Veritas - can't do a simple backup

[gman10]

Hello all-

Hey guys, I just want to do a basic Full backup.. I name the 6 tapes accordingly and then inventory them and watch the job monitor screen to see if the back up job schedules which it does...

The backup starts great BUT it seems to fail everytime this week where it has worked during prior weeks. I check the job definition and everything looks ok..

What steps am I missing when setting up for backup? Is there something that needs to be done aside from inventorying the tapes so that the backups are successful.. Anyone please give me your input..

Thank you!!

 

[SQLBill]

Have you checked the Job History? Double-click on the failed job and check the job log....see if that gives some clue or additional information.

-SQLBill

 

[gman10]

yeah, I look at it everyday... I try and look for searcj strings that lead to errors.. like "error" or "failed" and the only thing it returns is "failed at the very end of the log file... The rest of the log looks ok... Could you run thru a standard process of how to back up starting from naming the media right down to invertory?? I may be missing a step.. I don't know..

Thanks!

 

[jstutt]

I have this same problem also, when doing a scheduled or regular job. The backup job completes with no errors, but the verify fails everytime. Though no files have been opened or changed. This did not happen until we had to re-install Veritas on the server after a server crash. On another note when our server crashed and we tried to restore win2k server using Veritas we found that you could not restore the system files because we did not use a Win2k tape backup.

 

[dogmata]

If you get a byte count and the job completes (be it successful or failing) there should be an error message in there somewhere. Search for "^^^^^" which is normally noted next to the error in the job log. If you have enabled the job logs to show "all files, directories processed", reduce the logging level to "summary info. only" (tools > options> job log tab). This will reduce the "clutter" in the job log and may help you to find the error

I am new to this site so either paste the log into this thread or log it as an attachment (if thats possible ??). I will check for updates later in the week.

One possibility springs to mind (assuming there are no errors in the log) if the the same job has been running for a while and no major hardware / software changes have been made, its worth a go anyway, possibly you have corruption in the data folder :

- stop all the backup services on the media server
- drill down and rename the data folder (\veritas\backup exec\nt.....)
- start all BE services > this will create a new data folder > you will notice all your scheduled jobs have vanished (this is OK)
- create a new job and see what happens
- if it fails > reverse the step and you will have all your old jobs back....more than likely there is a specific error in the logs

 

[spec9742]

You can also get a job failure simply by backing files on a remote computer that does not have the remote agent installed.

 

[PerryMc]

Or if someone is using Outlook when their mailbox.pst file is being backed up. It will still back it up, but will say it is corrupt and will not verify.

Smile anyway,
Perry.

 

[Rols]

To get more of an idea where the job is failing change the job history to show more information in each log.
To do this:

- Start Backup Exec
- go to tools --> options
- select job history
- under "Information to include in log" select "summary information, directories, files and file details"

The run a job and post the log. Then we'll have a look and see what is happening.

 

[gman10]

Hey guys I found my error, it says that the device is not ready.. READ BELOW, it's a cut -n- paste containing the end of the log file, am I not setting up my drives correctly after I label my media?? I need to inventory them correct? Is there anything else I'm missing that is causing my backup to reflect this message???
READ BELOW...

Storage device "QUANTUM 3" reported an error on a request to write data to media.

Error reported:
The device is not ready.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

 

[borrim]

It would be helpful to know exactly what the failure was. ie, access denied? tape not found? what? The only thing that comes to mind without knowing any details is that you might need to move your tapes into a scratch set.

 

[dogmata]

Gman10:
-------

- filter system logs for ID's > 7 or 9, 11 or 15 > if you are getting any you will need to check your hardware ie. make sure device is NOT attached to target ID's 0,1 or 6, make sure the SCSI driver is up-to-data, check cables termination and transfer rate etc etc. Make sure device is attached to a dedicated SCSI card and not a raid controller.

If you are getting those above mentioned ID's its not the software that is at fault. You can also analyse the SCSI sense code in the Event viewers which may help you to get a more specific error

 

[gman10]

Hi-

In event viewer I keep seeing that it logs a "device not ready" for everyday that it fails... My boss and I are going to test this drive cage/veritas software issue sometime next week. Thanks guys!!