Recover Veeam Server

[scott_mac]

Hi Folks,

I have a case open on this (00174224) but have been informed it's a Windows issue not a Veeam issue....

In a nutshell, all backup jobs failed on Friday night with the following error:

Code: Select all

Job [SERVERNAME] cannot be started. SessionId: [de4ab443-04b1-4557-819a-ba3592085fa0], Timeout: [362.2981005 sec]
AgentManagerService: Failed to start agent, Host 'VCENTER' Wait timeout in CPortAsker::WaitAnswer() 

Upon investigating the Veeam server (oh yes, it runs vCenter too for added excitement....) was incredibly unresponsive - it was taking minutes to recognise mouse clicks, RAM and CPU usage were fairly high but not maxed out. Eventually I was forced to do a hard reset as the entire server whited out and I could do nothing for 24 hours. Now, it won't start. The system goes through the motions of booting but very very slowly, eventually after you see the Windows logo (around 30 minutes) you are left with a black screen with a mouse pointer, you can interact with the pointer but it never goes beyond this.

I have tried in vain to fix the Windows install, but can't seem to get anywhere - even from booting via the Windows CD and trying all manner of boot fixes.

My next hope is to at install Veeam somewhere else so I can backup all of the working servers. As i cannot access Veeam I cannot backup up the settings, though I do have backups of the Veeam SQL databases. I'm hoping it's as simple as creating a new VM, installing Veeam, overwriting the databases with the backups, creating some repositories and going from there....

Any guidance or suggestions?

Thanks

Scott

P.S. Having recently found out about it being a bad idea for Veeam and vCenter to reside on the same VM, i have ordered a new physical machine to replace one host as we do not have sufficient resource to do so at the moment, this arrives next week so some sort of temporary solution to ensure data backups until then will be ok as I will then be able to recover vCenter (hopefully) and all will be ok again.

[Vitaliy S.]

Hi Scott,

My next hope is to at install Veeam somewhere else so I can backup all of the working servers. As i cannot access Veeam I cannot backup up the settings, though I do have backups of the Veeam SQL databases. I'm hoping it's as simple as creating a new VM, installing Veeam, overwriting the databases with the backups, creating some repositories and going from there....

Any guidance or suggestions?

Yes, it is that simple. But I would do it slightly different:

1. Create a new VM
2. Install SQL Server 2008 R2 Express
3. Restore previous Veeam B&R database
4. Use restored database while installing Veeam B&R (in this case all registry settings will be automatically configured for you)

Also keep in mind that you will need to re-enter all connection accounts passwords once everything is installed.

Hope this helps!

[SecondCity]

Hi Scott,
Yes, it is that simple. But I would do it slightly different:

1. Create a new VM
2. Install SQL Server 2008 R2 Express
3. Restore previous Veeam B&R database
4. Use restored database while installing Veeam B&R (in this case all registry settings will be automatically configured for you)

Also keep in mind that you will need to re-enter all connection accounts passwords once everything is installed.

Hope this helps!

Hi Vitaliy and Scott,

I'm having a similar situation, but the only "backup" i have of the DB is on a virtual hard disk of the previous VM; it's not a true backup, per se, but just the folder of SQL containing the DB. Is there a way to import that into B&R or when installing?

Thanks so much,
-Dan

[ZachW]

If this is the case then it's actually quite simple. Just download SQL Server Management Studio for the appropriate version of SQL that you are using, once this has been installed and opened then attach the DB within management studio. Once the DB has been attached then go about installing Veeam and when it comes time to choose the instance/DB then point it towards this instance and DB.

[Yuki]

Hi Folks,
P.S. Having recently found out about it being a bad idea for Veeam and vCenter to reside on the same VM

Just curious on why that is? Is it because then Veeam can't effectively backup vCenter or for some other reason?

[SecondCity]

Thanks, Zach! Since the original DB is on a separate server, I'd like to migrate it over to the server that will run B&R. Is that as simple as a copy/paste of the SQL folder or is there something else I need to do?

Thanks again!
-Dan

[ZachW]

Just migrate the .mdf and the .ldf over to the server that holds the instance. Once this is on the drive that you would like it stored on you can attach from there.

EDIT: By migrate I mean copy & paste

[SecondCity]

Amazing. I'm installing SQL Mgmt 2008 right now. Thanks again!

[SecondCity]

Seems to be connecting just fine; we'll find out after the BU jobs run tonight.

Thanks for all the quick responses!
-Dan

[foggy]

Just curious on why that is? Is it because then Veeam can't effectively backup vCenter or for some other reason?

While you can have both Veeam B&R and vCenter deployed on the same VM, however this is not considered to be a best practice. One of the aspects is that configuring backup/replication of this VM requires some considerations to be taken into account.

[scott_mac]

Apologies folks, never actually came back to this...

I managed to sort it all in the end, it was actually very simple and I followed the steps as clarified by Vitaly - the bit about the passwords was the only part I hadn't seen, also as i was previously backing up through venter rather than direct to the hosts on some jobs I had to edit a few jobs as at this point in time vCenter didn't exist!

Plenty of free SQL backup systems exist and in this case a $1.99 piece of software saved me a lot of time!