 0.043 Kbytes/sec
23/02/2010    22:00:34    bkp-fr-ptx-media1.ptx.fr.sopra    wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra    Info    441829    Backup Status    the requested operation was successfully completed

without VSS enabled
24/02/2010    20:00:01    bkp-fr-ptx-media1.ptx.fr.sopra    wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra    Info    442231    Backup    started backup job for client wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra, policy FR-PTX-PL-MSAD, schedule FULL on storage unit FR-PTX-MEDIA1-STU-DISK3
24/02/2010    20:00:02    bkp-fr-ptx-media1.ptx.fr.sopra    wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra    Info    442231    Backup    client wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra handling path System State:\
24/02/2010    20:00:08    bkp-fr-ptx-media1.ptx.fr.sopra    wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra    Info    442231    Media Device    begin writing backup id wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra_1267038001, copy 1, fragment 1, destination path /staging/disk3
24/02/2010    21:04:32    bkp-fr-ptx-media1.ptx.fr.sopra    wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra    Info    442231    Backup    successfully wrote backup id wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra_1267038001, copy 1, fragment 1, 8289024 Kbytes at 2145.144 Kbytes/sec
24/02/2010    21:04:33    bkp-fr-ptx-media1.ptx.fr.sopra    wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra    Info    442231    Media Device    begin writing backup id wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra_1267038001, copy 1, fragment 2, destination path /staging/disk3
24/02/2010    21:04:37    bkp-fr-ptx-media1.ptx.fr.sopra    wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra    Info    442231    General    begin reading backup id wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra_1267038001 (read-blockmap), copy 1, fragment 1
24/02/2010    21:11:15    bkp-fr-ptx-media1.ptx.fr.sopra    wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra    Info    442231    Backup    successfully wrote backup id wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra_1267038001, copy 1, fragment 2, 2070777 Kbytes at 5156.767 Kbytes/sec
24/02/2010    21:11:16    bkp-fr-ptx-media1.ptx.fr.sopra    wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra    Info    442231    Backup Status    the requested operation was successfully completed
24/02/2010    21:11:16    bkp-fr-ptx-media1.ptx.fr.sopra    wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra    Info    442231    General    successfully read (read-blockmap) backup id wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra_1267038001, copy 1, fragment 1, 888576 Kbytes at 2226.628 Kbytes/sec

Thanks for your help
Alzoo

[CRZ]

I'm a UNIX guy, so I'm pretty ignorant about this stuff, but I want you to be sure that when you think it's working, it actually IS working.  Check these out:

When a single stream backup includes the System State or Shadow Copy Components and VSS is disabled or not working correctly, success may be reported for the backup job even though the System State or Shadow Copy Components were not backed up and will not be available for restore.
 http://support.veritas.com/docs/338410

When multistreaming is enabled on a backup policy containing ALL_LOCAL_DRIVES, any Windows 2008 clients included in that policy will not have their Shadow Copy Components included in the backup. There is no indication that they are being skipped.
 http://support.veritas.com/docs/338003

How is your policy set up?  (Can we see it?)

Does a vssadmin list writers command return any results?

Anybody with REAL knowledge want to chime in?  :)

[Alzoo]

Hi & thanks,

The policy is setup for single stream & the "system state" is the only backup selection included in the policy.

338003 is for all local drives on 2008 which I don't have in the backup selection.
338410 seems to be more twoards my problem & might provide some clues.  As for the workaround, #1 is done already. and I will set it to multistream #2 to determine if the VSS is working correctly.  VSS is not disabled and a "vssadmin list writers" returns the following;

C:\Users\admin>vssadmin list writers
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2005 Microsoft Corp.

Writer name: 'ASR Writer'
   Writer Id: {be000cbe-11fe-4426-9c58-531aa6355fc4}
   Writer Instance Id: {9ebf766e-bbfc-4f69-99aa-66dd37537e3f}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'FRS Writer'
   Writer Id: {d76f5a28-3092-4589-ba48-2958fb88ce29}
   Writer Instance Id: {fa5a6ce0-5258-488b-99cc-d20f420b0eae}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'TermServLicensing'
   Writer Id: {5382579c-98df-47a7-ac6c-98a6d7106e09}
   Writer Instance Id: {af6c5111-c3c7-4b38-9fce-0720db20d56f}
   State: [5] Waiting for completion
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Registry Writer'
   Writer Id: {afbab4a2-367d-4d15-a586-71dbb18f8485}
   Writer Instance Id: {7869f341-902a-4044-97ad-889ce721a8b9}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Shadow Copy Optimization Writer'
   Writer Id: {4dc3bdd4-ab48-4d07-adb0-3bee2926fd7f}
   Writer Instance Id: {f86a8657-57cd-4ba3-9419-40a317e21581}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'COM+ REGDB Writer'
   Writer Id: {542da469-d3e1-473c-9f4f-7847f01fc64f}
   Writer Instance Id: {8eaaa2ea-6ce8-42d6-bdb7-96b51baa31d6}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'NTDS'
   Writer Id: {b2014c9e-8711-4c5c-a5a9-3cf384484757}
   Writer Instance Id: {a1802e56-c871-4ad9-998b-bfa22541fb8e}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'WMI Writer'
   Writer Id: {a6ad56c2-b509-4e6c-bb19-49d8f43532f0}
   Writer Instance Id: {189589ac-110a-4000-8ef0-fb5934ccc9d4}
   State: [5] Waiting for completion
   Last error: No error


C:\Users\admin>

Stay tuned.

[Alzoo]

Just wanted to clarify something and not lead anyone down the garden path.

In my first post, when I stated that VSS was enabled or not enabled, I in fact was refering to Open File Backup not VSS, VSS is always enabled on the server, but in the client attribues of the properties of the master server, the OFB is disabled.  As the option on that tab is to either use VSP or VSS, it was this that I was refering to.

apologies.

[Alzoo]

The mutlistream option seems to have fixed the issue.  However further testing is required as I tested this on our master domain controller and got a error 1

There are actually two jobs that are launched, here are the job details.

System State:\
01/03/2010 11:10:00 - requesting resource FR-PTX-SUG-DISK
01/03/2010 11:10:00 - requesting resource bkp-fr-ptx-master.ptx.fr.sopra.NBU_CLIENT.MAXJOBS.wptxdc03.ptx.fr.sopra
01/03/2010 11:10:00 - requesting resource bkp-fr-ptx-master.ptx.fr.sopra.NBU_POLICY.MAXJOBS.FR-PTX-PL-MSAD
01/03/2010 11:10:00 - granted resource bkp-fr-ptx-master.ptx.fr.sopra.NBU_CLIENT.MAXJOBS.wptxdc03.ptx.fr.sopra
01/03/2010 11:10:00 - granted resource bkp-fr-ptx-master.ptx.fr.sopra.NBU_POLICY.MAXJOBS.FR-PTX-PL-MSAD
01/03/2010 11:10:00 - granted resource MediaID=@aaaaq;Path=/staging/disk2;MediaServer=bkp-fr-ptx-master.ptx.fr.sopra
01/03/2010 11:10:00 - granted resource FR-PTX-MASTER-STU-DISK2
01/03/2010 11:10:00 - estimated 0 kbytes needed
01/03/2010 11:10:00 - begin Parent Job
01/03/2010 11:10:00 - begin Snapshot, Start Notify Script
01/03/2010 11:10:00 - started process RUNCMD (29651)
01/03/2010 11:10:00 - ended process 0 (29651)
Status 0
01/03/2010 11:10:00 - end Snapshot, Start Notify Script; elapsed time: 00:00:00
01/03/2010 11:10:00 - begin Snapshot, Step By Condition
Status 0
01/03/2010 11:10:00 - end Snapshot, Step By Condition; elapsed time: 00:00:00
01/03/2010 11:10:00 - begin Snapshot, Stream Discovery
Status 0
01/03/2010 11:10:00 - end Snapshot, Stream Discovery; elapsed time: 00:00:00
01/03/2010 11:10:00 - begin Snapshot, Read File List
Status 0
01/03/2010 11:10:00 - end Snapshot, Read File List; elapsed time: 00:00:00
01/03/2010 11:10:00 - begin Snapshot, Create Snapshot
01/03/2010 11:10:00 - started
01/03/2010 11:10:01 - started process bpbrm (29658)
01/03/2010 11:10:02 - begin Create Snapshot
01/03/2010 11:10:13 - end Create Snapshot; elapsed time: 00:00:11
01/03/2010 11:10:13 - end writing
Status 0
01/03/2010 11:10:13 - end Snapshot, Create Snapshot; elapsed time: 00:00:13
01/03/2010 11:10:13 - begin Snapshot, Policy Execution Manager Preprocessed
Status 0
01/03/2010 11:15:25 - end Snapshot, Policy Execution Manager Preprocessed; elapsed time: 00:05:12
01/03/2010 11:15:25 - begin Snapshot, Validate Image
Status 0
01/03/2010 11:15:25 - end Snapshot, Validate Image; elapsed time: 00:00:00
01/03/2010 11:15:25 - begin Snapshot, Delete Snapshot
01/03/2010 11:15:26 - started process bpbrm (30487)
01/03/2010 11:15:27 - end writing
Status 0
01/03/2010 11:15:27 - end Snapshot, Delete Snapshot; elapsed time: 00:00:02
01/03/2010 11:15:27 - begin Snapshot, Delete Snapshot On Exit
Status 0
01/03/2010 11:15:27 - end Snapshot, Delete Snapshot On Exit; elapsed time: 00:00:00
01/03/2010 11:15:27 - begin Snapshot, End Notify Script
01/03/2010 11:15:28 - started process RUNCMD (30528)
01/03/2010 11:15:28 - ended process 0 (30528)
Status 0
01/03/2010 11:15:28 - end Snapshot, End Notify Script; elapsed time: 00:00:01
Status 0
01/03/2010 11:15:28 - end Parent Job; elapsed time: 00:05:28
the requested operation was successfully completed(0)


SET SNAP_ID=wptxdc03.ptx.fr.sopra_1267438200
System State:\
01/03/2010 11:10:13 - estimated 0 kbytes needed
01/03/2010 11:10:14 - started process bpbrm (29716)
01/03/2010 11:10:15 - connecting
01/03/2010 11:10:15 - connected; connect time: 00:00:00
01/03/2010 11:10:18 - begin writing
01/03/2010 11:15:25 - end writing; write time: 00:05:07
the requested operation was successfully completed(0)

Here is the error from the domain master.
SET SNAP_ID=wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra_1267438942
System State:\
01/03/2010 11:22:34 - estimated 0 kbytes needed
01/03/2010 11:22:34 - started process bpbrm (18842)
01/03/2010 11:22:36 - connecting
01/03/2010 11:22:36 - connected; connect time: 00:00:00
01/03/2010 11:22:40 - begin writing
01/03/2010 12:26:19 - Error bpbrm(pid=18842) from client wptxdcm02.ptx.fr.sopra: ERR - Error encountered while attempting to get additional files for System State:\
01/03/2010 12:30:46 - end writing; write time: 01:08:06
the requested operation was partially successful(1)

The job was successfully completed, but some files may have been
busy or unaccessible. See the problems report or the client's logs for more details.

Here is the current file the job ended on /System State/_SharedHardlinkData_/322141e4.c0000.10001