A snapshot backup of an Exchange Server 2003 database fails, and event ID 9607 is logged

When you try to perform a snapshot backup of a Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 database, the backup operation is unsuccessful. Additionally, the following event is logged in the Application event log: Note that "Backup in progress" appears in the "Data" section of this event.

This issues may occur if one of the following conditions is true:

• An earlier Exchange snapshot backup operation is still in progress.
• An earlier Exchange snapshot backup operation finished. However, the backup program did not call the appropriate completion or cleanup API function calls.

The Error event that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section indicates that the Exchange VSS writer has detected that an earlier Exchange snapshot backup operation is in an unfinished state. Therefore, the current backup operation and all subsequent backup operations are unsuccessful until one of the following conditions is true:

• The earlier backup operation finishes.
• The backup program that is running the earlier backup operation performs the appropriate cleanup API calls.
• The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service is restarted.

To resolve this issue, use one of the following methods, depending on your situation.

Method 1: An earlier backup operation is in progress

If an earlier Exchange snapshot backup operation is in progress, wait for the backup operation to finish before you start the next Exchange snapshot backup operation.

Method 2: Restart the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service

Each backup operation generates a set of events. Each of these events corresponds to a particular phase of the backup operation. The following sequence of events indicate that backup was canceled or aborted after PrepareBackup and before DoSnapshot: For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: You can resolve this issue by restarting Microsoft Exchange Information Store service. To restart the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Services.
2. Right-click the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service, and then click Restart.
3. Try to perform the backup operation that resulted in event ID 9840.

Method 3: An earlier backup operation is not in progress

Each backup operation generates a set of events. Each of these logged events corresponds to a particular part of the backup operation. The following table describes the events that may be logged when a successful snapshot backup operation occurs.

Note For detailed descriptions of these events, see the "More Information" section.A set of backup events that is missing event IDs 9648 and 9616 indicates that the backup operation did not successfully call the cleanup APIs. Therefore, a backup operation that follows an operation that does not log event IDs 9648 and 9616 generates the events that are described in the following table.In this situation, the call to PrepareBackup fails because the backupInProgress flag is set to TRUE.

To troubleshoot this issue, use the Event Viewer to determine whether events are logged that indicate that a particular backup program is not successfully calling the OnBackupComplete method. This method resets the backupInProgress flag. Temporarily disable this backup program to determine whether your other backup operations start successfully.

If you determine that a particular backup program does not successfully call the cleanup APIs after the backup operation is finished, contact the manufacturer of that program to determine whether an update is available or to help you troubleshoot the backup program.

For information about your hardware manufacturer, visit the following Web site: If you cannot determine which backup program did not call the cleanup APIs, contact Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS) to troubleshoot this issue. For information about how to contact Microsoft PSS, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Some commercial Exchange backup solutions deliberately bypass the Exchange backup API that Microsoft provides. These backup solutions back up the database files by using other methods. These backups are typically known as "snapshot" backups. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Exchange snapshot events

The following events are logged during an Exchange snapshot backup operation.

Event ID 9606

Event Type: Information
Event Source: MSExchangeIS
Event Category: Exchange VSS Writer
Event ID: 9606
Description: Exchange VSS Snapshot prepared for backup successfully.

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For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://support.microsoft.com.
Data:
0000: 56 6f 6c 75 6d 65 20 73 Volume s
0008: 6e 61 70 20 6f 63 63 75 nap occu
0010: 72 72 69 6e 67 2e 00 rring..

Event ID 9608

Event Type: Information
Event Source: MSExchangeIS
Event Category: Exchange VSS Writer
Event ID: 9606
Description: Exchange VSS Snapshot prepared for Snapshot successfully.

For more information, click http://search.support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://support.microsoft.com.
Data:
0000: 4e 6f 20 45 78 63 68 61 No Excha
0008: 6e 67 65 20 63 6f 6d 70 nge comp
0010: 6f 6e 65 6e 74 73 20 69 onents i
0018: 6e 76 6f 6c 76 65 64 20 nvolved
0020: 69 6e 20 74 68 65 20 76 in the v
0028: 6f 6c 75 6d 65 20 73 6e olume sn
0030: 61 70 2e 00 ap..

Event ID 9614

Event Type: Information
Event Source: MSExchangeIS
Event Category: Exchange VSS Writer
Event ID: 9606
Description: Exchange VSS Snapshot has aborted snapshot successfully.

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For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://support.microsoft.com.
Data:
0000: 41 62 6f 72 74 20 69 67 Abort ig
0008: 6e 6f 72 65 64 2e 00 nored..

For more information about the OnBackupShutdown method, visit the following Microsoft Web site: