Exact Error Message

Workaround:

Perform the following to resolve this issue:

1. On the SQL server, stop the Backup Exec Remote Agent Service from Windows Control Panel > Services.

\Program Files\VERITAS\Backup Exec\NT

for Backup Exec version 11d and above, the default location is 

for 11d and above:

\Program Files\Symantec\Backup Exec\RAWS

3. Rename the bedssql2.dll file to bedssql2.old

If the SQL/MSDE is installed on a Remote Server:

WARNING:  Renaming the bedssql2.dll will effectively disable the SQL agent on the server it is renamed upon.  If the SQL agent is purchased in the future, the issue with the corrupt database(s) must be resolved first, and backup of the SQL servers on which the bedssql2.dll was changed is desired – the bedssql2.old file MUST be renamed back to bedssql2.dll. 

To export a backup copy of your IIS 7.0 configuration on a Windows 2008 Server:

Open Server Manager

Expand Roles – Web Server (IIS) – Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager

Highlight the web server name

From the Management category, double click Shared Configuration

Under Actions, select Export Configuration. Accept or change the default export path of C:\Windows\system32\inetsrv\config\export

Click the Connect As button, and enter administrative credentials. If the server is a domain member, you may need to enter your credentials in the format domain\username or username@domain.com

Enter the encryption keys password twice and press OK

You should now have three files in the C:\Windows\system32\inetsrv\config\export directory: administration.config, applicationHost.config, and configEncKey.key. Save the files in a safe place.

To backup your IIS 7.0 configuration on a Windows 2008 Server, you just need to make a copy of the \windows\system32\inetsrv\config directory (and subdirectories) and save it in a safe location.

You can also use the appcmd.exe utility to create the backup via the command line. The syntax to create a backup is:

%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe add backup “Backup Name”

to restore the backup, the syntax is:

%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe restore backup “Backup Name”

to remove a backup, the syntax is:

%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe delete backup “Backup Name”

For additional details on appcmd.exe see Bill’s IIS blog, or check out Mike’s IIS 7.0 Server-side blog for information on backing up and restoring IIS 7.0 shared configuration.

Here is the registry entry to stop Backup Exec from failing backup jobs when corrupt files are encountered

[For Backup Exec versions 9x and 10x]
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VERITAS\Backup Exec\Engine\Backup

[For Backup Exec versions 11x and 12x]
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SYMANTEC\Backup Exec for Windows\Backup Exec\Engine\Backup

On the menu bar, select Edit | Add Value

In the Value name field, type in Fail Jobs On Corrupt Files

For the Data Type, select REG_DWORD

In the right window, double-click Fail Jobs on Corrupt Files

Change the Value to 0 (zero)

Restart the Backup Exec services or restart the Windows server.

I performed a Groupwise 6.5 to 7.0.3 upgrade this weekend on the domain and post office servers, and wrote a quick script to backup the agent configuration files.  It’s not a pretty script, but I wrote it in about 10 minutes and it worked on all my Netware servers.  I call this script part I since it only deals with files affected by my upgrade, which are all located on the sys volume.  I upgrade the gateways in two weeks, so I’ll backup the configuration files in the domain directories then.

You need to set SERVERNAME, SERVERVOL, BKUPLOC and BKUPDIR. If I’ve missed any files, please let me know and I’ll add them to the list.

@echo off
REM script to backup Groupwise configuration files from Netware server
REM replace SERVERNAME with the name of your Netware/Groupwise server
SET SERVERNAME=\\grpwise4
SET SYSVOL=sys
REM replace SERVERVOL with the name of the volume to write the backup files to
SET SERVERVOL=vol1
REM SERVERPATH is combination of server and volume name in \\server\vol\ format
SET SERVERPATH=%SERVERNAME%\%SERVERVOL%
REM SYSVOLPATH is combination of server and volume name in \\server\sys\ format
SET SYSVOLPATH=%SERVERNAME%\%SYSVOL%
REM APACHEAPTH is sys:\apache2 Apache2 web server directory
SET APACHEPATH=%SERVERNAME%\%SYSVOL%\Apache2
REM NOVELLPATH is sys:\novell directory
SET NOVELLPATH=%SERVERNAME%\%SYSVOL%\Novell
REM TOMCATPATH is sys:\tomcat\4 directory
SET TOMCATPATH=%SERVERNAME%\%SYSVOL%\tomcat\4
REM BKUPLOC is the directory to save backup files to
REM this script has no error checking, so the directory's existance will probably matter
SET BKUPLOC=gw65bkup
REM BKUPDIR is the full path to the backup directory
SET BKUPDIR=%serverpath%\%bkuploc%
REM Create the backup directory
md %bkupdir%
REM copy sys:\system\ config files
md %bkupdir%\system
copy %sysvolpath%\system\*.mta %bkupdir%\system
copy %sysvolpath%\system\*.poa %bkupdir%\system
copy %sysvolpath%\system\*.waa %bkupdir%\system
copy %sysvolpath%\system\*.cfg %bkupdir%\system
copy %sysvolpath%\system\*.ncf %bkupdir%\system
copy %sysvolpath%\system\*.xml %bkupdir%\system
copy %sysvolpath%\system\*.bin %bkupdir%\system
copy %sysvolpath%\system\autoexec.ncf %bkupdir%\system
REM copy important Apache files
md %bkupdir%\apache2\conf
copy %apachepath%\conf\*.* %bkupdir%\apache2\conf
REM copy important Tomcat files
md %bkupdir%\tomcat\4\conf
copy %tomcatpath%\conf\*.* %bkupdir%\tomcat\4\conf
REM copy important Webaccess files
md %bkupdir%\novell\webaccess\conf
copy %novellpath%\webaccess\*.* %bkupdir%\novell\webaccess
REM copy important Groupwise NLMs from sys:\system
copy %sysvolpath%\system\dbcopy.nlm %bkupdir%\system
copy %sysvolpath%\system\ex*.nlm %bkupdir%\system
copy %sysvolpath%\system\gw*.nlm %bkupdir%\system
copy %sysvolpath%\system\ldap*.nlm %bkupdir%\system
copy %sysvolpath%\system\tsa*.nlm %bkupdir%\system
copy %sysvolpath%\system\scc*.nlm %bkupdir%\system
copy %sysvolpath%\system\vs*.nlm %bkupdir%\system
copy %sysvolpath%\system\wvc*.nlm %bkupdir%\system
copy %sysvolpath%\system\xg*.nlm %bkupdir%\system

I’m about to upgrade our Groupwise infrastructure, and I wanted to write a simple script that would backup and archive important Groupwise configuration files.  I’m not proficient at scripting, but here’s what I came up with.  Please recommend additional files to include if I have overlooked anything.

####################################
### Begin gwbkup.sh
### script to backup Groupwise configuration files
### /home/backups/gw7cfg is the directory to backup files to
### backup Groupwise agent configuration files
cp /opt/novell/groupwise/agents/share/* /home/backups/gw7cfg/
cp /etc/opt/novell/groupwise/gwha.conf /home/backups/gw7cfg/
### backup Apache web server configuration files
cp /etc/apache2/httpd.conf /home/backups/gw7cfg/
cp /etc/apache2/conf.d/gw* /home/backups/gw7cfg/
### Backup WebAccess configuration files
cp /opt/novell/groupwise/webaccess/webacc.cfg /home/backups/gw7cfg/
cp /opt/novell/groupwise/webaccess/commgr.cfg /home/backups/gw7cfg/commgr.cfg.webacc
cp /opt/novell/groupwise/webaccess/spellchk.cfg /home/backups/gw7cfg/
### Backup WebPublisher configuration files
cp /opt/novell/groupwise/webpublisher/webpub.cfg /home/backups/gw7cfg/
cp /opt/novell/groupwise/webpublisher/commgr.cfg /home/backups/gw7cfg/commgr.cfg.webpub
cp /opt/novell/groupwise/webaccess/ldap.cfg /home/backups/gw7cfg/
### Backup Tomcat configuration files
cp -r /etc/tomcat5/base/* /home/backups/gw7cfg/
### backup gwia files specific to each gateway
### may have more than one gwia per Groupwise system, so append gateway
### name to end of file
cp /mail/gwiado/wpgate/gwia703/exepath.cfg /home/backups/gw7cfg/exepath.cfg.gwia703
cp /mail/gwiado/wpgate/gwia703/gwac.db /home/backups/gw7cfg/gwac.db.gwia703
cp /mail/gwiado/wpgate/gwia703/gwauth.cfg /home/backups/gw7cfg/gwauth.cfg.gwia703
cp /mail/gwiado/wpgate/gwia703/mimetype.cfg /home/backups/gw7cfg/mimetype.cfg.gwia703
### backup webaccess files specific to each gateway
### may have more than one gwia per Groupwise system, so append gateway
### name to end of file
cp /mail/webdo/wpgate/webac703/comint.cfg /home/backups/gw7cfg/comint.cfg.webac703
cp /mail/webdo/wpgate/webac703/commgr.cfg /home/backups/gw7cfg/commgr.cfg.webac703
cp /mail/webdo/wpgate/webac703/gwac.db /home/backups/gw7cfg/gwac.db.webac703
cp /mail/webdo/wpgate/webac703/mimetype.cfg /home/backups/gw7cfg/mimetype.cfg.webac703

### Backup Groupwise monitor files
cp /opt/novell/groupwise/gwmonitor/gwmonitor.cfg /home/backups/gw7cfg/gwmonitor.cfg
cp /opt/novell/groupwise/gwmonitor/default/gwmonitor.cfg /home/backups/gw7cfg/gwmonitor.cfg.default
cp /opt/novell/groupwise/gwmonitor/default/gwmonitor.xml /home/backups/gw7cfg/gwmonitor.xml
### tar configuration files and label archive with today's date
tar -pcvzf /home/backups/$(date +%m-%d-%Y).tar.gz /home/backups/gw7cfg/
### Remove old configuration files rm -r /home/backups/gw7cfg/* 
### End gwbkup.sh ####################################

Last week I posted a basic script that took advantage of file encryption to securely backup the iis metabase. Today’s script builds upon it by backing up the IIS configuration and exporting it using iiscnfg.vbs.

REM delete mapping for H: if it exists
net use h: /del

REM map H: to remote server share
net use h: \\RemoteServer\backup /user:RemoteServer\user password

REM replace YouriisServerName with the name of your IIS web server
SET SERVER=YouriisServerName

REM yymmdd will be the current date.
REM For example June 18 2008 will be in the format 080618
SET yymmdd=%date:~12,2%%date:~4,2%%date:~7,2%

REM replace YouriiSserverPassword with the password of an
REM administrative user on the IIS box
SET PASSWORD=YouriiSserverPassword

REM replace User with an administrative user on IIS server
SET USER=Administrator

REM replace DECRYPTPWD with the password for decrypting IIS exported configuration
SET DECRYPTPWD=pwd

REM Saves configuration to C:\WINDOWS\system32\inetsrv\metabase.xml
iiscnfg.vbs /save /s %SERVER% /u %USER% /p %PASSWORD%

REM export IIS Configuration to date.metabase.xml.file
REM The following command should be on one line
iiscnfg.vbs /export /s %SERVER% /u %USER% /p %PASSWORD% /d %PASSWORD% /f H:\%SERVER%\%yymmdd%.metabase.xml /sp / /children

Now, for the secure part. We need to encrypt the bkupmeta.bat file so that not just anyone can read it’s contents. That would be a bad thing, since we have our password saved in the script.

To encrypt the bkupmeta.bat file:

In Windows Explorer right click on the bkupmeta.bat file
Select Properties
Select Advanced
Check the Encrypt Contents to Secure Data check box – OK – Apply
Select Encrypt the File Only

While you’re at it, double check the bkupmeta.bat’s ntfs permissions to make sure only the appropriate administrative user has access to the file. You should also verify the %windir%\system32\inetsrv\metaback\ directory has the appropriate permissions, even though it’s secured by default.

Finally, create a scheduled task that runs bkupmeta.bat whenever you’d like. Verify the backups are occuring by checking for the MD* and SC* files on the remote server.

This script was modified from one found in Chapter 9 of ”IIS 6.0 Administration Scripts, Tips, and Tricks”.

The following is a script to backup the IIS 6.0 Metabase.  Save it as bkupmeta.bat.

REM delete mapping for H: if it exists
net use h: /del

REM map H: to remote server share
net use h: \\RemoteServer\backup /user:RemoteServer\user password

REM replace YouriisServerName with the name of your IIS web server
SET SERVER=YouriisServerName

REM yymmdd will be the current date. 
REM For example  June 18 2008 will be in the format 080618
SET yymmdd=%date:~12,2%%date:~4,2%%date:~7,2%

REM replace YouriiSserverPassword with the password of an administrative
REM user on the IIS box
SET PASSWORD=YouriiSserverPassword

REM iisback.vbs generates the two metabase backup files and saves them
REM to the %windir%\system32\inetsrv\metaback directory
REM in the format yymmdd.MD0 and yymmdd.SC0
iisback.vbs /backup /b %yymmdd% /e %PASSWORD%

REM copy the metabase backup files to the remote server
REM /y tells xcopy to overwrite any files with the same name
REM on the remote server
Xcopy %windir%\system32\inetsrv\metaback\%yymmdd%.* h:\%SERVER% /y

Now, for the secure part.  We need to encrypt the bkupmeta.bat file so that not just anyone can read it’s contents.  That would be a bad thing, since we have our password saved in the script.

To encrypt the bkupmeta.bat file:

In Windows Explorer right click on the bkupmeta.bat file
Select Properties
Select Advanced
Check the Encrypt Contents to Secure Data check box – OK – Apply
Select Encrypt the File Only

While you’re at it, double check the bkupmeta.bat’s ntfs permissions to make sure only the appropriate administrative user has access to the file.  You should also verify the %windir%\system32\inetsrv\metaback\ directory has the appropriate permissions, even though it’s secured by default.

Finally, create a scheduled task that runs bkupmeta.bat whenever you’d like.  Verify the backups are occuring by checking for the MD* and SC* files on the remote server.

This script was modified from one found in Chapter 9 of ”IIS 6.0 Administration Scripts, Tips, and Tricks”.

Windows 2008 Server Core is a minimalist installation of Windows Server 2008. It must be managed from the servers console command line or remotely via Terminal Services.

In previous versions of Windows Server, NTbackup.exe was the program used for creating system backups. NTbackup.exe has been phased out and has been replaced in Windows 2008 by Windows Server Backup, wbadmin.exe. NTbackup is still available as a separate download in Windows 2008, only for backwards compatibility for restores, so don’t bother trying to use this legacy tool to create backups.

Since the Server Core installation only installs files that are absolutely essential, we’ll first have to install Windows Server Backup. The following command is case sensitive, so type it carefully from the server console:

start /w ocsetup WindowsServerBackup

Now that the Windows Server Backup program is installed, we can start making backups to remote machines.

wbadmin.exe start backup -backuptarget:\\SERVER\SHARE -allCritical -VSSfull -quiet

will create a backup of the entire system and save it to \\SERVER\SHARE, which is a share on a remote machine. Notice that a UNC path is required rather than a mapped drive.

Normally you will be prompted to answer Y/N to “Do you want to start the backup operation?” before the backup begins, but the -quiet command hides this prompt.

To create a System State Backup and save it on the D Drive, use the following syntax:

wbadmin.exe start systemstatebackup -backuptarget:d:

There are a few rules you need to remember about backups in Windows 2008. First, you can’t create a System State Backup on the server’s C Drive. You’ll receive the following message:

ERROR – The location for backup is a critical volume.

I used to be able to create System State backups in Windows 2003 and save them to the C Drive. This was useful for servers that had only one partition, since I’d move the System State backup to a flash drive after it was created. Luckily, KB 944530 describes a registry entry you can create 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_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wbengine\SystemStateBackup\

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.

The next rule, which I find to be particularly ridiculous, is that you cannot save System State backups to a remote share on another server. When I attempted to do this I encountered the following message:

“Creating a system state backup to a shared network folder is not allowed. To store a system state backup on a shared network folder, first run the backup to a local volume and then copy the backup to the shared network folder.”

Sounds great in theory, but like I said before, if you only have a C Drive and no other local volumes, unless you hack the registry the only way you can backup the System State is to do a complete system backup.

The third rule is you can only backup entire volumes, which means no choosing which folders and files are backed up. I find this odd, since I often have folders that I don’t want to ever backup, like temp and cache directories.

Finally, you cannot backup to tape using Windows Server Backup. I’m not really affected by this since I’ve been using disk-to-disk solutions for quite a while now. I can see how this caveat may mess with some admin’s backup strategy, especially those used to keeping long term tape archives.

Kiwi CatTools is a free (up to five devices) customizable utility that help network administrators automate configuration backups of their network devices such as routers and switches. It provides email notification and compare reports, highlighting configuration changes. Some of the features of CatTools includes:

• Instant or scheduled device configuration backups where any differences can be instantly emailed to you.
• Send CLI commands via Telnet or SSH to many devices at once.
• Change device configuration at scheduled times.
• Change all of your network device passwords at once.
• Generate various device reports such as Port, MAC, ARP and Version.
• Compare the startup and running configuration of devices.

All versions of CatTools have the same functionality. The extent of that functionality however is limited by the license you are running.

Freeware   Edition

Engineer   Edition

Professional   Edition

Enterprise Edition

Number of Devices in database

5

20

500

Unlimited

Number of Activities in database

5

20

50

Unlimited

Simultaneous TFTP sessions

2

 10

 20

100

Simultaneous Device connections

1

 5

 10

30

Check out the following screenshots of the product. My only disappointment with the product was that there was no Sonicwall firewall preconfigured template. Luckily, there’s detailed instructions on how to define your own devices and activities. The premise is if your device supports Telnet, SSH1, SSH1.5 (Cisco), or SSH2 connectivity, you should be able to script automatic backups and perform other activities on it.

See the list of supported devices and an overview of the pre-configured activities.