a000848c - unable to attach to drives - help

[jaynichols]

I get a000848c "Unable to attach to attach to one of the drives" when running a test on a job that has failed repeatitively. When running the test which backs up a number of servers & work stations, I get different results each time I run the test. That is to say, different computers generate the a000848c message each time. Even the E: drive on the host NAS server has the message from time to time.

I ran the test 6 times within a half hour and none of the six tests exactly duplicated another test in the group. Does this software have a random number generator to dertermine if the credentials are correct? I use the same userid/password for the entire set of computers to be backed up. The userid is an administrator userid, so there should be no security barriers here.

Go a call in to Veritas but have been on hold for over an hour. Kind of wonder if my money was well spent!

They finally answered. They had me upgrade to 9.1 and refresh the clients on the remote computers. Didn't work!

Alos, the support rep told me the Remote Agent CALs were for EVERY computer being backed up. The vendor I purchased the software from said I only needed a CAL for each server to be backed up and that the desktops did not require one. That is the way Veritas 8.5 worked, for me anyway. Any comment on this as well as the a000848c error?

 

[Rols]

Yes you will need a remote CAL for every remote computer you wish to backup (server or workstation) with BE 9.X. BE 8.5 was more forgiving - u were still able to perform a remote backup without the remote agent.

Im not sure what is causing the "unable to attach" error - post the job log so we can have a look.

Cheers

 

[jaynichols]

The help text for V9.1 says the only servers need a license. W2K workstations, XP, etc. do not require the license. I suggest you go to the help on V9.1 and search for CAL. When I get to work tomorrow I will post the job log as well as the help text that supports the CAL issue.

 

[jaynichols]

Reference to CALs in the on-line documentation:

Requirements for the Remote Agent
Because a Remote Agent is also a Client Access License (CAL), you must install the Remote Agent on any remote Windows server that you want to back up. You cannot fully protect resources on a remote server until a Remote Agent has been installed.
At the media server (Backup Exec server), you must enter Remote Agent serial numbers for each remote Windows server that you want to protect. To back up a remote Windows server from more than one media server, you must enter the same Remote Agent serial number on each media server.
Backup Exec database agents and the Advanced Open File Option (AOFO) also include a Remote Agent that allows you to protect one remote Windows server. The Remote Agent license is enabled when you install the database agent and the AOFO serial numbers on the media server.
However, if you are using the database agent or AOFO on the local media server only, you are entitled to install the Remote Agent that was included with one of those options to one remote Windows server so that resource can be protected by Backup Exec.
You must install the Remote Agent on XP Professional, Windows 2000 Professional, and Windows NT 4 workstations in order to protect them; however, a Remote Agent serial number is not required for these installations.

 

[jaynichols]

Sample job log from a test run. Note the local drive cannot be attached to. It is identified as E: on \\NAS

? How do you post an HTML page? I've noticed others that post the exact copy of the job log, not this text version.

Job Log for TestRun 0029


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Completed status: Failed Expand AllCollapse All
Job Information
Server name : NASJob name : TestRun 0029Job log : C:\Program Files\VERITAS\Backup Exec\NT\Data\BEX00897.xmlDevice name :


Test Run Job Information
Credentials CheckDevice : \\ACCTG2, \\ACCTG2\C:Check status : SuccessDevice : \\WEB, \\WEB\WebSitesCheck status : SuccessDevice : \\WEB, \\WEB\MailingLabelCheck status : Error: ffffdfc4, The job failed.Device : \\IMAGE, \\IMAGE\E:Check status : Error: a000848c, The job failed with the following error: Unable to attach to one of the drives.
Device : \\COMMERCIALSALE, \\COMMERCIALSALE\C:Check status : Error: a000848c, The job failed with the following error: Unable to attach to one of the drives.
Device : \\JAYNICHOLS, \\JAYNICHOLS\C:Check status : Error: a000848c, The job failed with the following error: Unable to attach to one of the drives.
Device : \\JENNIFER, \\JENNIFER\C:Check status : Error: a000848c, The job failed with the following error: Unable to attach to one of the drives.
Device : \\SQLSERVER2, \\SQLSERVER2\M:Check status : Error: a000848c, The job failed with the following error: Unable to attach to one of the drives.
Device : \\NAS, E:Check status : Error: a000848c, The job failed with the following error: Unable to attach to one of the drives.
Device : \\EXCH, \\EXCH\C:Check status : Error: a000848c, The job failed with the following error: Unable to attach to one of the drives.


Backup job name : Daily Test run status : Fail, job will be held. Media protection: Overwrite Target device : All Drives (NAS) Target media : Standard Backup Total byte count: 934,417,920


Job Completion Status
Job started : Monday, January 26, 2004 5:18:58 PMJob ended : Monday, January 26, 2004 5:19:09 PMFinal error code: a0008703 HEXFinal error description: Job failed running its test run. See logfile for details.
Final error category: Job ErrorsCompleted status: Failed

 

[jaynichols]

We finally got it working. I worked with a tech guy at Veritas for two days. We ended up having to go into the registry and reset some keys that control using various ports and attaching as an anamous user. We also installed v. 9.1, new scsi adaptor drivers from Adaptec, etc. etc. Had to reset the user profile used, and more.

We are still sitting on pins and needles waiting for this backup to cycle a few times before I set this aside.

I did verify there are no CALs needed for non-server o/s machines.

 

[Massoger]

I'm having the same issues. They started out of the blue 10 days ago and I've spent way too much time trying to figure it out.

Did the Veritas tech say what the cause was? Nothing in my setup had changed, just wham, the damn thing stopped working.

 

[jaynichols]

I know your pain. And I believe you are in for more if you get Veritas to support this. But here is the trick deal. For $89 they will carry you through the problem until it is fixed. As I mentioned I spent over 10 hours over 2 days talking to them. We ended up upgrading the BIOS for the computer, the BIOS for the SCSI board, did a bunch of work in the registry before it got working. Same thing with me, no change then all of a sudden things started going bad and just got worse day after day until the thing just stopped working.

Call Veritas, pay the $89 and hope you have the time to work with them.

Good luck.

Jay Nichols

 

[mhiney]

Doesn't it seem a little silly to have to go through that kinda pain and financial expense (however minor it may be) to correct problems which have appeared out of the blue with a product that previously worked perfectly? Veritas market this product as a backup solution, the least you would expect is a bit of reliability. Ever since I moved up from version 7 I've had nothing but untold grief with Backup Exec, much the same as has been described here. Used to work perfectly, nothing changes, it suddenly starts to fail, go through what seems an unnecessary upgrade cycle to get it working again, spend weeks getting it just right, 2 months later the whole mess starts again.

 

[jaynichols]

I can say that since we went through the exercise with Veritas we have operated without a glitch. Now I might add that the tech I talked to gave me a lot of advise and suggestions concerning the backup plan I want to use. And the way I implemented my plan had some flaws in it as I did not understand or could not find adequate explainations in the documentation. A lot of my problem occured in the permissions and profiles I was using during backup.

All I know is after I finished with them, my backup has run without a problem. I can't say enough about the support I got from Veritas. Much better than Microsoft. Comparable to IBM and Dell, I would say.

So, you can grouse about it or grab the bull by the horns, pay the fee and get it fixed. The price is small compared to the time saved since we got it fixed.

I might also add they confirmed the question about the licensing issue mentioned earlier in this thread.

 

[justin2000]

I think it is kinda silly to think that software will work for 2 years and then say, OK today I will not work so stuff you.

So nothing changes on the network in 2 years, nothing in the AD changes, no service packs are added, no new virus definitions, nothing at all changes - except of course the softare doesn't want to work after a specific number of days,weeks etc..

 

[SethRStacy]

Is this happened on the backup server or a remote machine ?

If local select the local drive though the Remote selection and drill down to the local drive