Problem backing up MS SQL 2005 server

[BjornOKK]

Hello

I get the following error when trying to backup a windows 2003 x64 server with MS SQL 2005 installed.

(vSphere 4.0 , vmware tools 4.0.0)

Freezing guest operating system
VSSControl: -2147467259 Backup job failed.
Cannot collect writers metadata.
VSS asynchronous operation is not completed. Operation: [Gather metadata]. Code: [0x80042318].

From another post I understood the following information also could be of interest

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.OKK2>vssadmin list writers
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001 Microsoft Corp.


C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.OKK2>vssadmin list providers
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001 Microsoft Corp.

Provider name: 'Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0'
Provider type: System
Provider Id: {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}
Version: 1.0.0.7


C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.OKK2>

Anyone got an idea of what my problem could be?

[tsightler]

Well, seeing that your "vssadmin list writers" command is completely blank, there's obviously something seriously wrong with the VSS service on this system.

I'd probably start with http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940184 and see where that gets you.

[BjornOKK]

thanks for the quick reply

I tried the soloution there, and now I got a new error:

0 of 0 files processed

Total VM size: 250,00 GB
Processed size: 0,00 KB
Processing rate: 0 KB/s
Backup mode: NBD without changed block tracking
Start time: 16.04.2011 00:42:10
End time: 16.04.2011 00:42:44
Duration: 0:00:33


Freezing guest operating system
VSSControl: -2147467259 Backup job failed.
Cannot create a shadow copy of the volumes containing writer's data.
VSS asynchronous operation is not completed. Operation: [Shadow copies commit]. Code: [0x80042301].

writers lists as follows now:

C:\WINDOWS\system32>vssadmin list writers
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001 Microsoft Corp.

Writer name: 'MSDEWriter'
Writer Id: {f8544ac1-0611-4fa5-b04b-f7ee00b03277}
Writer Instance Id: {bf88d2a1-ebed-491d-8f9b-b4503fbb18ec}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Registry Writer'
Writer Id: {afbab4a2-367d-4d15-a586-71dbb18f8485}
Writer Instance Id: {73bb292c-d490-49ea-ad8f-a8494f03bfbe}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'COM+ REGDB Writer'
Writer Id: {542da469-d3e1-473c-9f4f-7847f01fc64f}
Writer Instance Id: {7de4f3ce-d3cc-4884-9771-8a39d0bbf712}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Event Log Writer'
Writer Id: {eee8c692-67ed-4250-8d86-390603070d00}
Writer Instance Id: {17c36540-ca0c-4986-8f20-86fe0b297c4d}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error


C:\WINDOWS\system32>vssadmin list providers
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001 Microsoft Corp.

Provider name: 'Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0'
Provider type: System
Provider Id: {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}
Version: 1.0.0.7

I also got two errors when registering all the files in the KB article.

LoadLibrary("msxml.dll") failed - The specified module could not be loaded
LoadLibrary("msxml4.dll") failed - The specified module could not be loaded

[BjornOKK]

Did a reboot on the server, and now it seems that the backup started up. So we'll just see how it works out first

Thanks for the help!

[tsightler]

Well, the second posts looked quite a bit better, but it still seems to be missing a few writers, maybe they all re-registered after the reboot. For SQL 2005 there should be a 'SqlServerWriter' and I think there should have been a 'System Writer' and a 'WMI Writer'. If you still have issues I'd try to figure out how to get those writers re-registered.

[BjornOKK]

Looked like this after reboot:

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.OKK2>vssadmin list writers
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001 Microsoft Corp.

Writer name: 'System Writer'
Writer Id: {e8132975-6f93-4464-a53e-1050253ae220}
Writer Instance Id: {02032164-2280-4cc6-96ac-5e32ecfa77a4}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'SqlServerWriter'
Writer Id: {a65faa63-5ea8-4ebc-9dbd-a0c4db26912a}
Writer Instance Id: {d2e997b8-61d2-4fdf-8054-c429bc506bf2}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'MSDEWriter'
Writer Id: {f8544ac1-0611-4fa5-b04b-f7ee00b03277}
Writer Instance Id: {e159df72-41a7-4f89-9aca-6baa4015b9a4}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'COM+ REGDB Writer'
Writer Id: {542da469-d3e1-473c-9f4f-7847f01fc64f}
Writer Instance Id: {580d859c-3bbd-4706-a305-f777c083f0ea}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Registry Writer'
Writer Id: {afbab4a2-367d-4d15-a586-71dbb18f8485}
Writer Instance Id: {d1a88ed3-5609-4045-bbd9-02dc74e33740}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Event Log Writer'
Writer Id: {eee8c692-67ed-4250-8d86-390603070d00}
Writer Instance Id: {61add89d-80df-49dd-a34d-df4586f25aa7}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'WMI Writer'
Writer Id: {a6ad56c2-b509-4e6c-bb19-49d8f43532f0}
Writer Instance Id: {641f98a5-4eaf-4a38-9f36-e026e461b666}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'IIS Metabase Writer'
Writer Id: {59b1f0cf-90ef-465f-9609-6ca8b2938366}
Writer Instance Id: {732a04ee-4263-4ad7-9577-f6f775467b4b}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Thanks alot for the help, really appreciate it!
The backup just completed now without any errors


Edit:

A little too early celebration there.. It seems after the backup my Sharepoint WSS 3.0 server cant connect to the sql database. (Cannot connect to the configuration database.)
If I reboot the server I get connection again. Tried another backup, and the site went down as soon as the backup completed. Any ideas on this?

[BjornOKK]

Seems it becomes available again after a little while. Is this to be expected? Will the SQL database be down for the duration of the backup job?

[Bunce]

Its nothing to do with the backup job. Gong by the above, you got issues with your server and SQL setup.

[william-pkv]

If you use the VSS Method you will get a non-consistent Backup from your Database.

[hansis100]

[merged]

Hello!
CaseID: 5168573

Since about 2 weeks I have an problem with veeam-replication:

Failed to prepare guest for hot backup. Error: VSSControl: -2147467259 Backup job failed. Cannot create a shadow copy of the volumes containing writer's data. VSS asynchronous operation is not completed. Operation: [Shadow copies commit]. Code: [0x80042301].
Error: VSSControl: -2147467259 Backup job failed. Cannot create a shadow copy of the volumes containing writer's data. VSS asynchronous operation is not completed. Operation: [Shadow copies commit]. Code: [0x80042301].

I can't find errors in windows logs.

I have done:
- reinstall the vmware-tools
- deleted old files, now I have 20 of 36GB free
- I have restarted the server

but I get the error again!

What should I do?

thx.
hansi