Backup Taking FOREVER!!

[Alshrim]

Greetings everyone...
Ok.. the drama continues with backing up my exchange 2k3 server. Here's a little history - but i don't know if this can be fixed without reinstalling the whole deal - so i'm hoping some of you genius' out there can come up with something creative to help me out!!

So, i came in to this new environment 2 weeks ago. Backups were down - completely.. backup exec services weren't even starting -- i have Backup exec working fine now.. and now i'm trying to go out and get backups done. So far, i've been unsuccessful.

My problem is two-fold.

1) - and very importantly - Exchange Jobs just seem to hang there and TAKE FOREVER.. at one point, BE couldn't even connect to the server - getting access denied.

One thing is - that there is no account in the domain with Full Admin rights in Exchange; ANY.. not mine, not the other Domain admin - nobody; not even a service account. But the BE is an admin on the exchange server - and it has all the appropriate rights to do backups as well.. so i no longer get access denied to anything. In fact as a job goes through files within the stores -and i can see it going through them, but Jeezuz - it takes forever.. 24 hours later, it's still reading files...

WE have a Seagate Backup Robot - with 100gig tapes in it - it's a fast unit - i'm not even encrypting the data.. but i could let this run for 72 hours, and I'll be it's not completed...

Secondly.. i'm trying to backup files on the local server and remotely - but it cacks all the time siting that there's corrupted data. But the data it's backing up is used everyday - and i'm using Shadow Components too .. I've never had this much trouble doing backups .. maybe there is something in ver. 9 that i don't know about...

I've switched out all the tapes; i've done tests of all my jobs and they completed successfully - none of it makes sense..

HOping you can help..
Thanks in advance.

AlRo
System Administrator
Ottawa, Canada.

 

[Alshrim]

I'd like to add, also, that machine is sitting with the exchange server on a 1 gig segment -- that's a huge pipe, so networking is not the issue.

AlRo
System Administrator
Ottawa, Canada.

 

[airbourne]

When you say it takes forever, is the number of bytes read increasing? I am having this same problem, except the data just stops being read and the backup job will not quit, even though the job is setup to cancel if not finished within 9 hours. I went on vacation once, and the my replacement let it run for 113 hours.

 

[Alshrim]

I don't even see the bytes counter go up - sounds like the same issue.

I'm gonna upgarde to Ver. 10.x - and hopefully all the accounts are recreated.. rights redone - i dunno what else to do.

AlRo
System Administrator
Ottawa, Canada.

 

[airbourne]

My problem is I don't have a support contract anymore, so calling them is out of the question, but I suspect the problem is software related. I have replaced the scsi card, drive, cable and terminator and got out a new set of tapes - same problem.

My server is a Windows 2k3 server as well. I am going to switch to a 2000 server before I upgrade to version 10 and see if the problem goes away.

Anybody else have any suggestion, or has seen this problem?

 

[LawnBoy]

I've had this problem on rare occasion, but only during a restore job. Byte counter stops, job has to be cancelled. Running BE 9.1 on Netware 6.5.

 

[comtec17]

I am not trying to bag you, but I do not understand how you can spend the $$$ on a product and not have support...

IMH - I would call Veritas and purchase the support contract. If they cannot resolve your issue, then you have a case for a product refund.

 

[steveot]

Agree with Comtec17 you cant beat a support call for 95$ for RHB and $295 for 24/7 per incident.
Try calling Oracle or Microsoft and check the prices for support.

 

[airbourne]

Obviously I am working under budget constrains that are out of my control, so working the issue out myself is the only option. But thanks for the help anyway.

 

[Alshrim]

**Update:

Ok.. My shadow component issues are pretty much fixed. My issue was, I went on the assumption (as i was told this) that we had AOFO (Automatic Open File Option) installed. But it was not installed - it wasn't even purchased.

backups succeeded after I took the locks off - forcing Backup exec to ignore any open files.... i managed to get full folder back ups of our home directories completed.

I have a PO out for AOFO now .. so that'll solve that - and i'm hoping it will also solve my Exchange issues... however, I thought that's what the Exchange module was supposed to do - was allow us to have online backups of a working IS... *shrugs* so much has changed between 2k3 and 5.5.

The other interesting thing that i found was that our Solaris admin deleted all the Full Admin accounts that were set up on Exchange off of the domain in the absence of a Windows Administrator previous to my arrival. This has wreaked havoc on our backups ...

HOwever, I managed to find an article that explains the use of a tool - in the XP Support Tools Pak that you can download and install..."ADSIEdit.msc" -- this allows you to grant existing accounts in your AD the rights and permissions that you need to properly administrate Exchange - or any other service or server - without having all the rights .. it's very powerful - and dangerous -so before using it - read on it's proper application.. cuz you can really mess up permissions in your domain with this little tool.

AlRo
System Administrator
Ottawa, Canada.

 

[Alshrim]

I'm gonna add too - that a Test Backup works...

AlRo
System Administrator
Ottawa, Canada.

 

[ame540]

So did anyone come up with a solution to fix why when a backup is running and the byte count just stops, but the timer keeps going? That is the exact same problem i am having.

 

[Alshrim]

Did another backup - with the accounts changed with adsiedit.msc - still they take forever..

This is getting frustrating.. does anyone have any clue why reading the mailboxes take forever...

in 24 hours, it didn't even get out of the "A"s ...

AlRo
System Administrator
Ottawa, Canada.

 

[Alshrim]

Do you think this could have something to do with the agent?/ Maybe a reinstallation of the agent will fix this??

AlRo
System Administrator
Ottawa, Canada.

 

[gozar]

I backup 2 exchange servers ( around 200 gigs total ) and have found the brick level mailbox backups do take a very very long time. The infostore backup is relatively fast in comparison but no good for restoring lost messages. My bosses finally saw the light when I presented a request for a dedicated tape drive for mail box backups and then presented my with a very limited list of VIP mailboxes to back up. If you are doing mailbox backups then ask for more hardware if you can't get the ok to limit the number of mailboxes you backup - (O: