Circular logging Error in NMM for Exchange 2010

Last time I worked with Exchange it was long time ago (so long that at that time NMM didn't exist).  Nevertheless, back in those days circular logging was something not to be used with backups and they had to be disabled.  Unless something has changed (and it might), same should apply to nowadays advanced technology options by Exchange and NMM.  Quick check against PowerLink shows there is at least one article which applies to EX2007 and NMM where it says this should be disabled (esg101995).  You may give it a try...

Hi thanks for your reply, it would be interesting if you can add this info in documentation because clients always wants to know what are the requirements before install anything on their platform.

BTW, I'm getting this error over and over again and I don't know what else is missing

https://community.emc.com/thread/121376

When i get the error is this

63372:nsrsnap_vss_save:NMM .. Registration of snapshot set failed -- NMM .. Operation unit failed with error Please make sure you have configured at least one NetWorker Device and client resources are configured for the application host[dag-exchange.domain.edu] and the proxy client[exchange] on NetWorker Server [backup server.domain.edu]

so when should I configure proxy client?. I haven't proxy client configured.

I've configured FQDN everywhere, alias, client name, dag client name, hosts file, everywhere but the error is there. I don't know if something else is missing because circular logging error is gone but I can't finish backup succesfully.

BR

Hi Koven,

Regarding error message you mention, this could be caused for different reasons, however one of the most common is when you re-create the client, so a duplicated client ID entry is created in NetWorker Media DB, one for client's short name and a second one for client's FQDN.

I would suggest you to check out the following KB article and, if that doesn't help you then open a case with support:

http://solutions.emc.com/emcsolutionview.asp?id=esg122058

Thank you.

Carlos.

Hi Carlos,

Thanks for your quick responses, I will give it a try for everything you have been telling me, I guess it's an administration problem when I create new clients in NMC, so I'll be telling you about it.

BR

We have 4 nodes, 2 with DB in passive mode mostly, and 2 with active DB, but in passive nodes we get this error.

savegrp: suppressed 10 lines of verbose output

Failed to initialize PowerShell session, retrying to initialize Powershell session using credentials...

47363:nsrsnap_vss_save: nsrpsd service is running on node1.

NMM ... Using client name NODE1, the version of the Exchange server is Exchange 2010.

82624:nsrsnap_vss_save:Save set name APPLICATIONS:\Microsoft Exchange 2010 is valid.

80826:nsrsnap_vss_save:NMM .. Backup of Exchange 2010 saveset Microsoft Exchange 2010 failed. Error 0x80004005.

63335:nsrsnap_vss_save:NMM backup failed to complete successfully.

Internal error.

68151 1323134466 2 0 0 7760 8196 0 node1 nsrsnap_vss_save 39 nsrsnap_vss_save: Exiting with failure. 0

ssednexcdbw8k1.icbf.gov.co APPLICATIONS:\Microsoft Exchange 2010: Backup of [APPLICATIONS:\Microsoft Exchange 2010] failed

We read post about a problem with permission. Exchange administrator applied these permissions:

New-ManagementRoleAssignment -Role "Databases" -User user_account

New-ManagementRoleAssignment -Role "Database Copies" -User user_account

New-ManagementRoleAssignment -Role "Database Availability Groups" -User user_account

Do you think something else is missing Carlos?

BR

Hi Koven,

I would suggest you to take a look at the documentation (Application Guide, Installation Notes, Release notes etc).

Error 0x80004005 means that you have Exchange logs and DB on same path.

Since build 081 it is supported having Exchange DB and logs on same volume, however it is not supported to have them on the same path.

By default in Exchange, when you create a DB it places the DB and the logs on the same path, so you will need to manually move the logs to an alternate path, for example:

Location of Exchange DB:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\Mailbox\MDB01

Location of Logs:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\Mailbox\MDB01\Logs

Please move the logs or the DB and run a new backup.

Thank you.

Carlos.

Carlos your answers have been so helpful. We've been able to backup all DB. I've 4 nodes in DAG, so I was hoping to see 4 licenses used, I've Fast Start Licensing but I see 0 licenses used of 5.

By the way I can see we've used 5 client licenses counting dag client.

Do you know what is going on with this issue about NMM licensing?

BR

Hi Koven,

The usage of a client license by the DAG is normal behavior, as backups are being actively ran "against the DAG", meaning that all indexing is done at DAG level and not really at Physical nodes level, so DAG will use one Client License as well.

Thank you.

Carlos.

Ok Carlos, step by step we have been able to backup DB, but now I'm getting something strange. I'm watching 3 backups of the same DB in the same group. So my total is about 4 TB x 3 copies =12 TB!!! Is it a problem in snapshot policies or when I can set only one copy of a DB for every group.

In Recovery I'm trying to show granular info. I've all the permissions but I can't see anything in RDB Recovery. I don't know what should I see, where should I select a DB to do granular recovery, I'm only watching a RDB in mounted state that Exchange Admin created. Database Recover it's working fine but there is only one page in Application guide 300-011-205 - page 178. Do you have a guid for dummies for granular recovery or a step by step guide to follow?

I really appreciate for your help but now I'm stuck with these two questions.

BR

Hi Koven,

What do you mean by "I'm watching 3 backups of the same DB in the same group. So my total is about 4 TB x 3 copies =12 TB!!! Is it a problem in snapshot policies or when I can set only one copy of a DB for every group"?

For Granular recovery, you need first to restore a DB into an RDB. You can create the RDB from NMM GUI, by selecting the DB you want to restore, then click on "Advanced Recover", Recovery Database (RDB) Recovery-> Next->Create

Then crate the new RDB by filling out all the required fields.

Then click in "mount"

Then click in "RDB Overwrite"

Start Recover.

Once DB has been restored in the RDB, go to Recover->Exchange 2010 Recover Session->RDB data Recover

You should be able to browse the content of the RDB.

One advice, before doing any restore manually delete the previous RDB created.

Then ensure that the following permissions have been granted to the user:

New-ManagementRoleAssignment -Role "Databases" -User < user account>

New-ManagementRoleAssignment -Role "Database Copies"  -User

New-ManagementRoleAssignment -Role "Database Availability Groups" -User

get-ExchangeServer EXCHSRV | Add-AdPermission -user exadmin -AccessRights ExtendedRight -extendedrights  Receive-As, Send-As, ms-Exch-Store-Admin

Thank you.

Carlos.

hi carlos

what is the command to check users and it's permissions...get-ExchangeServer not found in cmd nor PS...

thanks

Hey Thierry,

Those commands you are asking for are Exchange cmdlet, so I would suggest to engage your Exchange admin to give you a hand, however, running the commands I sent you will return also the output of the current permissions set.

Let us know if you need any further information.

Thank you.

Carlos.

Hi Lee,

As explained in early posts:

Circular logging must be disabled.

The reason behind that is that VSS bakcups relies on Transaction logs. When you do a backup of an Exchange DB, VSS will expect certain transaction logs to be there so, if circular logging is enabled, this will truncate logs automatically (that's the aim of circular logging), so when you run the backup, some logs won't be there anymore, hence backup will fail.

NMM will prevent this failure and non-consistent backups to happen, so if it detects circular logging enable backup will fail at the very beginning.

For more information you can refer to the following articles:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2010/08/18/exchange-circular-logging-and-vss-backups.aspx

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/147524

That is a requirement when taking NMM/VSS based backups, and there is no plan to change NMM behavior in this regard.

Thank you.

Carlos.

Has there been any fixes for this? With multiple databases setup in a DAG including a lagged copy, there is no need to have the transaction logs anymore taking up hard drive space. Is there a work around for this or must we design our storage and exchange design based on a backup product?

BTW

It has been recommended by Microsoft to turn on circular logging with a lagged copy.

Thanks,

Lee E. Smith