How to tell whether the varitas SQL remote agent is running or not?

[fletchsod]

Hi!

The backup have been doing great except when some of the messages said, 'Unable to open the item \MSSQL7\DATA\whatever..... - skipped'. I have been searching the knowledge base for a few weeks at veritas, google before I tried this one. What I found in this Tek-Tips Knowledge Base somewhere is that I need to uncheck those *.ldf and *.mdf files, so they would not need to be backed up. Again, it said that Veritas SQL Remote Agent will back them up without a problem.

That is kind of hard for me to accept, but if that's what it is then how do I know whether the Veritas SQL Remote Agent is working or not when making a backup. What sort of error messages would I see if the Agent is not running when backing up those SQL databases.....

Thanks,
Scott Fletcher

 

[SQLBill]

1. Yes, you need to uncheck the .mdf and .ldf files. UNLESS you have the Open File option.

2. Do you have a license for the SQL Agent?

3. Did you install SQL Agent?

I personally suggest a better way of backing up MSSQL Server. Do the 'native' SQL Server backups to hard drive and then use Veritas to copy the .bak files to tape. That's the way I backup my MSSQL Server 2000 databases.

FYI- Veritas' Backup Exec SQL Agent and Veritas' Backup Exec Remote Agent are not the same things.

-SQLBill

 

[fletchsod]

>1. Yes, you need to uncheck the .mdf and .ldf
>files. UNLESS you have the Open File option.
No Open File option is being used. Okay, I'll uncheck the *.mdf and *.ldf files.

>2. Do you have a license for the SQL Agent?
Yes, I have the license for that.

>3. Did you install the SQL Agent?
Yes, it is already installed and the license was entered for that.

So that leave me with one of the two original questions, how can I tell if the Veritas SQL Agent is running or not. I can't tell when I look through on the backup log report. What are hte example of it when it is running and when it is not running.

Thanks,
FletchSOD

 

[SQLBill]

Now that I know those answers....when you do a backup, is there a tab for SQL? And if so, do you use it when doing backups? (Select Backup, the first tab you are in should be Selections, then there should be several other tabs - General, Windows, etc and one of them should be SQL). If the options in the SQL tab are 'greyed out', something is wrong with your install (SQL Agent isn't installed or the license isn't installed). If it's not greyed out, then SQL Agent is running. But to do an SQL backup, you must use that tab.

-SQLBill

 

[fletchsod]

Okay, this is starting to make sense now.... None of those SQL options I have there are greyed out, so that's good.

Suppose if SQL Agent couldn't backup part of the database or something as part of the nightly backup, then would I be able to see some sort of error message in the Job Log? If so, what would be an example of an errors I may would see.

Thanks....

 

[PerryMc]

The SQL agent should be installed on your backup server, if that is different to the sql server you are backing up. Included in your selections for the backup job should be the databases, seperate from the files under your C:, D:, etc drives. If the databases back up successfully, you know the agent is started and working.

SQLBill's suggestion about doing the SQL backups and then backing up those files is a GOOD one. We generate new SQL backup files nightly at 21:00, then do the veritas backup at 22:00, which includes the backup files AND the SQL databases. Once a month we stop SQL and do a full backup of the server that way. We have experienced problems restoring databases stored directly be the Veritas backup, restoring the backup files and then recovering the database from that has worked better.

Smile anyway,
Perry.

 

[SQLBill]

The Job Log should give you indications of what failed. Take a look through it, you might see files skipped, might have time outs, you might see that the SQL Agent isn't being used.....

-SQLBill

 

[fletchsod]

Alright! I'll take the assumption that Veritas had successfully backed up the SQL database because there is no indication that hte SQL Agent had failed or an error of some sort. I will work on unselecting the *.ldf and *.mdf files once I'm able to crack the problem on accessing servers through the network neighborhood windows. Can't access them through the network on Window Explorer due to the connections being maxed out than is allowed. This is a different problem.

Thanks Guys!

Take care,
Scott F.

 

[SQLBill]

By the way, depending on your shop, you might test restoring your databases.

What I did was...

1. made a full backup
2. copy the .mdf and .ldf files to another location. You can copy these files while they are being used.
3. restore your backup
4. check the database has really been restored properly.

If your restore fails...copy the .mdf and .ldf file back to their original location. You might have to do an attach database once they are back.

This way you know everything works and copying the .mdf and .ldf files to another location gives you a failsafe if your backup tapes aren't really working.

-SQLBill

 

[fletchsod]

Yea, this is what I will have to do.. I'm going to have to do it on a different machine and see how it goes. The same thing goes for MS-Exchange. I'm going to have to find some time to do this.

Thanks...

 

[anboen]

2 things

1. There is not a special SQL Agent (you need to enable sql support in the backup exec server @ install and buy a license)then you use the Standard "Backup Exec Remote agent" and can see under services if it is running or not.

2. If you can select SQL databases on your remote server, the agent will work correctly, if not. You need to reinstall the support for SQL server on the backup exec main server.

You can always look in the registry on the backup exec server.
Under HKLM/Software/Veritas/Backup Exec/SQL Server
you can see if SQL server is enabled or not
1 is enabled
0 is disabled

DO NOT CHANGE THE REGISTRY SETTINGS !! Change all options via the GUI or the setup screen.

 

[funcrecall12]

anboen,

can i bat in, i have query too regarding this remote agent,
scenario i have two server BackUpServer and SQLServer.

on BackUpServer I have installed the ff.
DataCenter Server Edition
Remote Agent

and

on SqlServer I have installed the ff.
DataCenter Server Edition
SQL 2000 Agent

but when I try to BackUp and Browse the SqlServer on Remote Selection of BackUpServer
I can only the C$ and D$ , I cant see the MS SQL Server option - it should be there because I have installed the SQL 2000 agent. any opinions?