Veritas Backup Exec 9 hangs

Occasionally, my backups will hang after backing up 300-400k of an
internal SCSI boot drive. There are no errors or alerts reported in
either Backup Exec or in Windows Server 2003 logs. The problem occurs
on 3 servers with the same hardware configuration--internal Seagate
SCSI boot drive & Certance(Seagate) DDS4 TBU attached to separate
channels on an embedded Adaptec 7902 U320 SCSI Controller (non-host
RAID). When the problems occurs, I can cancel the job, right-click
run now and the backup completes without error.

The problem does not seem to occur with a particular tape. I have
even tried swapping in new tapes. I believe the hardware is all work
properly because the same servers are able to backup remote servers
witout any problems.

I was originally running BE 9.0 but have upgraded to 9.1 at the
recommendation of Veritas. I also tried using Certance's driver
instead of Veritas's driver. In addition, the TBU is running the
latest firmware (910B).

Any ideas on what could be happening or suggestions to resolve it?

Bryan

Just a thought, SCSI drives are considerably faster than DDS drives and if
you can not stream at a rate that is consistent DDS technology will hiccup.
U320 is very fast and is far beyond the 20 GB/hr. rate of DDS4. The simple
solution is to get a faster tape drive (LTO2 or SDLT320,600)
"Bryan" wrote in message
om...
Occasionally, my backups will hang after backing up 300-400k of an
internal SCSI boot drive. There are no errors or alerts reported in
either Backup Exec or in Windows Server 2003 logs. The problem occurs
on 3 servers with the same hardware configuration--internal Seagate
SCSI boot drive & Certance(Seagate) DDS4 TBU attached to separate
channels on an embedded Adaptec 7902 U320 SCSI Controller (non-host
RAID). When the problems occurs, I can cancel the job, right-click
run now and the backup completes without error.

The problem does not seem to occur with a particular tape. I have
even tried swapping in new tapes. I believe the hardware is all work
properly because the same servers are able to backup remote servers
witout any problems.

I was originally running BE 9.0 but have upgraded to 9.1 at the
recommendation of Veritas. I also tried using Certance's driver
instead of Veritas's driver. In addition, the TBU is running the
latest firmware (910B).

Any ideas on what could be happening or suggestions to resolve it?

Bryan

This is a very good point and I would normally have tried it.
However, I found what appears to be causing the issue. The server
disk I/O is very high (near 100%) just prior to a hung backup. The
I/O does not go down even after I cancel the job. Restarting the
Backup Exec services does return disk I/O to normal levels (sub 10%).
It appears Backup Exec is not releasing the disk resources (reminds me
of an NT4.0 memory leak). I set the Backup Exec services to restart
prior to every backup. I have not had backups hang in 4 days since
doing this.

Any one else had a similar experience?

"Monte Oates" wrote in message news:vs55d.93607$%S.64273@pd7tw2no...
Just a thought, SCSI drives are considerably faster than DDS drives and if
you can not stream at a rate that is consistent DDS technology will hiccup.
U320 is very fast and is far beyond the 20 GB/hr. rate of DDS4. The simple
solution is to get a faster tape drive (LTO2 or SDLT320,600)
"Bryan" wrote in message
om...
Occasionally, my backups will hang after backing up 300-400k of an
internal SCSI boot drive. There are no errors or alerts reported in
either Backup Exec or in Windows Server 2003 logs. The problem occurs
on 3 servers with the same hardware configuration--internal Seagate
SCSI boot drive & Certance(Seagate) DDS4 TBU attached to separate
channels on an embedded Adaptec 7902 U320 SCSI Controller (non-host
RAID). When the problems occurs, I can cancel the job, right-click
run now and the backup completes without error.

The problem does not seem to occur with a particular tape. I have
even tried swapping in new tapes. I believe the hardware is all work
properly because the same servers are able to backup remote servers
witout any problems.

I was originally running BE 9.0 but have upgraded to 9.1 at the
recommendation of Veritas. I also tried using Certance's driver
instead of Veritas's driver. In addition, the TBU is running the
latest firmware (910B).

Any ideas on what could be happening or suggestions to resolve it?

Bryan

i have been a veritas victim for 3 years now if you would can you tel
me how you restart the bkex services before each backup

cecil

Bryan Wrote:
I set the Backup Exec services to restart
prior to every backup. I have not had backups hang in 4 days since
doing this.

Any one else had a similar experience?

"Monte Oates" wrote in messag
news:vs55d.93607$%[email protected]
Just a thought, SCSI drives are considerably faster than DDS drive
and if
you can not stream at a rate that is consistent DDS technology wil
hiccup.
U320 is very fast and is far beyond the 20 GB/hr. rate of DDS4. Th
simple
solution is to get a faster tape drive (LTO2 or SDLT320,600)
"Bryan" wrote in message
om...-
Occasionally, my backups will hang after backing up 300-400k of an
internal SCSI boot drive. There are no errors or alerts reported in
either Backup Exec or in Windows Server 2003 logs. The proble
occurs
on 3 servers with the same hardware configuration--internal Seagate
SCSI boot drive & Certance(Seagate) DDS4 TBU attached to separate
channels on an embedded Adaptec 7902 U320 SCSI Controller (non-host
RAID). When the problems occurs, I can cancel the job, right-click
run now and the backup completes without error.

The problem does not seem to occur with a particular tape. I have
even tried swapping in new tapes. I believe the hardware is al
work
properly because the same servers are able to backup remote servers
witout any problems.

I was originally running BE 9.0 but have upgraded to 9.1 at the
recommendation of Veritas. I also tried using Certance's driver
instead of Veritas's driver. In addition, the TBU is running the
latest firmware (910B).

Any ideas on what could be happening or suggestions to resolve it?

Bryan-

--
cecil