A few more thoughts and comments:
1. In general, if VSS snapshots are not working, that is not good. Yet
another case where IBM Spectrum Protect is the "canary in the coal
mine" :-). These errors should be identified and corrected, very likely
rooted in an OS issue (not specific to IBM code). That said, another
possibility is if you have a hardware snapshot provider installed, then try
adding VSSUSESYSTEMPROVIDER YES to the dsm.opt file, and see if that
corrects the issue. You can use the command VSSADMIN LIST PROVIDERS to see
what is installed (or run the DISKSHADOW command, then enter the LIST
PROVIDERS command).
2. This issue looks related to system state backup processing, the ASR
Writer in particular (which usually does not get along with hardware
providers, see comment 1). Without the ASR Writer, you cannot have a good
system state backup. As Marc pointed out, using VSSSNAPSHOTPROVIDERFS NONE
has no effect on this, as system state backups inherently require VSS.
3. Beginning with client version 8.1.8, the default VSSSNAPSHOTPROVIDERFS
setting is changed to YES, since it is "best practice" to use snapshot
backups. If you are not already familiar with it, this is a good URL too
bookmark and refer to, regarding Windows backup and recovery, as it links
to other important documents.
4. For help with problem isolation, here are my own "raw" notes on using
DISKSHADOW to test snapshots. This test comes close to doing the same
things that IBM Spectrum Protect does to create the snapshots:
===== BEGIN ANDY'S NOTES =====
See if diskshadow is able to take a snapshot of the system state. This
technique
does not actually produce a backup, but it does create a snapshot that is
deleted at the end of the test.
To use diskshadow, you will need to identify all the local disks on the
volume.
If the system also has an unmounted volume with BCD data on it, that needs
to be
included too (in order to back up ASR data).
The Windows mountvol command can be used to display local disks, and it
will
also show any unmounted volumes. The unmounted volume will appear as just a
GUID, with no drive letter. If such a volume appears, then you can use
mountvol
to temporarily mount it to a drive letter (let us say X:), and then issue
dir x:\ /ad to see if a directory named Boot appears in the root of the
file
system. The presence of Boot suggests this is BCD data, and you would want
to
include this volume's GUID in the snapshot. Use mountvol with the /d
parameter
to unmount the volume.
Next, create a plain text file with this content. I call it script.ds in
this
example.
Notes:
You will need to customize the add volume commands according to the local
drives
on your system.
In my example, I have drives C: and E, F:, G:, and an unmounted volume with
BCD
information (this is the EFI system partition).
Do not include floppy or CD drives.
Note the names that appear after each alias keyword in the add volume
statements. The names are slightly different, to align with the drive
letters.
The proivider GUID parts of the add volume statements tell diskshadow to
use
the Windows system provider (same as using VSSUSESYSTEMPROVIDER YES in the
dsm.opt file).
Here is the script example:
--------------------------------------------------
set metadata testshadow.cab
set verbose on
begin backup
add volume c: provider {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5} alias
testshadow_c
add volume e: provider {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5} alias
testshadow_e
add volume f: provider {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5} alias
testshadow_f
add volume g: provider {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5} alias
testshadow_g
add volume \\?\Volume{7e6853b6-ed18-11e3-bb7a-806e6f6e6963}\ provider
{b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5} alias testshadow_bcd
create
list shadows all
end backup
list shadows all
--------------------------------------------------
End of example
Note: after the "add volume" commands and before the "create" command, a
line
could be added like this to exclude the VSS SQL Server Writer:
writer exclude {a65faa63-5ea8-4ebc-9dbd-a0c4db26912a}
This is the Writer ID as shown by the "vssadmin list writers" command or
the
diskshadow "list writers" command.
Note: After the "create" command finishes, it shows the shadow copies; thus
the first "list shadows all" command above might be redundant.
2. Run the script like this, from an OS prompt (cmd.exe):
diskshadow /s script.ds /l script.out
On screen observe the diskshadow output, and it will also be saved to
script.out. The shadow copy will be only temporary, it will be deleted
(just the
test shadow copy) when the script completes, as the second "list shadows
all" in
the script will show. If it fails, then they could share this output with
Microsoft to troubleshoot further.
Other notes:
If the above script successfully creates a snapshot, then modify the script
by
removing the provider GUID elements from each add volume statement, then
try it
again. See if the error occurs this time. If the error does not occur when
provider GUID is used, but the error does occur when the provider GUID is
not
used, then try the system state backup with option VSSUSESYSTEMPROVIDER YES
again.
===== END ANDY'S NOTES =====
Andrew Raibeck
IBM Spectrum Protect Level 3
IBM Systems, Storage
stor...@us.ibm.com
IBM
"ADSM: Dist Stor Manager" <ADSM-L@VM.MARIST.EDU> wrote on 2021-02-26
10:46:41:
> From: Marc Lanteigne <marclantei...@ca.ibm.com>
> To: ADSM-L@VM.MARIST.EDU
> Date: 2021-02-26 10:47
> Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: snapshot error
> Sent by: "ADSM: Dist Stor Manager" <ADSM-L@VM.MARIST.EDU>
>
> Hi Mike,
>
> If that is your entire option file, you have systemstate included in your
> backup by default. And the systemstate backup will always use VSS as per
> Microsoft's design.
>
> The " SNAPSHOTPROVIDERFS NONE" option just stops to use VSS for
filesystem
> backups, not for systemstate.
>
>
> -
> Thanks,
> Marc...
>
> Marc Lanteigne
> Spectrum Protect Specialist AVP / SRT
> IBM Systems, Spectrum Protect / Plus
> +1-506-460-9074 <- New phone number
> marclantei...@ca.ibm.com
> Office Hours: Monday to Friday, 7:00 to 15:30 Eastern
>
> IBM
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Hizny <mhi...@binghamton.edu>
> Sent: Friday, February 26, 2021 10:41 AM
> To: ADSM-L@VM.MARIST.EDU
> Subject: [EXTERNAL] [ADSM-L] snapshot error
>
> Hi,
>
> We are trying to run a normal backup on a windows 2016 server. We are
not
> using snapshots, yet every time the scheduler starts a backup, it fails
by
> trying to start a snapshot. Has anyone seen this and is there a way to
> disable the VSS snapshot attempt?
>
> *Here is the error:*
>
> 02/25/2021 20:36:07 ANS5250E An unexpected error was encountered.
> IBM Spectrum Protect function name : StartSnapshotSet()
> IBM Spectrum Protect function : 'StartSnapshotSet() failed with
> error VSS_E_SNAPSHOT_SET_IN_PROGRESS. 0X80042316'
> IBM Spectrum Protect return code : -2147212522
> IBM Spectrum Protect file : ..\..\common\winnt\asrutil.cpp
> (1928)
>
>
> *Here is the opt file where we have VSS disabled:*
>
> NODENAME XXXXXXX
> TCPSERVERADDRESS xxx.xx.xxxxx.xxx
> EXCLUDE.BACKUP "*:\microsoft uam volume\...\*"
> EXCLUDE.ARCHIVE "*:\...\system32\Perflib*.dat"
>
> SNAPSHOTPROVIDERFS NONE
> SNAPSHOTPROVIDERIMAGE NONE
> PASSWORDACCESS GENERATE
>
> Thanks,
> Mike
> --
>
