Errors with nightly site backup
Ever since I upgraded my SMS 2003 site I've been getting errors with my nightly site backup task. I'm backing up my site to the same drive (D
that Config Mgr is installed on. The database is about 3 gb and the free space on D: is 60 gb.The database file and log file appear to be getting backed up despite some SQL / VSS errors that appear in my smsbkup.log.
I'm getting this warning presumabley because my backup is on the same volume as my db / log files:
Warning: Backup location and the sms sql data/log files are on the same volume. Sms Backup creates snapshot of the volume using VSS services and then copies the data to the backup location. It is advisable to have the backup location on a different volume (different than the one that has SMS data and SMS database files), so that the writes to the volume is minimal when the volume snapshot is active.
Further down I get this error:
After GatherWriterMetadata SQL Writer status = FAILED_AT_FREEZE.
Error: VSS_E_WRITERERROR_RETRYABLE. Error Code = 0x80,042,3f3.
After GatherWriterMetadata SMS Writer status = FAILED_AT_PREPARE_SNAPSHOT.
Error: VSS_E_WRITERERROR_RETRYABLE. Error Code = 0x80,042,3f3.
Things continue on until
After DoSnapshotSet SQL Writer status = FAILED_AT_FREEZE.
Error: VSS_E_WRITERERROR_NONRETRYABLE. Error Code = 0x80,042,3f4.
After DoSnapshotSet SMS Writer status = FAILED_AT_PREPARE_SNAPSHOT.
Now the backup continues and shows it has suceeded in backing up all the Components. Then I see
After BackupComplete SQL Writer status = FAILED_AT_FREEZE.
Error: VSS_E_WRITERERROR_NONRETRYABLE. Error Code = 0x80,042,3f4.
After BackupComplete SMS Writer status = FAILED_AT_PREPARE_SNAPSHOT.
03/17/08 04:54:31 - backup completed.
Backup task completed successfully with zero errors but there could be some warnings, AFTERBACKUP.BAT will be started if available in its predefined location
Looks like all went well despite the warnings! Should I be concerned?
All Replies
Sandy,
Sure looks scary to me :-)
There's a KB http://support.microsoft.com/kb/915331 describing the FAILED_AT_FREEZE and a bit of info on VSS_E_WRITERERROR_NONRETRYABLE = The writer operation failed because of an error that might recur if another shadow copy is created.
But I definitely have no clue if the backup was succesful or not ...
Cheers,
Serge
Sandy and B-Serge
As you can tell from the log entries. Having the backup on the same drive as the database is not a suggested configuration. If the drive crashes, the backup will probably do you no good. From the log entries, it looks like the backup was successful and certainly contains some warning messages, but I would suggest not using the same drive for your backup as you use for your database. The error entries you are seeing in the log would be expected if the backup process is trying to accomplish something while a write process could be occurring.
Sandy, please use a different drive for your backups and let me know if you still run into problems.
MichaelMichael,
That's what I call timing! I am supposed to give up the server specs for our new SCCM environment by Friday... document updated
Thanks,
Serge
Michael,
Thanks for the good information. I'm going to change the backup destination to a server share and I'll let you know how it goes in the morning!
Hello Michael,
My backup ran last night and had the same errors. What's funny, is that at the end of the backup, it shows sucessful. I checked and the backup out on my network share is all there too. I think this must be some sort of SQL VSS problem, not an SMS issue.
Is there another way to get this done without using SQL VSS? Can I put a home-grown NTbackup solution together? Is it as simple as copying the *.mdf, *.ldf and other SCCM folders?
Sandy,
It's not as simple as just copying those files. The SCCM backup process grabs a lot of data / files from various locations.
When this is ocurring, are there any VSS error entries in the Event log? If you cycle the VSS service, do the errors stop ocurring?
Mike,
Thanks for the clarification. The only VSS error entries (SMS_SITE_VSS_WRITER) that I see are in the App log during the backup I run every day at 4:00AM.
At the beginning of the backup it logs:
Type: Information
Source: SMS Server
Event ID: 5055
Event Time: 4/10/2008 4:07:35 AM
User: n/a
Computer: MYSMSSERVERDescription:
On 4/10/2008 4:07:35 AM, component SMS_SITE_BACKUP on computer MYSMSSERVER reported: SMS Site Backup task is starting. This task will interact with the windows VSS services and the appropriate writers to create a volume snapshot and then back up the required files to the specified destination.Type: Information
Source: SMS Server
Event ID: 6829
Event Time: 4/10/2008 4:07:44 AM
User: n/a
Computer: MYSMSSERVERDescription:
On 4/10/2008 4:07:44 AM, component SMS_SITE_VSS_WRITER on computer MYSMSSERVER reported: SMS Writer is about to stop the SMS Services as part of the preparation for the SMS Site backup.Then at the end:
Type: Information
Source: SMS Server
Event ID: 6831
Event Time: 4/10/2008 4:29:53 AM
User: n/a
Computer: MYSMSSERVERDesscription:
On 4/10/2008 4:29:53 AM, component SMS_SITE_VSS_WRITER on computer MYSMSSERVER reported: SMS Writer has started the SMS Services successfully.Type: Warning
Source: SMS Server
Event ID: 6832
Event Time: 4/10/2008 4:29:53 AM
User: n/a
Computer: MYSMSSERVER
Description:
On 4/10/2008 4:29:53 AM, component SMS_SITE_VSS_WRITER on computer MYSMSSERVER reported: SMS backup task has been aborted.Sandy,
Lets have you make a logging change to get a better idea of what is happening.
Please change the amount of data that gets logged in the file Microsoft Configuration Manager\AdminUI\AdminUILog\RepairWizard.log file by changing the following line in the file Microsoft Configuration Manager\AdminUI\AdminUILog\repairwizard.exe.config
<source name="SmsRepairWizard" switchValue="Error">
<source name="SmsRepairWizard" switchValue="All">
Once you have made this change and the issue occurs, please send the RepairWizard.log file to: sccmlogs@microsoft.com using the same title as this thread.Michael,
Thanks very much for the offer of help! I made the change this morning - I'll send the log in tomorrow.
Michael,
I checked for the repairwizard.log and could not find it anywhere. Do I need to launch the wizard to get it going?
- Correct, the log does not get generated until the Repair Wizard is run. The file will be located in the folder under the probgram files folder - Microsoft Configuration Manager\AdminUI\AdminUILog\RepairWizard.log
Sorry to sound so studpid, but do I need to run the Repair Wizard to help troubleshoot a nightly SQL Backup Task?
Sorry about that...... Got way off topic..
Please send me the smsbkup.log and smswriter.log files. Also include the Event log entries so I can so correlate the processes.
Thanks,
Michael
- No problem! The logs are on their way.
Sandy,
From the logs, it looks like there may be some timing/busy issues with the VSS and SMS Writer
Just to make sure the VSS service is not having some issues. Is it possible for you to restart the machine? I'd ask to have you restart the services, but there are a few different ones to restart, so it is actually easier to just restart the machine.
- Sure, no problem. I'll do it right now.
HI
did you get this problem solved ?
I upgraded a site last week to sccm 2007 sp1 on Win2003 sp2 / Sql 2005 sp2 (local) and get the
same problem.
Sms executive does not seem to stop when launching the backup manually.
If i stop it, the backup shows as ok but the db is not backed up.
thanks in advance for some feedback on this.
bruno
Hello Bruno,
Well, I did get the problem solved, in a way. I migrated my site to new hardware and a new site installation so now the backup runs without error. I never did find out the problem with my older installation. It errored out every night. Sorry I couldn't have provided a better answer.
Hi
thanks for the prompt reply,
It seems my problem disappeared after restarting the services.
Look good now
brgds
- Hey Guys
My SCCM Primary site has recently started showing the same symptoms as Sandy issus but the only difference being I don't get the "After GatherWriterMetadata SMS Writer status = FAILED_AT_PREPARE_SNAPSHOT" error.
The errors on smsbkup.log
After GatherWriterMetadata SQL Writer status = FAILED_AT_FREEZE.
Error: VSS_E_WRITERERROR_RETRYABLE. Error Code = 0x80,042,3f3.
I am not seeing any errors inthe smswriter.log and Systems logs regarding VSS service. However, there are SQLVDI errors in the app logs around the backups
I have rebooted the server and SCCM backup location is on a different drive.
Thanks. Nilanga- Edited byNilanga Karunathilake Thursday, August 20, 2009 8:25 PM
Hi,
Did you manage to find a solution to this? I am having the same problem, with me it is the other way round, I just migrated to new hardware and now only starting getting this error.
- Hi
No one got back to me with the exact solution. But does SMS backup your database file. With my site backups, it does everything but just warns with the following error. I read some forums where nothing was being backuped up for other users so my issue is not identical as our SCCM database and transaction dbs get backed up during the SCCM backup process.
I was able to do a full site restore to a test lab using the SCCM Backups so I am not so worried but let me know if you find a solution to this problem.
I noticed SCCM SP2 has been released. I wonder if it has any hotfixes that might address this issue....
Nilanga - Hi Nilanga,
Ensure you have enough space on each drive to allow VSS to create snapshot of your SQL and SMS data and copy it to specified backup location.
Surendar Reddy - check out this http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;934396
Abhishek Joshi http://blogcastrepository.com/blogs/abi/default.aspx http://blogcastrepository.com/members/Abhishek.aspx - Hi Surendar
My SCCM Database is 14GB. Does that mean I need to have a spare 14GB on D:\ to backkup the database to the final backup destination of E:
I have 12GB free on D:\ and over 300GB on E:\
If so is there a way to change the snapshot temp backup to use E:\ instead of D:\
Nilanga - Hi Nilanga,
You can map D$ shadow copy to E$ where you have enough free space by using vssamin /? commands.
Use following command to map E$ shadow copy to D:
vssadmin Add ShadowStorage /For=D: /On=E:
To verify and collect Writer instance Id use following command
vssadmin list volumes
Example out put
Volume path: C:\
Volume name: \\?\Volume{e2550024-3ce0-11d7-8b80-806e6f6e6963}\
Volume path: S:\
Volume name: \\?\Volume{5575115f-3ce9-11d7-aefd-00508bbd06df}\
Volume path: F:\
Volume name: \\?\Volume{921a4636-181a-42d2-ab5e-1189ad001e31}\
To verify shadow copy witer mappings and last VSS errors use following command
vssadmin list writers
Surendar Reddy- Proposed As Answer byReddy Surendar Wednesday, November 11, 2009 10:54 PM
- Hi Nilanga,
Is your backup success ?
Surendar Reddy - Surendar
I don't believe insufficient disk space on D:\ is casuing the After GatherWriterMetadata SQL Writer status = FAILED_AT_FREEZE. To test this I filled up the D:\ drive on another smaller SMS Primary Site so the disk avaliable was less than the size of the database and ran the smsbackup task and it worked.
I am more suspecting it has something to do with the http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;934396 but I need to apply this to lower environments before doing production central and primary sites.
In my case the SMS Backup creates the the MDF and LDF files but only sees these 2 errors in the logs:
After GatherWriterMetadata SQL Writer status = FAILED_AT_FREEZE.
Error: VSS_E_WRITERERROR_RETRYABLE. Error Code = 0x80,042,3f3
I am NOT getting the Error: VSS_E_WRITERERROR_RETRYABLE. Error Code = 0x80,042,3f3.
Nilanga - Then it must be VSS service issue on your server, can you check if there are any events related to VSS in application log.
Surendar Reddy - Also check if there are any SQLVDI errors in Event Application log like
"SQLVDI: Loc=CVDS::Cleanup. Desc=Release(ClientAliveMutex). ErrorCode=(288)Attempt to release mutex not owned by caller.
. Process=2696. Thread=27100. Client. Instance=. VD="
If so fix is available here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934396
Surendar Reddy- Proposed As Answer byReddy Surendar Friday, November 20, 2009 9:52 PM
- Since 5 days ago, these errors have suddenly stopped on both my Central and Primary sites. I cannot explain these but looking back on the error logs I can see intermittent errors outlined in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934396
