Slow backup performance or the error "Access is denied" occurs during a Granular Restore Technology (GRT) enabled Exchange or other GRT Agent backup to a Backup to Disk (B2D) folder

Article:TECH52120

Created: 2010-01-15

Updated: 2011-09-21

Article URL http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH52120

Article Type
Technical Solution

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Problem

Backups using GRT to a local or remote Backup to Disk (B2D) folder on an external RAID 5 drive or other types of hardware run slow or the job fails with error "Access is denied". (Figure 1)

GRT enabled backups of an Exchange database or other GRT Agent (Active Directory Agent, SharePoint Agent, etc...) to a tape completes successfully and at normal speed. If GRT is disabled, the backup to disk works at an acceptable speed.

Error

Figure 1

Solution

Backup Exec Granular Restore Technology (GRT) backup and restore operations are very disk I/O intensive. If the issue with slow backups still occurs after all the latest patches for Backup Exec have been applied, the following steps should be performed and/or confirmed to potentially resolve the issue:

1. The disk subsystem components (including, but not limited to, controller cards and disk arrays) should be listed on the Microsoft Hardware Compatibility List (HCL).

Refer the following link for all supported MS controller devices:

http://www.windowsservercatalog.com

2. The IDE, SCSI/RAID Controller, or HBA Manufacturer's latest driver/firmware should be installed.

3. Confirm that the target disk(s) is not heavily fragmented and run a disk defrag if necessary at a time when the backup is not running. For more information on this, refer to the following:

How to correct slow backup performance, slow virus or pre-job scans, and agent initialization problems on heavily fragmented Windows Server Hard Disk Partitions

www.symantec.com/docs/TECH11562

4. Run the Backup to Disk Test Tool on the B2D Target Machine.

Information regarding the Backup Exec Backup to Disk Test Tool - B2Dtest.exe

www.symantec.com/docs/TECH69107

5. Check the Disk Cache Settings on the B2D Target Machine. Depending on the machine's hardware and role in the network, disk caching may need to be either enabled or disabled to improve the backup performance. For more information on this, review the following Microsoft Articles:
Note: When checking the Disk Cache Settings please verify the settings on the RAID Controller as well.

About Cache Manager in Windows Server 2003

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/837331

Obtain the Dskcache.exe tool to configure the "Power Protected" Write Cache option

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811392

Considerations when hosting Active Directory domain controller in virtual hosting environments

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888794

How to troubleshoot Event ID 2021 and Event ID 2022

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/317249

HOW TO: Manually Enable/Disable Disk Write Caching

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/259716

Note: Due to how Backup Exec handles mapping the Exchange database in memory, some databases (typically large databases, or databases with a large amount of logs) may require more virtual memory on the Backup to Disk destination machine than a 32bit server can provide. These limitations can be avoided when using a x64 bit server, and as such may require Backup Exec to be installed onto a x64bit Windows server. For more information on this, review the following document:

Exchange 2007 or 2003 backups run very slow or hang on "Updating Catalogs" when the Granular Recovery Technology (GRT) Option is selected.

www.symantec.com/docs/TECH70960