Anti-Malware Business causes Server 2012 R2 backups to fail.

[Sabastasio]

Ever since installing Anti-malware business console on my server, the backups have failed with the error "The system writer is not found in the backup." Has anyone else ran into this and come up with a fix?

Edited April 8, 2016 by perryb
moved back to business, was already move...

[Rsullinger]

Hey Sabastasio,

 

I want to see about collecting some information about the server so I can see why this is occurring. Do you mind sending me a PM with your e-mail so I can create a support ticket for this?

 

Thank you,

 

Ron 

[SiFinn]

Hi.

I am having similar issue. Please Assist?

Running avast aea console using sql 2008, and Malwarebytes management console on SQL 2012.

VSS is not available during backups.

[wlittle]

4 hours ago, SiFinn said:

Hi.

I am having similar issue. Please Assist?

Running avast aea console using sql 2008, and Malwarebytes management console on SQL 2012.

VSS is not available during backups.

Hello SiFinn,

I work with Sabastasio, and unfortunately our solution was to have the Malwarebytes Management Console on a separate server.

We discovered that the issue was related to directory limitations within the backup solution - a directory path became too long for the backup solution to handle (too many folders inside of folders) as a result of running 2 or more versions of SQL.

We attempted to change settings, move folders around, etc. without success. The only option that we found was to spin up a second WS2012R2 server dedicated to running the Malware Bytes management console. This was the only solution that worked for us. Once we did this (and removed the Malware Bytes console/SQL 2012 from the first server) our backups succeeded on both servers.

I wish I had more of an easier fix for you.

[pimik]

Hi folks,

as you may know Microsoft has a fix for this for Windows 2008 R2 and 2012: 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2807849

For 2012 R2 another possible workaround would be manual deletion of the large number Temp files (1000+) causing backup to fail. More details can be found here:

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/ntdebugging/2013/08/27/missing-system-writer-case-explained/

 

 

[wlittle]

Wow, thank you! I will remember this for the future. I was not aware of the available fix.

 

I was not successful in removing the temporary files, but if I ever run into this issue again I will certainly remember the available fix.

 

Thank you again.

[SiFinn]

Hey guys.

The hotfix provided seems to not work.

I have tried removing all temp files as well, and I feel setting up a second server and paying for a second WS2012R2 license is making a mountain out of a mole hill.

I would like to see this resolved soon so any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

[SiFinn]

I have tried removing the anti malware and also anti exploit managed clients, and still my backups don't want to run.

It must be something related to the console or SQL...

The VSS service as well as SVCHost services are not able to run when attempting to launch a backup...

[wlittle]

5 hours ago, SiFinn said:

Hey guys.

The hotfix provided seems to not work.

I have tried removing all temp files as well, and I feel setting up a second server and paying for a second WS2012R2 license is making a mountain out of a mole hill.

I would like to see this resolved soon so any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

While it may seem extreme, it was the only solution that we found.

To clarify what I said earlier, we found that the issue lies within the .NET framework folder - the folder simply becomes too large once MB is installed.

When we removed MB from our first server and moved it to the second, we did need to rebuild the first server. We could have likely cleaned up the .NET framework folder, but the dependencies for what was contained within those folders was unknown. We decided for the sake of a stable environment that a rebuild was necessary.

Again, I wish that I had a less extreme solution to offer, but this is what we did that worked for us. See if there is anything you can do with your .NET framework folder, and check your server's error logs as they will tell you exactly what file/folder it's getting stuck on. This is how we managed to figure out that our .NET framework folder was the issue.

[diddiminn]

After being depressed about this for months, I found a solution that worked for me.

I made the administrators group the owner of C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Temporary ASP.NET Files\active

Now I can finally backup the server after so many months of no backup.

 

Merry Christmas

 

kip

www.kip.is

[djacobson]

This is a flaw with Microsoft. They had fixed it with a hotfix patch for 2008/2008R2 but it's not yet done in 2012 R2, see this article with recommended workarounds - https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc734021(v=ws.10).aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396

[watersong]

Has there been any progress on this problem? Since installing the software on 5/16/17 I have not been able to use windows backup. I need a solution. Changing the ownership on C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Temporary ASP.NET Files\active had no affect.

[djacobson]

@watersong try deleting the folder, it'll just get remade the next time the console runs. You can also try stopping the console server service with a net stop in a script or something as part of your backup process, and then start it again with a net start after it is complete. This is not going to be addressed by our dev team as it is up to Microsoft to fix their issue.