Acronis VSS no clean state of VSS Writers after backup!

You can test it yourself.

1. Restart you server
2. after restart use this command

vssadmin list writers
the result should be something like this

vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001 Microsoft Corp.

Writer name: 'System Writer'
Writer Id: {e8132975-6f93-4464-a53e-1050253ae220}
Writer Instance Id: {c27d5895-9cf7-454a-b64c-f62cd1cb38d2}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Microsoft Exchange Writer'
Writer Id: {76fe1ac4-15f7-4bcd-987e-8e1acb462fb7}
Writer Instance Id: {c55c0529-abc1-484c-bf0a-334595474f00}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'MSDEWriter'
Writer Id: {f8544ac1-0611-4fa5-b04b-f7ee00b03277}
Writer Instance Id: {df560ba0-6377-4b35-96f7-bb2f9004502e}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Registry Writer'
Writer Id: {afbab4a2-367d-4d15-a586-71dbb18f8485}
Writer Instance Id: {77d4f4a9-1313-4bf0-88a1-c2d84627779f}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'IIS Metabase Writer'
Writer Id: {59b1f0cf-90ef-465f-9609-6ca8b2938366}
Writer Instance Id: {da2df630-ac75-4573-b6a2-e5fddefdff8b}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'WMI Writer'
Writer Id: {a6ad56c2-b509-4e6c-bb19-49d8f43532f0}
Writer Instance Id: {64564f4e-b902-406b-ad48-9c6bd09ff814}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Event Log Writer'
Writer Id: {eee8c692-67ed-4250-8d86-390603070d00}
Writer Instance Id: {2e13e156-e801-42cd-b644-554bdfc699ec}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'COM+ REGDB Writer'
Writer Id: {542da469-d3e1-473c-9f4f-7847f01fc64f}
Writer Instance Id: {f01a1584-681f-44cd-98d5-413b6cb0fc51}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

also with this command vssadmin list shadows you should get this:

vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001 Microsoft Corp.

No items found that satisfy the query.

Now when acronis Runs with VSS enabled you will see that the states of alot of the writers get a failed status like this:

Writer name: 'System Writer'
Writer Id: {e8132975-6f93-4464-a53e-1050253ae220}
Writer Instance Id: {c27d5895-9cf7-454a-b64c-f62cd1cb38d2}
State: [10] Failed
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'MSDEWriter'
Writer Id: {f8544ac1-0611-4fa5-b04b-f7ee00b03277}
Writer Instance Id: {a6e89fb4-38d1-4ab0-8ed5-046239c4922e}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Microsoft Exchange Writer'
Writer Id: {76fe1ac4-15f7-4bcd-987e-8e1acb462fb7}
Writer Instance Id: {c55c0529-abc1-484c-bf0a-334595474f00}
State: [10] Failed
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'BITS Writer'
Writer Id: {4969d978-be47-48b0-b100-f328f07ac1e0}
Writer Instance Id: {53647954-e76f-4210-ac97-045fe1f46c69}
State: [1] Stable
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'COM+ REGDB Writer'
Writer Id: {542da469-d3e1-473c-9f4f-7847f01fc64f}
Writer Instance Id: {5eac209d-3e6a-4131-b416-3580e827d513}
State: [10] Failed
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'WMI Writer'
Writer Id: {a6ad56c2-b509-4e6c-bb19-49d8f43532f0}
Writer Instance Id: {64564f4e-b902-406b-ad48-9c6bd09ff814}
State: [10] Failed
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'IIS Metabase Writer'
Writer Id: {59b1f0cf-90ef-465f-9609-6ca8b2938366}
Writer Instance Id: {dc994f77-43a8-425c-a411-61a47ac2c494}
State: [10] Failed
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Event Log Writer'
Writer Id: {eee8c692-67ed-4250-8d86-390603070d00}
Writer Instance Id: {b5821155-02f8-4de4-8e21-2d1bdba344c4}
State: [10] Failed
Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Registry Writer'
Writer Id: {afbab4a2-367d-4d15-a586-71dbb18f8485}
Writer Instance Id: {805734d3-a231-485e-9312-386d8ea628a4}
State: [10] Failed
Last error: No error

ACRONIS this must be fixed!
9 out of 10 times this will go partly good. But 1 out of 10 times the server will just hang at Locking PARTITION part!

 

Hello jeremyotten,

as already said in another thread, i can confirm that this is not working as it should. Our server also has these random hangs and it is very(!) annoying, 'cause it's an productive server... Also our VSS Writers show failed as yours does.
Please Acronis is there any Timeframe when it is fixed or can you confirm that you're working on the problem or already fixed it?!

Thanks,
Keeper

 

They send me snapapi359.msi to resolve the issue. After installing the version numbers of snapapi.dll and snapapivss.dll in my system32 folder are still 352

and OFCOURSE! the issue isn't resolved! Maybe acronis should hire someone of Storagecraft to make there VSS work!!

 

I just got this answer:

AHUM!

 

Hello jeremyotten,

OK this sounds quite logical, but this does not explain why there are random lockups while creating backups using VSS . Did say say anything about the 359 Api!?

Best Regards,
Keeper

 

Nope but you can ask for it at Acronis and test to see if your lockups now stop.

 

Also see this:


http://forum.storagecraft.com/Community/forums/t/899.aspx

 

I have this issue too and it is horribly irritating. One commonality I have noticed is that it randomly happens on two of my servers that have MS SQL Server 2000 installed. This could just be a coincidence. I just opened a ticket with Acronis, this problem has to be fixed ASAP!!! It really makes me wonder why I have stuck with Acronis True Image all theses years. It is a great product but with bugs like this it makes it unusable in a production environment where servers have to be ups 24x7.

 

Yeah but still acronis says:

 

Opened a ticket yesterday and have not had a response yet. I am expecting the same canned response from them but it does not explain why the partition gets locked and hangs at that step. The last item in the True Image Agent log says "Locking partition C:...." and after that the server is hung and cannot be used in any way until the power is cycled.

 

ask for the snapapi 359 DLL's and replace them on your system. Haven't had this issue even since..

 

Got an email from them around 9:30 PM on Friday telling me to install the latest snapapi and the one they provided was 359. Hope it does the trick.

 

I got 2 versions the snapapi MSI files which didn't update the 3 files

snapman.sys
snapapi.dll and snapapivss.dll

Then I got a mail with these 3 files in a zip file. ANd replaced the files on my system. Now they where all version 359 en hadn't had the issue ever since.

 

Thans for the help and constant support jeremy. i owe you one. my boss was on me about solving these event log ever messages....

if anyone else needs the quick snapapi 359 DLLs update for acronis true image that can solve VSS and volsnap (C partition locking related) read below...




Thank you for using Acronis True Image 9.1 Server for Windows http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/products/ATISWin/

Please accept our apologies for the delay with the response.

Here you can download the MSI package for snapapi 359 which will automatically install all the needed dlls:

http://download.acronis.com/sl/qeesk...PISetup359.msi

Please reboot the machine after snapapi installation and tell if that helps.

We are always at your service.

Thank you.

--
Best regards,
Alexey Ruslyakov
Lead Support Engineer

Acronis, Inc.
23 3rd Avenue
Burlington, MA 01803 USA
http://www.acronis.com

Acronis Customer Service Department
http://www.acronis.com/my/support/

 

Hello,

thanks for posting the link, but it's not working. Would it be possible to post the full link?
I also contacted the support and received an email with 359 SnapApi. But after Insallation the installed files had Build 345?! I extracted the MSI file and there were only 345 included.
So if someone could provide 359, I would really appreciate it

Thanks,
Keeper

 

the msi is indeed a faulty one. ask for the seperate dll's and snapman.sys files and just replace them...

 

They might have fixed that msi. it worked for my server over here... and no more errors. thanks jeremy...

 

wait at least a couple of weeks to see if it really works. If you never get a hang at locking partition .... in these weeks we can say it really worked.

the errors in the eventlog however wil stay...... but these can be ignored.

 

On my SBS 2003 R2 server running TI for SBS, I am not having server lockup problems when running full backups. However, I am seeing the same failed state for vss writers with vss enabled as indicated by jeremyotten.

If I reboot my server and run the vssadmin list writers command, all vss writers indicate a stable state. After TI for SBS runs a backup, many of the writers indicate a failed state. I am unclear what the result would be as a result of the failed vss writers and the ability to fully restore my server and exchange from a full backup.

jaedjohnson and jeremyotten indicate in this thread that they received a copy of the snapapi359 dll's (or .msi) that fixed the vss writers problem. I also need a link to these files that are compatible with TI for SBS to solve my vss writers problem.

Thanks,
Brad

 

Hello bctf1,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Corporate Disk Backup Software.

We are sorry for delayed response.

Could you please collect some information to let us investigate the problem thoroughly?

Please create Windows System Information as it is described in Acronis Help Post.

Please also create an export of the Event Log.

Then submit a request for technical 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 do our best to investigate the problem and try to provide you with a solution. The later builds of snapapi will be provided if they are appropriate for your system.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov

 

On Win Xp64 machine, starting Acronis will kill the Volume Shadow Copy Service.

This then causes Mozy backups to fail.

I can start the VSS again manually, but as soon as Acronis starts, VSS dies!

Is there an update/fix?

(I cannot access my account for updates!!!)

 

Hello saph03,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Software.

We are sorry for delayed response.

Please notice that, as explained earlier, the reason why this happens is the algorithms implemented in the VSS service in Windows. The termination of the native snapshot creation causes these errors. Avoding this requires a significant change in implementation. Our Development Team reports that such a change, aimed to avoid this problem with Windows VSS services, will be implemented in the next versions of corporate family of Acronis True Image software. I'm sorry, but the time frame isn't defined yet.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov