Hi, I'm trying to schedule automatic backups of my SharePoint 2007 site. I wrote a .vbs script that does the backup with the following line: objShell.Run "cmd /c stsadm.exe -o backup -directory """ & BACKUP_DIR & SITE_DIR & """ -backupmethod full -item ""Farm\Windows SharePoint Services Web Application\SharePoint - SharePointSites"" > """ & CURR_DIR & "log.txt""", 0, True I ran the vbs script from the command line and everything worked fine. I used the Windows Task schedule to run the script as a scheduled task. The script ran fine and the backup completed successfully (according to the logs), but now if I go to the Central Admin page and try to do a restore, I get the error: The backup/restore job failed. In order to rerun the backup/restore the timer job must be deleted from the Timer Job Definitions page. Failure Message: Backup or restore is already running. The odd thing is I can do another backup or restore using stsadm at the command line and it works fine. I can also run the scheduled task to do another backup and that works fine too. I just can't do any backups or restores from Cetnral Admin anymore. Any suugestions or ideas? Thanks. -Cynthia

Before you can re-run the backup job, you need to delete the previous job definition. Click on Manage job definitions within Operations. You should be able to see and delete the job you don't like there.

Thanks for responding so quickly. Before my first attempt at a backup (or restore) via CA, there are no 'backup/restore' jobs in the Timer JobDefinitions page in Operations (there is no Manage Job Definitions link - but I assume this is the page you mean?). After I try to do a backup and get the error that there is already a backup or restore running, I can then go into Timer Job Definitions and delete the backup job that just failed, but I still can't go and do a new backup through CA. Should I be looking for a different timer job in addition to "backup/restore"? Thanks, Cynthia

You got the right place (sorry, don't have my SharePoint environment in front of me). Please look at your logs @ C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\LOGS. Post anything that seems out of place if you need help still.

One thing I did notice: if I have a backup/restore timer job listed in the timer job definitions page and then try to do a backup, it goes straight to an error page instructing me to delete the tiimer job definition. If I don't have any backup/restore timer jobs listed and try to do a backup it will go to that page that refreshes periodically to show the status of the backup and after a second or two it refreshes with the message that a backup/restore is already running (the error message in my previous post). I looked in my logs after attempting a backup/restore and I found this: 07/27/2007 08:03:01.73 OWSTIMER.EXE (0x075C) 0x0768Windows SharePoint Services Timer 5utrMedium Queued timer job Backup/Restore, id {0EB606FE-207D-4FF9-A751-DA6ECC0FC104} 07/27/2007 08:03:01.87 OWSTIMER.EXE (0x075C) 0x05CCWindows SharePoint Services Topology 8xqzMedium Updating SPPersistedObject SPBackupRestoreConfigurationSettings Parent=SPFarm Name=SharePoint_Config. Version: 36260 Ensure: 0, HashCode: 40073546, Id: ffc8451f-e14c-4e65-a486-142dd205059f, Stack: at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPPersistedObject.Update() at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.Backup.SPBackupRestoreConfigurationSettings.Update() at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.Backup.SPBackupRestoreJobDefinition.Run() at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.Backup.SPBackupRestoreJobDefinition.Execute(Guid targetInstanceId) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPTimerJobInvoke.Invoke(TimerJobExecuteData& data, Int32& result) 07/27/2007 08:03:02.54 OWSTIMER.EXE (0x075C) 0x05CCWindows SharePoint Services Topology 8xqzMedium Updating SPPersistedObject SPBackupRestoreJobDefinition Name=Backup/Restore Parent=SPTimerService Name=SPTimerV3. Version: 36269 Ensure: 0, HashCode: 50808273, Id: 0eb606fe-207d-4ff9-a751-da6ecc0fc104, Stack: at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPPersistedObject.Update() at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPJobDefinition.Update() at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.Backup.SPBackupRestoreJobDefinition.Run() at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.Backup.SPBackupRestoreJobDefinition.Execute(Guid targetInstanceId) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPTimerJobInvoke.Invoke(TimerJobExecuteData& data, Int32& result) 07/27/2007 08:03:02.84 OWSTIMER.EXE (0x075C) 0x05CCWindows SharePoint Services Topology 8xqzMedium Updating SPPersistedObject SPBackupRestoreJobDefinition Name=Backup/Restore Parent=SPTimerService Name=SPTimerV3. Version: 36271 Ensure: 0, HashCode: 50808273, Id: 0eb606fe-207d-4ff9-a751-da6ecc0fc104, Stack: at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPPersistedObject.Update() at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPJobDefinition.Update() at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.Backup.SPBackupRestoreJobDefinition.Execute(Guid targetInstanceId) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPTimerJobInvoke.Invoke(TimerJobExecuteData& data, Int32& result) 07/27/2007 08:03:02.93 OWSTIMER.EXE (0x075C) 0x05CCWindows SharePoint Services Timer 7psaCriticalThe Execute method of job definition Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.Backup.SPBackupRestoreJobDefinition (ID 0eb606fe-207d-4ff9-a751-da6ecc0fc104) threw an exception. More information is included below. Backup or restore is already running. 07/27/2007 08:03:03.12 OWSTIMER.EXE (0x075C) 0x05CCWindows SharePoint Services Timer 72aeUnexpectedException stack trace: at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.Backup.SPBackupRestoreJobDefinition.Run() at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.Backup.SPBackupRestoreJobDefinition.Execute(Guid targetInstanceId) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPTimerJobInvoke.Invoke(TimerJobExecuteData& data, Int32& result) This doesn't help me any more than the original error message, but maybe it gives you a clue? I also looked in my logs for the time when the scheduled task ran backup using stsadmin. It didn't show any errors. Here is an excerpt: 07/27/2007 02:00:13.81 STSADM.EXE (0x07F8) 0x0C78Windows SharePoint Services Topology 0Medium Diagnostics settings: 32768 07/27/2007 02:00:15.85 STSADM.EXE (0x07F8) 0x0C78Windows SharePoint Services General 0Medium Windows SharePoint Services log file 07/27/2007 02:00:15.86 STSADM.EXE (0x07F8) 0x0C78Windows SharePoint Services General 72juMedium stsadm: Running backup 07/27/2007 02:00:19.77 STSADM.EXE (0x07F8) 0x0C78ULS Logging Unified Logging Service 8wsvHigh ULS Init Completed (STSADM.EXE, Microsoft.Office.Server.Native.dll) 07/27/2007 02:00:13.56 STSADM.EXE (0x07F8) 0x0C78ULS Logging Unified Logging Service 8wsvHigh ULS Init Completed (STSADM.EXE, onetnative.dll) 07/27/2007 02:00:36.80 STSADM.EXE (0x07F8) 0x0C78Windows SharePoint Services Backup and Restore 0High Starting Backup. 07/27/2007 02:00:37.86 STSADM.EXE (0x07F8) 0x0C78Office Server Office Server Shared Services 0High Adding web application list for SSP 'SharedServices1' to backup metadata 07/27/2007 02:00:37.88 STSADM.EXE (0x07F8) 0x0C78Office Server Office Server Shared Services 0High Added web applications 'b7d5590c-1b9c-4e3b-a4b5-43dc8fa10eaa,23bb804d-20c9-4dd9-8454-b45da4cd854d,ccca5187-f1f8-4708-83e6-70328396ca4d,ea6cbb74-447c-4a5a-af39-b9b91c6d772a,c88f39a7-9606-40a8-91fc-a8f08bbf8473' to backup metadata 07/27/2007 02:00:46.61 STSADM.EXE (0x07F8) 0x0C78Windows SharePoint Services Backup and Restore 0Verbose Finish Time: 7/27/2007 2:00:46 AM. 07/27/2007 02:00:46.61 STSADM.EXE (0x07F8) 0x0C78Windows SharePoint Services Backup and Restore 0High Completed 07/27/2007 02:00:46.64 STSADM.EXE (0x07F8) 0x0C78Windows SharePoint Services Backup and Restore 0Verbose Deleting the file \\****\Backups\spbr0012\spbackup.xml and replacing it. 07/27/2007 02:00:46.99 STSADM.EXE (0x07F8) 0x0C78Windows SharePoint Services Backup and Restore 0Verbose Completed with 0 warnings. 07/27/2007 02:00:47.00 STSADM.EXE (0x07F8) 0x0C78Windows SharePoint Services Backup and Restore 0Verbose Completed with 0 errors. 07/27/2007 02:00:47.00 STSADM.EXE (0x07F8) 0x0C78Windows SharePoint Services Backup and Restore 0Verbose Backup completed successfully. 07/27/2007 02:00:47.02 STSADM.EXE (0x07F8) 0x0C78Windows SharePoint Services Backup and Restore 0Verbose ------------------------------------------------- 07/27/2007 02:00:48.71 STSADM.EXE (0x07F8) 0x0C78ULS Logging Unified Logging Service 8wswHigh Now terminating ULS (STSADM.EXE, Microsoft.Office.Server.Native.dll) 07/27/2007 02:00:48.75 STSADM.EXE (0x07F8) 0x0C78ULS Logging Unified Logging Service 8wswHigh Now terminating ULS (STSADM.EXE, onetnative.dll) It seems okay to me and I'm not even sure where to go from here to find the problem so I'll appreciate any and all ideas. Thank you. -Cynthia

The stsadm utility for backup is different than the UI-based backup, so that doesn't surprise me. Unfortunately this doesn't really seem to give any more information than what you already wrote. I don't have any ideas right now. I might have to let someone else take on this for now. In the meantime at least your stsadm backups are going well. Be sure to use the -o backup method (export doesn't seem to capture information as well.)

Ok. I'll keep going w/the stsadm -o backup for now. Thanks for your help. -Cynthia

I am having the same problem as listed above. Does anyone have any idea why the gui backup doesnt work, while the stsadm backup works fine?

Try to do thatResolution=============================Clear the file system cache on all servers in the farm running the timerservice manually. To do this, stop the timer service, delete (or move) thecontents of the folder at%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\Microsoft\SharePoint\Config\<Guid>\*.*Then, simply restart the timer service. The cache will be rebuilt and theissue should disappear. This should be done on every machine in the farmrunning the timer serviceHope this helps!

I was having the same issue. So I stopped the service and deleted the cache. I then retried the backup and it just hangs on the backup and restore status page. Any thoughts?

One thing you might want to look into is the permissions of your account that you are running stsadm with versus those of the account that your timer service is running as. The backup code that is ultimately run is exactly the same whether it is run through the CA or stsadm - the difference is that stsadm will run immediately (no timer job) and will run as the logged in user, whereas CA will create a timer job and will run as the timer service account.

Faced the same issue while restoring SSP. Server Reboot resolved the issue.