Avamar 6 Client and Windows 2003 - VSS Backup Problems

You'll need to debug this problem on the Windows side.  Since you've resized partitions, there's a change the VSS writer is running out of room.  Windows has a command line tool called "vssadmin" you can use to view the VSS writers that are defined and in use.  If you google vssadmin, you can get the syntax to list the VSS writers, their state (stable, failed, etc.) and how much shadow space is in use.

Let us know if that helps!

@ Karl,

Many Thx for your answer.

Here are the command line results :

*****************************************************************************************************

C:\Documents and Settings\admin>vssadmin list providers

vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool

(C) Copyright 2001 Microsoft Corp.

Provider name: 'Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0'

   Provider type: System

   Provider Id: {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}

   Version: 1.0.0.7

C:\Documents and Settings\admin>Vssadmin list volumes

vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool

(C) Copyright 2001 Microsoft Corp.

Volume path: C:\

    Volume name: \\?\Volume{eafe6ddd-72e5-11e2-a860-806e6f6e6963}\

Volume path: D:\

    Volume name: \\?\Volume{eafe6dde-72e5-11e2-a860-806e6f6e6963}\

Volume path: E:\

    Volume name: \\?\Volume{eafe6ddf-72e5-11e2-a860-806e6f6e6963}\

C:\Documents and Settings\admin>vssadmin list writers

vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool

(C) Copyright 2001 Microsoft Corp.

Writer name: 'System Writer'

   Writer Id: {e8132975-6f93-4464-a53e-1050253ae220}

   Writer Instance Id: {40cd8c16-adf6-4d38-8d97-2b3ca3d5b1cd}

   State: [5] Waiting for completion

   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'COM+ REGDB Writer'

   Writer Id: {542da469-d3e1-473c-9f4f-7847f01fc64f}

   Writer Instance Id: {a8acc36b-c28a-416e-b01f-71b4eb047e2f}

   State: [1] Stable

   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'MSDEWriter'

   Writer Id: {f8544ac1-0611-4fa5-b04b-f7ee00b03277}

   Writer Instance Id: {9ef8779a-1666-4ec7-a4ff-ac1d0db47c90}

   State: [1] Stable

   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Registry Writer'

   Writer Id: {afbab4a2-367d-4d15-a586-71dbb18f8485}

   Writer Instance Id: {b678cb0a-fbc3-4ebf-aa50-f8db3d530d1b}

   State: [1] Stable

   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'WMI Writer'

   Writer Id: {a6ad56c2-b509-4e6c-bb19-49d8f43532f0}

   Writer Instance Id: {8718785f-cfc8-4743-9a93-ae6a06beddbd}

   State: [5] Waiting for completion

   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Event Log Writer'

   Writer Id: {eee8c692-67ed-4250-8d86-390603070d00}

   Writer Instance Id: {c46fac5a-9384-4eca-a14a-27e4c3b6acd0}

   State: [1] Stable

   Last error: No error

***********************************************************************************************

Here is the windows volume config

It seems that there are no errors on the windows side... But to be sure I maybe need to delete every single Shadow copy and set a new default size for theses ... I will let you know about the results.

If you guys see anything helpful that may missed here don't hesitate to answer this thread.

Thanks for your help.

Hi All,

I get through the whole investigation process regarding the VSS Problem detected.

Here are the Microsoft elements I found and proceed with :

     VSS Debug Log activation

     https://support.microsoft.com/fr-fr/kb/887013

     KB VSS updated environment for Microsoft Server 2003 R2

     https://support.microsoft.com/fr-fr/kb/940349

But it did not solved the problem, it seems that all the issue is linked to VSS service slow response...

First symptom is the answer of the command :

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

c:\>vssadmin list writers

C:\Documents and Settings\admin>vssadmin list writers

vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool

(C) Copyright 2001 Microsoft Corp.

Waiting for responses.

These may be delayed if a shadow copy is being prepared.

Writer name: 'System Writer'

   Writer Id: {e8132975-6f93-4464-a53e-1050253ae220}

   Writer Instance Id: {b65dacbc-b050-47e4-9e25-7ef8899c9a68}

   State: [1] Stable

   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Registry Writer'

   Writer Id: {afbab4a2-367d-4d15-a586-71dbb18f8485}

   Writer Instance Id: {248603f1-25aa-4434-b846-934421c7391d}

   State: [1] Stable

   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Event Log Writer'

   Writer Id: {eee8c692-67ed-4250-8d86-390603070d00}

   Writer Instance Id: {9b9df5bb-815f-4c1d-ae49-a6419a7ffaa0}

   State: [1] Stable

   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'COM+ REGDB Writer'

   Writer Id: {542da469-d3e1-473c-9f4f-7847f01fc64f}

   Writer Instance Id: {97fb2ec3-b4cd-480f-ad74-d955379586fd}

   State: [1] Stable

   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'MSDEWriter'

   Writer Id: {f8544ac1-0611-4fa5-b04b-f7ee00b03277}

   Writer Instance Id: {9f966c52-9324-471c-9427-c37eb76f59e2}

   State: [1] Stable

   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'WMI Writer'

   Writer Id: {a6ad56c2-b509-4e6c-bb19-49d8f43532f0}

   Writer Instance Id: {9223bde9-957b-4cb9-9d40-363d4284ef65}

   State: [1] Stable

   Last error: No error

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

I have now around 20mn delay getting this answer to that command...

When I get back to the AVAMAR 6.1 client logs I found theses entries repeated multiple time :

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

(...)

2015-10-27 23:05:38 avtar Info <10967>: Found System Provider GUID. Will be using the System Provider GUID to perform backup

2015-10-27 23:05:51 avtar Info <8776>: Creating snapshot set...

2015-10-27 23:05:51 avtar Info <8780>: Creating the shadow (DoSnapshotSet) ...

2015-10-27 23:20:20 avtar Info <8688>: Status 2015-10-27 23:20:20, 0 bytes (0 bytes, 0.00% new) 60MB   0% CPU 

2015-10-27 23:27:08 avtar Info <6076>: VSS waiting one minute for snapshot resources to become available

(...)

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

And then

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

(...)

2015-10-28 02:48:43 avtar Info <10662>: Unable to create volume snapshot; backup proceeding with original (non-snapshot) volume content.  Some file content may not be backed up.

(...)

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

I did extensively searched on the Microsoft TECHNET something that may workaround that problem without success

Questions :

Is that a know problem referenced in the Avamar knowledge base ?

Do you have a way to pass parameters to the AVAMAR 6.1 Client in order to make it wait longer once trying to request the microsoft VSS service for a snapshot ?

Many thanks for your answers