ADSM-L

Re: [ADSM-L] VSS Hotfix list for Windows 2008

2009-10-21 12:06:14
Subject: Re: [ADSM-L] VSS Hotfix list for Windows 2008
From: "Sergio O. Fuentes" <sfuentes AT UMD DOT EDU>
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:04:41 -0400
I've decided to turn this over to our Windows system admins.  I'll also be 
recommending them to open a call with Microsoft support (instead of using TSM 
support).  The crash isn't isolated to just the TSM backup window, and I can 
prove it with event logs from previous crashes.  Therefore, I think MS is in a 
better position to advise our systems group on how to capture and debug the 
problem when it does occur.

According to our Exchange guys, the KB's that MS supplied (referenced in the 
thread earlier) don't work for our Windows 2k8 64-bit systems (only Vista), 
even though MS says that it should work.  I'm not sure if our exchange guys are 
doing something wrong, but right now, since I'm only the TSM admin, I can't do 
much to debug the problem if it's so intermittent.  Nor do I think IBM support 
would be able to help much.

Cory, have you had to engage MS support yet?  This is enough of a problem to 
make our senior managers turn their heads, so even though it seems like I'm 
offloading the problem to MS, I really believe that MS is the best place to 
start, especially since the problem is an actual system crash and not just an 
application error.

Sergio

-----Original Message-----
From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU] On Behalf Of 
Cory Heikel
Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2009 5:13 PM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: Re: [ADSM-L] VSS Hotfix list for Windows 2008

Sergio,

Let me know how you make out with this. We are experiencing similar
problems which my gut kept telling me had to do with the vss. We have an
open ticket with IBM, but no real answers yet. One thing we did find was
that if you add -systemstate to the opt file thei system doesn't hang or
crash.  Good luck!

Cory

Cory Heikel
Tivoli Systems Administrator
Hershey Medical Center
(717) 531-7972

>>> "Sergio O. Fuentes" <sfuentes AT UMD DOT EDU> 10/15/2009 5:09 PM >>>
The only indication that it's a VSS issue is the fact that the crash or
hang happens during or immediately after the System state backup.
There's nothing in the logs because the crash occurs abruptly.  Even
Window event logs don't show any sort of error message or STOP event.
The hotfixes I listed previously fix issues that cause crashes or hangs,
so I'm going to recommend installing those for the sake of eliminating
that potential cause.

vssadmin list writers shows no errors or failed writers but this is on
a system that has recovered from a crash.  I'd have to have some amount
of clairvoyance to run this command right before a crash since it
happens at such random times.  First, I'll apply these hotfixes.  Are
they any others to apply?

Thanks!

Sergio

-----Original Message-----
From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU] On Behalf
Of Tchuise, Bertaut
Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2009 1:19 PM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: Re: [ADSM-L] VSS Hotfix list for Windows 2008

Sergio,

What specific error messages pertaining to TSM do you see in the
dsmerror.log file? While running vssadmin list writers, are there any
writers that show state of failure?

Thanks.

BERTAUT TCHUISE
TSM/NetApp Storage Administrator
Legg Mason Technology Services
*410-580-7032
BTchuise AT leggmason DOT com


-----Original Message-----
From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU] On Behalf
Of
Sergio O. Fuentes
Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2009 1:05 PM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: [ADSM-L] VSS Hotfix list for Windows 2008

Hi all,

We're running Windows 2008 to serve Exchange in a clustered
environment.
Nodes on the cluster have intermittently crashed during the TSM 5.5.2
client backup run (or immediately after).  This run backs up the C:
drive and system state.  I have suspicions that VSS is the culprit
(and
not necessarily TSM).  Does IBM or MS have any comprehensive VSS
hotfix
list that should address some of these issues?

I see this page for MS: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940349
I see this page on IBM's site:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21242128&loc=en_US&lang

=en

Problem is that these are only for Windows 2003.  I'm looking for
something similar but for Windows 2008.  Workarounds aren't really an
option here since I don't have admin rights to these machines, so a
hotfix is really what I'm looking for.

I have this list from my own research.  The first one seems to be
indicative of what we're seeing:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953531
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950267
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957522

Does anyone have any additional hotfixes that may apply here?  I
appreciate your help.

Thanks!

Sergio

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