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We're using Veritas Backup Exec 16.0 to run backups of our servers. We've upgraded from Backup Exec 2010 and have been firefighting problems since then trying to get the schedules to run smoothly. Veritas Support have generally be utterly useless but have resolved some problems. One of the ongoing problems is backups failing on certain servers.
We've created a Active Directory service account called backupexec and set this as the sole Backup Exec 'System Logon Account' for running backups. This account is part of the AD 'Domain Admins' and 'Backup Operators' groups.
We have two email servers; we'll call them MAIL1 and MAIL2. MAIL1 is the main email server and MAIL2 is for email archiving. There are directories on both servers which we want to back up. All of the archives have read/write permissions set for the backupexec account but we have tried with full control set as well.
Jobs in Backup Exec are failing with errors such as "The directory or file was not found, or could not be accessed." I have checked both servers and the directories are indeed there and can be accessed by the backupexec account.

I had thought this may be a Backup Exec problem, given all the other problems we're having with the software but I have since run a Windows Server Backup of the same directories. Both have failed with "Backup failed to complete - The device is not ready" errors. I suspect that this may be related to Volume Shadow copy Service problems but do not know why this would be failing.
Inspection of the Event Viewer (Application and Services Logs > Microsoft > Windows > Backup > Operational) shows an error event with ID 5 "The backup operation that started at '‎2018‎-‎05‎-‎15T13:06:43.666836500Z' has failed with following error code '2155348238'. Please review the event details for a solution, and then rerun the backup operation once the issue is resolved." Searching the web for this error code does not reveal too much so I'm posting here to see if anyone has had anything similar or can offer any advice.

Checking the VSS writers and providers does not show any problems:

MAIL1

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

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

Provider name: 'Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0'
   Provider type: System
   Provider Id: {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}
   Version: 1.0.0.7

Provider name: 'Acronis VSS SW Provider'
   Provider type: Software
   Provider Id: {f782463b-33bb-4043-ad8d-60b728d26a6c}
   Version: 1.0


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

Writer name: 'Task Scheduler Writer'
   Writer Id: {d61d61c8-d73a-4eee-8cdd-f6f9786b7124}
   Writer Instance Id: {1bddd48e-5052-49db-9b07-b96f96727e6b}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'VSS Metadata Store Writer'
   Writer Id: {75dfb225-e2e4-4d39-9ac9-ffaff65ddf06}
   Writer Instance Id: {088e7a7d-09a8-4cc6-a609-ad90e75ddc93}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Performance Counters Writer'
   Writer Id: {0bada1de-01a9-4625-8278-69e735f39dd2}
   Writer Instance Id: {f0086dda-9efc-47c5-8eb6-a944c3d09381}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'System Writer'
   Writer Id: {e8132975-6f93-4464-a53e-1050253ae220}
   Writer Instance Id: {38a136f6-947f-4cc1-858d-7da11af035b1}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'ASR Writer'
   Writer Id: {be000cbe-11fe-4426-9c58-531aa6355fc4}
   Writer Instance Id: {775938d0-040d-439e-b23c-470caa2f4c84}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Registry Writer'
   Writer Id: {afbab4a2-367d-4d15-a586-71dbb18f8485}
   Writer Instance Id: {8dd82e55-494f-4a0a-85d0-feda8087da0e}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Shadow Copy Optimization Writer'
   Writer Id: {4dc3bdd4-ab48-4d07-adb0-3bee2926fd7f}
   Writer Instance Id: {062648bc-5c63-4480-95c7-060c7ffa81ff}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'COM+ REGDB Writer'
   Writer Id: {542da469-d3e1-473c-9f4f-7847f01fc64f}
   Writer Instance Id: {7f98ce15-383e-45d0-8882-e40ae9d573a9}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'BITS Writer'
   Writer Id: {4969d978-be47-48b0-b100-f328f07ac1e0}
   Writer Instance Id: {546b3f33-5754-45e8-aa35-199fb87e5239}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'WMI Writer'
   Writer Id: {a6ad56c2-b509-4e6c-bb19-49d8f43532f0}
   Writer Instance Id: {e282e3a3-cc1e-4848-831c-fc90bb230a6a}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

MAIL2

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

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

Writer name: 'Task Scheduler Writer'
   Writer Id: {d61d61c8-d73a-4eee-8cdd-f6f9786b7124}
   Writer Instance Id: {1bddd48e-5052-49db-9b07-b96f96727e6b}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'VSS Metadata Store Writer'
   Writer Id: {75dfb225-e2e4-4d39-9ac9-ffaff65ddf06}
   Writer Instance Id: {088e7a7d-09a8-4cc6-a609-ad90e75ddc93}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Performance Counters Writer'
   Writer Id: {0bada1de-01a9-4625-8278-69e735f39dd2}
   Writer Instance Id: {f0086dda-9efc-47c5-8eb6-a944c3d09381}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'ASR Writer'
   Writer Id: {be000cbe-11fe-4426-9c58-531aa6355fc4}
   Writer Instance Id: {53545b61-ebbb-46b9-8e4d-0bf0e3b542f6}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'WMI Writer'
   Writer Id: {a6ad56c2-b509-4e6c-bb19-49d8f43532f0}
   Writer Instance Id: {24a63d31-b3e2-42a9-9406-8ee5199d5155}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'System Writer'
   Writer Id: {e8132975-6f93-4464-a53e-1050253ae220}
   Writer Instance Id: {a39861ce-cd1f-48f3-a5f7-1f64030e6c49}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Shadow Copy Optimization Writer'
   Writer Id: {4dc3bdd4-ab48-4d07-adb0-3bee2926fd7f}
   Writer Instance Id: {2860109e-f5e6-483c-b3be-74610f7d33f2}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'COM+ REGDB Writer'
   Writer Id: {542da469-d3e1-473c-9f4f-7847f01fc64f}
   Writer Instance Id: {2335da7a-8a8d-4cc1-b9fb-5330228379cb}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Registry Writer'
   Writer Id: {afbab4a2-367d-4d15-a586-71dbb18f8485}
   Writer Instance Id: {54bb9048-bb0e-4fca-bd13-c336add2d72a}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error


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

Provider name: 'Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0'
   Provider type: System
   Provider Id: {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}
   Version: 1.0.0.7

Provider name: 'Acronis VSS SW Provider'
   Provider type: Software
   Provider Id: {f782463b-33bb-4043-ad8d-60b728d26a6c}
   Version: 1.0

I'm not sure what else could be preventing access.

I'm currently running another backup on MAIL2 using my admin account (also a member of Domain Admins) instead of the backupexec account to see if this makes any difference. I'll post the results when they're in.

Thanks in advance.

Rich M
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  • What Acronis software is installed on these servers? Have you tried removing it? – joeqwerty May 16 '18 at 12:10
  • Hi Joe, we have Acronis Backup 11.7 agents installed as we image the C drive of all our servers via the Acronis plugin for Kaseya. I've ensured that the Acronis jobs are not running at the same time as the Backup Exec jobs though. Do you think there could be some other cross-software problem? – Rich M May 16 '18 at 14:05
  • I'd certainly want to rule Acronis out as the source of the problem. You could uninstall it temporarily to see if that resolves the problem. If it doesn't then it's a simple matter to reinstall it. Personally, I wouldn't use two different backup products to backup the servers. I'd use one or the other, but not both. My personal opinion of Acronis and Kaseya is that they're both a pile of hot garbage. – joeqwerty May 16 '18 at 14:09
  • Yeah Im not overly impressed by Kaseya but BE is a pile of trash too, had endless problems with 2016 and Veritas support seem to be incapable of properly supporting it or know how to accept that there's clearly bugs in the application.....anyway.....these backups have been working before with no problems with Acronis installed. – Rich M May 16 '18 at 14:13
  • Agreed. To be fair, Backup Exec is a pile of hot garbage too. At any rate, I'd want to confirm that Acronis isn't the cause of the problem by uninstalling it. If nothing changes you can reinstall it. – joeqwerty May 16 '18 at 14:34
  • What would you recommend for backups then? I'll give the Acronis removal a go. – Rich M May 16 '18 at 15:10
  • Personally I would use Backup Exec. Which one you choose is up to you. I'm only suggesting that you use one or the other, but not both. As a first step, uninstall Acronis and see if that resolves the problem. If it doesn't then at least you can definitively rule it out. – joeqwerty May 16 '18 at 16:49
  • The backupexec account is a member of the Backup Operators group and the Domain Admins group but is also added into certain directories ACLs. Also, the test backup on MAIL2 has succeeded although WSB said it failed. There's no errors and I can see the .vhd file, mount it and browse files so not sure what's happened there. – Rich M May 17 '18 at 09:38
  • Acronis has now been removed and the job is still failing with the same errors. – Rich M May 17 '18 at 15:49
  • Dang. Sorry. At least you can definitively rule out Acronis as the root of the problem. – joeqwerty May 17 '18 at 15:51
  • Yep. In all honesty I didn't think it was Acronis but there's something weird going on with access rights to certain directories on the servers., just can't figure out what yet... – Rich M May 21 '18 at 19:50

0 Answers0