Acronis TrueImage 9.1 imaging problem on Citrix

[U4iA]

We have 6 Windows 2003 Standard R2 with SP2 and Citrix Presentation 4.5 servers in a farm. Some Citrix servers have at random intervals some problems with the imaging of the disks (full or incremental). An example of the most recent log is shown below:

-{ Quote: "1 Information 1/29/2008 8:30 PM The "Incremental Backup Monday to Friday" operation started
2 Information 1/29/2008 8:30 PM Analyzing partition 0-0...
3 Information 1/29/2008 8:30 PM Analyzing partition 1-1...
4 Information 1/29/2008 8:30 PM Analyzing partition C:...
5 Information 1/29/2008 8:30 PM Analyzing partition 1-5...
6 Information 1/29/2008 8:30 PM Analyzing partition 0-0...
7 Information 1/29/2008 8:30 PM Analyzing partition D:...
8 Warning! 1/29/2008 8:30 PM Priority changed to Low priority
9 Information 1/29/2008 8:30 PM Analyzing partition 1-5...
10 Information 1/29/2008 8:30 PM Analyzing partition 1-1...
11 Information 1/29/2008 8:30 PM Analyzing partition C:...
12 Information 1/29/2008 8:30 PM Create Incremental Backup ArchiveFrom: Disk 1To file: "\\SERVER\SHARE$\FOLDER\NAME.tib"Compression: Normal
13 Information 1/29/2008 8:30 PM Pending operation 128 started: "Saving partition structure"
14 Information 1/29/2008 8:30 PM Pending operation 131 started: "Creating partition image"
15 Information 1/29/2008 8:30 PM Pending operation 131 started: "Creating partition image"
16 Information 1/29/2008 8:30 PM Locking partition C:...
17 Error 1/29/2008 8:30 PM Cannot access drive.
Cannot create the image of the logical drive C: because it is currently in use by running applications or the logical drive contains bad sectors.: None
18 Error 2/1/2008 10:23 AM You do not have the appropriate privileges.
You do not have the appropriate privileges.
Please contact with systems administrator.: oK
19 Information 2/1/2008 11:04 AM Cannot access drive.
Cannot create the image of the logical drive C: because it is currently in use by running applications or the logical drive contains bad sectors.: None: User replied: oK
20 Error 2/1/2008 11:04 AM Operation with partition "C:" was terminated.
Details:
Unable to create volume snapshot (0x70021)
Tag = 0x82DB9339B70C3B16
21 Error 2/1/2008 11:04 AM Operation has completed with errors." }-

The rights for the account which we use to make the image have enough priveleges to perform this task. The disks have no bad sectors and usualy images fine the next day or so. Supposedly there is an application which locks the drive (reading other threads), but I can not figure out which one it is. Maybe McAfee VSE8.5i with Patch 4 could be a problem, so to be sure is there an article about which processes and / or files and folders to exclude. We have many more servers in the same configuration (although not with Citrix) which do no have a problem. Any suggestions are very welcome, because we are puzzled by this issue.

Note: It's realy random. Sometimes it is server 1+2 and the next day 4+6 or an other combination of servers. There's no pattern to be seen in this. There are no events in the Windows Eventlog which could point us in any direction... ???

Version of Acronis is: TrueImage Server version 9.1 (build 3,920).

[U4iA]

Beside this problem it's also a problem that Acronis keeps trying to make an image and therefor becomes very slow when people try to log on in the morning. We have to kill the Acronis process manually to restore normal functionality of the server. Is there any way to tell Acronis to stop trying after an amount of time (like a scheduled task does)?

[U4iA]

It seems that Acronis is adding a process for every logged in Citrix user for TImountermonitor.exe, TrueImagemonitor.exe and Schedhlp.exe. Is there anyway to prevent this from happening? Could this also be a part of the problem?

[Acronis Support]

Hello U4iA,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Server Disk Backup Software (http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/products/ATISWin/).

Please download the latest version of Acronis drivers (http://download.acronis.com/support/SnapAPI.337_s_e.msi) and install it with disabled logging.

If the issue persists, please collect some information to let us investigate it thoroughly:

- Reinstall Acronis drivers with enabled logging;
- Reproduce the issue and collect the log file without closing any application windows (including the error message windows if there are any). The log file will be created at C:\ . The name of the log file will be snapapi [date-time].log

Please create Acronis Report and Windows System Information as it is described in Acronis Help Post (http://wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=55317).

Please run "regedit" command and let us know the data lines of the below registry keys:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E967-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} -> UpperFilters
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{71A27CDD-812A-11D0-BEC7-08002BE2092F} -> UpperFilters

Please also collect the application log of the operation:
- run the program;
- select Show log on the toolbar or from the Tools menu;
- select the log with error messages;
- click "Save the log entry to file" (the diskette icon).

Then submit a request for technical support (http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/my/support/). Attach all the collected files and information to your request along with the step-by-step description of the actions taken before the problem appears and the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with a solution.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov