Windows - Drive Not Ready : Exception Processing

[Jamo]

I'm on my 2nd 2003 virtual appliance because I had the same issue on the 1st. I left it behind and built a vm from scratch just for veeam. I'm replicating 6 vms over 10mb and at some point during the night i get the Windows error which haults my replication until i hit "continue" or "retry". I'm familiar with the diskpart automount disable but I thought i read that this command wasn't necessary anymore. Seems like i can run smooth for 3 or 4 weeks then without many changes on my part this pops up. Can anyone shed some light? I have opened a case for the 2nd time. Not sure i received any resolution the first time.

[Alexey D.]

Hello Jon,

Which disks do you have mounted to backup server VM? The problem may be with an odd-behaving disk getting ocassionally dismounted during job runs.
Any candidates for this?

[netmonkey]

Hi - I have the same problem...

a dedicated 2003 32bit vm running VBR 5.0.1.198, backing up a number of vms to a remote windows share.
this error "appears" to be random - by that I mean when backing up say 10 vm's the error will happen on vm1, 4,5 & 10 and then the next day some different vm's, then some days it will complete without error. just clicking "retry" when it does happen seems to allow the job to continue fine

after every vm backuo completes I do get the windows PlugPlayManager Event ID 12 errors, warning about disks disappearing from the system without being prepared.... but I understand that this is normal.

but I also noticed at the start of the job I get this warning :

"PartMgr Event ID 58 Changing the disk signature of disk 23 because it is equal to the disk signature of disk 0"

not sure if this is related...

Dominic

[Bunce]

I've noticed the duplicate disk signature error also

if you create your vm's from templates, the cloned disks of these vm's will have the same signature. you can verify this using fdisk.

When veaam attaches a disk, windows checks the signature and alerts if an existing disk with that signature exists. this can occur if the veeam vm itself was built from the same template as the vm's being backed up.

You'll see an alert in disk management on the duplicate disk, when the disks are mounted.

[netmonkey]

thanks for that bunce... makes sense... you are right, our vm's are built from a template and the veeam vm itself WAS created from the same one.

I guess that unless it is contributing to this threads actual root issue (Windows - Drive Not Ready : Exception Processing), then this PartMgr error can be ignored ?

[Bunce]

Yeah - I thought it was the cause of our problems as well, but think ours was due to the different block size issue between the VBR datastore and the VM's (being backed up) datastore.

It looks like Windows only classifies the duplicate signature issue as alert rather than a problem, but it might pay to lodge a support case with Veeam to make sure in your case.

[netmonkey]

Hi - just thought I'd update this post a bit...

I still have an open support case with this issue at the moment, but one thing I was able to do was stop the PartMgr Event ID 58 duplicate disk signature errors -

As bunce previously said, this is due to the veeam backup vm (2003 32bit in my case) being created from the same template as other vms that its trying to backup... anyway, using a tool called mbrwiz, i was able to simply change the disk signature on the veeam vm to stop the conflicts. It does'nt look as though this has resolved the root problem, but its one less eventlog error to worry about.

another thing I noticed is that a by-product of all the mounting/unmounting of disks that virtual appliance mode does when it backups (see the windows event log errors PlugPlayManager Event ID 12) - this does build up a hefty number of hidden generic storage volumes that are visible (greyed out) in the "storage volumes" section of Device Manager when viewed with "show hidden devices" enabled :

1. Open a Windows command (CMD) prompt.
2. Type the following: SET DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1 (not case sensitive, make sure you spell it exactly right) and hit Enter.
3. In the same CMD prompt window type DEVMGMT.MSC to open the Device Manager application. You cannot open it through the GUI as the set command only affects applications run from the same CMD window.
4. Once Device Manager opens select View from the top menu and then the Show Hidden Devices option which will display all hidden and non-present hardware devices.
5. expand "storage volumes"

not sure if this is just my installation, or even if it a problem - just thought I'd mention it...

cheers.

[antivir]

I have the same problem with job which contains Ubuntu VMs only. It's not template problem.
Any suggestions?

[Alexey D.]

Hello Andrew,

Which message do you receive with Ubuntu VM?

[antivir]

First VM is Opensuse
In progress VM is Ubuntu.
VBR and vSphere are lastest versions.
And this happens not each time.
Do you have such tickets already or i'm alone?

[netmonkey]

hey antivir - sorry you've come across the same error as me... I have an open support case at the mo (no real progress thus far)...

This error - for me - is pretty random, if fact I've been running fine for a few weeks now... out of curiosity is this the first time you've tried to back this VM up? the reason I ask is that for me these errors USUALLY occur the first time I back up a new vm - clicking "try again" always allows the job to progress & complete and then USUALLY after that the jobs run fine....note the word USUALLY as annoyingly this is'nt always the case.

tech support were pointing the finger at the duplicate disk signature (where the veeam server was backing up machines created from the same template), but as I got the same error when backing up a win 2000 server and you an ubuntu server - it can't be that.

don't know if the original poster Jamo has resolved this - if you're following the thread Jamo, please let us know...

[bolnetworks]

Same problem here. any idea?

Arie Rietkerk
Bol Networks

[antivir]

netmonkey

for me these errors USUALLY occur the first time I back up a new vm

For me - any time (not first one only).

---------------------------------------------
There were two network interfaces in VBR' VM. I deleted one, and now no that error. I added it again but still no error.

netmonkey, bolnetworks
Does your VM have one network interface?

[netmonkey]

hmmm - I only have one NIC in my veeam vm...

do you get the errors on every backup or is it random like me ?

[antivir]

netmonkey
It was random.

[antivir]

netmonkey
Try to remove network interface and add it again.

[robertson]

I am faced with the same issue as above with the "windows - drive not ready :exception processing" message appearing on the screen. Very Frustrating!
There is a ticket open with support who are currently looking into the issue. I tried removing the Network card from the Veeam VM as suggested above and thought this had resolved the issue as it worked for a couple of days. However the message reappeared and seems to be random. I have two replica jobs that are of VM'S created from the same template as the Veeam server however the message does not seem to appear when replicating these servers.

The search for a fix continues because at the moment the software solution is unreliable

[meier]

hello,
i have the same error (Windows. drive not ready Exception Processing message c000000a3 Parameters .....). Are there any solutions?
Thanks.

[Alexey D.]

Hello Holger,

Have you tried the suggestions in the posts above?

[antivir]

I have this error again. Removing network interface is not solution

[Alexey D.]

Andrew, please contact our support team for assistance.

[Jamo]

Its been too long and too many projects ago but i think the fix was regedit here in "last resort" paragraph.

http://www.consumingexperience.com/2007 ... ssing.html

Not 100% sure though.

[robertson]

I made contact with Veeam support and went through various troubleshooting but was still recieving the error. Support suggested spreading out the jobs so not to overlap replica creation which I have done. However, since introducing a scheduled reboot of the Veeam server outwith my replica window I have not seen the error return (touch wood!).
My Recommendations:
- spread out the jobs
- try to keep any replicas that could be conflicting well apart
- scheduled a daily reboot (This seems to work for me)

[Alexey D.]

Paul, thanks for posting back the findings.

[virtualwatts]

[merged]

Greetings,
I've spent all morning in a perfect storm of multiple-dozens of Windows - No Disk error messages.
vSphere 4.1/B&R 5.0.1 on VM using Appliance mode.

So - I'm posting to see if my observations and resolution seem on point.

It is the combination of the Windows No Disk together with the hotadd failover to NBD that has me concerned - I don't expect to get error messages simply from a Hotadd to NBD failover with halted processing and the locks that come along with that.

The backup processes observed in realtime look like this:
Start VM backup
Hotadd/NBD without changed block tracking
Hotadd/NBD with changed block tracking
** Windows NO DISK exception error (processing stops until acknowledged)
-- acknowledge, cancel or continue doesn't seem to make a difference
Hot Add is not supported for this disk failing over to Network Mode.
Backup (eventually) completes.
I watched this play out for 40 - 50 VMs this morning, like clockwork.

Less concerned about the NBD failover - very concerned with the Windows No Disk exception error because it holds up processing for the Veeam server. Which leaves locks, which then causes other downstream problems in our batch processing.


There is an old (v 4.x) FAQ post that says you can only use 8 devices per controller and Hotadd will need slots.
It looks like I have allocated 7 scsi devices on my second controller in the Veeam VM guest. That would leave one remaining if 8 is indeed the limit.
I currently have two controllers, boot disk on 0:0, the rest on 1:xx for paravirtual.
I thought "simple solution - I'll drop and then add some existing disks onto a second paravirtual as 2:xx"

Then I had a whoa moment - Why?
I already have a scsi controller (LSI 0:xx) that has 7 slots free plus the 1 slot free on the para controller.

So before I go re-distributing my 8 Veem disks -
Is the HotAdd scsi controller limit still valid in v5.0.1?
How does Veeam decide which scsi controller to use for the Hotadd when there are multiple (assuming it ever leaves 0:xx)?
Why the Windows No Disk error message on a Hotadd failover to NBD? What is the specific cause of that?

As the Windows No Disk and HotAdd - separately - are older issues I'm posting for insights.

Rick

[virtualwatts]

Additionally - I did look at the post here http://www.veeam.com/forums/viewtopic.p ... ows#p23013 and followed the steps to show hidden storage volumes.

I have perhaps 600 hidden/disconnected Generic storage volumes. But the aforementioned thread didn't indicate if that is a problem or simply a consequence of HotAdd.

[Gostev]

Let's keep everything on this Windows error in the same topic instead of creating multiple.

Is the HotAdd scsi controller limit still valid in v5.0.1?

It's not a Veeam limit, but VMware iSCSI controller's limit, so it does not depend on Veeam version.

How does Veeam decide which scsi controller to use for the Hotadd when there are multiple (assuming it ever leaves 0:xx)?

Veeam doesn't decide this, it happens under the hood in the vStorage API for Data Protection (or, possibly, in vSphere).

Why the Windows No Disk error message on a Hotadd failover to NBD? What is the specific cause of that?

I don't really understand what you are asking here. But the cause of this Windows error is currently unknown (aside of what is already written above in this topic). And NBD failover is caused by the fact that primary transpost mode (Hot Add) fails because of this error.

In your case I would suggest removing paravirtual iSCSI controller from Veeam Backup VM, as I've seen reports of this one causing various issues before.

Thanks.