We had an issue recently backing up DPM when a Log File got deleted form the log files directory and we were then unable to backup the mailbox databases in the storage group with the following error “DPM has detected a discontinuity in the log chain for Storage group StorageGroup on ServerName since the last synchronization. (ID 30216 Details: Unspecified error (0×80004005))”

The way we fixed this was by doing the following.

• Dismount Mailbox Databases in the Storage Group
• Make a copy of all .log files from the storage group log files directory and then delete them.
• Mount the databases again and you should now be able to perform a backup

Just a quick one for anyone else that uses a DPM PowerShell command to output to a file and keeps getting prompted to perform the action:

If you are writing anything that has a for each clause in there then you can end up typing “Y” for each time it wants to write to the file.

All you need to do is add in the following option at the end of your line:

-confirm:$false

So the example command from above would read:

“What you want to output” | out-file “c:outputfile.txt” -confirm:$false

The file should then overwrite without prompting.

Paul

One of our customers reported that the SQL Reporting Services would not start, in this case their DPM (Data Protection Manager) server, which would not allow them to run any reports.

When we attempted to start the service we would receive the following error and the service would not start:

In order to fix this we had to put in a registery entry which effectively increased the amount of time that the service would take to start before timing out:

1. Load up regedit.

2. Locate and then select the following registry sub key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControl

3. In the right pane, locate the ServicesPipeTimeout entry.

If this does not exist follow steps a and b:

a. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value. 
b. Type ServicesPipeTimeout, and then press ENTER. 
 
4. Right-click ServicesPipeTimeout, and then click Modify.

5. Click Decimal, type 60000, and then click OK.

6. Restart the computer.

After the server was rebooted the SQL Reporting Service was successfully started and the users could run their reporting in DPM. Hope it helps.

Just a quick PowerShell script to show you tapes that are offsite ready in your tape library. If you save the below into notepad and save it as a PS1 file then run from DPM management shell this should work with no errors

$AllLibraries = get-dpmlibrary -dpmservername servername

$AllTapes = Get-Tape -DPMLibrary $AllLibraries

$outfile = “c:DPMScriptsOffsite-Ready-Tapes.txt”

“DPM Offsite Ready Tapes” | out-file $outfile

$AllTapes |sort-object location | Where-Object {$_.isoffsiteready} | format-table location, barcode ,isoffsiteready | out-file -append C:dpmscriptsOffsite-Ready-Tapes.txt

This PowerShell will output the information needed to a text file in the following location “C:dpmscriptsOffsite-Ready-Tapes.txt “ which will look like below

DPM Offsite Ready Tapes

Location                Barcode                        IsOffsiteReady

——–                   ——-                          ————–

Slot 1                    AIS783L3                    True

Slot 2                    YB2417L3                   True

Daniel Davies

Just a quick powershell script to make your tape drive be marked as free. If you save the below into notepad and save it as a PS1 file then run from DPM management shell this should work with no errors

$LIB = Get-DPMLibrary –DPMServerName servername
$Tape1 = Get-Tape -DPMLibrary $LIB
$Tape2 = Get-RecoveryPoint -Tape $Tape1
foreach ($rp in $Tape2)
{
Get-RecoveryPoint -Datasource $rp.Datasource | out-null
Write-host “Removing recovery point $($rp.RepresentedPointInTime) from tape”
Remove-RecoveryPoint -RecoveryPoint $rp -ForceDeletion -Confirm:$false
}

Set-Tape -Tape $Tape1 –Free

Write-Host  “This Tape is now free”

You will then see the Tape in the drive marked as Free in the DPM Console

Daniel Davies

Just a quick powershell script to produce a text file of every recovery point on the tapes that are currently in the DPM tape library . If you save the below into notepad and save it as a PS1 file then run from DPM management shell this should work with no errors

Add-PSSnapin “Microsoft.DataProtectionManager.PowerShell”
$AllLibraries = get-dpmlibrary -dpmservername servername
$AllTapes = Get-Tape -DPMLibrary $AllLibraries
$outfile = “c:DPMScriptsDPM-Tapes-Report.txt”
“DPM Tapes Report” | out-file $outfile
Foreach ($tape in $AllTapes)
{$tape| FL | out-file –append $outfile
$tape| get-recoverypoint | fl | out-file -append $outfile }

This script will output the file to the following location “c:DPMScriptsDPM-Tapes-Report.txt“ and will give the following output.

DPM Tapes Report

Location         : Slot-20
Tape label       : Dummy – Primary-LT-1Years-Copy0-00000030
Library          : Hewlett Packard MSL G3 Series library  (x64 based)
Tape barcode     : YB23534643
Offsite Ready    : False
Protection Group : Dummy

Name        : SystemState
Backup Time : 01/03/2010 20:05:59
Datasource  : ComputerSystemState on computer test
Location    : Media

Name        : SystemState
Backup Time : 01/03/2010 20:07:22
Datasource  : ComputerSystemState on computer test2
Location    : Media

Name        : SystemState
Backup Time : 01/03/2010 20:05:59
Datasource  : ComputerSystemState on computer test3
Location    : Media

Name        : SystemState
Backup Time : 01/03/2010 20:12:38
Datasource  : ComputerSystemState on computer test4
Location    : Media

Daniel Davies

I recently came across an issue on customer site where backup to tape jobs were failing because the tapes inserted were showing up in the DPM console as “Suspect Tape”. The reason for this is actually to do with the way DPM identifies the tapes.

A suspect tape is when a tape or tapes have conflicting identification information. If your tape library has a barcode scanner then check that no two tapes have the same barcode if they do you will need to assign one of the tapes a different barcode. Also there can be conflictions with the on-media identifier (OMID) which is written to the start of each tape and is read before using the tape.

To resolve this issue of conflicting OMID’s firstly remove the suspect tapes from the library, then rescan and inventory the library. After this we need to run the ResolveSuspectMedia.cmd script. This can usually be found in %SystemDrive%program filesMicrosoft DPMDPMbin, if not you can enter the following in a text editor and save as ResolveSuspectMedia.cmd:

osql -E -S localhostMS$DPM2007$ -d DPMDB -Q "UPDATE tbl_MM_ArchiveMedia SET IsSuspect = 0"

Finally enter the tapes back into the library and inventory and hey presto you should now be able to use the tapes to perform successful tape backups!

To delete a DPM agent which is showing in the DPM Console , you simply right click the agent in question and press uninstall.

Now press uninstall agents at the next window.

You’ll now have a Credential box, so just type your domain credentials and then the task will start to perform and will complete successfully and delete.

If you want a delete an Agent of a server that no longer exists, follow the above steps and you will get the following message.

Simply press yes and this will remove the agent from your console.

Hope this helps

Daniel Davies

Sometimes when you are troubleshooting DPM or monitoring , such as tape backups you would like to look for that specific job that is running or has ran and failed without having to sort through all other jobs that are running such as consistency checks and recovery points.

This can be done by creating a filter on in the jobs tab under monitoring.

To create a filter first press “create filter” on the right hand section of the DPM console. For this example we will be creating a filter to view all tape backups that have taken place.

Now name your filter, I’ve named mine tape backups. Now select the job you would like to monitor, in my case it will be tape backup,and save this.

  You will now have your own view of a specific DPM Job

Thank You

Daniel Davies

You may come across a few problems when using DPM or Simply just windows backup when trying to back up “System State” on WINDOWS 2008.

The first problem you may come across if you have a single drive is that System State will not backup to a critical volume by default. So you have to set the below registry key to allow this to happen.

“Registry entry to enable system state backups to critical volumes

To enable the system state backup files to be targeted to critical volumes, you must set the value of the AllowSSBToAnyVolume registry entry under the following registry subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServiceswbengineSystemStateBackup

Set the value of this entry as follows:

Name: AllowSSBToAnyVolume
Data type: DWORD
Value data: 1

Note When this value is set to 1, system state backups to any volume are enabled. To revert to the default behavior, set the value to 0.”

You may have the issue we had recently also where the  above  regkey is already set to 1, windows backup was installed and there was enough free space, so no obvious reason why the backup should have failed.

But you will notice the below event errors at the same point the backup fails.

“EVENT ID 517

Backup started at ’02/12/2009 09:25:29′ failed with following error code ’2155348165′ ( There was a failure in preparing the backup image of one of the volumes in the backup set. ). Please rerun backup once issue is resolved.

EVENT ID 8193

Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Unexpected error calling routine ConvertStringSidToSid.  hr = 0×80070539.

Operation:
OnIdentify event
Gathering Writer Data

Context:
Execution Context: Shadow Copy Optimization Writer
Writer Class Id: {4dc3bdd4-ab48-4d07-adb0-3bee2926fd7f}
Writer Name: Shadow Copy Optimization Writer
Writer Instance ID: {06ff818a-6da7-4d9c-920b-df9c6309748e}”

Fix

To fix this we had to do the following

1. Create a backup of the registry

2. Delete the following key HKLMSoftwareMicrosoftEventSystem{26c409cc-ae86-11d1-b616-00805fc79216}Subscriptions (leave the EventClass subkey)

3. Restart the server.

4. Run the “VSSADMIN LIST WRITERS” from command Prompt. This causes the regkeys to be recreated and rebuilds the VSS writers.

After this all started working.

Daniel Davies