Windows 2003 System State and Registry Backup causes job to fail (4044542)

Windows 2003 System State and Registry Backup causes job to fail

NVBU System State backups including the Windows Registry node on Windows 2003, cause high CPU usage.
This leaves the machine hung and not responding in time to the server's job manager process which concludes the machine has gone down and fails the backup job.
This is only seen on Windows 2003 operating system and aggravated when the system relies on one CPU.

During System State backups, the NetVault File System plugin backs up the Registry via Win32API calls.
It is using the Windows function call RegSaveKeyW().
This function "Saves the specified key and all of its subkeys and values to a new file, in the standard format."
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms724917(v=vs.85).aspx

Every key and their subkeys would be requested by NVFS to be saved to file through this function.
This operation is CPU intensive and on Windows 2003 as it is aggravated by the fact that this particular OS version is known to have a native poor process scheduling.
The impact on the system depends on the CPU(s) capabilities.
For instance testing showed single CPU W2K3 machines would hang during the operation, hence the job failing due to NetVault messaging suspended between client and server.

As RegSaveKeyW() is not resource efficient, we are currently investigating the use of VSS to backup the registry.
Making use of the relevant VSS Registry Writer would be the best alternative.

1. If possible upgrade to a multi-processor machine OR

2. Upgrade to Windows R2008/7 where the multitasking has been improved OR

3. In order to reduce the impact on the system and prevent resource conflicts with other applications, Schedule

BakBone SFDC Solution Number: 00006303