Hello,
I've read many post regarding this issue but none of them seems to be relevant for my problem. Hoping someone can help.
We have Exchange 2010 that is configured with 2 Windows server 2008 R2 Datacenter SP1. One is the active database and the other one is an exact copy of the first one with a passive database. Both runnning in a DAG configuration. (should be a normal setup)
We backup Exchange data via a DAG backup job with Backup Exec 2012 SP3 (this is a B2D job)
We also backup the 2 windows servers themselves, via a Standard Windows backup job via Backup Exec 2012 SP3 (This is a B2D job)
The problem we have is with the 2 backup job for the Windows Servers (not the DAG backup job) (This is a B2D job)
Both server's backup jobs always end-up with "Completed with Exceptions" for weekly full backup and daily incremental backups and the job log shows this.
Snapshot Technology: Initialization failure on: "\\servername\H:".snapshot technology used: Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS).
V-79-10000-11219-VSS Snapshot error. the volume or snapped volume may not be available or may not exist. check the configuration of the snapshot technology, and then run the job again.
since both backup jobs are giving the exact same error all the time, I doubt it is related to "VSS writers" errors on each exchange servers but I still checked via "vssadmin list writers" and all vss writers, on both servers, are at "state 1 Stable" wich is correct. as far as I know.
Both of my backup jobs are configured exactly the same within BE 2012 SP3
The AOFO is set with "Use snapshot technology" enabled and then I choosed "Automatically select snapshot technology"
So you know, I tried to disable ""Use snapshot technology" but I allways received the exact same error message. Weird because I specified not to use the snapshot technology.
I also tried to manually specify the VSS provider within the backup job by selecting (system-use Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Proider) and also tried with (hardware-Use technology provided by hardware manufacturer) but I allways receive the exact same error message.
The only think I can think of (but unfortunately, I cannot modify the way it has been emplemented by the Exchange consultant) is that both Windows Exchange servers are configured like this. (During installation, the consultant said that it was the proper way to do it).
C: Local Disk (60 Gb total 21 Gb free)
D: dvd drive
E: PageFile partition (10 Gb total 4 Gb free)
F: Exchage. Seems to be the programs for Exchange. (40 Gb total 33 Gb free)
G: Transaction Logs (2 Gb total 1.9 Db free)
In this partition, there is only a Shortcut that points to another partition called Transactionlogs (300 Gb total 284 Gb free)
This partition can be seen from the Disk Management Console, is online+healthy but does not have any drive letter assigned.
Thus it cannot be seen from the Windows Explorer window
H: Databases
In this partition, there is only a Shortcut that points to another partition called Database (2048 Gb total 1500 Gb free)
This partition can be seen from the Disk Management Console, is online+healthy but does not have any drive letter assigned.
Thus it cannot be seen from the Windows Explorer window
Both backup jobs are configured with "Backup files and directories by following junction points and mount points" and "Backup files and directories by following symbolic links" so the backup job can backup the files on those "hidden" partition by following the shortcut in the "drive letter assigned partition"
In the above sentence, I wrote "hidden partition" but it was just for understanding purpose. I don't know if we can call it a hidden partition in terms of technical terms.
I forgot to mention that I rebooted the servers but that did not helped.
Since the job log says "completed with exception" does it means that my backup is still ok but ?
I thinks I've said all I could say to explain the problem and how we are setup and what I tried so far.
hoping someone will be able to help.
Thanks in advance.