I'm having an issue with Symantec BackupExec not being able to run incremental backups.

Full backups work fine, only the incremental backups fail.

Circular logging is turned off on the Exchange server.

When the backups run the Exchange Writer status goes to...

Writer name: 'Microsoft Exchange Writer'
   Writer Id: {76fe1ac4-15f7-4bcd-987e-8e1acb462fb7}
   Writer Instance Id: {3c43f596-bb14-42fc-879e-2f1fdcd6e9a3}
   State: [7] Failed
   Last error: Retryable error

I can get the Exchange Writer back to a stable state by restarting the MSExchangeIS service and rebooting, but the issue persists.

Symantec support has already attempted to troubleshoot the issue and came to the conclusion that it's an issue with the Exchange server.

Exchange server 2010 (14.03.0224.002)

All available updates have been installed.

Also, the following error is reported in the event viewer

Log Name:      Application
Source:        MSExchangeIS
Date:          2/2/2015 2:01:13 AM
Event ID:      9706
Task Category: Exchange VSS Writer
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      SCGEXCDEN-02.sunwardconsolidatedgroup.com
Description:
Exchange VSS Writer (instance 53f0414d-406e-4d56-b58e-60090c7d88c5) failed with error code 1296 when collecting private metadata information for database 'EX2010_Public Folder Database' in preparation for backup.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="MSExchangeIS" />
    <EventID Qualifiers="49193">9706</EventID>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>41</Task>
    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2015-02-02T09:01:13.000000000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>461565</EventRecordID>
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>SCGEXCDEN-02.sunwardconsolidatedgroup.com</Computer>
    <Security />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data>53f0414d-406e-4d56-b58e-60090c7d88c5</Data>
    <Data>1296</Data>
    <Data>EX2010_Public Folder Database</Data>
    <Binary>4356737349457863685772697465723A3A4563536574507269766174654D657461646174613A20496E63722F4469666620736E617073206E6F7420737570706F7274656420776974682043697263756C6172206C6F6767696E6720656E61626C656400</Binary>
  </EventData>
</Event>

Hi,

Firstly I must tell that each time circular logging is enabled or disabled, the database has to be dismounted and mounted back for the changes to take effect. Especially Public Folder Database

Please re-check this behavior for me.

If this also doesnt work, we need to enable diagnostic logging and collect the trace in order to identify the exact cause for this issue by the following steps:

Step 1:

Increase Event Logging

Set-EventLogLevel "MSExchange Repl\Exchange VSS Writer" -Level Expert

Set-EventLogLevel "MSExchangeIS\9002 System\Exchange Writer" -Level Expert

Set-EventLogLevel "MSExchangeIS\9002 System\Backup Restore" -Level Expert

Confirm that the levels have been set as expert for VSS components:

Get-EventLogLevel | where {$_.EventLevel -eq "Expert"}

Step 2:

NOTE: take a copy of the Registry using the export option:

Save the following text block as a .REG file and import it on the Exchange server:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\VSS\Debug\Tracing]

"TraceFile"="C:\\VSSTrace.log"

"TraceToFile"=dword:00000001

"TraceToDebugger"=dword:00000001

"TraceForceFlush"=dword:00000000

"TraceFileLineInfo"=dword:00000001

"TraceEnterExit"=dword:00000001

"TraceLevel"=dword:ffffffff

Step 3:

Dismount the databases.

Restart the VSS Service, Information Store and Exchange Replication Service.

Mount the databases back.

Make sure that all the writers are in stable state by running VssAdmin list writers.

Step 4:

1. Run ExTRA. Go to Start go to Run window Type EXTRA.exe
2. Click the "Select a task" button.
3. Click the "Trace control" icon.
4. Click "OK" on the warning that appears.
5. Make a note of the trace file location and make sure the max trace file size is adequate(make it to 500MB).
6. Make sure "Run traces for" is unchecked.
7. Click "Set manual trace tags."
8. Select all checkboxes in the Trace Types box.
9. In the Trace Tags box, select "tagVSS" under "Store" and select "ReplicaVssWriterInterop" under "Cluster.Replay".
10. Click "Start tracing."
11. Run the backup job and wait for failure.
12. Stop the tracing in ExTRA as soon as the backup fials.
13. Check the trace file (.etl), the VSSTrace.log file, and the Application and System logs.

Thanks,

Best Regards.