Windows 2008 Server freezes for 45 minutes while registry is being backed up.
Greetings.
We are running Exchange 2007 on a Windows 2008 server.
We are running backup software called Retrospect on this server.
When we backup the c:\ drive (with system state) the actual data backup goes very smoothly/fast.
Once it gets to the system state portion of the backup (specifically this point in the retrospect log):
T-36: Copying Meta Info for Component: Registry
The entire server (including exchange) completely stops responding.
By "stops responding" I mean:
Local Console
Remote Desktop
Exchange/Outlook
If I let the backup complete after about 45 minutes the server returns to normal.
I contacted the people who make Retrospect and they told me it is an issue with the registry on my Windows Server.
They told me that I should try backing up the server using the Windows Backup utility and that it should cause the same exact problem to occur because it uses VSS just like retrospect.
When I backup the c:\ drive with full restore capabilities using the built in Windows Backup utility it backs up the entire thing in like 3 minutes without any sort of incident whatsoever.
Also, if I go into regedit and export the registry to a file it takes a few minutes (it's a 2GB registry) but it completes without incident.
Does anyone know what could be going on here?
It didn't always do this, I thought that it coincided with upgrading retrospect agent to a newer version but I downgraded it back and it seems to still do this.
I don't think their support knows what is going on.
Thanks in advance for any clarity you can provide.
-Drew
April 20th, 2011 8:22am
Hi Drew,
I understand the inconvenience this issue has brought and I will try my best to help you. However, since it is a third-party issue, so if necessary, we may still need
to contact the software vendor for detailed and precise information about their product. Thanks for your understanding.
Since Windows Backup utility is working fine, we can confirm that VSS is functioning properly. When did the issue begin to occur? After upgrading Retrospect? Have
you installed software, hardware or updates recently? Is the problematic server a domain controller? Which software, role or feature has been installed on the server?
To help narrow down the root cause, please run the backup software in Clean Boot mode.
How to boot into Clean Boot mode
==============================
1. Click "Start", go to "Run", and type "msconfig" in the open box to start the System Configuration Utility.
2. Click the "Services" tab, check the "Hide All Microsoft Services" box and click Disable All (if it is not gray).
3. Click the "Startup" tab, click "Disable All" and click "OK".
4. Restart your computer. If the "System Configuration Utility" window appears, please check the box and click "OK".
5. Run the backup software Retrospect again to check the result?
Any progress?
Do you find any error in the Retrospect log? If so, please paste the detailed error message here for research. Please also report the troubleshooting status to the
Retrospect support for help.
Thanks.
NinaPlease remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.
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April 22nd, 2011 2:51am
Hello,
This server is running Exchange 2007 and the two roles installed on this server are:
File Services
File Server / DFS
IIS (for exchange)
In MSCONFIG the only two non-microsoft services that are listed are:
Retrospect Client
Retrospect Helper
It's a very clean server, we don't install junk on our systems here.
In my monitoring system, Nagios it appears that the nightly downtime began around 2/8:
[02-08-2011 00:48:18] SERVICE ALERT: exchange;check_smtp;OK;SOFT;4;SMTP OK - 0.001 sec. response time
[02-08-2011 00:45:28] SERVICE ALERT: exchange;check_smtp;CRITICAL;SOFT;3;CRITICAL - Socket timeout after 10 seconds
[02-08-2011 00:42:28] SERVICE ALERT: exchange;check_smtp;CRITICAL;SOFT;2;CRITICAL - Socket timeout after 10 seconds
[02-08-2011 00:39:28] SERVICE ALERT: exchange;check_smtp;CRITICAL;SOFT;1;CRITICAL - Socket timeout after 10 seconds
On 02/09 KB - 2393802, 2479628, 2482017, 2483185, 2485376, and 2117917 were installed.
Prior to that the last update was 2419640 on 1/12/2011
I have tried reinstalling the new version of their update client, and reverting back to the old version to no avail.
Their logfile is really quite useless as well and doesn't give me any good information about what is going on.
The strangest part of all of this is to me that the Windows Console actually completely seizes up when this period of inaccessiblility begins. I can't do anything on the keyboard, etc.
This is a Dell Server with SAS drives so everything should be working fine...
Please note that I also use Retrospect to backup the mailboxes and the Exchange mailbox store on this server without any problem.
The issue only occurs when I tell it to backup the C: drive specifically with the system state.
If I tell Retrospect to backup the C:\ drive without the system state it works fine.
Any further advice you can provide is greatly appreciated.
thanks,
-Drew
April 22nd, 2011 1:46pm