X Series 345 Server Crashes During Backups or Data Transfers!

[itadmin88]

Hello, I have an X Series 345 running a RAID 5 (4x36GB drives with one being a hot spare) and 3 GB RAM. OS is W2K3 SP2 and it is a stand alone server on a domain (not a DC). I have an external 500GB drive attached via USB and have been backing up data via NTBACKUP nightly to it for 6 months with no problem.

A couple of weeks ago I started having problems with the backups. After about 10 minutes the machine locks up and is VERY slow to react to any commands and the back-up slows to a crawl. The same thing happens when I copy and paste large data folders from the C: drive to the External Drive so this appears to be an issue with moving data. The Event Viewer does not display any unusual of helpful events when this happens. I have swapped out the External Drive and USB cable and tried a different USB port on the server all to no avail. Again, this was all working fine up until a few weeks ago and I haven't installed or added any software patches etc just prior to or since then. I reapplied the W2K3 SP2 but that didn't make any difference. This server is also running Citrix Presentation Server.

Any suggestions or help is greatly appreciated. I also downloaded and ran a diagnostic program from IBM but it only captures data and doesn't really "test" the system. If anyone knows of a good diagnostic utility that I can run on the IBM x345 server I'd like to do that to test the RAM/BUS/HD's etc.

Thanks! - mike

 

[itsp1965]

Have you checked the IBM support site for a previously reported issue;

https://www-947.ibm.com/systems/sup...&brandind=5000008&search.x=0&onSelectSubmit=N

The fact this happens during backup of files would point me to either an issue with your raid controller or possibly even memory. Try checking the ServerRAID windows tool for possible errors.

 

[itadmin88]

Just want to update this issue. I did upgrade the RAID controller software but that did not make any difference. I also ran the IBM onboard diagnostics which included an exhaustive memory check and everything came back healthy. However the problem does persist.

I am able to successfully copy/paste data to the external USB drive. It's only when running Windows Backup Utility that I am encountering the performance issues and eventual crash. I would like to do a Windows repair on the machine as this now appears to be a Windows problem (I know, imagine that!). However, being a Citrix Server, I don't want to do anything that could break that connection and render it useless to the users.

Cheers!