Symptoms
In a Windows Server 2008-based Exchange Server 2007 Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR) clusters environment, the log file path for the storage groups points to the root of a mount point. When you try to perform system state backups on the passive node of the CCR clusters, you receive the following error message:
"Backup of System State failed [Date Time]
Log of files successfully backed up
'<path of Log-File>'
Log of files for which backup failed
'<path of Log-File>'
Failure in a Volume Shadow Copy Service operation.
ERROR - Volume Shadow Copy Service operation error <0x800423f0> the shadow copy set only contains only a subset of the volumes needed to correctly backup the selected components of the writer."
After you receive this error message, you run the Vssadmin list writers command. Then, the Microsoft Exchange writer is in the following state:
"State: [8] Failed
Last error: Inconsistent shadow copy"
Cause
This problem occurs because the XML metadata that is created by the Exchange writer on the passive node of the CCR clusters differs from the metadata that the Windows Backup engine expects. If the file path for the log files points to the root of a mount point, the Windows Backup engine expects the physical path for the log files to end with a trailing backslash. However, Exchange Server 2007 writes the physical path information without a trailing backslash. Then, Exchange Server 2007 passes the physical path information to the Windows Backup engine.
Resolution
To fix this problem, install the following update rollup:
979784 Description of Update Rollup 3 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2
After you apply this hotfix, you must restart the Exchange Server 2007 servers for the change take effect.
Workaround
To work around this problem, follow these steps:
-
Create a subdirectory in the root of the mount point that holds the log files for the storage groups.
-
Reconfigure the CCR clusters so that the path of the log files for the storage groups points to the subdirectory.
Status
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.
More Information
For more information about how to configure volume mount points on a server cluster in Windows Server 2008, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
How to configure volume mount points on a server cluster in Windows Server 2008
