Exchange 2000 Server reboots at Replica

[JBR]

Hi,

i have a problem with Veeam Backup&Replication.
Every day at 1:00pm i have scheduled a REPLICA of my Exchange Server. This runs
fine for a few weeks but now it is terrible. Once a week the Exchange Server reboots
or hangs at this moment when the Replica beginns.
In the VCenter i have the entry for the snapshot of my Exchange Server but then the
Server have a reboot!!

Whats wrong?

Thanks
Juergen

[Vitaliy S.]

Hello Juergen,

Could you please recall what might have changed in your environment to cause such a behavior? Do you see this happening at the particular time in a week or it happens randomly? Are there any other VMs which are acting in the same way?

It seems like there is something wrong with Exchange VM configuration, as we haven't been reported about this issue before. If I were you I would also confirm whether server reboot behavior is caused by snapshot creation, assuming it is your production server, I would do it very carefully (manual snapshot creation).

Alternatively, I would also investigate vmware.log(s) for this VM, you can search for the time your Exchange VM rebooted, I'm sure you will be able to find some issue related information. Probably, it is a better way rather than playing with manual snapshot creation, so you do not corrupt your production Exchange Server.

Also we might see additional information in our log files, so please contact our support team for assistance, however I still believe this issue is VM specific, hope our support team will be able to point that out.

Thank you!

[JBR]

Hi Vitaliy,

it happends randomly!!

The changes at the EX Server:
We have split the EX-DB to 6 smaller DBs and have moved the User in different stores.

Where can i find the VM-Logs of the EX-VM??

Thanks
Juergen

[Vitaliy S.]

Juergen,

They are located at the same folder where your VM files are. If you browse using FastSCP (or Datastore Browser) to the the source datastore, then you will be able to locate VM folder and the log files. If you need any assistance please contact our support team.

Thank you!

[tsightler]

Seeing that you have made changes to your Exchange server, I'd look closely at the VSS writer for Exchange. Make sure you have applied all VSS rollup fixes for your environment. You didn't mention your versions, but there were several rollups for Windows 2003, and several Exchange 2007 rollups/updates included fixes for various VSS issues. None seem to be a perfect match for your issue, so it may not fix the problem, but we were having an issue with Exchange services stopping after a Veeam backup and those went away after we applied the rollup. Our problems started shortly after we created a second storage group to place our journal mailbox on, and implemented an archiving server. Not exactly like your issue, but it's easy enough and good practice.

[tsightler]

This link discusses a similar problem, although I think your good if your on Exchange 2007 SP2.

http://forum.storagecraft.com/Community ... /2078.aspx

And a similar problem with Tivoli Storage Manager here:

http://www.backupcentral.com/phpBB2/two ... 08-101237/

Since you didn't mention your exact versions I can't send you links specific to your environment, but VSS is the likely culprit. I've seen it many times no matter the backup vendor being used.

[jroot]

Juergen, Please let us know what results you obtain. We are planning on using Veeam for our Exchange 2003 VM.
Thanks, Jim

[TrevorBell]

Juergen, Please let us know what results you obtain. We are planning on using Veeam for our Exchange 2003 VM.
Thanks, Jim

Hi.

I converted mine less than two weeks ago all is running fine, at this moment in time i still backup with Backup Exec aswell as Veeam as i like the easy restore with Backup Exec. I can only assume like others JBR has other issues affecting his setup

thanks

Trev

[jroot]

Trev,
Thanks for sharing your experience and that's good to hear. I am speaking at a public safety users conference next month and I wanted to share about my very positive experiences with using Veeam. I have most of our critical apps converted but Exchange is still waiting for us (due to scope). Juergen's request gave me pause so I just wanted to check if there were any specific gotcha's.
Thanks,
Jim

[JBR]

Hi,

VSS is not the problem - Windows2000 Server has´nt VSS!!
I think, it must be a problem with the traffic at the Exchange Server.
The replica, in the night, runs without problems - only the replica a 1:00pm
have this problems!
The Backups of the Exchange (with Veeam B&R) runs fine, too.

Can it be a traffic problem??

Thanks
JBR

[Gostev]

Ah, it is Exchange 2000... this changes everything

The problem is exactly that it does not have VSS, so by default VMware Tools quiescence SYNC driver is used when snapshot is created. This is known to affect transactional applications like SQL and Exchange.

Try to disable VMware Tools quiescence in the Advanced job settings, this should help.

However, you should really consider upgrading at least to Windows 2003 on your Exchange server to be able to leverage VSS for reliable replicas and backups.

[JBR]

Hi,

the second Day with a "disabled quiescence" and the EX-Server runs!
But i think that the "quiescence - tool" is my help for an consistant backup (or replication)
of my Exchange Server - Is it ensured that my replication is run??

Thanks
JBR

[Gostev]

Hello Jürgen, as I've said above, to ensure consistency of your image-level backups and replicas, your only option is to upgrade to at least to Windows 2003 on your Exchange server, and leverage Veeam VSS.