Information Store failing to be written to backups

Question

Here where I work we use Symantec BackupExec 11D to handle all of our server backups. recently had an issue crop up on the weekend where the backups got hung up. Ended up restarting all of the backupExec services to unjam it. The backs now are getting written out until they hit the Microsoft Information store (Exchange 2003 on Server 2003)

This is the error in the logs:

Backup- \EXCHANGE\Microsoft Information Store\First Storage Group Error, Unable to open \EXCHANGE\Microsoft Information Store\First Storage Group because it is currently being backed up by another process.

Our vendor has suggested just restarting the entire server (in their opinion the vss service is conflicting with the backupexec) but I'm personally loath to just reboot unless I need to. Has anybody seen this type of issue or know which service might be related to this?

Answer 1

My experience is that Backup Exec is very fussy when it comes to interoperability with VSS. The normal symptom is that everything works fine for weeks or even months, then the mysterious failures start coming thick and fast.

There are a number of VSS hotfixes available from MS that may resolve it (KB940252, KB940349, etc), but they require a reboot of the server. In my case, they didn't work anyway.

Troubleshooting steps should involve seeing if NTBackup works (helps to rule out - or confirm - if it's a BE-specific issue), and checking your vss writers (vssadmin list writers) - you might find that restarting the services associated with any writer that reports trouble is enough to resolve this.

It's also worthwhile configuring your VSS services to restart on failure. Also check the WMI service - it seems connected in some way I've never been able to determine.

Also, if you're running VSS snapshots on any shared folders that may be on your Exchange servers (which you shouldn't be, but sometimes these things need to be done), check the space available for them and the number of snapshots you have. There's a theoretical max of 64, if memory serves, but VSS seems to like lots of headroom, so you shouldn't really have even half that.

Upgrading your BE installation to the latest service packs is also recommended. Symantec support policy is that if you're not on the current version you're on your own, but there may be worthwhile fixes in a more recent 11D service pack than you might be on.