13 hours to backup 78gb?

[XRJoe]

Just started at a new company and have been assigned to look into the numerous problems we have with Backup Exec or what the causes could be.

Backups start at midnight and supposedly should only take a couple hours, last nights backups ended just now (14 hours later) and failed to back up with the error "Access Denied".

This seems to be fairly common around here. They are backing up mostly windows server but the main file server is novell. Any tips or helpful suggestions would be appreciated on how to get this to run more smoothly.

(BExec 9.0 & HP StorageWorks vs80 1/8 autoloader)

 

[SQLBill]

Right click on the failed job and select Job History. Any errors?

Go to Alert tab....any error messages?

How about in the Windows Event Viewer logs?

---------------------
Go to devices tab, are the devices on line?
---------------------
Does the Backup Exec SERVICES have access to the files you want to backup?
--------------------
Do you have the remote agent installed?

-SQLBill

 

[comtec17]

What type of tape drives are you using and how are they connected? If you have more than 2 drives are there only 2 per controller?

What is your network throughput?

Do you have the nic set to auto negate? How about the switch port?

 

[XRJoe]

Job History Error
Error category : Security Errors
Error code : a0008488 HEX
Error description : Access is denied.

The last 4 or 5 backups have this same error in the job history. Obviously when the backups are running late I would expect some files are in use and are unable to be backed up. I'm mainly concerned with any possible reasons as to why the backups didn't seem to get up to full speed until 8 hours after they were started.

Currently no error regarding this job under Alerts. And all the devices are online.

Please forgive me, like I said, I have recently started here in the last couple weeks and am just getting familiar with the network and how things are opererating here. Thanks - Joe

 

[SQLBill]

I have had problems with backups running for a long time doing nothing....the issue was BE losing contact with the tape library. You don't say if you are using a tape library or a single tape device.

You can try the following:

Stop BE services.
Reboot the tape library/device
Start the BE services.

If that doesn't solve it, try reinstalling the drivers.

(BTW- when you see the job still going, what does BE say the job is doing? ie loading media, running, verifying?)

-SQLBill

 

[XRJoe]

There is one tape drive (HP Storageworks vs 80 1/8 autoloader) and all the servers are being backed up over a gigabit switch.

According to the Admin he followed Veritas's suggestions to a T and have all the remote agents installed. I can only take his word for it atm. - Joe

 

[XRJoe]

I wasn't in early enough to catch what it was hanging on, it was at about 25% when it was put into my charge, and this was 8 hours after the job started - Joe

 

[SQLBill]

Is this happening all the time? Or on specific days (ie. every Friday)?

What else is happening on the network at that time?

Could the sysadmin have the system (the one you are trying to backup) offline for maintenance?

You might not have the answers to that right now, but keep them in mind for the next time it happens.

-SQLBill

 

[justin2000]

XRJoe

what is the job log telling you have access denied to?

 

[pschwarz]

Create some test jobs (few files local, then over the network,etc). Trouble shoot at the basic level to help isolate the problem. I came into a similiar situation... ended up doing a fresh install of Veritas, Agents, etc., and creating my own jobs, not that this might be necessary, in your case. Also, check to see if it "verifying" the job (which I encourage, when running smoothly). Verify will certainly extend the job length.

 

[XRJoe]

Files I am denied access to are in use so that is expected. Only concern is the length it take for the backups to complete. So far Wed, Thur and now Fri backups all have taken greater than 10 hours to complete. I have recently removed 'Verfy' from the jobs so we'll see how that works. Thanks - Joe

 

[mhiney]

Just saw on another thread that an on-access AV scanner could also be a cause...

 

[tadduci]

if you are getting access denied it probably relates to the agent on the remote pc you are backing up.

 

[Rols]

Post the job log so we can all have a clearer picture of what is goin on.

 

[XRJoe]

Here's a link to one of the failed job logs

http://www.turbo23.com/job_log_bex00609_xml.htm