Server 2008 x64 And Shadow Copy Backups/DosDev

Hi All

We're using Server 2008 x64 Standard for running Exchange 2007 and SQL
Server 2005 plus a few small COM application objects and a small amount of
file serving.

When it comes to backup time I have to say I was disappointed with the
Server 2008 option of full drive only. Its useful to be able to do that,
certainly, but its not the only kind of backup thats useful.

So, I decided to go the Robocopy route - an excellent tool for anyone
unfamiliar with it.

All went fine until I got to the point of wanting to get the Exchange edb
files backed up.

Some quick reading later and the combination of VShadow and DosDev (create a
shadow copy, then mount it as a drive letter) seemed perfect.

I got the x64 version of VShadow.exe from the VSS SDK and DosDev from one of
the reporting tools. Version number: 5.2.3790.1830 (10/05/2007).

The VShadow -Script=vss.cmd D: works fine and as various sites suggest.

>DosDev L: %SHADOW_DEVICE_1%
Returns:

Current definition: L: = \??\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy193

If I try to change to the drive I get:

>L:
The device is not ready.

Or if I've left it a while (in case it was a timing issue) eventually it
comes out with:
File not found.

Anyone have any thoughts, ideas or alternatives? Thanks!

Paul
Tue Mar 25 09:09:44 PDT 2008

What does 'vssadmin list volumes' give you?

/ ) Regards,
/ /_________
_|__|__) Paul Weterings
/ (O_) http://www.servercare.nl
__/ (O_)
____(O_)


Saitir wrote:
> Hi All
>
> We're using Server 2008 x64 Standard for running Exchange 2007 and SQL
> Server 2005 plus a few small COM application objects and a small amount of
> file serving.
>
> When it comes to backup time I have to say I was disappointed with the
> Server 2008 option of full drive only. Its useful to be able to do that,
> certainly, but its not the only kind of backup thats useful.
>
> So, I decided to go the Robocopy route - an excellent tool for anyone
> unfamiliar with it.
>
> All went fine until I got to the point of wanting to get the Exchange edb
> files backed up.
>
> Some quick reading later and the combination of VShadow and DosDev (create a
> shadow copy, then mount it as a drive letter) seemed perfect.
>
> I got the x64 version of VShadow.exe from the VSS SDK and DosDev from one of
> the reporting tools. Version number: 5.2.3790.1830 (10/05/2007).
>
> The VShadow -Script=vss.cmd D: works fine and as various sites suggest.
>
>> DosDev L: %SHADOW_DEVICE_1%
> Returns:
>
> Current definition: L: = \??\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy193
>
> If I try to change to the drive I get:
>
>> L:
> The device is not ready.
>
> Or if I've left it a while (in case it was a timing issue) eventually it
> comes out with:
> File not found.
>
> Anyone have any thoughts, ideas or alternatives? Thanks!

Saitir
Tue Mar 25 09:23:00 PDT 2008

vssadmin list volumes only shows my actual internal hard drive volumes (C:
and D: in this case) No networks mappings and certainly not the dosdev
mapping (and yes, I ran all the commands again directly before running
vssadmin).



"Paul Weterings" wrote:

> What does 'vssadmin list volumes' give you?
>
> / ) Regards,
> / /_________
> _|__|__) Paul Weterings
> / (O_) http://www.servercare.nl
> __/ (O_)
> ____(O_)
>
>
> Saitir wrote:
> > Hi All
> >
> > We're using Server 2008 x64 Standard for running Exchange 2007 and SQL
> > Server 2005 plus a few small COM application objects and a small amount of
> > file serving.
> >
> > When it comes to backup time I have to say I was disappointed with the
> > Server 2008 option of full drive only. Its useful to be able to do that,
> > certainly, but its not the only kind of backup thats useful.
> >
> > So, I decided to go the Robocopy route - an excellent tool for anyone
> > unfamiliar with it.
> >
> > All went fine until I got to the point of wanting to get the Exchange edb
> > files backed up.
> >
> > Some quick reading later and the combination of VShadow and DosDev (create a
> > shadow copy, then mount it as a drive letter) seemed perfect.
> >
> > I got the x64 version of VShadow.exe from the VSS SDK and DosDev from one of
> > the reporting tools. Version number: 5.2.3790.1830 (10/05/2007).
> >
> > The VShadow -Script=vss.cmd D: works fine and as various sites suggest.
> >
> >> DosDev L: %SHADOW_DEVICE_1%
> > Returns:
> >
> > Current definition: L: = \??\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy193
> >
> > If I try to change to the drive I get:
> >
> >> L:
> > The device is not ready.
> >
> > Or if I've left it a while (in case it was a timing issue) eventually it
> > comes out with:
> > File not found.
> >
> > Anyone have any thoughts, ideas or alternatives? Thanks!
>

Saitir
Tue Mar 25 15:25:03 PDT 2008

I hate answering my own questions, but it happens sometimes!

The answer, in case anyone else out there has similar issues, is to use
DiskShadow.

Its a command that comes with Server 2008 and (for my purposes) rolls up
vshadow and dosdev into something new. It does /alot/ more but it fixes my
problem nicely.

Its got an internal commandline sort of like diskpart et al, but you can
exec other commands from it if needs be, or just have two diskshadow scripts
and whatever you need to do for your backup in between.

Have fun all!


"Saitir" wrote:

> Hi All
>
> We're using Server 2008 x64 Standard for running Exchange 2007 and SQL
> Server 2005 plus a few small COM application objects and a small amount of
> file serving.
>
> When it comes to backup time I have to say I was disappointed with the
> Server 2008 option of full drive only. Its useful to be able to do that,
> certainly, but its not the only kind of backup thats useful.
>
> So, I decided to go the Robocopy route - an excellent tool for anyone
> unfamiliar with it.
>
> All went fine until I got to the point of wanting to get the Exchange edb
> files backed up.
>
> Some quick reading later and the combination of VShadow and DosDev (create a
> shadow copy, then mount it as a drive letter) seemed perfect.
>
> I got the x64 version of VShadow.exe from the VSS SDK and DosDev from one of
> the reporting tools. Version number: 5.2.3790.1830 (10/05/2007).
>
> The VShadow -Script=vss.cmd D: works fine and as various sites suggest.
>
> >DosDev L: %SHADOW_DEVICE_1%
> Returns:
>
> Current definition: L: = \??\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy193
>
> If I try to change to the drive I get:
>
> >L:
> The device is not ready.
>
> Or if I've left it a while (in case it was a timing issue) eventually it
> comes out with:
> File not found.
>
> Anyone have any thoughts, ideas or alternatives? Thanks!

Paul
Wed Mar 26 07:44:17 PDT 2008

I didn't know that. Thanks for sharing the info!

/ ) Regards,
/ /_________
_|__|__) Paul Weterings
/ (O_) http://www.servercare.nl
__/ (O_)
____(O_)


Saitir wrote:
> I hate answering my own questions, but it happens sometimes!
>
> The answer, in case anyone else out there has similar issues, is to use
> DiskShadow.
>
> Its a command that comes with Server 2008 and (for my purposes) rolls up
> vshadow and dosdev into something new. It does /alot/ more but it fixes my
> problem nicely.
>
> Its got an internal commandline sort of like diskpart et al, but you can
> exec other commands from it if needs be, or just have two diskshadow scripts
> and whatever you need to do for your backup in between.
>
> Have fun all!
>
>
> "Saitir" wrote:
>
>> Hi All
>>
>> We're using Server 2008 x64 Standard for running Exchange 2007 and SQL
>> Server 2005 plus a few small COM application objects and a small amount of
>> file serving.
>>
>> When it comes to backup time I have to say I was disappointed with the
>> Server 2008 option of full drive only. Its useful to be able to do that,
>> certainly, but its not the only kind of backup thats useful.
>>
>> So, I decided to go the Robocopy route - an excellent tool for anyone
>> unfamiliar with it.
>>
>> All went fine until I got to the point of wanting to get the Exchange edb
>> files backed up.
>>
>> Some quick reading later and the combination of VShadow and DosDev (create a
>> shadow copy, then mount it as a drive letter) seemed perfect.
>>
>> I got the x64 version of VShadow.exe from the VSS SDK and DosDev from one of
>> the reporting tools. Version number: 5.2.3790.1830 (10/05/2007).
>>
>> The VShadow -Script=vss.cmd D: works fine and as various sites suggest.
>>
>>> DosDev L: %SHADOW_DEVICE_1%
>> Returns:
>>
>> Current definition: L: = \??\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy193
>>
>> If I try to change to the drive I get:
>>
>>> L:
>> The device is not ready.
>>
>> Or if I've left it a while (in case it was a timing issue) eventually it
>> comes out with:
>> File not found.
>>
>> Anyone have any thoughts, ideas or alternatives? Thanks!