Hello World!

Aarthi here!

Linus and I have uncovered a very interesting cause for the BA910 issue. Certain Network Attached Storage devices can install their own software to make it seem as though they are a local drive when they are actually remote drives! The server where we made this discovery had a NetGear Storage Central 101 device which appeared to be a local drive but it was actually a remote drive. As such, whenever VSS tried to take a snapshot of the drive it would fail.

When we looked in the Windows Event Viewer, we found this error message and we would like to share it with you!

Event Type: Error
Event Source: VSS
Event Category: None
Event ID: 12293
Date: 29/08/2008
Time: 12:20:10 PM
User: N/A
Computer: BIANTES-SBS2003
Description:
Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Error calling a routine on the Shadow Copy Provider {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}. Routine details EndPrepareSnapshots({22924c31-b2d0-40f8-bc0c-869b63f85a06}) [hr = 0x8000ffff].

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 2d 20 43 6f 64 65 3a 20 - Code:
0008: 43 4f 52 53 4e 50 53 43 CORSNPSC
0010: 30 30 30 30 31 32 36 37 00001267
0018: 2d 20 43 61 6c 6c 3a 20 - Call:
0020: 43 4f 52 53 4e 50 53 43 CORSNPSC
0028: 30 30 30 30 31 32 34 38 00001248
0030: 2d 20 50 49 44 3a 20 20 - PID:
0038: 30 30 30 30 36 35 31 32 00006512
0040: 2d 20 54 49 44 3a 20 20 - TID:
0048: 30 30 30 30 34 33 39 36 00004396
0050: 2d 20 43 4d 44 3a 20 20 - CMD:
0058: 43 3a 5c 57 49 4e 44 4f C:\WINDO
0060: 57 53 5c 53 79 73 74 65 WS\Syste
0068: 6d 33 32 5c 76 73 73 76 m32\vssv
0070: 63 2e 65 78 65 20 20 20 c.exe
0078: 2d 20 55 73 65 72 3a 20 - User:
0080: 4e 54 20 41 55 54 48 4f NT AUTHO
0088: 52 49 54 59 5c 53 59 53 RITY\SYS
0090: 54 45 4d 20 20 20 20 20 TEM
0098: 2d 20 53 69 64 3a 20 20 - Sid:
00a0: 53 2d 31 2d 35 2d 31 38 S-1-5-18

So if you find that you are experiencing VSS issues with an “Unexpected Provider Error” 0×8004230f, check that all your local drives are infact local drives and not remote drives masquerading as local drives!

We’ll be exhibiting at both TechEd Sydney and SMB Nation Seattle in the next 2 months.

If you’re attending these events, please drop by for a visit.

The dates are:

TechEd - Wednesday 3rd September - Friday 5th September - please visit our booth. Linus will also be attending the SBS2008 pre-day on Tuesday 2nd September.

SMB Nation - Friday 3rd October - Monday 6th October - visit our booth (#115 opposite Microsoft) and attend our presentation.

We’ll be launching v5 of BackupAssist at the SMB Nation event. Be sure to attend Linus’ presentation as well:

Combining Drive Imaging, Data Archiving and Internet Backup to achieve complete data protection… at no extra cost!

The latest drive imaging features in Windows Server 2008 make bare metal recoveries easier than ever. However, gaping holes still remain, meaning that businesses are still vulnerable to data loss.

In his presentation, Linus Chang will talk about the limitations of Server 2008 backup; current methods for imaging, file & application backup and internet replication, and the “sweet spot” that each backup technique provides. You’ll learn why individual techniques provide only partial protection, but how combining them together provides a watertight solution. You’ll be stunned as Linus demonstrates how to do this at no additional cost or complexity to your clients.

Hi all,

There has been a considerable amount of confusion about backing up Exchange 2007 on Windows Server 2008 and whether BackupAssist will support this.

We too have seen a LOT of conflicting information on the Internet. In this blog post, I hope to clarify the situation.

The Short Version:
Windows Server Backup in Windows Server 2008 RTM does not support the backup of Exchange Server.

However, Microsoft are working on a plug-in that will allow Windows Server Backup to properly backup Exchange 2007 on Server 2008.

They report that it will be released in Summer 2008 (Northern Hemisphere). As soon as we find out about its release, we will update this blog entry. As soon as MS supports this, then so will BackupAssist.

Note: Our testing of SBS 2008 RC1 indicates that Windows Server Backup does interface with Exchange.

The Long Version:
Although Windows Server Backup is a VSS-based backup application, and Exchange is VSS-aware, there are “additional requirements for Exchange backups and restores beyond using the VSS Framework; for example, checking the database and log files for corruption during backups is not part of the VSS Framework”

In the initial RTM release of Windows Server 2008, Windows Server Backup did not perform these additional requirements for backing up Exchange 2007. Therefore, Exchange 2007 could not be backed up by Windows Server Backup.

However, it looks like MS ran into huge amounts of criticism over, and a plug-in will be released shortly that addresses it.

Quoting from Scott Schnoll’s blog:

“I announced that sometime this summer, Microsoft will be providing a VSS-based plug-in for Windows Server Backup in Windows Server 2008 that will enable customers to take Exchange-aware, VSS backups on Windows Server 2008. I don’t have a lot of details to share beyond this.”

“In short, NT Backup was replaced with Windows Server Backup (WSB) which unlike NTbackup, did not support ESE streaming backups of exchange. While WSB supports backup/recovery of any application including 3rd party apps using VSS and a plug-in model, for reasons outside the control f the Windows or the Exchange team, the out-of-box-experience of Windows Server 2008 did not include the support for backing up and recovering Exchange. Both the Windows and the Exchange team heard a lot of feedback and criticism over a decision that neither team was responsible for. As a result of the large amount of feedback we received on this issue, we have decided to ship a plug-in for WSB created by Windows and the Small Business Server (SBS) team that enables VSS-based backups of Exchange.”

References:
http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2008/06/18/449031.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/scottschnoll/archive/2008/06/15/back-from-teched-it-pro-north-america-2008.aspx

http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2008/03/05/448338.aspx