NetVault Plug-in for Exchange 12.0

Windows Application Log: In this log, VSS Writers record detailed error messages that are not logged in the NetVault Backup logs. For more information, see Windows Application Log at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms157312.aspx.

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Vssadmin and DiskShadow: You can use Vssadmin to list the VSS writers and providers, display their status, and ensure that the VSS Writers that the plug-in depends on are enabled and available. Vssadmin also indicates whether it has encountered any errors. DiskShadow, which is a newer utility, also provides information that might be useful. For more information, see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb491031.aspx and http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc772172(v=WS.10).aspx.

You can also obtain additional information from a command prompt by typing vssadmin or diskshadow.

Quest recommends that you use the Vssadmin and DiskShadow utilities to maintain the VSS subsystem, and to address specific issues, such as deleting obsolete shadow copies. You can use these utilities to list the shadow copies stored by the VSS, remove shadow copies, and manage the space allocated in a specific volume for the storage of shadow copies.


	NOTE: In addition to using these utilities to remove the shadow copies, Quest recommends that you restart the Volume Shadow Copy and the Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider services before resuming a VSS-backup job. In some instances, you might also have to restart the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service.

Addressing cluster-related issues

Clustered Exchange environments, such as DAG, present more challenges, especially when the plug-in tries to detect all the applicable NetVault Backup Clients or when the clients must communicate with each other. Usually, NetVault Backup scans the network to locate known NetVault Backup Clients. However, under certain conditions, such as when clients are in the same network but different segments or when clients are located in geographically distant networks, the NetVault Backup Clients might not be aware of each other. This issue can cause errors, such as the display of a “Failed to launch Proxy Master in <NameOfNetVaultBackupClient>” message in the binary log during a backup job. This message might indicate that the NetVault Backup Client that is running the backup job is not aware of the network location of the client that is specified in the message.

To work around this issue, you can use the “machines.dat” file to identify all clients that the NetVault Backup Client must be aware of. Each NetVault Backup Client contains this list of known NetVault Backup Clients in the NetVault Backup installation’s etc directory. For example, in a typical Windows installation, the path is: C:\Program Files (x86)\Quest\NetVault Backup\etc\machines.dat. Adding a known NetVault Backup Client name as an IP address to this file lets the local NetVault Backup Client locate the remote NetVault Backup Client in the network.

If you encounter the “Failed to launch Proxy Master in <NameOfNetVaultBackupClient>” message, Quest recommends that you add all NetVault Backup Clients in an Exchange cluster to the specific NetVault Backup Client that runs the backups. In the following steps, the DAG contains three NetVault Backup Clients: Client_1, Client_2, and Client_3. The NetVault Backup Client that manages backups is Client_1, so the “machines.dat” file on Client_1 is the one that you would modify.

To add a client, perform the following steps.

Open the NetVault Backup Configurator, and select the Service tab.

On the Service tab, click Stop Service.

NetVault Backup Services are stopped.

In Windows, navigate to the etc directory where NetVault Backup is installed, for example, C:\Program Files (x86)\Quest\NetVault Backup\….

To ensure that you can restore the original settings if necessary, make a backup copy of the “machines.dat” file, for example, “machines.dat_saved.”

Use a text editor to open the original “machines.dat” file.

Verify that the local NetVault Backup Client, for example, Client_1, is already listed in the file.

[Client_1]

Networks=<IPaddressOfClient_1>

Preferred Address=<IPaddressOfClient_1>

Contact Address=<IPaddressOfClient_1>

At the end of the file, add a section for each additional client that the local NetVault Backup Client, for example, Client_1, must be aware of — replace <IPaddressOfClient_x> with the applicable IP address.

[Client_2]

Networks=<<IPaddressOfClient_2>

Preferred Address=<IPaddressOfClient_2>

Contact Address=<IPaddressOfClient_2>

[Client_3]

Networks=<IPaddressOfClient_3>

Preferred Address=<IPaddressOfClient_3>

Contact Address=<IPaddressOfClient_3>

Save the file.

Return to the Service tab in the NetVault Backup Configurator, and click Start Service.

The Current State changes to Running.

If the Current State remains Running, the changes have been implemented; otherwise, if the state changes to Stopped after a few seconds, complete the following steps:

Open the Windows Task Manager, and select the Processes tab.

To display the processes in alphabetical order, click the Image Name column heading.

To determine whether the nvstatsmngr.exe or nvstatsmngr.exe*32 process is listed, check the list.

If either process is listed, select it, and click End Process.

If a confirmation prompt is displayed, click End Process.

Close the Task Manager, return to the NetVault Backup Configurator, and click Start Service again.

After these steps are completed, NetVault Backup automatically updates the information in the “machines.dat” file with additional information for each NetVault Backup client that you added.

For example:

[Client_2]

Type=xxxx

UDP Fragment Size=xxxx

Networks=nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn

Preferred Address=nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn

Contact Address=nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn

Fixed entry=xxxx

Id=xx

Version=xxxxxxxx

Outside Firewall=xxxx

Troubleshooting other issues

This topic describes some common errors and their solutions. In cases where an error occurs and is not described in this table, obtain the Microsoft Exchange Server error number from the NetVault Backup logs, and then see the relevant Microsoft Exchange Server documentation for help.

Table 1. Troubleshooting

Error message

Explanation

NetVault Backup 10.x service (netvault-pgsql) does not start on Windows

To see if the following message is displayed, check the Windows Event Viewer: PDT FATAL: lock file “postmaster.pid” already exists.

NetVault Backup 10.x uses a PostgreSQL database. If the PostgreSQL database does not start, NetVault Backup cannot start. To correct this issue, delete the “postmaster.pid” file from the location referenced in the log and restart the NetVault Backup Server. For more information, see https://support.questcom/netvault-backup/kb/122475.

Failed to Connect or Failed to log in as user <userName>

Ensure that all relevant Exchange Services are started before initiating backup or restore jobs. These services include:

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Microsoft Exchange Information Store

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Microsoft Exchange System Attendant

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Microsoft Exchange Replication Service (LCR and CCR environments)

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Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider (VSS backups)

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Volume Shadow Copy (VSS backups) — started automatically by Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider

Failed to get Backup Components

Ensure that Exchange Server databases are mounted. Also, when performing backups of passive data, verify that the passive copies in CCR and LCR environments have a state of Healthy in the Exchange Management Console. If the passive copy has a status of Failed, the backup fails. The Failed passive copy can be returned to a Healthy state by deleting it and updating it with the Update-StorageGroupCopy command. For more information about this command, see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998853.aspx.

No Suitable Media for Job

This error occurs when multiple Storage Groups/Mailbox Databases are backed up simultaneously by using parallel streams and the number of media drives is less than the number of Storage Groups/Mailbox Databases.

An error occurred. Please check that databases are dismounted.

Even if a specific database has been dismounted, if the This database can be overwritten by a restore option is not selected on the Database tab of the Store Properties dialog box, this error occurs.

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Failed to add backup record

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Failed to write index of backup to the database

These messages indicate that the selected data was backed up, but the job’s index information was not properly added by NetVault Backup to its database. Without this index information, the data cannot be properly restored.

Method 1:

Open the Manage Devices page, select the backup media, and click Scan. NetVault Backup stores index information for backup jobs in two locations: in the NetVault Database and on the media targeted by the backup. When you scan the backup media, the index information is added to the NetVault Database. To verify that the information was added, open the Manage Job Definitions page, and locate the specific job. If you can run the job now, the scan process has corrected the problem.

Method 2:

If the scan has failed, run the backup job again.

In clustered environments of Exchange Server 2007, the following operations do not work:

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Mount and dismount databases

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Suspend and update replication of Storage Groups

This problem is isolated to the Exchange Server 2007 RTM version in a clustered environment. Ensure that Exchange Server 2007 RTM has been upgraded to Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 or later.

Replication fails with Event ID 2070 on an LCR database after a successful Incremental or Differential restore

The restore job is completed successfully and the Plug‑in for Exchange updates the replication for the Storage Group without a problem. However, after a Differential restore on a replicated database, the reseeding process fails on the passive node. If you view the Copy Status field in the Exchange Management Console for the Storage Group, the status is Failed, even though it should have been Healthy. Even if you try to update the replicated copy of the Storage Group, the status remains Failed. To resolve this issue, upgrade the Exchange Server with Update Rollup 9 for Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1. For more information, see https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb218741(v=exchg.80).aspx.

Alternatively, if you cannot upgrade the Exchange Server, perform a full backup after the restore job and update the replicated copy of the Storage Group.