~ Dwayne Jackson | Senior Support Escalation Engineer

Hi everyone, Dwayne Jackson here with a quick tip in case you ever run into an issue where the console for System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager (DPM 2012 or DPM 2012 R2) fails to open. First, check to see if your symptoms match any of those listed below.

The first symptom is that you’ll see this error:

Unable to connect to DPM Server Name.Consoto.com (ID: 948)
Verify that the DPM service is running on this computer

You will also see an event logged similar to this one:

Log Name: Application
Source: MSDPM
Date: Date/Time
Event ID: 941
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: DPMServerName.Contoso.com
Description:
The description for Event ID 941 from source MSDPM cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.
If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.
The following information was included with the event:
Unable to connect to the DPM database. Make sure that SQL Server is running and that it is configured correctly.
Problem Details:
<FatalServiceError><__System><ID>19</ID><Seq>1</Seq><TimeCreated>1/28/2015 3:22:57 PM</TimeCreated><Source>DpmThreadPool.cs</Source><Line>163</Line><HasError>True</HasError></__System><ExceptionType>SqlException</ExceptionType><ExceptionMessage>Cannot open database "DPMDBNAME" requested by the login. The login failed.
Login failed for user 'NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM'.</ExceptionMessage><ExceptionDetails>System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException (0x80131904): Cannot open database" DPMDBNAME " requested by the login. The login failed.

Also, if you examine DPMUI0Curr.log you’ll see entries similar to the ones in my example below.

095C 0558 01/28 15:06:37.101 09 proxyutils.cpp(64) NORMAL CoreServicesProxy::CreateCoreServices
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:37.101 09 proxyutils.cpp(104) NORMAL CoreServicesProxy::CreateCoreServicesImpl(DPMServer.Contoso.com)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:37.101 09 engineservicesproxy.cpp(550) NORMAL EngineServicesProxy::GetOSVersionOnDPMServer()
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.304 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING No retry on exception System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException (0x80131904): Cannot open database"DPMDBNAME" requested by the login. The login failed.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.304 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Login failed for user 'Domain\user attempting to login'.
…

095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Login failed for user 'Domain\user attempting to login'.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionPool.TryGetConnection(DbConnection owningObject, UInt32 waitForMultipleObjectsTimeout, Boolean allowCreate, Boolean onlyOneCheckConnection, DbConnectionOptionsuserOptions, DbConnectionInternal& connection)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionPool.TryGetConnection(DbConnection owningObject, TaskCompletionSource`1 retry, DbConnectionOptions userOptions, DbConnectionInternal& connection)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.TryGetConnection(DbConnection owningConnection, TaskCompletionSource`1 retry, DbConnectionOptions userOptions, DbConnectionInternal& connection)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionClosed.TryOpenConnection(DbConnection outerConnection, DbConnectionFactory connectionFactory, TaskCompletionSource`1 retry, DbConnectionOptions userOptions)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.TryOpen(TaskCompletionSource`1 retry)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.Open()
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.DB.SqlContext.Open()
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING ClientConnectionId:df004fd3-c27c-4485-851a-9255a0777ad0
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Error = 4060
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Index #0
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Source: .Net SqlClient Data Provider
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Number: 4060
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING State: 1
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Class: 11
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Server: tcp: DPMSERVERNAME
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Message: Cannot open database "DPMDBNAME" requested by the login. The login failed.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Procedure:
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Line: 65536
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Index #1
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Source: .Net SqlClient Data Provider
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Number: 18456
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING State: 1
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Class: 14
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Server: tcp:DPMSERVERNAME
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Message: Login failed for user 'Domain\user attempting to login'.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Procedure:
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING Line: 65536 FileName:; Method:Open(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:14.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:Open(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:14.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:CreateAgentTypes(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:51.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:.ctor(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:62.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:Connect(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:147.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:GetDpmServerObject(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:48.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:GetServer(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:233.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:ProcessRecord(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:61.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:ProcessRecord(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:264.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:DoExecute(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:35.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:SynchronousExecuteEnumerate(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:78.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:InvokeHelper(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:305.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:InvokeThreadProc(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:217.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:RunInternal(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:112.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:Run(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:0.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:Run(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:43.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 09 Catalog.cs(1822) WARNING FileName:; Method:ThreadStart(); lineNo:0; ilOffset:26.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.319 62 OMCatalog.cs(242) WARNING OMSqlContext :: Open() refreshing token
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 DpmServer.cs(802) WARNING Caught exception - System.InvalidOperationException: ExecuteReader requires an open and available Connection. The connection's current state is closed.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 DpmServer.cs(802) WARNING at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ValidateCommand(String method, Boolean async)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 DpmServer.cs(802) WARNING at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReader(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, String method, TaskCompletionSource`1 completion, Int32 timeout, Task& task, Boolean asyncWrite)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 DpmServer.cs(802) WARNING at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReader(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, String method)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 DpmServer.cs(802) WARNING at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior behavior, String method)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 DpmServer.cs(802) WARNING at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior behavior)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 DpmServer.cs(802) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.DB.SqlRetryCommand.InternalExecuteReader()
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 DpmServer.cs(802) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.UI.ObjectModel.OMCommon.OMSqlRetryCommand.InternalExecuteReader()
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 DpmServer.cs(802) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.UI.ObjectModel.AgentManagementDBReader.ReadAgentManagementAllAgentTypes(OMSqlContext context)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 DpmServer.cs(802) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.UI.ObjectModel.AgentManagement.AMFactory.CreateAgentTypes(ProductionServerController productionServerController)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 DpmServer.cs(802) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.UI.ObjectModel.AgentManagement.ProductionServerController..ctor(DpmServer dpmServer)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 DpmServer.cs(802) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.UI.ObjectModel.OMCommon.DpmServer.Connect(AsyncOperation asyncOperation)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING DlsException 948:ConnectionToServerFailed
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.Utils.DlsException: exception ---> System.InvalidOperationException: ExecuteReader requires an open and available Connection. The connection's current state is closed.
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ValidateCommand(String method, Boolean async)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReader(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, String method, TaskCompletionSource`1 completion, Int32 timeout, Task& task, Boolean asyncWrite)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReader(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, String method)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior behavior, String method)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior behavior)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.DB.SqlRetryCommand.InternalExecuteReader()
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.UI.ObjectModel.OMCommon.OMSqlRetryCommand.InternalExecuteReader()
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.UI.ObjectModel.AgentManagementDBReader.ReadAgentManagementAllAgentTypes(OMSqlContext context)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.UI.ObjectModel.AgentManagement.AMFactory.CreateAgentTypes(ProductionServerController productionServerController)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.UI.ObjectModel.AgentManagement.ProductionServerController..ctor(DpmServer dpmServer)
095C 0558 01/28 15:06:39.382 62 CmdLetUtils.cs(56) WARNING at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.UI.ObjectModel.OMCommon.DpmServ0808 0F74 01/28 15:09:31.849 34 ScopeHelper.cs(376) NORMAL Command line arguments: [C:\Windows\system32\mmc.exe] [C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2012 R2\DPM\DPM\bin\Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager.msc]
./

If you encounter these symptoms then the most likely cause is that DPMDB is in SQL Server "Single User Mode".

To fix this, change the database to Multi User Mode by following the steps below.

1. From SQL Management Studio select the DPMDB

2. Right click the DPMDB select Properties

3. From Database properties select Options page

4. Scroll down to State for Restrict Access change from SINGLE_USER to MULTI_USER

5. Select OK

Once this is complete you should be able to open the console successfully.

Dwayne Jackson| Senior Support Escalation Engineer | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

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Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/ 
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/ 
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager 
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Microsoft Intune: http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoftintune/
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/
The RMS blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/rms/
App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
The Surface Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/surface/
The Application Proxy blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/applicationproxyblog/

The Forefront Endpoint Protection blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

DPM 2012 R2

~ Rajeev Narshana | Support Escalation Engineer

Hi everyone, Rajeev Narshana here from the DPM support team at Microsoft. With the release of Update Rollup 4 for System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/3009516), registering a DPM 2012 SP1 or later server to backup to Azure is much simpler. This article walks through this process which is also described in the documentation library at https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/azure/dn337336.aspx. For additional information on Azure backup options, pre-requisites, etc., please see https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/azure/dn337332.aspx.

Note that with the release of UR5, several new features & support for more data types is introduced. Please see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/3021791 for more details.

Also be aware that it is necessary to upgrade to the latest Azure agent (version 2.0.8703.0 or later). If the latest agent is not installed, online backups will fail and no Data Protection Manager to Windows Azure operation will work correctly. The latest agent can be downloaded from the Azure portal from under the Recovery Services backup vault.

STEPS

1. Create a Backup Vault

a. Sign in to MS Azure. You will be directed there if you click the "Manage subscription" button in the DPM console -> Management -> Online tab.

b. Use "Quick Create" in Data Services -> Recovery Services -> Backup Vault from the "New" button at the bottom of the Azure home page.

c. Put in an intuitive name and geographical region.

d. Your vault will be ready in just a few minutes.

2. Download Azure Agent

a. Click on the Backup Vault you created from the Quick Start page->Recovery Services.

b. Click on the link called "For Windows Server or System Center Data Protection Manager or Windows Client" under "Download Azure Backup Agent". Save the MARSAgentInstaller.exe on your server.

3. Install the Azure Backup Agent by launching the setup wizard

a. Installation settings.

b. Proxy Configuration

c. Microsoft Update Opt-In

d. Prerequisite check

e. Installation

4. Download the Vault credentials

a. From Azure Quick Start -> Recovery Services -> Vault, click the link "Download vault credentials"

b. Choose to save the file to a location on your server. The credentials are sensitive and should be deleted after use. The credentials are valid for only 48 hours.

c. That’s all you will need from Azure. You may log out now.

5. Register the DPM server in Azure backup vault

a. Once you have the Azure agent installed, the DPM console -> Management -> Online tab shows a new "Register" button

b. Once you click on the "Register" button the "Register Server Wizard" starts. Enter your proxy settings in the first window.

c. Next, put in your vault credentials. Click "Browse" and then browse to the location where you saved the vault credential file from Azure. Click on the file and click "Open".

d. The wizard is now populated with the vault details.

e. Next you can put in your throttling settings.

f. In the next window, provide a location for staging during recovery. The space required will depend on the amount of data you might want to recover simultaneously.

g. Next, enter a passphrase for encryption. This passphrase must be kept safe. If this is lost, data cannot be decrypted.

h. That’s all!

i. Note that the DPM console now shows the availability of Azure Backup.

6. Create or modify a protection group to include online protection

a. A new "I want online protection" option is available

b. This option is available only if disk based protection is opted for.

c. From the list of data sources, you may chose the ones for which you need online protection. For a list of supported data sources, please see: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/azure/dn337337.aspx. With the release of UR5, support for backup of more data types to Azure is introduced (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/3021791/en-us).

d. Specify the Backup Schedule for online protection. For more information on the retention goals and its restrictions, please see: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/azure/dn337332.aspx

e. Specify the Retention Goals:

f. With System Center 2012 R2 UR5, you now have the option for offline replica creation. See https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/azure/dn337341.aspx#BKMK_Offline for more details.

g. Your protection group is now ready to be created!

7. More information about the Azure backup vault for DPM

a. On the backup vault page, click on "Servers" to see your registered servers using that vault. In case you need to re-register the same server to the same vault (maybe you had to rebuild your DPM server with a new OS or a new hardware), then you can use the "Allow Re-registration" link at the bottom. In case you wish to remove this server from backup vault, use the "Delete" button.

b. Click on "Protected Items" to see a quick summary of data sources backed up to Azure.

c. The "Dashboard" gives you a usage summary.

Note:

1. The Azure agent installer logs are in C:\Windows\Temp and include the following:

OBInstaller0Curr.errlog
OBManagedlog.LOGCurr.errlog
OBMsi.txt
OBPatch.txt

2. The Azure agent logs are: "%installation directory of agent%\Temp\CBEngine*.errlog (default - C:\Program Files\Microsoft Azure Recovery Services Agent\Temp\CBEngine*.errlog")

But more on that later…

Thanks to the DPM & Azure product group folks for making Azure backups simpler yet secure with this release!

Rajeev Narshana | Support Escalation Engineer | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news onFacebookandTwitter:

System Center All Up: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/

Configuration Manager Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/ 
Data Protection Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/ 
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/ 
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/ 
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager 
Virtual Machine Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm

The Forefront Endpoint Protection blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

Just a quick note to let you know that we have a new Guided Walkthrough troubleshooter available that helps identify and resolve some of the more common issues related to Exchange Protection and Recovery issues in System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager (DPM 2012 and DPM 2012 R2).

You can find the troubleshooter here:

3041370 - Troubleshooting Exchange Protection and Recovery Issues in Data Protection Manager (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/3041370)

J.C. Hornbeck| Solution Asset PM | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news onFacebookandTwitter:

Main System Center blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/

Configuration Manager Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
Data Protection Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
Orchestrator Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
Virtual Machine Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm

Microsoft Intune: http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoftintune/
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/
RMS blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/rms/
App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv

Forefront Endpoint Protection blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
Forefront Identity Manager blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/
Application Proxy blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/applicationproxyblog/
The Surface Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/surface/

After installing Update Rollup 5 for System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager (DPM 2012 R2), when an inquiry is run on the local DPM server or on another attached DPM server for secondary protection, the console may crash. After restarting the server, the DPM UI freezes at one of the following windows and DPM cmdlets are unresponsive.

For additional details as well as a download link for a hotfix that resolves this problem, please see the following:

KB3040326 - Console crashes when you run an inquiry on a DPM server after you install Update Rollup 5 for System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/3040326)

J.C. Hornbeck| Solution Asset PM | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news onFacebookandTwitter:

Main System Center blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/

Configuration Manager Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
Data Protection Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
Orchestrator Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
Virtual Machine Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm

Microsoft Intune: http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoftintune/
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/
RMS blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/rms/
App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv

Forefront Endpoint Protection blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
Forefront Identity Manager blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/
Application Proxy blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/applicationproxyblog/
The Surface Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/surface/

ConfigMgr 2012 R2

When you run the C:>DpmSync.exe –restoredb –dbloc command line to restore the DPMDB.bak file, the operation fails with the following error:

Unhandled Exception: Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.FailedOperationException: Restore failed for Server <DPMDBName>. ---> Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Common.ExecutionFailureException: An exception occurred while executing a Transact-SQL statement or batch. ---> System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Directory lookup for the file "<D:\Microsoft System Center 2012\DPMDB\MSDPM2012$DPMDB.mdf>" failed with the operating system error 2(The system cannot find the file specified.). File 'MSDPM2012$DPMDB_dat' cannot be restored to 'D:\Microsoft System Center 2012\DPMDB\MSDPM2012$DPMDB.mdf'. Use WITH MOVE to identify a valid location for the file.Directory lookup for the file "<D:\Microsoft System Center 2012\DPMDB\MSDPM2012$D>PMDB_log.ldf" failed with the operating system error 2(The system cannot find the file specified.). File 'MSDPM2012$DPMDBLog_dat' cannot be restored to 'D:\Microsoft System Center2012\DPMDB\MSDPM2012$DPMDB_log.ldf'. Use WITH MOVE to identify a valid locationfor the file.Problems were identified while planning for the RESTORE statement. Previous messages provide details.RESTORE DATABASE is terminating abnormally.at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Common.ConnectionManager.ExecuteTSql(ExecuteTSqlAction action, Object execObject, DataSet fillDataSet, Boolean catchException)at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Common.ServerConnection.ExecuteNonQuery(String sqlCommand, ExecutionTypes executionType)--- End of inner exception stack trace --- at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Common.ServerConnection.ExecuteNonQuery(String sqlCommand, ExecutionTypes executionType)at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Common.ServerConnection.ExecuteNonQuery(StringCollection sqlCommands, ExecutionTypes executionType)at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.ExecutionManager.ExecuteNonQuery(StringCollection queries)at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.BackupRestoreBase.ExecuteSql(Server server, StringCollection queries)at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.Restore.SqlRestore(Server srv) --- End of inner exception stack trace --- at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.Restore.SqlRestore(Server srv) at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.RestoreDbSync.RestoreDBHelper.RestoreFromBackupFile(String dbLocation) at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.RestoreDbSync.RestoreDBHelper.RestoreDb(String dbLocation)at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.RestoreDbSync.RestoreDbSync.Main(String[] args) <D:\Microsoft System Center 2012\DPM\DPM\bin>> .//

This problem may occur if the System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager (DPM 2012 or DPM 2012 R2) installation directory has changed. For example, assume that the DPM installation path was originally the following: 

D:\Microsoft System Center 2012

However, at some point a reinstall was performed and this is now the installation path:

D:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2012

For all the details as well as a resolution please see the following:

KB3047774 - "The system cannot find the file specified" error when you use Data Protection Manager to restore DPMDB.bak (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3047774)

J.C. Hornbeck| Solution Asset PM | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

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ConfigMgr 2012 R2

Hi everyone, Dwayne Jackson here with another tip for you in case you ever run into an issue where a consistency check in System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager (DPM 2012 or DPM 2012 R2) fails for an Exchange database in a non-clusteredconfiguration with the symptoms below.

SYMPTOMS

1. The consistency check job displays the following error:

Type: Consistency check
Status: Failed
Description: DPM encountered a retryable VSS error. (ID 30112 Details: VssError: The writer experienced a transient error.  If the backup process is retried, the error may not reoccur. (0x800423F3))

More information
End time: Date/Time
Start time: Date/Time
Time elapsed:
Data transferred: 0 MB
Cluster node -
Source details: Problem Mailbox Database Name
Protection group: Protection Group Name
Items scanned: 0
Items fixed: 0

2. The MSDPM.Error log shows the following during the time that the job failed:

0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.601       02           EventManager.cs(98)                     2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  NORMAL             Publishing event from ServerAlert.cs(827): AlertStateChange, [ObjectId=ca92a311-9f46-45bd-b9e9-3564d8c5c7f7]
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.616       02           EventManager.cs(98)                     2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  NORMAL             Publishing event from Replica.cs(2059): ReplicaStatusChange, [DataSourceID=ca05c3f6-973c-4c00-80e1-b7d5ab440edc]
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.632       27           OperationTypeLock.cs(628)                         2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  NORMAL             UnlockServer() of ReplicationOperationTypeLock, returning
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.632       27           OperationTypeLock.cs(518)                         2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  NORMAL             In Unlock() of ReplicationOperationTypeLock, returning
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.648       27           BackupMachine.cs(2159)                              2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  WARNING           BackupMachine : FAILURE - BACKUP, errorCode=PrmVssErrorRetryable
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.648       01           TaskInstance.cs(798)                      2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  WARNING           Task Diagnostic Information - <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.648       01           TaskInstance.cs(798)                      2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  WARNING           <TaskExecutionContext>
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.648       01           TaskInstance.cs(798)                      2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  WARNING             <PrmWriterId>ddd34536-63d2-4f6c-98c1-2a4ad30d1ee4</PrmWriterId>
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.648       01           TaskInstance.cs(798)                      2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  WARNING             <PrmDatasourceId>ca92a311-9f46-45bd-b9e9-3564d8c5c7f7</PrmDatasourceId>
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.648       01           TaskInstance.cs(798)                      2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  WARNING             <PrmActiveNodeName> ProtectedServerName.Contoso.Lab </PrmActiveNodeName>
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.648       01           TaskInstance.cs(798)                      2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  WARNING             <PrmLogicalReplicaId>ca05c3f6-973c-4c00-80e1-b7d5ab440edc</PrmLogicalReplicaId>
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.648       01           TaskInstance.cs(798)                      2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  WARNING             <PrmDatasetId>3807eb97-065b-41ed-b721-0fb04ba76ded</PrmDatasetId>
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.648       01           TaskInstance.cs(798)                      2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  WARNING             <PrmPhysicalReplicaId>d3fac23a-e9b0-46bb-a5e8-01b8c9181aff</PrmPhysicalReplicaId>
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.648       01           TaskInstance.cs(798)                      2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  WARNING             <PrmReplicaValidity>Allocated</PrmReplicaValidity>
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.648       01           TaskInstance.cs(798)                      2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  WARNING             <PrmReplicaStatus>Idle</PrmReplicaStatus>
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.648       01           TaskInstance.cs(798)                      2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  WARNING             <PrmOwnerLockId>00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000</PrmOwnerLockId>
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.648       01           TaskInstance.cs(798)                      2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  WARNING             <TEVerb>InitialReplicate</TEVerb>
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.648       01           TaskInstance.cs(798)                      2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  WARNING             <TEErrorState>Backup.RAPreBackupPending</TEErrorState>
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.648       01           TaskInstance.cs(798)                      2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  WARNING             <TEErrorDetails>&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?&gt;
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.648       01           TaskInstance.cs(798)                      2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  WARNING           &lt;q1:ErrorInfo ErrorCode="30112" DetailedCode="-2147212301" DetailedSource="2" ExceptionDetails="" xmlns:q1="http://schemas.microsoft.com/2003/dls/GenericAgentStatus.xsd"&gt;
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.648       01           TaskInstance.cs(798)                      2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  WARNING             &lt;q1:Parameter Name="protectedgroup" Value=" Protection Name" /&gt;
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.648       01           TaskInstance.cs(798)                      2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  WARNING             &lt;q1:Parameter Name="servername" Value=" ProtectedServerName.Contoso.Lab " /&gt;
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.648       01           TaskInstance.cs(798)                      2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  WARNING             &lt;q1:Parameter Name="datasourcename" Value=" Problem Mailbox Database Name " /&gt;
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.648       01           TaskInstance.cs(798)                      2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  WARNING             &lt;q1:Parameter Name="agenttargetserver" Value=" ProtectedServerName.Contoso.Lab " /&gt;
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.648       01           TaskInstance.cs(798)                      2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  WARNING             &lt;q1:Parameter Name="datasourceid" Value="ca92a311-9f46-45bd-b9e9-3564d8c5c7f7" /&gt;
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.648       01           TaskInstance.cs(798)                      2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  WARNING           &lt;/q1:ErrorInfo&gt;</TEErrorDetails>
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.648       01           TaskInstance.cs(798)                      2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  WARNING           </TaskExecutionContext>
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.648       02           EventManager.cs(98)                     2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  NORMAL             Publishing event from TaskInstance.cs(823): TaskStop, [TaskID=2e9fdddb-8cc2-41c4-bb54-0b33c6dfd398]
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.648       01           TaskExecutor.cs(843)                     2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  FATAL   Task stopped (state=Failed, error=PrmVssErrorRetryable; -2147212301; WindowsHResult), search "Task Diagnostic Information" for details.
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.663       16           ActiveJob.cs(745)                                             WARNING           Fail: Task '2e9fdddb-8cc2-41c4-bb54-0b33c6dfd398' failed with error during execution.
0BEC      2788       03/12     14:09:02.663       16           Task.cs(235)                                       NORMAL             Changing task state from 'GenerateWorkplan' -> 'Failed' (2e9fdddb-8cc2-41c4-bb54-0b33c6dfd398)

3. You find events similar to the following on the protected server where the problem database resides:

Log Name:      Application
Source:        MSExchangeRepl
Date:          Date/Time
Event ID:      2024
Task Category: Exchange VSS Writer
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      ProtectedServerName.Contoso.Lab
Description:
The Microsoft Exchange Replication service VSS Writer (Instance 52a69217-4a51-4a78-a400-d46ee7cc1c8f) failed with error 80131516 when preparing for a backup.

Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="MSExchangeRepl" />
    <EventID Qualifiers="49156">2024</EventID>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>2</Task>
    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2015-03-12T14:15:02.000000000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>8418</EventRecordID>
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer> ProtectedServerName.Contoso.Lab </Computer>
    <Security />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data>52a69217-4a51-4a78-a400-d46ee7cc1c8f</Data>
    <Data>80131516</Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>

*******************

Log Name:      Application
Source:        MSExchangeRepl
Date:         
Event ID:      2140
Task Category: Exchange VSS Writer
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      ProtectedServerName.Contoso.Lab
Description:
The Microsoft Exchange Replication service VSS Writer encountered an exception in function Microsoft::Exchange::Cluster::ReplicaVssWriter::CReplicaVssWriterInterop::PrepareBackup. HResult -2146233066. Exception System.OverflowException: Arithmetic operation resulted in an overflow.
   at Microsoft.Isam.Esent.Interop.JET_LOGTIME..ctor(DateTime time)
   at Microsoft.Isam.Esent.Interop.JET_SIGNATURE..ctor(Int32 random, Nullable`1 time, String computerName)
   at Microsoft.Exchange.Cluster.Replay.ReplicaInstanceManager.GetRunningInstanceSignatureAndCheckpoint(Guid instanceGuid, Nullable`1& logfileSignature, Int64& lowestGenerationRequired, Int64& highestGenerationRequired, Int64& lastGenerationBackedUp)
   at Microsoft.Exchange.Cluster.ReplicaVssWriter.CReplicaVssWriterInterop.PrepareBackupReplica(IVssComponent* pComponent, ReplayConfiguration replica, BackupInstance backupInstance)
   at Microsoft.Exchange.Cluster.ReplicaVssWriter.CReplicaVssWriterInterop.PrepareBackup(IVssWriterComponents* pComponents).

Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="MSExchangeRepl" />
    <EventID Qualifiers="49156">2140</EventID>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>2</Task>
    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2015-03-12T14:15:02.000000000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>8417</EventRecordID>
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer> ProtectedServerName.Contoso.Lab</Computer>
    <Security />
</System>
  <EventData>
    <Data>Microsoft::Exchange::Cluster::ReplicaVssWriter::CReplicaVssWriterInterop::PrepareBackup</Data>
    <Data>-2146233066</Data>
    <Data>System.OverflowException: Arithmetic operation resulted in an overflow.
   at Microsoft.Isam.Esent.Interop.JET_LOGTIME..ctor(DateTime time)
   at Microsoft.Isam.Esent.Interop.JET_SIGNATURE..ctor(Int32 random, Nullable`1 time, String computerName)
   at Microsoft.Exchange.Cluster.Replay.ReplicaInstanceManager.GetRunningInstanceSignatureAndCheckpoint(Guid instanceGuid, Nullable`1&amp; logfileSignature, Int64&amp; lowestGenerationRequired, Int64&amp; highestGenerationRequired, Int64&amp; lastGenerationBackedUp)
   at Microsoft.Exchange.Cluster.ReplicaVssWriter.CReplicaVssWriterInterop.PrepareBackupReplica(IVssComponent* pComponent, ReplayConfiguration replica, BackupInstance backupInstance)
   at Microsoft.Exchange.Cluster.ReplicaVssWriter.CReplicaVssWriterInterop.PrepareBackup(IVssWriterComponents* pComponents)</Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>

*******************

Log Name:      Application
Source:        MSExchangeRepl
Date:         
Event ID:      2112
Task Category: Exchange VSS Writer
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      ProtectedServerName.Contoso.Lab
Description:
The Microsoft Exchange Replication service VSS Writer instance 52a69217-4a51-4a78-a400-d46ee7cc1c8f failed with error code 0 when preparing for a backup of database ' Problem Mailbox Database Name '.

Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="MSExchangeRepl" />
    <EventID Qualifiers="49156">2112</EventID>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>2</Task>
    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2015-03-12T14:15:02.000000000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>8416</EventRecordID>
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer> ProtectedServerName.Contoso.Lab</Computer>
    <Security />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data>52a69217-4a51-4a78-a400-d46ee7cc1c8f</Data>
    <Data>0</Data>
    <Data> Problem Mailbox Database Name </Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>

***********

4. On the protected server experiencing the problem you see the following:

**DPMRA.Error**

03/12     14:08:49.672       31           vssbaserequestor.cpp(194)         [00000000011E7010]       2E9FDDDB-8CC2-41C4-BB54-0B33C6DFD398  NORMAL             CVssBaseRequestor::StartGatherWriterMetadata [00000000011E7010]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.672       31           vssbaserequestor.cpp(943)         [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             QueryStatus returned 0x4230a, Releasing VssAsync [0000000001480DE0]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.844       31           createsnapshotsubtask.cpp(1798)           [0000000001237660]                       NORMAL             m_fIsSnapshotLessBackup 0
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.844       31           createsnapshotsubtask.cpp(1808)           [0000000001237660]                       NORMAL             Using AUTO-RELEASE Snapshot
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.844       31           createsnapshotsubtask.cpp(1892)           [0000000001237660]                       NORMAL             snapshotContext 2
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.844       31           vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(624)                [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             CVssSnapshotRequestor::StartPrepareForBackup [00000000011E7010] m_snapshotInfo.snapshotContext 2
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.844       31           vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(265)                [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             CVssSnapshotRequestor::AddComponentForSnapshot [00000000011E7010]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.844       31           vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(345)                [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             CVssSnapshotRequestor::AddComponentForSnapshot: Seeing if caption: [Mailbox Database NC1] matches
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.844       31           vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(360)                [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             CVssSnapshotRequestor::AddComponentForSnapshot: found matching caption for : [Mailbox Database NC1]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.844       31           vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(2051)             [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             CVssSnapshotRequestor::AddVolumeForFile [00000000011E7010]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.844       31           vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(1578)             [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             CVssSnapshotRequestor::GetVolumeMountPointPath [00000000011E7010]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.844       31           vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(404)                [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             CVssSnapshotRequestor::AddVolumeForSnapshot [00000000011E7010]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.844       31           vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(436)                                                NORMAL                ssLocalVolumeGuid = [\\?\Volume{797158a7-c357-11e4-80c0-806e6f6e6963}\], ssClusterVolGuid=[\\?\Volume{797158a7-c357-11e4-80c0-806e6f6e6963}\]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.844       31           vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(472)                [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             CVssSnapshotRequestor::AddVolumeForSnapshot [00000000011E7010]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.844       31           vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(495)                [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             CVssSnapshotRequestor: AddVolumeForSnapshot - Marked volume C:\ to be snapshot
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.844       31           vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(2051)             [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             CVssSnapshotRequestor::AddVolumeForFile [00000000011E7010]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.844       31           vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(1578)             [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             CVssSnapshotRequestor::GetVolumeMountPointPath [00000000011E7010]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.844       31           vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(404)                [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             CVssSnapshotRequestor::AddVolumeForSnapshot [00000000011E7010]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.844       31           vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(436)                                                NORMAL                ssLocalVolumeGuid = [\\?\Volume{797158a7-c357-11e4-80c0-806e6f6e6963}\], ssClusterVolGuid=[\\?\Volume{797158a7-c357-11e4-80c0-806e6f6e6963}\]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.844       31           vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(472)                [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             CVssSnapshotRequestor::AddVolumeForSnapshot [00000000011E7010]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.844       31           vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(2051)             [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             CVssSnapshotRequestor::AddVolumeForFile [00000000011E7010]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.844       31           vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(1578)             [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             CVssSnapshotRequestor::GetVolumeMountPointPath [00000000011E7010]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.844       31           vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(404)                [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             CVssSnapshotRequestor::AddVolumeForSnapshot [00000000011E7010]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.844       31           vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(436)                                                NORMAL                ssLocalVolumeGuid = [\\?\Volume{797158a7-c357-11e4-80c0-806e6f6e6963}\], ssClusterVolGuid=[\\?\Volume{797158a7-c357-11e4-80c0-806e6f6e6963}\]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.844       31           vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(472)                [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             CVssSnapshotRequestor::AddVolumeForSnapshot [00000000011E7010]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.876       31           vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(656)                [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             CVssSnapshotRequestor::StartPrepareForBackup [00000000011E7010]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.891       31           vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(1734)             [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             CVssSnapshotRequestor::ReleaseVolumesForSnapshot [00000000011E7010]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.891       31           vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(1631)             [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             CVssSnapshotRequestor::PrepareVolumesForSnapshot [00000000011E7010]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:50.891       31           vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(720)                [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             CVssSnapshotRequestor: Using provider {B5946137-7B9F-4925-AF80-51ABD60B20D5} for volume \\?\Volume{797158a7-c357-11e4-80c0-806e6f6e6963}\
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:53.094       31           vssbaserequestor.cpp(943)         [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             QueryStatus returned 0x4230a, Releasing VssAsync [0000000001480DE0]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:53.094       31           vssbaserequestor.cpp(1067)      [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             CVssBaseRequestor::StartGatherWriterStatus [00000000011E7010]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:54.094       31           vssbaserequestor.cpp(943)         [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             QueryStatus returned 0x4230a, Releasing VssAsync [00000000014807A0]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:54.094       31           vssbaserequestor.cpp(1100)      [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             CVssBaseRequestor::CheckWriterStatus [00000000011E7010]
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:54.094       31           vssbaserequestor.cpp(1131)      [00000000011E7010]                       NORMAL             Checking Writer status for writerid: {76FE1AC4-15F7-4BCD-987E-8E1ACB462FB7}                                       writerName: Microsoft Exchange Writer
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:08:54.094       31           vssbaserequestor.cpp(1139)      [00000000011E7010]                       WARNING           Failed: Hr: = [0x800423f3] CVssBaseRequestor: CheckWritersStatus -                                                         Writer instance - {2AC7AF99-6588-4B1C-A41E-C13DDAC88602} writer id - {76FE1AC4-15F7-4BCD-987E-8E1ACB462FB7} writer name - Microsoft Exchange Writer                                                         writer state - 1
2FAC      0994       03/12     14:09:00.485       05           fsmtransition.cpp(111)  [0000000001245A60]                       WARNING                Failed: Hr: = [0x800423f3] HasEventErrorCode: completion: 0xa10c, signature: 0xaabbcc00

5. If you examine the writers on the protected server where the problem database resides leveraging the vssadmin list writers command via an administrative command line you see the following:

Writer name: 'Microsoft Exchange Writer'
   Writer Id: {76fe1ac4-15f7-4bcd-987e-8e1acb462fb7}
   Writer Instance Id: {2ac7af99-6588-4b1c-a41e-c13ddac88602}
   State: [7] Failed
   Last error: Retryable error

CAUSE

If you encounter the above symptoms then most likely the Microsoft Exchange Writer has crashed and needs to be restarted. 

RESOLUTION

You can do this by completing the steps below, however these steps should be DONE DURING A MAINTENANCE WINDOW ONLY in order to avoid impacting the Exchange users.

Step1: From the problem server where the database resides, open Services, select the Microsoft Exchange Replication service and restart it.

Step2: From an administrative Command Prompt (Run As Administrator) run the vssadmin list writers command. Here’s what the output looks like when in a failed state:

Here’s what the output looks like when working properly:

Step 3: From Data Protection Manager Console, navigate to Protection and select the problem data source.

Select Perform consistency check...

From Monitoring we can review the status of the consistency check job.

When complete, from Protection we now have 1 recovery point on disk for the data source and everything works as expected.

Dwayne Jackson| Senior Support Escalation Engineer | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

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~ Chris Butcher| Senior Support Escalation Engineer

Hi folks, Chris Butcher here again with another DPM blog entry for you. I’ve had a few questions recently about upkeep on the DPM database, and while most of the time questions start about maintaining the size, once the conversation gets going it expands well beyond that. I have talked to several people and in the end, this really can be grouped into 4 distinct pieces, so I decided it was time we covered these pieces in depth.

To that end, I am writing a series of three blog posts to cover three areas and will point to an existing post for the final piece. This will be broken down into an approach that starts by checking the database consistency, followed by a look at fragmentation (or eliminating it) to optimize performance. Third, we make sure there is no extra growth and that it is sized optimally, and lastly, we talk about backing up the DPMDB in order to have a good copy available should it ever be needed.

I decided to cover this in separate posts because A) the great Mike Jacquet has already written a great article on protecting/backing up your DPMDB, and B) no one wants to read a 100 page blog post. It just makes more sense to put these into smaller consumable chunks, plus it also helps that each action can be done alone and none are dependent on any other steps.

So with all that said, we can tackle the first task in the chain and that is checking for corruption in the DPMDB. While this sounds super vital, and it can really cause issues, it oddly isn’t something we see too much of in the DPM world. So, this is to say it is not a big problem. That’s not to be confused with “It is not a problem.” I have seen instances where there was corruption in the database, it’s just that this is a very rare situation.

Regardless, if you want to run a database consistency check (DBCC) against your DPMDB, I will cover some options to do that. This is addressed from the angle of a person who is familiar with SQL, but far from DBA. Whether you simply want to manually check the database from time to time or set up a recurring job to run, the process is very similar. The difference will be called out in the steps below.

These operations will be done through the SQL Management Studio where your DPMDB resides. If you are not familiar, note that you may have to run SQL Management Studio as administrator. If you don’t do this, it may fail to connect to SQL because of permissions.

When SQL launches, it should automatically fill in the servername\instance name as shown below.

If this isn’t populated for you then you can open DPM to find out this information. By clicking on the About DPM button, it will open up and towards the bottom give you the name of the SQL server, the SQL instance name and the DPMDB name in the format: SQLServerName\SQLInstanceName\DPMDBName

To connect in SQL, you will simply need the SQLServerName\SQLInstanceName.

With a connection to SQL, we will now walk through the steps to run DBCC.

1. Expand your SQL instance and then expand Management until you see Maintenance Plans. Right click Maintenance Plans and select Maintenance Plan Wizard. This will walk us through what we need to simply run DBCC.

2. Once the Maintenance Plan Wizard opens you will first give this job a name that is easy to recognize. You then will decide if you want to have this run on a regular basis or manually run it on demand. To run on demand, just click Next. If you want to schedule it, click Change. Set the schedule according to what works best for you. I have a note on frequency at the bottom of the page.

3. On the next page, simply select the box to Check Database Integrity and then click Next on the next two screens.

4. To define the task, pull down the menu to <Select on or more>. This will bring up a new screen where you will select your DPMDB by name.

5. Finally, select the location where you want a report written. You will need to remember this, as running the DBCC itself will output all information to this file.

Now that the job is set up, you can either let the job run on schedule and check the log file after each run, or run it manually. To do this, simply expand the same Maintenance Plans item and right click on the job you created and choose Execute.

Either way, once it is run, be sure to review the log created as specified in step 5 above. If it shows any errors, you will then have to investigate accordingly to determine the next steps, as there is no way to cover all of the possible outcomes and their corresponding remedies.

The standard report will only report success and little else if there are no issues found.

Frequency

How often is the right amount to run this? That’s a great question with no real answer. This can be researched and set according to your comfort level but I will say this about DPMDB: From the support view of things, we very rarely have seen a call that was due to actual database corruption. So, for the suggestions which might say to do this daily, I think it is overkill for sure. When you factor in the process intensive nature of this, I think that using something along the line of a quarterly (minimum) to annual (maximum) schedule is probably where you should initially target things.

Finally, if you do schedule this to run automatically, it is ideal to avoid midnight to 3 AM. This is when DPM will have house cleaning jobs run. While it most likely will only affect performance of these jobs, it is best to stay away from this time frame to be sure we don’t run into any conflicts.

You can continue on to Part 2 in this series here.

Chris Butcher| Senior Support Escalation Engineer | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

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DPM 2012 R2

~ Chris Butcher| Senior Support Escalation Engineer 

Hi folks, it’s Chris Butcher again with part 2 in my series of posts on DPMDB maintenance. This installment covers identifying and dealing with fragmentation in your DPMDB, and if you happened to miss Part 1 you can find it here:

DPMDB Maintenance: Database consistency check and your DPMDB

I often hear questions around maintenance of the DPM database and there are two areas where these questions come in. First is how to manage the size of the database, although I won’t be going into detail on that here as that is covered in my next blog on this series. The other question concerns DPMDB optimization. The reality of things is that many DPM admins are not also SQL admins but they’re still stuck with hoping their DPM database is optimized. Well, depending on how long your DPM server has been running, this may not be the case and there are some things you can do to try to help with that.

This article breaks this down into four phases:

• Determining current fragmentation levels
• One time job to reorganize the indexes
• One time job to rebuild the indexes
• Scheduling ongoing reorganization job

SQL databases, similar to the file system on a disk, will fragment over time. As tables grow and shrink, this fragmentation can ultimately play a role in how well SQL runs. When fragmentation happens, SQL has two ways it can address the issue: Reorganizing, which is a light weight job that will defragment the leaf level of clustered and non-clustered indexes on tables, and Rebuilding, which will drop and re-create the indexes.

Both methods have a small side effect of reclaiming some disk space by compacting. More information on this topic from a SQL standpoint can be found here:

SQL Server - Reorganize and Rebuild Indexes: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189858.aspx

Database maintenance in relation to reorganizing or rebuilding indexes in the DPMDB will vary by workload. The following script can be run against your DPMDB to determine the amount of fragmentation. Specifically, this will show how many indexes have >30% fragmentation and how many tables there are at that level.

NOTE These scripts are written using DPMDB for the name. Most servers will likely have a different DPMDB name (usually DPMDB_Comuptername). Be sure to change this within the script to reflect your DPMDB name.

Determining current fragmentation levels

USE [DPMDB]

SELECT OBJECT_NAME(object_id),index_id, avg_fragmentation_in_percent, fragment_count, page_count, avg_fragment_size_in_pages, index_type_desc

FROM sys.dm_db_index_physical_stats(DB_ID(), Null,Null,Null,Null)

WHERE avg_fragmentation_in_percent > 30

AND index_type_desc IN('CLUSTERED INDEX', 'NONCLUSTERED INDEX')

order by avg_fragmentation_in_percent desc

To run the query, open SQL Management Studio (you may have to “Run as Administrator”).

1. Expand Databases to show the name of the database you will need to run this against.

2. Click New Query to open the query window.

3. Copy the query above into the query window. On the top line, change the USE DPMDB command to reflect the correct name of the database in your environment.

4. Select Execute from the top menu bar.

5. Review the output in the bottom pane. Look for avg_fragmentation_in_percent to determine the amount of fragmentation in your given database.

Using these steps, you can identify how many tables have high fragmentation and determine if you should rebuild or simply reorganize. I have some general suggestions below but please note that these values are guidelines, not hard and fast rules.

- Index should be rebuild when index fragmentation is greater than 30% or 40%.
- Index should be reorganized when index fragmentation is between 10% to 40%.
- Index rebuilding process uses more CPU and it locks the database resources and requires DPM to be turned off while it runs.

A caveat to this is that if you have fragmentation percentages higher than the suggested numbers but the fragmentation count is low (which is possible after rebuilding). In those cases, generally speaking you shouldn’t need to worry about it.

Based on your findings, you have two options as mentioned above. Option one is to reorganize the indexes when fragmentation is between 10 and 40 percent. This can be done while the DPM server is online and operating normally. It can have a slight impact on performance but shouldn’t have any noticeable negative impact.

IMPORTANT As with anything else you do with the DPMDB, it is important to back up the database before running any scripts that modify it in any way. This allows you to go back to a point in time in case of a failure. You can reference this blog post and scroll down to the sections titled Using DPMBACKUP to back up the DPMDB or Use Native SQL Server backup and not use DPM for backup at all for the easiest ways to get a backup of your DPM database.

One time job to reorganize the indexes

Using steps similar to the ones above, you can run a script to manually re-index all of the tables. Just substitute the lines below and paste them in step 3 above. Be sure to change the DPMDB name to match yours before executing.

USE [DPMDB]

EXEC sp_MSforeachtable @command1="print '?'", @command2="ALTER INDEX ALL ON ? REORGANIZE"

One time job to rebuild the indexes

If you find a very high amount of fragmentation, it may be more valuable to have SQL rebuild the indexes. In order for this to happen you will have to stop the DPM services so it should be done during a slow time in the DPM cycle.

Before running this command, open Services Manager on the DPM server, stop DPM and set it to disabled.

Once the service is stopped, go back to SQL Management Studio and execute the following command to have SQL rebuild the fragmented indexes. As usual, be sure to change the DB name on the first line to match with your system.

USE [DPMDB]

EXEC sp_MSforeachtable @command1="print '?'", @command2="ALTER INDEX ALL ON ? REBUILD WITH (ONLINE=OFF)"

Now that we have things running a bit more optimized, the question arises, “How do we keep it that way?” Great question and there are several possible answers.

The article below talks about the options. I find the wizard to be the easiest to follow and of course covers what we want from a DPM perspective, so that is the one I will highlight here:

SQL Server - Create a Maintenance Plan: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189953.aspx

Using the Maintenance Plan Wizard, we will walk through creation of a new plan to automatically run a reorganization of the DPMDB indexes on a scheduled interval. The schedule for this should be done to best meet your usage and needs, but for a heavily used DPMDB a general guideline for this would be to reorganize once a week and then rebuild as needed. Since that is a manual process, it can be checked as often as monthly (using the first script mentioned) but at least once per quarter. Of course if the script shows a high fragmentation again, a rebuild should be run.

Scheduling ongoing reorganization job

1. In SQL Management Studio, expand Management , right-click Maintenance Plans and select Maintenance Plan Wizard.

2. In the Wizard, give your plan a name to help recognize it, then click on Change to create a schedule for this job.

3. Choose to make the job recurring and set the schedule to something that meets your needs. As stated above, for reorganizing the indexes, once a week is the most frequent schedule you will likely need. Since this will be done while DPM is still running, try to schedule it at an hour when the fewest backups will be running to minimize the impact.

4. When selecting the maintenance tasks, check Reorganize Index only.

5. Click Next on the Task Order screen.

6. For the Define Reorganize Index Task screen, change Databases to Specific databases and select your DPMDB by name.

7. Click Next on Report Options unless you want to specify something different to receive reports.

8. Select Finish to complete the process and allow SQL to configure the schedule to run automatically.

You can continue on to Part 3 here.

Chris Butcher| Senior Support Escalation Engineer | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

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System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager DPM 2012 R2

Azure Backup has announced a new pricing model for data being backed-up to Azure. This new model is based on the number of machines that are being backed-up, and is measured and reported in the monthly Azure bill as Protected Instances. The new pricing has an impact on the Azure Backup bill for the data sources being backed-up to Azure via DPM servers, and this blog provides an overview of the changes that DPM customers should expect.

To begin with, you can read more about the new Azure Backup pricing and have a look at the FAQs on the pricing page.

Protected Instances in a DPM deployment

In deployments where DPM is protecting your data sources, the primary site machines are the Protected Instances being counted for billing. The notion is simple – Azure Backup is charged based on the machines being protected to Azure, and DPM is just the conduit for the data flow. Thus in the sample deployment below, the servers marked in blue will be counted towards the Protected Instance usage and the DPM server (in grey) and the local data is not counted for the purposes of billing.

In this example, the monthly software management cost is calculated and shown in the table below:

Note that Hyper-V hosts are not counted for the Protected Instances calculation. Instead, the Hyper-V virtual machines are used for the calculation. You can find more information on the datasources supported with DPM in the Pricing FAQ, along with more examples.

Estimating the Protected Instances and Storage

A DPM deployment could be a few tens of machines or could scale to a few hundred machines. In order to estimate the number of Protected Instances and the storage utilization, we have published a PowerShell script that is run on the DPM server:  The script collects information from the DPM database on the datasource sizes, machines, and recovery points. This information is processed, aggregated, and presented as an HTML output file.

You can download the script from the TechNet Gallery: https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Estimating-Azure-Backup-e0d4abbc/.

Once you have the usage numbers, you can plug the numbers into the Azure Backup TCO calculator– an excel sheet to simplify the work of estimating the Azure bill.

Related links/content:

• Learn more about Azure Backup and System Center DPM.
• Click for a free Azure trial subscription, and download the latest Azure Backup agent to get started!
• Need help? Reach out to the DPM forums and the Azure Backup forum for support.
• Tell us how we can improve Azure Backup: contribute new ideas and up-vote existing ones !
• Follow us on Twitter and Channel9 to get latest news and updates.

~ Chris Butcher| Senior Support Escalation Engineer 

Hi everyone, Chris Butcher here again with part 3 in my series of posts on DPMDB maintenance. This article addresses DPMDB size and the possibility to shrink. I heavily leveraged some information already put together by one of my colleagues in the UK, Emily McLaren, so she deserves credit for much of this information. And “heavily leveraged” in many parts means I have used her exact information including screen shots, so thanks Emily!

In case you missed parts 1 and 2 you can find those here:

DPMDB Maintenance: Database consistency check and your DPMDB

DPMDB Maintenance: Identifying and dealing with fragmentation in your DPMDB

You can also consider the blog post by Mike Jacquet below to be part 4 which completes this series:

How to protect your Data Protection Manager SQL database

DPMDB Size

While most people may not realize that there is database corruption (out first post), or that their performance has slowly been degrading (our second post), we do get quite a few questions about the size of the DPMDB. Is it normal that it is so large? Why does it get so large? Is there anything we can do to shrink it?

These are all valid questions so let’s first start with the actual size. There is no guideline that will tell you how large you should expect yours to be. This is driven by a couple of major factors like retention range and what type of data you are keeping. It is normal for sure that these can grow to be quite large, and I regularly see them over 100GB, so a large DPMDB is not something to necessarily worry about.

What we can do, however, is look at what may be causing the large size and address that. There are some issues where you can decide how much data DPM should actually retain which can help with keeping the size as small as possible.

To get started, we need to open SQL Management Studio from the SQL server that houses the DPMDB. Right click on the DB in question and select properties.

If the DB is large you will then want to identify which table(s) in the DB are responsible. Large can be fairly subjective, as certain configurations (e.g. protection of large SharePoint Farms) will naturally lead to DB growth. If it is causing issues with disk space or there are performance issues, then the following steps should be followed regardless.

To find out which tables are large, run the Disk Usage by Top Table report against the DPMDB:

Based on the output of this report, which should list the tables in order of size (descending), take a look at the top tables. Below I listed some of the tables that are most frequently large in size. 

Tbl_RM_SharePointRecoverableObject

This table can become large when large SharePoint farms are being protected (e.g. farms with millions of items), or multiple farms are protected.

The following formula will approximately tell you how big the DPMDB can get when protecting a large SharePoint farm:

((Number of items in the Farm in millions) x  3) + ((number of content DBs x Number of SQL servers in farm x 30) / 1024) = size of DPMDB (GB)

This only takes into account the SharePoint related DB growth though, so it may be larger than this value overall, meaning you may need to work out the size per farm and then total them. Unfortunately there is not much we can do to reduce the disk space used by the DB in this scenario.

Tbl_ARM_DirAndFile and/or Tbl_ARM_Path

The tape catalog pruning settings can cause these tables to be large. To reduce the size of these tables, modify the tape catalog retention values to reduce the amount of data we are storing in the DPMDB:

The default is to allow it to remove the entries as the tapes expire. If tapes are kept for multiple years, this can lead to a large amount of data retained in the DB. Change the settings to “Prune catalog for tapes older than” and set it to a sensible value (e.g. one month).

Updating this will not delete data on tape, but will mean that tapes older than this value will need to be re-cataloged in order to restore data from them.

Tbl_TE_TaskTrail

If this table is growing large then it is generally a sign that the overnight jobs to clean up the DB are failing, as garbage collection should clean up any data older than 33 days in the task trail table. To check if garbage collection is doing its job, we need to run a query on the SQL server where DPMDB resides. Open SQL Management Studio and run the following query:

use DPMDB --you will need to put in your DPMDB name here

This will tell you how many entries there are that are greater than 33 days old. If 0 then GC is clearly working. However, if you see this return some entries, you will likely want to open a case with our support teams to help determine what is going on there.

TempDB Bloating

This is not as common as bloating of the DPM DB, but it can be a cause/symptom of some performance issues. Equally, if you are trying to understand where the disk space on the DPM server is going it could be being used up the TempDB.

What is the TempDB?

Briefly, TempDB is used for temporary objects (as one would expect) that are being used whilst queries are running. These variables or tables may be explicitly created by a query (e.g. a stored procedure generating output) or implicitly created (e.g. temp tables for sorting objects). This is useful to know in order to understand why it may be getting large.

If you want to know more about the TempDB there is further detail on MSDN here:

SQL Server tempdb Database: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190768.aspx

Why might it grow?

It could be simple in that we have a query working with a large amount of data, however this is not likely to be the case if it is growing by several GB. More commonly though, with DPM it is caused by a long running transaction. This can prevent cleanup of the transaction log which causes it to continue growing until the transaction completes, or indefinitely if it never completes.

Also, if other databases are collocated on the same instance, it may not be DPM at fault, as the TempDB is available to all DBs on an instance. For example, if another application is causing a problem with the TempDB it could therefore impact on DPMs console performance. By this same rationale, if you are sharing an instance with other DPM servers they all can be using it at the same time and thus growth should not be a surprise.

How do we tell if there is a problem?

First, in SQL management Studio open the TempDB properties:

If it is GB in size then there is likely a problem. Note that with TempDB it is not possible to enable AutoShrink, and if AutoGrow is enabled, once the DB grows large it will not drop back in size.

Troubleshooting

In the properties you can see if there is any currently free space in the TempDB. You can see this just below the size in the Properties window. If so, it is unlikely that whatever caused the growth is currently happening. If there is available free space in the TempDB then from the SQL management console you can try to shrink the TempDB size:

If there is available free space in the DB you should be able to shrink it. If you find that the size does not decrease as much as expected, check what the initial size of the DB is set to:

Sometimes this value can be set quite large. If so, drop it back to 8Mb and try the shrink again (this will be the lower limit of the shrink).

Restarting the SQL instance will also reset the TempDB size back to its initial size.

Once you shrink the DB, monitor it to see if the growth reoccurs. If so, try to identify when the growth occurs. You can look for AutoGrow events on the TempDB in the default trace files that are created by SQL in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL11.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Log(or a similar install location for the SQL instance). Identifying a particular time (or times) each day when the growth occurs is useful if you need to further engage support.

Chris Butcher| Senior Support Escalation Engineer | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

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System Center All Up: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/

Configuration Manager Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/ 
Data Protection Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/ 
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/ 
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/ 
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager 
Virtual Machine Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm

The Forefront Endpoint Protection blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

When you use Microsoft Azure Backup to back up data, the size of the primary data source is currently not sent to the service. The new Protected Instances pricing model needs this information for accurate billing because if there is no primary data source size information, the billing will be based on the total backup data that is stored in the service.

There is a new update available that allows the size information to be sent to Azure Backup as a part of each backup.

For more information on this update as well as a download link, please see the following:

3050804 - Update for Azure Backup to enable Protected Instances pricing (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3050804/)

J.C. Hornbeck| Solution Asset PM | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news onFacebookandTwitter:

System Center All Up: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/

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Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/ 
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/ 
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager 
Virtual Machine Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm

The Forefront Endpoint Protection blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

All Microsoft workloads that can be protected by Data Protection Manager (DPM) on disk or tape can also be protected to Azure Backup. At a high level, table below describes granularity at which DPM can protect various Microsoft workloads to Azure. It also describes granularity at which DPM can perform recovery from Azure.

Why choose DPM for Long Term Retention of Microsoft Workloads to Azure?
Data resiliency is an important Enterprise strategy as compliance requires point in time data to be reproduced. Long term retention of data is an obvious outcome to meet compliance requirement. Data growth rate coupled with pressure on IT spending demands competitive total cost of ownership (TCO) for backup data.

Azure offers a competitive cost savings in comparison with tape. Gartner released a report (G00261961 – How to Determine If Cloud Backup Is Right for Your Servers, Published: 13 February 2014) which reported TCO of cloud backups significantly lower than tape-based back-up – “Although tape media is very inexpensive, a majority of the cost of tape-based backup is the “soft” costs, which occur around backup software, maintenance and staff time”.

As rightly called in the Gartner’s report “Is Cloud Backup Right for Your Servers?” backup window, restore time, bandwidth and latency play an important role in evaluating cloud backup strategy.

For Initial Replica, DPM provides capability to offline send the data to Azure which not only improves backup seeding time but also saves on network bandwidth. For more details on how to send Initial Replica offline to Azure refer to this TechNet article

With DPM sending incrementals to Azure, backup window can be contained to non-productions hours without any significant addition to bandwidth costs. An example for 1 TB Microsoft workload is shared below –

As DPM sends changed file contents efficiently to Azure, it significantly reduces storage and network costs.

Recommendation
Looking at the TCO benefits that DPM - Azure Backup brings and the fact that DPM sends forever incrementals to Azure as compared with fulls on tape; we recommend the following backup and retention schedule

How to use DPM to protect Microsoft workloads to Azure?
Once a DPM user configures Azure Backup with DPM, Create Protection Group Wizard now shows option to backup to the Azure (as shown below)

Once the user selects online protection, retention ranges can be selected as described in the following blog.

For all Server and Client workloads, DPM continues to provide similar integrated user experience for protection to Azure. This simplifies the admin overhead as opposed to using native tools or different backup applications for different workloads
For more information on how to create/manage protection group using DPM, one can refer to the TechNet article.

Quick Reference
Download DPM UR5 and follow the steps outlined in the article for installation.

• Want to try out DPM Evaluation VHD?
• Learn more about Azure Backup and System Center DPM.
• Click for a free Azure trial subscription, and download the latest Azure backup agent to get started!
• Need help? Reach out to the DPM forums and the Azure Backup forum for support.
• Tell us how we can improve Azure Backup: contribute new ideas and up-vote existing ones!

Hello, Dwayne Jackson and Andy Nadarewistsch here. We wanted to take a minute today to detail a quick point to consider after applying Data Protection Manager (DPM 2012 R2) Update Rollup 5 (UR5).

Issue

When creating a protection group after applying DPM 2012 R2 Update Rollup 5, not all data sources may display as expected.

This can occur as a result of the improved inquiry performance provided in the update. Specifically, Data Protection Manager brings speed improvements to the inquiry step in the Create/Modify Protection Group wizard. This is accomplished by the persistent caching of data sources, the pruning of unused inquiry data during nightly database cleanup, as well as a more optimized inquiry on servers that have clustered virtual machines on CSV volumes.

Because of this the behavior of the wizard has changed. The Clear Cache button is replaced with the Refresh button, and expanding a production server in the selection page now instantly obtains the data sources from the last inquiry that are cached in the database without actually triggering an inquiry on the production server. This can cause some newly added data sources to not appear until the data is refreshed. 

To trigger a fresh inquiry to obtain the latest data sources (and to update the cache), you must click Refresh after you select the production server.

Reference: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3021791/en-us?wa=wsignin1.0

Example scenario

Note that the example scenario below is not specific to an Exchange work load - this can apply to various workloads that DPM supports.

In this scenario, we have added a second mailbox database after initial protection. As seen below, the DPM server has cached only one, named Mailbox Database NC1, even though we actually have two mailbox databases mounted.

We can also confirm from the Exchange admin center that we actually have two mailbox databases mounted.

In order to get our newly added data source to show up we need to open the DPM console and go to the Select Group Members page, then click on the DAGName\Node name and select the Refresh button. This will trigger a fresh inquiry to obtain the latest data sources and update the cache.

As seen below, DPM now displays all of the data sources.

Dwayne Jackson | Senior Support Escalation Engineer | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division
Andy Nadarewistsch | Senior Support Escalation Engineer | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news onFacebookandTwitter:

System Center All Up: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/

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Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/ 
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/ 
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager 
Virtual Machine Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm

The Forefront Endpoint Protection blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

Keywords: DPM 2012 R2 Create New Protection Group data source enumeration fails, Data Sources not listed, Data Protection Manager SQL enumeration fails, Data Protection Manager Exchange enumeration fails, Data Protection Manager volume enumeration fails, Data Protection Manager Share Point enumeration fails, Data Protection Manager client enumeration fails, Data Protection Manager Hyper-V enumeration fails Data Protection Manager Virtual Machine(VM) enumeration fails,

This blog post explains how DPM reports have been enhanced with Update Rollup 5. Till Update Rollup 4, we shipped six standard reports inbox with DPM which were useful for auditing and monitoring basic details of the production environment independently for each DPM Server.

In Update Rollup 5, the reporting infrastructure is greatly enhanced to integrate it with System Center Operations Manager (SCOM), so you can now generate customized reports which aggregates data from multiple DPM Servers. We are shipping new DPM Reporting Management Pack (MPs) along with 3 other MPs that need to be imported on SCOM Server to use the new reporting framework.

 Aggregated reports from multiple DPM Servers

The new reporting framework seamlessly integrates with SCOM using DPM Central Console, so you can now generate aggregated reports with data from various DPM Servers that are being managed by DPM Central Console. For example, if your DPM Central Console is managing 100 DPM servers, each containing 20 data sources configured into a separate Protection Group (PG), the new framework will enable SCOM to monitor and report data for all 100 x 20 = 2000 data sources.

Generating custom backup reports

Each organization has unique reporting requirements for backup data, so the basic reports shipped inbox with DPM may not be sufficient for your backup auditing needs. As a simple example you may want a report for Tape Backup or Cloud Backup storage utilization every night which the backup administrator can analyze next morning. The new reporting framework gives you the power to generate such customized reports.

When you import the Reporting Management Pack in SCOM it will create SQL views in the SCOM Data Warehouse (DW). A comprehensive list of all the views are exposed and documented in Generate DPM custom reports article. You can create custom reports by querying these views from SCOM DW using any framework, scripting or programming language of your choice.

We have also shipped the DedupReporter Management pack with this update which is an optional MP. You can import this management pack to get access to dedup compression sample report. The sample report uses the same set of tables and views for organizing and displaying reporting data so you can use it as a reference to generate more customized reports.

Steps to generate enhanced reports

• Download new DPM Management Packs which contain following MPs and a MP guide with details on how to import MPs
  
  1. Library
     
  2. Discovery & Monitoring
     
  3. Reporting
     
  4. DedupReporter
     
• Once you import the MPs in SCOM and add SCOM Agent on managed DPM Server as mentioned in the MPguide, reporting data will start coming to SCOM Server. You can view the reports by clicking on the “Reporting” tab at the bottom left pane in DPM Central Console then navigating to “System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager Reporting” as shown in the screenshot below

Figure1: UI to generate reports from SCOM Server

• A new UI will open where you can select the date range and managed DPM Servers for which you want the reporting data and click on Run as shown in the screenshot below.

Figure2: Selecting DPM Servers and Report time range

• The screenshot below shows a sample report shipped with the DPM Reporting Management Pack.

Figure3: Sample DPM report

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1) Can I use the new reporting infrastructure without DPM Central Console?

No, the new infrastructure only works when you import “Reporting” Management Pack and install DPM Central Console on the SCOM Server.

Q2) Can I continue to use the old reports shipped in-box with DPM?

Yes, you can go to individual DPM Servers and click on Reporting tab to view the in-box reports as before.

Q3) Can I use the new Reporting Management Packs without upgrading to UR5

No, All DPM Servers and DPM Central Console should be running UR5 or later to use the new reporting functionality.

Q4) Can I base my customized reports on the exposed SQL views?

Yes, the views are standard and well documented here, you can create custom reports using these views.

Related links/content:

• Learn more about Azure Backup and System Center DPM.
• Click for a free Azure trial subscription, and download the latest Azure Backup agent to get started!
• Need help? Reach out to the DPM forums and the Azure Backup forum for support.
• Tell us how we can improve Azure Backup: contribute new ideas and up-vote existing ones !
• Follow us on Twitter and Channel9 to get latest news and updates.
  

Just a quick note to let you know that the Data Protection Manager 2012 R2 Management Pack for System Center Operations Manager has been released.

You can find more details about the reporting features introduced in this management pack here.

Please install the DPM 2012 R2 management pack that shipped with DPM RTM bits if you intend to install the DPM central console. If you install this management pack directly, the DPM central console won't install because the central console installer has a hard dependency on the version of the DPM 2012 Management Pack that shipped with the DPM RTM bits. You can upgrade to this version of the DPM 2012 R2 Management Pack after you have installed the DPM Central Console.

Suraj Suresh Guptha | Program Manager | Microsoft

Get the latest System Center news on Facebook and Twitter:

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~ Chris Butcher| Senior Support Escalation Engineer

Hi folks, Chris Butcher here again with another DPM blog series for you. We get quite a few calls regarding SharePoint protection in System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager (DPM 2012) so I decided it was time to take a more in-depth look at this and go over some of the more common problems you may run into.

I decided to break this down into three parts, both to make it easier to digest and to keep the article from getting too long and hard to manage. The first part, which you’ll find below, will focus on issues you might encounter when configuring SharePoint Protection in Data Protection Manager. In this scenario we have no protection set up and we are going from ground zero. Part 2 will cover problems you may see when backing up SharePoint. This will be broken down into three areas: Backing up SharePoint Configuration and content databases from SQL, creating SharePoint metadata, and creating the SharePoint catalog. Lastly, part 3 will cover issues with restoring SharePoint with Data Protection Manager.

So with that out of the way, let’s go ahead and get started by taking a look at creating SharePoint protection in DPM 2012 and some points in the process where you might run into issues. This scenario assumes that DPM 2012 is installed, storage is provisioned and agents have been deployed, however we have no protection set up yet for SharePoint. 

Creating SharePoint Protection

1. To configure SharePoint protection, open the DPM management console, click Protection, then New to start the Create New Protection Group wizard. Click Next on the Welcome to the New Protection Group Wizard.

2. Select Servers and then click Next on the Select Protection Group Type page as shown here:

3. Expand the server that holds the SharePoint Web Front End (WFE) role. If you have more than one SharePoint WFE server, the one to select is the server where you previously ran ConfigureSharePoint.exe –enablesharepointprotection.

NOTEIf you don’t see SharePoint as a protectable item under your WFE server, this usually indicates that you have not run configuresharepoint –enablesharepointprotection on the WFE server. You must run this from an administrative command prompt on the Web Front End server where you want to enable protection. This will enable the SharePoint writer to allow DPM to protect it.

When we expand the SharePoint server, this is what happens.

a. DPM queries VSS to see what data DPM can protect from that server.

b. If the SharePoint database is on a remote server, the DPM Server will connect to the SQL server that is hosting the SharePoint configuration database. For that to work, the DPM Agent needs to be installed on that server or servers. If that SQL Server is member of a cluster, all nodes of that cluster must have a DPM agent installed as well.

c. If all is fine up to this point, we should be able to expand the SharePoint data source and see the farm information details.

There are few things that could go wrong and cause you to not be able to see the SharePoint icon shown above, or if you do see it, you may get an error when trying to expand it. If you see either of these problems, here are some things to check:

1. If the SharePoint writer is disabled then there is no way for DPM to know that SharePoint is installed on that box. By Default, SharePoint VSS Writer is set to disabled and you must enable it by running the ConfigureSharePoint –EnableSharePointProtection command.

NOTEThe SharePoint writer is named SharePoint 2010 VSS Writer in Microsoft SharePoint 2010.

2. Make sure that SharePoint VSS Writer is started and running.  

3. Make sure that the SQL Server VSS Writer on the SQL Server is started and running.

4. Make sure that the user account used for SharePoint VSS Writer has sufficient permissions on the SQL server.

5. Make sure the SQL server has the DPM agent installed. If it is not, you will probably get the error below, however the wizard will still allow you to continue.

Error text: DPM cannot protect your Windows SharePoint Services farm until you install agents on the following servers…

6. Make sure that the SharePoint databases are not being protected as SQL data sources.

7. Make sure that the SQL Server VSS Writer is running on the SQL server that holds the SharePoint databases.

It’s possible that you may also receive the error below after expanding the SharePoint icon and selecting the SharePoint farm for protection:

Error text: DPM cannot protect this SharePoint farm as it cannot detect the configuration of the dependent SQL databases. (ID: 32008)

If this happens, it could be that SharePoint is using a SQL alias and there is no alias configured in cliconfg or SQL Server Configuration Manager.

So now that we’ve broached the SQL alias, cliconfg and SQL Server Configuration Manager, let’s take a quick look at these.

CLICONFG.EXE (%windir%\system32) allows you to create a SQL alias for 64-bit clients. If your application uses 32-bit calls to access SQL, an alias defined with this tool won’t do any good.

CLICONFG.EXE (%windir%\SysWOW64) allows you to create a SQL alias for 32-bit clients. If your application uses 64-bit calls to access SQL, an alias defined with this tool won’t do any good.

NOTEIf you are running a 32-bit operating system, %windir%\system32 will contain the 32-bit version of CLICONFG. The 64-bit of CLICONFG will not be available.

NOTEThere is no 32-bit version of SharePoint 2010. All versions of Windows come with cliconfg.exe

Here is what CLICONFG.EXE looks like:

CLICONFIG and SQL Server Configuration Manager share the same information so if you have an alias configured in one location it will also show up in the other.

If you open SQL Server Configuration Manager you will see that there is a SQL Native Client ** Configuration (32bit) and a SQL Native Client ** Configuration. By expanding these, you can see that each has aliases and you can view and modify the aliases there.

In the view shown below you can see that the 32-bit aliases can be found by expanding the red box and that 64-bit aliases are found by expanding the blue box.

The biggest issue of note when dealing with aliases is to make sure that the version of SQL Client Connectivity components are the version that DPM requires. This is based on the version of SharePoint being protected and not the version of DPM. These tools must be installed on the WFE server where you are establishing protection and are installed by launching the SQL installation media and selecting this option. It will not affect any other settings.

Assuming there was no error selecting the SharePoint farm for protection, you can continue by setting up group information such as group name, retention rage, disk/tape backup etc. and complete the wizard.

That should cover the most common problems you’re likely to encounter when configuring SharePoint protection in Data Protection Manager. Next time we’ll take a look at some of the issues you might see when actually backing up SharePoint.

Chris Butcher | Senior Support Escalation Engineer | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division
Wilson Souza | Senior Support Escalation Engineer | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news on FacebookandTwitter:

System Center All Up: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/

Configuration Manager Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
Data Protection Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
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Microsoft Intune: http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoftintune/
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/
The RMS blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/rms/
App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
The Surface Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/surface/
The Application Proxy blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/applicationproxyblog/

The Forefront Endpoint Protection blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

DPM 2012 R2 SharePoint 2010 SharePoint 2012

~ Chris Butcher| Senior Support Escalation Engineer

Hi folks, Chris Butcher here again with part 2 in our series on protecting SharePoint with System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager. In part 1 we went through the process of enabling protection and examined issues you might encounter when configuring SharePoint Protection in Data Protection Manager. If you missed part 1 you can find it here:

Troubleshooting issues encountered when configuring SharePoint protection in Data Protection Manager

In this installment we’ll cover the backup process and some of the more common issues you may see when backing up SharePoint. This is broken down into three areas:

• Backing up SharePoint Configuration and content databases from SQL
• Creating SharePoint metadata
• Creating the SharePoint catalog

Similar to part 1, this scenario assumes that DPM 2012 is installed, storage is provisioned, agents have been deployed and protection has been enabled SharePoint. 

SharePoint backup

SharePoint backups will touch the SharePoint Web Front End (WFE) server as well as the SQL server that hosts the SharePoint Configuration/Content databases. This means that both servers need to be accessible for SharePoint backup to complete successfully.

The screenshot below is from Monitoring/Jobs after a successful recovery point. Note that Configuration and Content database jobs were executed on the SQL server and SharePoint Farm\SharePoint_Config ran on the SharePoint server

SharePoint backup is a three steps process and each is examined below.

Step One: Backup SharePoint Configuration/Content Databases from SQL Server

This step doesn’t require access to SharePoint WFE. It is simply SQL Database Protection and will just use the SQL writer to back up the content databases (as well as SharePoint_Config and SharePoint_AdminContent_*).

If you encounter errors in this area, it should be looked at on the SQL server where the content databases are located. The basic approach to troubleshooting is as follows:

1. Repro the failure
2. Gather sys and app logs from the SQL server computer
3. Gather the most recent *.errlog files from the SQL server computer
4. Gather the most recent *.errlog files from the DPM server
5. Troubleshoot the problem as a standard SQL backup/protection issue

Step Two: Create SharePoint Metadata

In the screenshot above, the metadata generation occurs in the SharePoint Farm\SPSQL\SharePoint_Config job and is the last job to be completed in a Recovery Point. During metadata enumeration, the SharePoint WFE server connects to the SQL server. If the SharePoint WFE server cannot communicate to the SQL server, the end result will be “Backup metadata enumeration failed” as shown below.

You will also see an error similar to the following:

Error text: DPM could not resolve the SQL alias <serverName> on the SharePoint front-end web server. (ID 31250 Details: Unknown error (0x80131534))

OK, so we’re talking about SharePoint metadata, but what is that exactly? Good question, and I’ll explain it this way: So there is one command that we are very familiar with which is VSSADMIN LIST WRITERS. We run this command to check if a writer is available in a system as well as to get the state of that writer (stable, failed, etc). However, VSSADMIN LIST WRITERS doesn’t tell us everything we need to know about writers. If we need more details, we need to use other tools. In Windows Server 2008 or newer, the tool we use is DISKSHADOW.EXE which is built into Windows. For Windows Server 2003 we use VSHADOW.EXE.

When you launch DISKSHADOW.EXE and type in LIST WRITER, you are requesting every single writer to show its metadata information. The metadata information returned by those writers is what they will be backing up if there is a backup request for that writer. Since we are talking about SharePoint, the metadata information from a SharePoint VSS Writer contains the following:

• The Configuration Database
• Content databases
• Application databases

With SharePoint protection, DPM only cares about the Configuration Database and the Content databases.

Below is a snippet of a SharePoint metadata. You can use the following to pipe the output into a text file to be reviewed and searched:

C:\>DISKSHADOW /l writer.txt

If you run DISKSHADOW> LIST WRITER then you should see output similar to the snippet I have below.

* WRITER "SharePoint Services Writer"

           - Writer ID   = {da452614-4858-5e53-a512-38aab25c61ad}

           - Writer instance ID = {d36db7cf-c2b4-4977-a18e-a642987f9c85}

           - Supports restore events = TRUE

           - Writer restore conditions = VSS_WRE_ALWAYS

           - Restore method = VSS_RME_RESTORE_AT_REBOOT_IF_CANNOT_REPLACE

           - Requires reboot after restore = FALSE

           - Excluded files:

           + Component "SharePoint Services Writer:\SPSQL\SharePoint_Config"

                - Name: SharePoint_Config

                - Logical path: SPSQL

                - Full path: \SPSQL\SharePoint_Config

                - Caption: Configuration Database SharePoint_Config

                - Type: VSS_CT_DATABASE [1]

                - Is selectable: TRUE

                - Is top level: TRUE

                - Notify on backup complete: FALSE

                - Paths affected by this component:

                - Volumes affected by this component:

                - Component Dependencies:

                     - Dependency to "{a65faa63-5ea8-4ebc-9dbd-a0c4db26912a}:\\WILSON-SQL\WILSON-SQL\SharePoint_Config"

           + Component "SharePoint Services Writer:\SPSQL\WSS_Content"

                - Name: WSS_Content

                - Logical path: SPSQL

                - Full path: \SPSQL\WSS_Content

                - Caption: Content Database WSS_Content

                - Type: VSS_CT_DATABASE [1]

                - Is selectable: TRUE

                - Is top level: TRUE

                - Notify on backup complete: FALSE

                - Paths affected by this component:

                - Volumes affected by this component:

                - Component Dependencies:

                     - Dependency to "{a65faa63-5ea8-4ebc-9dbd-a0c4db26912a}:\\WILSON-SQL\WILSON-SQL\WSS_Content"

           + Component "SharePoint Services Writer:\SPSQL\SharePoint_AdminContent_abda792e-1e17-4119-99b1-34f6fc61a6c1"

                - Name: SharePoint_AdminContent_abda792e-1e17-4119-99b1-34f6fc61a6c1

                - Logical path: SPSQL

                - Full path: \SPSQL\SharePoint_AdminContent_abda792e-1e17-4119-99b1-34f6fc61a6c1

                - Caption: Content Database SharePoint_AdminContent_abda792e-1e17-4119-99b1-34f6fc61a6c1

                - Type: VSS_CT_DATABASE [1]

                - Is selectable: TRUE

                - Is top level: TRUE

                - Notify on backup complete: FALSE

                - Paths affected by this component:

                - Volumes affected by this component:

                - Component Dependencies:

Highlighted is what DPM uses to figure what each database returned by the writer is used for. And by the way, DPM won’t populate the DPMDB with the output above. Instead, it will generate an XML file based on that output and insert it into DPMDB via the stored procedure dbo.prc_RM_RecoverySource_UpdateWithPreBackupDetails.

You can retrieve the metadata information from the database (if one was created) by running the SQL query below:

from tbl_RM_RecoverySource where WriterId ='DA452614-4858-5E53-A512-38AAB25C61AD'orderby BackupTime

where WriterID  = 'DA452614-4858-5E53-A512-38AAB25C61AD'= SharePoint VSS Writer

So with all of that in mind, we can conclude that if SharePoint metadata is what the SharePoint VSS Writer is able to return, a failed metadata means that the SharePoint VSS Writer wasn’t able to return anything. Below are some common reasons why that may occur.

• The SharePoint VSS Writer is in failed state.
• The SharePoint VSS Writer isn’t running.
• The SharePoint farm administrator don’t have SQL Permissions.
• The account used by configuresharepoint –enablesharepointprotection doesn’t have SQL permissions. The account used needs to be SharePoint Farm administrator and hold a sysadmin role on the SQL server that is hosting the SharePoint Farm databases.
• A SQL alias is used but the alias can’t be ‘translated’ to <SQLServerName>\<InstanceName>.
• A SQL alias can be translated to <SQLServerName>\<InstanceName> but SQL Browser on the SQL Server side can’t redirect that string to the port used by that SQL named instance.
• SharePoint 2010 has Search configured and the registry key below exists on the SharePoint WFE Server:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft Data Protection Manager\Agent\2.0\SharePointSearchEnumerationEnabled

The reason for the error is that SharePoint Search protection for SharePoint 2010 has been deprecated in DPM 2010 and later.

So now that we know what SharePoint Metadata is, the next question is where DPM will use it.

When we start a Recovery Point or Consistency Check, several individual jobs will kick in: One for each content database of that farm as well as the one for the metadata itself.

DPM relies on the metadata to know which content database it needs to run a backup job for.

NOTEIf metadata fails and a new content database is added to the farm, this new content database won’t be added to SharePoint protection when the autoprotect job kicks in at midnight.

Metadata information can only be added – it cannot be removed from an existing job. This means that if a content database is removed from the farm, you can only remove that reference from DPMDB if you stop/restart protection for that farm.

Step Three: Create the SharePoint Catalog

This is what allows DPM to drill down through the SharePoint content database, site collection, sites, etc. for Item Level Recover (ILR). Things to note:

• The SharePoint catalog job is executed on the SharePoint WFE.
• The SharePoint VSS Writer isn’t needed for Catalog generation.
• A connection to the SQL server is required for the catalog to complete.
• The SharePoint catalog needs access to the MTATempStore$ share (C:\Program Files\Microsoft DPM\DPM\Temp\MTA) from the SharePoint WFE.

NOTE: If DPM cannot access MTATempStore$ you will see the following:

Type:                 SharePoint Catalog Task

Status:               Completed

Description:          The job completed successfully with the following warning:

                      File copy failed due to an I/O error.

Source location:      \\wilson-sp.wsouza.local\MTATempStore$\{242f99e3-a60e-40f1-ab16-9ab7616ed87d}\2.rocatalogDestination

                      location: c:\Program Files\Microsoft DPM\DPM\Temp\60423b5c-780f-4162-bde1-7ee980fbe093\2.rocatalog.

                      (The network name cannot be found.)

                      Exception trace :  

                         at System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath)

                         at System.IO.File.InternalCopy(String sourceFileName, String destFileName, Boolean overwrite)

                         at Microsoft.Internal.EnterpriseStorage.Dls.ArmCommon.FileCopyBlock.DoFileCopy(Object msgObject) (ID 30123)

End time:             5/15/2012 8:47:28 PM

Start time:           5/15/2012 8:47:24 PM

Time elapsed:         00:00:04

Data transferred:     0 MB (0 bytes)

Source details:       wilson-sp.wsouza.local

Target details:       wilson-sp.wsouza.local

Cluster node          -

NOTE: The Catalog task will run 3 hours after a recovery point, however you can manually trigger a catalog task by running the PowerShell command Start-CreateCatalog

Start-CreateCatalog or a scheduled catalog job performs the following:

1. On the SharePoint Web Front End Server you will find a subfolders under the MTATempStore$ share (C:\Program Files\Microsoft Data Protection Manager\DPM\Temp\MTA).

The GUID above is the DatasourceID for the SharePoint farm. This folder will be created at the first time the SharePoint catalog task is executed.

Underneath the GUID folder shown above we have one or more of the following files:

Every file represents a SharePoint Configuration/content database. As we can see, we have three X.rocatalog files. So the question is “where did the numbers (2, 3 and 4) come from?” Every data source that is protected by DPM gets a Datasource sequence number. This sequence number can be found in table tbl_RM_RecoverableObject. Whatever sequence number the SharePoint database gets on that table will reflect on the rocatalog file name.

We can see this by running the following:

select DatasourceSequenceNumber, LogicalPath, ComponentName from tbl_RM_RecoverableObject orderby RecoverableObjectId

That gives us the following:

DatasourceSequenceNumber   LogicalPath              ComponentName

-----------------------------------------------------------------

1                          Sharepoint Farm          SPSQL\SharePoint_Config

2                          WILSON-SQL               SharePoint_AdminContent_abda792e-1e17-4119-99b1-34f6fc61a6c1

3                          WILSON-SQL               WSS_Content

4                          WILSON-SQL               SharePoint_Config

If there was a change within a content database (like new site collection, new site, new item, removed site, removed item, etc), the rocatalog file will have that change in it. Here is a snippet from 3.rocatalog:

FullCatalog

SiteCollection*http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog/*1c29c4ec-a676-41c4-9737-9988378fd87a

Site*http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog/documents3/*43f6e062-b5c5-4f9e-a4ac-4a5ebdaa92f3

List*http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog/documents3/_catalogs/*6a368c11-20da-4630-8cff-5a7c03c92a15

List*http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog/documents3/_catalogs/masterpage/*3687946b-17ba-4918-966f-ffe447fcaa09

List*http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog/documents3/_catalogs/masterpage/Forms/*63077659-a5e3-4e45-90bf-0ee8f4db686e

List*http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog/documents3/_catalogs/masterpage/Forms/MasterPage/*b697225e-2d8b-4472-9512-d10982af5a3e

If there is no change, this is what will be within the file (snippet from SharePoint_Config)

NoCatalog

If the catalog ran was an incremental, the file should look like this:

IncrementalCatalog

ADD*ListItem*http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog/documents3/Shared Documents/sammui.log*57c11095-c0da-4011-a3a2-3ee786396f63

After the catalog job is complete, all rocatalog files will be removed. This is why it can be tricky to troubleshoot SharePoint catalog issues since we don’t necessarily have a file to look into. The only way we can see catalog content is via DPM verbose tracing.

1. Folder SPCatalogDump is created while the SharePoint catalog is being generated. This folder is created under C:\Program Files\Microsoft Data Protection Manager\DPM\Temp on the SharePoint WFE server.

Folder SPCatalogDump will only be used for Incremental catalogs, and for every full/incremental backup, a folder called SPXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX will be created and left behind (its content will be deleted though).

When an incremental backup takes place and there is a change in it, two files will be created in that location.

The rocatalog file is similar to the one mentioned earlier, however it will only include the changed items

IncrementalCatalog

ADD*ListItem*http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog/documents3/Shared Documents/DownloadCenter.xml*c2a7341b-3d35-4d48-a32e-125cd4e485c9

The spdump file contains a map for the newly added SharePoint recoverable item (I added document DownloadCenter.xml to my SharePoint site)

I:1c29c4ec-a676-41c4-9737-9988378fd87a:43f6e062-b5c5-4f9e-a4ac-4a5ebdaa92f3:c2a7341b-3d35-4d48-a32e-125cd4e485c9:Add:1;0;9d9844a7-7a9b-419c-ab5d-16fae7b346d6;634728378915800000;916

A:c2a7341b-3d35-4d48-a32e-125cd4e485c9

Now even though this information looks like gibberish, it does make sense. Here is the breakdown:

  'c2a7341b-3d35-4d48-a32e-125cd4e485c9')

Output:

NOTE: In this output, column ComponentType give us information about the SharePoint content. These are the Component Types in SharePoint:

SiteCollection: This is the ‘root’ site
Site: A site can be created underneath a site collection
List: Is a path within a Site Collection/Site
ListItem: A file within a Site Collection/Site

Other information we get from spdump is the Token. The Token is created by SharePoint on every change that occurs in it.

To identify these items in DPM you can go to Recovery tab and highlight a SharePoint farm. On the right hand side you will see the content databases

When you double click a content database, if there was no problem creating the catalog, and if there is at least one site collection defined, you will see something like this. In this case, content database WSS_Content has one site collection:

If you double-click a site collection you can see List, ListItem and Sites, if they exist. The yellow icon on the left means that this is a list or a ListItem. If the icon is four little colorful people then it means it is a site.

And if there are ListItems within Lists or Sites, you can double-click them to go down into the tree.

You can get that same information by running this T-SQL query:

Full SharePoint Catalog runs only once: The first time a Catalog is generated against a content database or after a content database is restored.

If you ever need to run a full SharePoint Catalog again, you can run the SQL query below.

OR AppId ='DA452614-4858-5E53-A512-38AAB25C61AD'

NOTE: The T-SQL query above will reset SharePoint catalog for ALL SharePoint Farms protected by this DPM server. If you want to run it against a specific farm you will need to find the datasource for the desired farm.

There are a few different issues that you might run into after a scheduled backup/Catalog is completed.

• A content database that was being protected by DPM was removed from the farm. This is an easy one to fix; stop SharePoint protection (retaining data) and protect it again.
• Something is blocking metadata enumeration from occurring. If so refer to metadata troubleshooting mentioned previously.
• The SharePoint catalog job doesn’t complete, or it completes with warnings. When a catalog is not successfully completed, you might not be able to drill down through a content database to a site collection/site/item, etc. This doesn’t mean that the data is missing from the backup, it just means that you can’t see them from DPM UI.

In the screenshot below we can’t go further the content database. Double clicking any database on the right hand side won’t do a thing. If you have successful backups but failing catalogs and you need to restore an item. The solution is to restore the whole content database, attach to SQL, then use SharePoint tools to export/import the desired data.

That should cover the most common problems you’re likely to encounter when backing up SharePoint with Data Protection Manager. Next time we’ll take a look at some of the issues you might see when restoring SharePoint.

Chris Butcher | Senior Support Escalation Engineer | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division
Wilson Souza | Senior Support Escalation Engineer | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

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DPM 2012 R2 SharePoint 2010 SharePoint 2012

~ Chris Butcher| Senior Support Escalation Engineer

Hi folks, Chris Butcher here again with the final part in my series on protecting SharePoint with System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager. In part 1 I went through the process of enabling protection and examined issues you might encounter when configuring SharePoint Protection in Data Protection Manager. If you missed part 1 you can find it here:

Configuring SharePoint protection in Data Protection Manager and troubleshooting related issues

In part 2 we took a look at the backup process and some of the more common issues you may see when backing up SharePoint. That installment can be found here:

Backing up SharePoint with Data Protection Manager and troubleshooting related issues

Today with part 3, we’re going to talk about restoring SharePoint and a few of the more common issues you may run into during that process.

Restoring a Content Database

This will restore the selected content database as well as SharePoint Farm configuration. There are three things you should be aware of when restoring a content database:

- When the SharePoint Administrator deletes a content database, all references of this database are removed from the farm but the database itself can be kept attached to SQL assuming that the administrator didn’t select the option to delete the content database as well.

- Every time a content database is restored, the SharePoint Data source will become inconsistent.

- Restoring a content database won’t bring all of the settings back to the SharePoint farm. The SharePoint Administrator will still need to use the SharePoint tools to attach that database back to the farm.

Scenario

Let’s say that we have SharePoint admin who goes to SharePoint 2010 Central Administrator -> Manage Content Database and removes the WSS_Content database by mistake. The next thing he does is engage the DPM administrator to restore the affected content database. Then once the restore is complete, the SharePoint administrator says that the restored content database isn’t showing up in the content database list in SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.

In this scenario we have two options to get the restored content database to show back up:

Option 1: Restore the SharePoint configuration database as well. Note that if any changes were done to the farm after the backup, those changes will be lost.

Option 2: Run the following SharePoint PowerShell command:

Mount-SPContentDatabase "WSS_Content" -DatabaseServer SPSQL –WebApplication <parameter>

In my case the command line would be as follows:

Mount-SPContentDatabase "WSS_Content" -DatabaseServer SPSQL –WebApplication http://wilson-sp

In your environment you can get the WebApplication parameter by going to WebApplication under SharePoint 2010 Central Administrator provided that the WebApplication wasn’t also deleted.

Restoring a Site Collection/Site/List/ListItem to the original location

This will always be a two steps process. DPM will restore the content database where the site collection belongs to a temporary SQL Server and the restored database will have a different name than the original. This allows you to use the same SQL server that holds the SharePoint content databases. When the database is restored, the second part of the process is to extract the Site Collection/Site/List/List Item you selected and import it back to the production database.

Please note that doing any of these steps will fail if you select a share as the staging area. Microsoft does not officially support this but the UI will allow you to select one. The restore will ultimately fail but the error message isn’t clear on why it has failed. In DPM 2012, the share shows up as well but it will fail in the same way if it’s selected. Below are the two screens shown in the Recovery Wizard that give you the option to select a share. DON’T USE THEM!

NOTEIn DPM 2012, if a share is selected for file location (the screenshot just above), then DPMRA from SQL server will crash. The crash will prevent the DPMRA from detaching the restored database. In DPM 2010, DPMRA will also crash but the database will be removed.

Scenario 1

The first scenario is when the user doesn’t know that a share should not be used and thus perform several restores, selecting a share every time. This can cause the SQL server to run out of disk space due to those restored databases.

Below is a snippet from DPMRACurr.errlog on the SharePoint Web Front End (WFE) server:

0F38   0EE8   05/18  05:40:27.018  18     fsutils.cpp(3723)                 WARNING       Failed: Hr: = [0x80070002] : G: lVal : HRESULT_FROM_WIN32(dwError)
0F38   0EE8   05/18  05:40:27.018  18     fsutils.cpp(2173)                 WARNING       Failed: Hr: = [0x80990a52] : Invalid filespec:Datasources\PSExchangeDatasourceConfig.xml
0F38   0EE8   05/18  05:40:27.018  61     inquirysubtask.cpp(1031)   [0000000000436030]              NORMAL <--CInquirySubTask::ExecuteInquiry
0F38   134C   05/18  05:40:27.018  61     inquirysubtask.cpp(458)    [0000000000436030]       E56D1666-1101-465E-ACC5-B25DE3696D9F     NORMAL Sending final response with 10 records
0F38   134C   05/18  05:40:27.112  61     inquirysubtask.cpp(990)    [0000000000436030]       E56D1666-1101-465E-ACC5-B25DE3696D9F     NORMAL CInquirySubTask::Inquiry finished with status [0000000000]
0F38   134C   05/18  05:40:27.175  03     workitem.cpp(272)    [00000000004364B0]       E56D1666-1101-465E-ACC5-B25DE3696D9F     ACTIVITY      WorkItem stopping
0F38   134C   05/18  05:40:27.175  31     vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(94)       [0000000000436358]   E56D1666-1101-465E-ACC5-B25DE3696D9F     NORMAL       CVssSnapshotRequestor::~CVssSnapshotRequestor [0000000000436358]
0F38   134C   05/18  05:40:27.175  31     vsssnapshotrequestor.cpp(1763)       [0000000000436358]   E56D1666-1101-465E-ACC5-B25DE3696D9F     NORMAL       CVssSnapshotRequestor::CleanUp [0000000000436358]
0F38   134C   05/18  05:40:27.175  31     vssbaserequestor.cpp(80)   [0000000000436358]       E56D1666-1101-465E-ACC5-B25DE3696D9F     NORMAL CVssBaseRequestor: destructor [0000000000436358]
0F38   134C   05/18  05:45:12.427  03     workitem.cpp(86)     [0000000000449A90]       037F22CA-C1CF-476B-9E4E-6D58C1D2A248     ACTIVITY      Idle Timer created with timeout = 390000
0F38   134C   05/18  05:45:13.333  31     vadatasourcestate.cpp(729)        037F22CA-C1CF-476B-9E4E-6D58C1D2A248 WARNING       Failed: Hr: = [0x8007007e] GetModuleHandle failed for Library [WSSWriterHelperPlugin], will try LoadLibrary
0000   134C   05/18  05:45:13.349  00     agentutils.hpp(68)         037F22CA-C1CF-476B-9E4E-6D58C1D2A248     WARNING       Failed: Hr: = [0x80070002] : F: lVal : r.GetValue(pszKey, pT)
0000   134C   05/18  05:45:13.349  00     fsutils.cpp(4426)          037F22CA-C1CF-476B-9E4E-6D58C1D2A248     NORMAL CClientReadThrottler::InitializeWaitForClientRead Failed to read sleep time from registry [hr = 0x80070002]. Setting default [50 ms].
0F38   134C   05/18  05:45:13.349  31     dllmain.cpp(38)            037F22CA-C1CF-476B-9E4E-6D58C1D2A248     NORMAL WSSWriterHelperPlugin: DLL_PROCESS_ATTACH
0F38   134C   05/18  05:45:13.349  31     wss4writerhelperplugin.cpp(577)       [00000000003CF130]   037F22CA-C1CF-476B-9E4E-6D58C1D2A248     NORMAL Export And Import Operation to be performed in PostRestore WSS Specific Operations
0F38   134C   05/18  05:45:13.364  18     fsutils.cpp(3723)          037F22CA-C1CF-476B-9E4E-6D58C1D2A248     WARNING       Failed: Hr: = [0x80070003] : G: lVal : HRESULT_FROM_WIN32(dwError)
0F38   134C   05/18  05:45:13.380  31     wss4writerhelperplugin.cpp(246)       [00000000003CF130]   037F22CA-C1CF-476B-9E4E-6D58C1D2A248     NORMAL Successfully created Export Files Staging Directory \\wilson-sp.wsouza.local\MTATempStore$\DPM_40cb1167_d579_471c_91e4_6cbf3cd44193\cmp
0F38   134C   05/18  05:46:50.415  18     fsutils.cpp(663)           037F22CA-C1CF-476B-9E4E-6D58C1D2A248     WARNING       Failed: Hr: = [0x80070057] : Invalid path:\\wilson-sp.wsouza.local\MTATempStore$\DPM_40cb1167_d579_471c_91e4_6cbf3cd44193\cmp\00000000.dat
0F38   134C   05/18  05:46:50.415  18     fsutils.cpp(698)           037F22CA-C1CF-476B-9E4E-6D58C1D2A248     WARNING       Failed: Hr: = [0x80070057] : GetVolumePrefixLength failed for \\wilson-sp.wsouza.local\MTATempStore$\DPM_40cb1167_d579_471c_91e4_6cbf3cd44193\cmp\00000000.dat
0F38   134C   05/18  05:46:50.493  22     watsonintegration.cpp(73)         037F22CA-C1CF-476B-9E4E-6D58C1D2A248 NORMAL Inside Watson Handler
0F38   134C   05/18  05:46:50.509  22     watsonintegration.cpp(116)        037F22CA-C1CF-476B-9E4E-6D58C1D2A248 CRITICAL      Raising Watson for process

Here’s what you see on the DPM 2010 Administrator Console/Monitoring tab:

Error Description text: The recovery jobs for SharePoint Farm SharePoint Farm \SPSQL\SharePoint_Config that started at Friday, May 18, 2012 12:45:05 AM, with the destination of Wilson-sp.wsouza.local, have completed. Most or all jobs failed to recover the request data. (ID 3111)

The protection agent on Wilson-sp.wsouza.local was temporarily unable to respond because it was in an unexpected state. (ID 60 Details: Internal error code: 0x809909B0)

Scenario 2

The second scenario is where a site collection or site is deleted from the farm, and right away the SharePoint administrator requests you to do a Site Collection/Site restore but the restore fails.

The reason for this is because when SharePoint exports and imports the data it needs to import to an existing Site Collection/Site. If the Site Collection/Site wasn’t recreated before you started the restore from DPM then the failure is expected.

So let’s say that the SharePoint administrator removed the Site Collection as shown below.

Once it was removed he noticed that he actually meant to remove a different site collection than the one he selected. The DPM administrator then gets a call from the SharePoint administrator saying that he needs the site collection named http://wilson-sp/sites/blog restored to its original location. The DPM admin then attempts to recover it.

Unfortunately, after few minutes the restore fails on the second step as shown below.

Note that the first step was to restore the SQL database. In Monitoring/Jobs, the SQL DB restore job is called Disk recovery and as you can see here, that step was successful:

It’s the second step (SharePoint export and import task) that we’re interested in and the error message here is pretty clear:

Error Description text: DPM was unable to import the item http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog/ to the protected farm. Exception Mesaage = The site http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog/ could not be found in the Web application SPWebApplication Name=SharePoint – 80.. (ID 32005 Details: The system cannot find the file specified (0x80070002)

Here is a snippet from WssCmdletsWrapperCurr.errlog:

0770 0A9C 05/18 06:14:19.774 31 wsscmdletswrapperfactory.cpp(235) ACTIVITY Principal name HOST/WILSON-SP.WSOUZA.LOCAL@WSOUZA.LOCAL
0770 12E8 05/18 06:14:41.478 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1362) NORMAL Successfully added UnAttachedContentDatabase [WILSON-SQL\DPM_7a6721a8_22e0_48c0_ae67_f0154c517bab].
0770 12E8 05/18 06:14:41.541 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(418) NORMAL Triggering Export of Source Url = http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog/ to File = C:\temp\DPM_7a6721a8_22e0_48c0_ae67_f0154c517bab\cmp\
0770 12E8 05/18 06:14:41.775 31 WssExportHelper.cs(125) NORMAL Export Parameters:- SourceUrl = [http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog], ExportFilePath = [C:\temp\DPM_7a6721a8_22e0_48c0_ae67_f0154c517bab\cmp], ExportFileName = [], RoType = [SiteCollection]
0770 12E8 05/18 06:14:41.775 31 WssExportHelper.cs(131) NORMAL Export Parameters:- Unattached Database :: [WILSON-SQL\DPM_7a6721a8_22e0_48c0_ae67_f0154c517bab]
0770 12E8 05/18 06:14:41.916 31 WssExportHelper.cs(278) NORMAL Source url : [http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog] , HostHeaderIsSiteName = False
0770 12E8 05/18 06:14:41.931 31 WSSObjectModelHelper.cs(114) NORMAL Modified Source Url = http://wilson-sp:44573/sites/Blog
0770 12E8 05/18 06:14:42.291 31 WssExportHelper.cs(303) NORMAL Triggering Export of SiteCollection = http://wilson-sp:44573/sites/Blog
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.464 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(444) NORMAL Successfully exported Source Url = http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog to File = C:\temp\DPM_7a6721a8_22e0_48c0_ae67_f0154c517bab\cmp\
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.464 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(502) NORMAL Triggering Import of Target Url = http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog/ from File = C:\temp\DPM_7a6721a8_22e0_48c0_ae67_f0154c517bab\cmp\
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.464 31 WssImportHelper.cs(157) NORMAL Import Parameters:- TargetUrl = [http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog/], ImportFilePath = [C:\temp\DPM_7a6721a8_22e0_48c0_ae67_f0154c517bab\cmp], ImportFileName = [], ImportSecurity = [False], IsAlternateUrl = [False], roType = [SiteCollection]
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(518) WARNING Caught IOException while trying to import Url [http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog/] from File [C:\temp\DPM_7a6721a8_22e0_48c0_ae67_f0154c517bab\cmp\], will retry
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1281) WARNING --------------------------------------------------
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1282) WARNING Exception Message =
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1282) WARNING The site http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog/ could not be found in the Web application SPWebApplication Name=SharePoint - 80.
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1283) WARNING Exception Stack =
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1283) WARNING at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSite..ctor(SPFarm farm, Uri requestUri, Boolean contextSite, SPUserToken userToken)
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1283) WARNING at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSite..ctor(String requestUrl)
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1283) WARNING at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.SPImport.InitializeImport()
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1283) WARNING at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.SPImport.Run()
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1283) WARNING at WSSCmdlets.CWssImportHelper.ImportUrlDelegate()
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1283) WARNING at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurity.<>c__DisplayClass4.<RunWithElevatedPrivileges>b__2()
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1283) WARNING at Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SecurityContext.RunAsProcess(CodeToRunElevated secureCode)
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1283) WARNING at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(WaitCallback secureCode, Object param)
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1283) WARNING at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(CodeToRunElevated secureCode)
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1283) WARNING at WSSCmdlets.CWSSCmdlets.ImportUrl(String targetUrl, String importPath, String importFileName, Boolean importSecurity, Boolean isAlternateURLRecovery, String roType, Int32& hr, String& exceptionMessage)
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1284) WARNING Inner Exception =
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1285) WARNING Exception String =
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1285) WARNING System.IO.FileNotFoundException: The site http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog/ could not be found in the Web application SPWebApplication Name=SharePoint - 80.
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1285) WARNING at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSite..ctor(SPFarm farm, Uri requestUri, Boolean contextSite, SPUserToken userToken)
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1285) WARNING at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSite..ctor(String requestUrl)
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1285) WARNING at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.SPImport.InitializeImport()
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1285) WARNING at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.SPImport.Run()
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1285) WARNING at WSSCmdlets.CWssImportHelper.ImportUrlDelegate()
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1285) WARNING at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurity.<>c__DisplayClass4.<RunWithElevatedPrivileges>b__2()
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1285) WARNING at Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SecurityContext.RunAsProcess(CodeToRunElevated secureCode)
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1285) WARNING at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(WaitCallback secureCode, Object param)
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1285) WARNING at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(CodeToRunElevated secureCode)
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1285) WARNING at WSSCmdlets.CWSSCmdlets.ImportUrl(String targetUrl, String importPath, String importFileName, Boolean importSecurity, Boolean isAlternateURLRecovery, String roType, Int32& hr, String& exceptionMessage)
0770 12E8 05/18 06:15:21.745 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1286) WARNING

So at this point you call the SharePoint administrator and ask him to recreate the site collection (blank is fine). The SharePoint admin creates the site collection as shown below and then tells you that you can proceed with the restore.

However, even after doing this the restore fails again and the error message doesn’t help at all.

Monitoring/Jobs gives you a little better error message:

Error Description text: DPM was unable to import the item http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog/ to the protected farm. Exception Message = Cannot import site. The exported site is based on the template BLOG#0 but the destination site is based on the template STS#1. You can import sites only into sites that are based on the same template as the exported site.. (ID 32005 Details: Unknown error (0x80131600) (0x80131600)

Below is a snippet from WssCmdletsWrapperCurr.errlog:

1310 11CC 05/18 06:31:42.803 31 wsscmdletswrapperfactory.cpp(235) ACTIVITY Principal name HOST/WILSON-SP.WSOUZA.LOCAL@WSOUZA.LOCAL
1310 0B4C 05/18 06:31:56.178 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1362) NORMAL Successfully added UnAttachedContentDatabase [WILSON-SQL\DPM_0dfb31ba_a9c0_454a_84da_0cd87cd5fd2a].
1310 0B4C 05/18 06:31:56.194 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(418) NORMAL Triggering Export of Source Url = http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog/ to File = C:\temp\DPM_0dfb31ba_a9c0_454a_84da_0cd87cd5fd2a\cmp\
1310 0B4C 05/18 06:31:56.335 31 WssExportHelper.cs(125) NORMAL Export Parameters:- SourceUrl = [http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog], ExportFilePath = [C:\temp\DPM_0dfb31ba_a9c0_454a_84da_0cd87cd5fd2a\cmp], ExportFileName = [], RoType = [SiteCollection]
1310 0B4C 05/18 06:31:56.335 31 WssExportHelper.cs(131) NORMAL Export Parameters:- Unattached Database :: [WILSON-SQL\DPM_0dfb31ba_a9c0_454a_84da_0cd87cd5fd2a]
1310 0B4C 05/18 06:31:56.413 31 WssExportHelper.cs(278) NORMAL Source url : [http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog] , HostHeaderIsSiteName = False
1310 0B4C 05/18 06:31:56.428 31 WSSObjectModelHelper.cs(114) NORMAL Modified Source Url = http://wilson-sp:44573/sites/Blog
1310 0B4C 05/18 06:31:56.710 31 WssExportHelper.cs(303) NORMAL Triggering Export of SiteCollection = http://wilson-sp:44573/sites/Blog
1310 0B4C 05/18 06:32:23.811 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(444) NORMAL Successfully exported Source Url = http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog to File = C:\temp\DPM_0dfb31ba_a9c0_454a_84da_0cd87cd5fd2a\cmp\
1310 0B4C 05/18 06:32:23.811 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(502) NORMAL Triggering Import of Target Url = http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog/ from File = C:\temp\DPM_0dfb31ba_a9c0_454a_84da_0cd87cd5fd2a\cmp\
1310 0B4C 05/18 06:32:23.811 31 WssImportHelper.cs(157) NORMAL Import Parameters:- TargetUrl = [http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog/], ImportFilePath = [C:\temp\DPM_0dfb31ba_a9c0_454a_84da_0cd87cd5fd2a\cmp], ImportFileName = [], ImportSecurity = [False], IsAlternateUrl = [False], roType = [SiteCollection]
1310 0B4C 05/18 06:32:24.608 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(540) WARNING Caught Exception while trying to import Url http://wilson-sp/sites/Blog/ from File C:\temp\DPM_0dfb31ba_a9c0_454a_84da_0cd87cd5fd2a\cmp\
1310 0B4C 05/18 06:32:24.608 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1281) WARNING --------------------------------------------------
1310 0B4C 05/18 06:32:24.608 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1282) WARNING Exception Message =
1310 0B4C 05/18 06:32:24.608 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1282) WARNING Cannot import site. The exported site is based on the template BLOG#0 but the destination site is based on the template STS#1. You can import sites only into sites that are based on same template as the exported site.
1310 0B4C 05/18 06:32:24.608 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1283) WARNING Exception Stack =
1310 0B4C 05/18 06:32:24.608 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1283) WARNING at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.WebSerializer.IsWebTemplateCompatible(String sourceWebTemplateName, String destinationWebTemplateName)
1310 0B4C 05/18 06:32:24.608 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1283) WARNING at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.WebSerializer.SetObjectData(Object obj, SerializationInfo info, StreamingContext context, ISurrogateSelector selector)
1310 0B4C 05/18 06:32:24.608 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1283) WARNING at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.XmlFormatter.CallSetObjectData(Object obj, SerializationInfo objectData, ISerializationSurrogate surrogate, ISurrogateSelector selector)
1310 0B4C 05/18 06:32:24.608 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1283) WARNING at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.XmlFormatter.ParseObject(Type objectType, Boolean isChildObject)
1310 0B4C 05/18 06:32:24.608 31 WSSCmdlets.cs(1283) WARNING at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.XmlFormatter.DeserializeObject(Type objectType, Boolean isChildObject, DeploymentObject envelope)
…

So what’s the problem? As we can see, the template used by the SharePoint administrator for the blank site collection doesn’t match the template used for the deleted Site Collection. In this case, the template used for the Site Collection we are trying to restore is BLOG#0. This clearly tells that the template used was BLOG. In case your template isn’t as clear as this one, you can get a list of templates by running this command:

Get-SPWebTemplate | Sort-Object Name | ft –auto

So with that in mind, this is how the Site Collection should be recreated in our example:

Other Issues

There are also a few other known issues when restoring SharePoint Site Collection/Sites that you’ll want to be aware of:

1. If there is a space in a site name, protection will work but the restore of the site will not.

2. If a site is renamed and later on you need to restore that site, the restore will fail. This happens because once the site is renamed, DPM will treat the site as an Item. During restore DPM will complain that an Item can’t be restored to a site since they both have the same path.

Restoring Items Outside of DPM

Situations may arise where an item needs to be restored but using the DPM process will not work. For example, maybe there is a failure in the DPM restore process. Or maybe backups were done but catalogs failed and thus items are not enumerated in the DPM UI.

In these types of situations, you can use DPM to restore the content database to an alternate SQL server that SharePoint is using and then use SharePoint tools to restore a given item to a network location. The steps for this are below:

1. From DPM, select and restore the content database that holds the item you are trying to restore to a SQL server. For example, here we’ll restore file DownloadCenter.xml:

2. The item above is on content database WSS_Content so we’ll right-click that content database and select Recover

3. Click Next on the first screen of the recovery wizard (Review Recovery Selection).

4. On Select Recovery Type, select Recover to any SQL instance and click Next.

5. Select a SQL server where you want to restore the content database.

NOTE If you select the SQL Server\Instance where the content database you are restoring exist, give an alternate name for the database as well as a different path for the MDF and LDF files.

In our example here I am selecting the same SQL server\Instance name where content database WSS_Content exists so I will use an alternate name and database path for the MDF and LDF files.

6. Complete the Recovery Wizard accepting all defaults.

7. Once the restore is completed, go to SQL server\instance where the database was restored and verify that the database is there.

Now navigate to the SharePoint front end server for the remaining steps.

8. From Central Administration, click on Backup and Restore.

9. Click on Recover data from an unattached content database.

10. Enter the database server, database name, select Browse Content and then click Next.

11. Select the Site Collection, Site and List for the item you want to restore, then select Export site or list and then click Next.

12. Select the UNC path to store the exported item and click Start Export.

NOTE The path needs to be an existing share where the SharePoint admin has permission to write the file.

13. Once export is complete, check on the share/folder for the exported file.

This concludes our series on protecting SharePoint with System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager. Chances are you’ll never encounter any problems protecting your SharePoint farms but if you do, hopefully the information here will help you get past them.

Chris Butcher | Senior Support Escalation Engineer | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division
Wilson Souza | Senior Support Escalation Engineer | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news on FacebookandTwitter:

System Center All Up: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/

Configuration Manager Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
Data Protection Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
Virtual Machine Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm

Microsoft Intune: http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoftintune/
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/
The RMS blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/rms/
App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
The Surface Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/surface/
The Application Proxy blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/applicationproxyblog/

The Forefront Endpoint Protection blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

DPM 2012 R2 SharePoint 2010 SharePoint 2012

~ Dwayne Jackson | Senior Support Escalation Engineer

Hi Everyone, Dwayne Jackson here with a quick tip in case you ever run into an issue where System State Protection fails for System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager. Please ensure your symptoms align with the items noted below. 

Symptoms

The first symptom you’ll see from DPM server system state protection fails with below error:

<DPM cannot create a backup because Windows Server Backup (WSB) on the protected computer encountered an error (WSB Event ID: 517, WSB Error Code:  0x12F6790). (ID 30229 Details: Internal error code: 0x80990ED0)>

Also, if you examine it from the protected server side, the Event ID 517 below is logged in Application log.

<The backup operation that started at '‎2015‎-‎04‎-‎22T11:46:14.594589400Z' has failed with following error code '0x80780102' (The system writer is not found in the backup.). Please review the event details for a solution, and then rerun the backup operation once the issue is resolved.>

Additionally, from protected server, Windows Server backup displays than error similar to this:

You will also notice that if you go to the protected server and run the command vssadmin list writers from and administrative command prompt, you’ll see that System Writer is not displayed in the output.

Cause

If you encounter these symptoms, a possible cause is that Cryptographic Services on the problem server is not running.

Resolution

To remedy this, carry out the steps outlined below.

1) From the problem server, identify whether the Cryptographic Services service is running.

2) Assuming it is not running, attempt to start the service. If the service starts successfully then move on to step 3. If the service fails to start, review the Application Event Log for help identifying why the service failed to start.

3) From problem server, open an administrative command prompt (Run as Administrator) run the following command:

Vssadmin List Writer

The writer named System Writer should now be displayed.

4) From the DPM server, attempt to run the System State backup that previously failed. It should now succeed.

For additional information explaining DPM System State Protection, please see the following:

DPM and System State Backup Explained

Dwayne Jackson | Senior Support Escalation Engineer | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news onFacebookandTwitter:

System Center All Up: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/

Configuration Manager Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/ 
Data Protection Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/ 
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/ 
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/ 
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager 
Virtual Machine Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm

The Forefront Endpoint Protection blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

DPM 2012 R2

~ Dwayne Jackson | Senior Support Escalation Engineer

Hi Everyone, Dwayne Jackson here again with a quick tip for you in case you ever run into an issue where SQL Server instance auto-protection for Data Protection Manager is not enabled during DPM Secondary Protection. Please ensure your symptoms align with the items noted below.  

Scenario

1. Existing DPM Secondary Protection is configured for the SQL Server instance.

2. SQL Server instance auto-protection is working as expected from the Primary DPM server. SQL Server instance auto-protection enables DPM to automatically identify and protect SQL Server databases that are added to instances of SQL Server.

Symptom

From the Secondary DPM Server, newly added databases to the SQL Server Instance are not automatically added to be protected.  

Resolution

If you experience this issue, complete the following steps to enable SQL Server instance auto-protection on the Secondary DPM Server.

1. From the Secondary DPM Server, modify the protection group in question.

2) From the Select Group Members step, expand the appropriate SQL Server.

3) Select the SQL instance (i.e. check the box next to the SQL instance) then right-click it.

4) Next click on the pop-up window that says Turn on auto protection as shown below.

Here is what it should look like on auto protection has been turned on:

For additional information regarding SQL Server instance auto-protection, please see the following:

Add databases to a SQL Server

Dwayne Jackson | Senior Support Escalation Engineer | Microsoft GBS Management and Security Division

Get the latest System Center news onFacebookandTwitter:

System Center All Up: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/

Configuration Manager Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/ 
Data Protection Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/ 
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/ 
Operations Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/ 
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager 
Virtual Machine Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm

The Forefront Endpoint Protection blog : http://blogs.technet.com/b/clientsecurity/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager

System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager

DPM 2012 R2