Affected Builds

AppAssure 5.x

Description

Backups fail with the following error “The shadow copies of volume <VolumeLetter>were aborted because the shadow copy storage could not grow due to a user imposed limit.”

Resolution

To resolve this issue please increase the shadow copy storage limit for the failing volume.  The simplest method is to remove the limitation by setting it to no limit.  To do this:

1. On the Agent system and open My Computer
2. Right-click on the drive that is failing and choose “Configure Shadow Copies”
3. Highlight the failing drive and click the “Settings” button
4. Choose the “No limit” radio button
5. Click OK to save the setting.
6. Click OK again to close the Shadow Copies dialogue box

Once the setting has been changed, force a new snapshot of the agent.

Affected Builds

Replay 4.x

Description

After removing an agent from protection in the Replay 4 console, there is still a message being logged in the AppAssure Logs referring to the removed agent.

The event log entry will be similar to the event log information below:

Source: AppAssure Logs
Category: Core category event
Event ID: 4096

Description:
Thread: 2168
Logger: protectiongroupsources
Context: xxxx
Source Location: impl\protectiongroup.cpp:1143
Details:
Failed to read port number for source ‘<agent name>’ – The system cannot find the file specified.

Resolution

1. Pause protection for all agents.
2. Stop the Replay core service.
3. Open the registry on the Replay 4 core.
4. Perform a search for the agent name being referenced in the event log.
5. If the registry key with the agent name referenced in the event log is found in the location below, delete the entry after exporting the registry key in case it needs to be restored.
6. Registry location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\AppAssure\ReplayEPS\<agent name>
7. Delete the sub key that contains the agent name – Example: <agent name>.
8. Close the registry.
9. Start the Replay core service.
10. Resume protection for all agents.
11. Monitor the AppAssure event logs and confirm that the error is no longer being logged.

Affected Builds

AppAssure 5 Core Build 5.X

Description 

Rollup fails with the following error:

The following error appears in the AppRecovery logs:
ERROR 2013-12-02T14:05:47 [182] – Replay.Core.Implementation.Rollup.RollupJob ()
Job ‘Rolling up ’1′ protected machine(s).’ failed
System.AggregateException: One or more errors occurred. —> System.ArgumentException: Cannot merge file versions which belong to different repositories
at Replay.Core.Implementation.Repositories.FileAbstraction.FileVersionMergerFactory.Create(IEnumerable`1 fileVersionsToMerge)

Cause

The issue is caused where there are cloned virtual machines. At this time, protection of cloned virtual machines is not supported as Dell AppAssure does not protect machines with identical Volume IDs on a single Core server since the software reads both volumes as having identical identities. This would be caused when there are cloning of virtual machines (VMs). Rather than reading the two volumes as separate components, AppAssure will attempt to place the clone VM’s backups with the original VM’s backups.

Resolution

There are three possible solutions or workarounds to fix this issue:

Solution #1

Remove both agents from protection and delete all recovery points for these agents. (existing recovery points can be kept but they are most probably unusable)

Then complete one of the following fixes.

- Use separate Cores to back up the two clones vm
- Adjust the Windows installations so your volume IDs are no longer identical.
- Use a different SCSi controller.
- Change the SCSi disk order.
- Use SYSPREP to reset the IDs of the disks and the system
- Use DiskPart to reset the Disk IDs

You may reference this KB article for this workaround:

http://www.appassure.com/support/KB/cloning-virtual-machines/

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Solution #2 which is our recommendation:
Step 1. Remove one of the machines from protection along with all recovery points

Step 2. Delete the agent’s registry and restart the agent service so that it creates a new agent ID:

1) Stop the AppAssure agent service
2) Backup the agent registry folder: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\AppRecovery\Agent\
3) Delete the entire agent registry folder: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\AppRecovery\Agent\
4) Restart the AppAssure agent service

Steps 3 & 4. Run assuremc disable on all volumes & delete aadata and aafailover on agent volumes.

**Stop the AppAssure agent service before starting.

1. Download the link below to the agent server:

http://aainfo-logs.s3.amazonaws.com/AA-1111/ReplaySupportBundle-NCLIFT-2013-03-13_09-21.zip

2. Extract the zip and browse in.
3. Click on custom files.
4. Extract the assuremc.zip file here. There is a 64-bit and 32-bit version.
5. If the agent machine has a system reserved partition, then you may continue. Otherwise, continue to #7. From diskmgmt.msc right click on the system reserved partition and choose “change drive letter and paths”.
6. Click ‘Add’ then choose a drive letter and click ok.
7. From windows explorer browse to the drive letter, then browse to ‘System volume information’ folder.
- This is a hidden and protected operating system folder so you may have to change the view options for that folder.
- You also may not have access to this folder by default, so you will need to add the user account you are logged in with to the permissions.
8. In this folder see the AAData.md & AAFailover.md files. This is the change log.
9. Open an admin command prompt.
10. cd to the assuremc directory from step 4.
11. Enter the following command:
assuremc disable ‘drive letter you chose in step 6′.
ex. assuremc disable f:
12. Once this completes, you will be able to delete the change logs (aadata and aafailover).
- Right-click on the AAData.md & AAFailover.md files and go to Properties -> Security. Click Edit and Add, then add the account you’re logged in as to the list. Grant yourself Full Control. Then click on Advanced -> Owner and make yourself the owner of the file. Save settings, and open an elevated cmd prompt.
- If you are not able to delete from Windows Explorer, you can do it from an elevated command prompt.

Type the following:
> del AAData.md
> del AAFailover.md

13. Once you delete the change logs, remove the drive letter (if one was assigned to the SRP volume) from diskmgmt.msc.
14. Repeat steps #7-13 for each volume,
15. Start the agent service.

Step 5. Protect the agent with a new display name.

Step 6. New base images and incremental snapshots will then be successful and mountable.

Step 7. Confirm that the driver IDs are different for all volumes. See the attached screenshot for the registry path and the drive ID keys.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Solution #3

Contact AppAssure Support, provide the core and agent AAinfo logs; and we may be able to supply a custom binary to address this issue which will allow you to keep all recovery points.

Affected Builds

DocRetriever for AppAssure 5.x

Problem Description

DocRetriever is unable to completely restore Custom Template SharePoint Sites due to complexity in Custom Site Templates .

Resolution

DocRetriever is designed to only work with SharePoint default site templates (See link below). SharePoint uses a “template ID” stored in the database to determine which template is to be used to render a site. DocRetriever uses that template ID from the database when creating a site. DocRetriever uses Microsoft SharePoint API to perform the restore. Using this approach, the success of a custom template site restore may vary greatly depending on the complexity of the custom site template. If the SharePoint API determines that the specified template cannot be fully applied to the site, it will then create a site using the default site template which can result in an incomplete restore. This is not an issue if you use standard SharePoint site templates.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint-server-help/default-site-templates-HA010174491.aspx

Affected Builds

MailRetriever 4.x

Description

Under rare conditions, the MailRetriever application will automatically open as a minimized window. This causes the icon to appear on the taskbar, but the GUI to be inaccessible.

Solution

• Hover over the MailRetriever icon on the taskbar
• When a list or thumbnail appears, right-click on it and select Maximize

Affected Builds

AppAssure 5.x and newer

Problem Description

Replication is failing with the following error message:
====================
System.AggregateException: One or more errors occurred. —> System.AggregateException: One or more errors occurred. —> WCFClientBase.ClientServerErrorException: Call to service methodhttps://targetcore:8006/apprecovery/api/core/replicationcomms/slave/sessions/new POST failed: The repository is missing or unavailable —> Replay.Core.Contracts.Repositories.Exceptions.RepositoryUnavailableException: The repository is missing or unavailable
at Replay.Core.Implementation.Replication.VolumeImage.VolumeImageReplicationSession.Initialize()
at Replay.Core.Implementation.Replication.VolumeImage.VolumeImageReplicationSessionManager.CreateNew(StartVolumeImageReplicationSessionRequest request)
at Replay.Core.Implementation.Replication.RemoteReplicatedMasterAgent.StartNewVolumeImageReplicationSession(StartVolumeImageReplicationSessionRequest request)
at Replay.Core.Management.Replication.ReplicationCommunication.StartNewVolumeImageReplicationSession(StartVolumeImageReplicationSessionRequest request)
=====================

Problem Cause

During the process of replication or setting up replication:
-The repository was dismounted and remained dismounted
-The repository configurations was not complete during replication setup
-The repository is missing due to system disk problems
-The repository was deleted

Resolution

On the Target Core:
1) Select the Agent with the issue
2) Verify a missing repository by selecting the “Recovery Points” tab
3) If missing, click on the “Configuration” tab
4) By default, the “Settings” section is selected. If it is not, select the “Settings” on the left side
5) Click “Change” in the upper right hand side of the page
6) A menu pops up and a section is labeled “Repository.” You may encounter the string “missing” or a bunch of zeros.
7) Drop down the menu and check to see if you are able to change the repository. NOTE: You will not be able to change the repository if there is already one set meaning the repository is not missing.)
8) Select the desired Repository from the drop-down menu.
9) Click Save
10) Verify a repository has been selected by selecting the “Recovery Points” tab.

Affected Builds

AppAssure 5.3.x

Problem Description

AppAssure transfers fail with the following error message:

* Volume transfer network error: Network error during transfer of data from volume

* Invalid Operation Exception: This volume instance was closed for IO operations. New instance should be created

Resolution

This error is logged when the agent version is a newer software build than the core server. To resolve this issue please update the core server to the same or a newer build than the agent. Whenever possible, all agents and the core should be running on the same software build.

Affected Builds

AppAssure 5 Core Build 5.3.4 and later

Description

Nightly SQL attachability checks are intermittently skipped with warning “SQL attachability check skipped because there are not volumes with databases”

This can occur if the system volume and the volumes containing databases are on different protection schedules. Nightly jobs will select the most recent recovery point for attachability checks. If this recovery point does not contain any volumes with SQL databases, then the check will be skipped and the warning message will be generated.

Solution

• Go to your SQL agent’s Summary page
• Click on the protection interval for one of the volumes
• Edit the interval for the SQL DB volume, and check the box to apply the protection interval to all volumes

Affected Builds

AppAssure 5.3.4.63942

Problem Description

A repository check may fail with Error FSIncomplete.

This error will appear when there are unreadable blocks in the metadata for the repository, causing the index and the repository to not match.

Resolution

To resolve the issue complete the following:

• Check the failed Repositoty DataPath/MetadataPath for the prescence of the odd symbols.
  For example the “/” sighn at the end of DataPath/MetadataPath.
• If the existence of inappropriate sign is detected, do the following:
• Open Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\AppRecovery\Core\Repositories\AFFECTED_REPOSITORY_ID\FileConfigurations\0\Specification.
• Modify DataPath and MetadataPath by removing the inappropriate symbol. As the result they should look like : DataPath path -> ‘r:\Data’  and MetadataPath path -> ‘r:\MetaData’
• Restart the Core service and run the repository chack once again.

Affected Builds

Replay 4 All Builds
AppAssure 5 All Builds

Description

If you are protecting a Windows XP agent running an Intel CPU and chipset, and you need to restore it to dissimilar hardware which does not use an Intel processor, you may receive this error when trying to boot the restored machine:

Error:
A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer…

Technical information:
*** STOP: 0x0000007E (0xC0000005, 0xFC5CCAF3, 0xFC90F8C0, 0xFC90F5C0) SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED

Solution

Microsoft is aware of this behavior and has published a workaround (for more details, see Microsoft KB Article ID: 953356)

Affected Builds

AppAssure 5.3.x

Problem Description

There are cases when it is necessary to remove agents from protection in bulk, for instance when adding a new core to the production environment and moving part of the protected agents on the new core, it may be needed to remove quite a few agents from the old core.

Performing this operation from the GUI may be time consuming and, in sometimes confusing.

Resolution

A PowerShell script performing an API call has been prepared. The script needs to be run on the core from which agents need to be removed. It walks the user through a few options, including:

• Generating a list of the agents currently protected on the core, either in a grid-view which allows various filtering criteria or in a text file with a core & time based name (which, after being generated is opened in Notepad). This file is intended to keep track of the evolution of the agents on the core in question and through editing to allow the user creating the list of agents to be removed from protection.
• Allowing as input either a list of agents entered manually or a file containing the agents.
• Allowing keeping the recovery points only or removing them from protection as well.

cls
Write-Host “`r`nRemove Agents From Protection – PowerShellV3 and later only`r`n————————————————————” -F “Green”

#Core Name And Id
$corename = $env:computername
$Source =get-itemproperty -path (“Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\apprecovery\core\Coreid”)
$sourceId = $source.id

Write-host “Core Name: $($corename), Core Id: $($sourceId)`r`n” -F “Yellow”

#Show Agent Info
do{
$Helper = Read-Host “[S]how all Agents on this core in a customizable gridview,`r`n[G]enerate agent list to c:\agents_$($env:computername)_$((Get-date).ToString(“MM-dd-yyyy_HHmmss”)).txt and open in Notepad`r`nor`r`n<Enter> to Continue”

if (“s”,”S” -contains $Helper){get-protectedservers | out-gridview}
if (“G”,”g” -contains $Helper){$gFile=”c:\agents_$($env:computername)_$((Get-date).ToString(“MM-dd-yyyy_HHmmss”)).txt”; get-protectedservers | select-object -expandproperty displayname > $gFile; notepad $gFile }
}
while (“s”,”S”,”g”,”G”,”" -notcontains $helper)

“`r`n”
Do {
$intype = Read-Host “Agents to be removed input type [N]ame or List, [F]ile”
if (“n”,”N” -contains $intype)
{
$rawagentlist = Read-Host “Enter agent names, separated by comas”
$agentList = $rawagentlist.Replace(” “,”").Split(“,”)
$agentList
}
if (“f”,”F” -contains $intype)
{
#default path of the file with the servers’ names. Change with your preferred one.
$defaultFile = “c:\temp\agents.txt”

#get an alternate path interractively
Do {
$Agents = Read-Host “Enter the path to the file containing the agent names (format: one agent name per line)`r`ndefault [$($defaultFile)]”
if($Agents -eq “”){$Agents=$defaultFile}
}
while (!(Test-Path $Agents -PathType Leaf))
$agentList = get-content $Agents
}
}
while (“n”,”N”,”f”,”F” -notcontains $intype)

Do {
$truth = Read-Host “`r`nRemove Recovery Points for All Agents to be processed? Y/[N]”
if (“Y”,”y” -contains $truth){$truthx = “true”}
else {$truthx=”false”}
}
while (“Y”,”y”,”N”,”n” -notcontains $truth)

$OKtoProceed = Read-Host “`r`nAre you sure you want to Proceed [Y/N]?”

if ($OKtoProceed.ToLower() -eq “n”) {Exit}
if ($OKtoProceed.ToLower() -ne “y” -and $OKtoProceed -ne “”) {Exit}

Foreach ($agentx in $agentList)
{
#Get Agent ID
$agentDisplayName = $agentX
$agent = Get-ProtectedServers | where {$_.displayname -eq $agentDisplayName}
$agentid = $agent |select-object -ExpandProperty Id
Write-Host “`r`nAgent display Name: $($agentDisplayName); Agent ID: $($agentid); Remove RP: $($truthx)” -F “Yellow”

# Remove Agent from Protection
$Body = @”
<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”utf-8″?>
<deleteAgentRequest xmlns=”http://apprecovery.com/management/api/2010/05″>
<DeleteRecoveryPoints>$($truthX)</DeleteRecoveryPoints>
<DisableAgentVolumes>$($truthX)</DisableAgentVolumes>
</deleteAgentRequest>
“@
invoke-restmethod -URI “https://$($corename):8006/apprecovery/api/core/agents/$agentId/delete” -Method “POST” -usedefaultcredentials -Body $body -ContentType “application/xml” -ErrorAction Inquire
}

Affected Builds

AppAssure 5.x

Problem Description

When booting a virtual standby export, the standby machine will be presented with new virtual hardware and in the case of the network card a new MAC address.  This causes windows to initialize the hardware and default to a DHCP assigned IP address.  Some customers may need to be able to revert to the static IP addresses their standby servers were initially configured with in an automated fashion at the time the machine boots.

Warning: All scripts provided in this article are meant to be used as examples and are not supported by AppAssure. For more information on Dell | AppAssure scripting support, click here.

Resolution

A possible solution to this issue, is preparing a powershell script which runs at boot time. This script checks if the server is configured with the desired IP address and if it is not, changes the network settings (IP address, net mask, gateway, DNS, adapter name) to the desired ones. Please note that currently the script is supposed to work on systems with just one network card present; it can be extended to systems featuring multiple nics on an as needed basis.

We propose the following sequence of operations:

1. Enable Running Scripts on the Machine to be prepared. From an elevated PowerShell console, please run: get-executionpolicy If the result is restricted, please run set-executionpolicy remotesigned 
2. Edit the IPchange.Ps1 script by replacing the values in the <#Input Info;#> section with the desired ones. 
3. Run the script manually on a test machine to make sure that it performs as desired. 
4. On the machine that is exported via virtual stand-by, schedule the script to run as a task triggered at system start up using the script in the following KB: http://www.appassure.com/support/KB/how-to-schedule-an-appassure-job-using-powershell/ Make sure to select option 3 – At Startup in the “Select the Schedule Type” section to schedule the task to run at boot time. 
5. Use the script in the following KB http://www.appassure.com/support/KB/how-to-use-powershell-to-check-the-status-and-generate-core-reports-on-appassure-scheduled-tasks/ to check if the task has been scheduled. 
6. If for some reason you want to delete the task, please run unregister-scheduledtask –taskname <taskName> Make sure to enclose the task name between double quotes if it contains spaces. 

The IPChange.ps1 script code is enclosed below between horizontal lines. All the scripts mentioned in this KB may be downloaded here.

Here is the sample IPchange.ps1 script:

<#Input Info;#>

$adaptername = “Main Network Card”;

$ipaddress = “10.23.20.150″; $mask = “255.255.0.0″;

$dnsaddress = “10.23.20.151″;

$gateway = “10.23.0.1″;

if ($nic.ipaddress -ne $ipaddress)

{

<#Get Active NIC;#>

$nic = Get-WmiObject win32_networkadapterconfiguration -Filter ‘ipenabled = “true”‘;

<#Change IP settings;#>

$nic.EnableStatic($ipaddress,$mask);

$nic.SetGateways($gateway,1);

$nic.SetDNSServerSearchOrder($dnsaddress);

<#Change Adapter Name;#>

$adapter = Get-WMiObject win32_networkadapter -Filter “index= $($nic.index)”;

$adapter.NetConnectionID = $adaptername; $adapter.Put();

ipconfig /registerdns > $null;

}

Affected Builds

AppAssure 5.x

Problem Description

When opening the core the machine and replication tabs will not load. The core may also display an error stating the grace period is expired.

This problem may be caused by an agent key in the registry causing the tabs not to open and report the error “Object reference not set to an instance of an object”.  The detailed error message is listed here:

ERROR : Replay.Core.Management.StatusSummary.StatusSummaryManagement (RequestUri=https://localhost:8006/apprecovery/api/core/status/dashboard : Service=Replay.Core.Management.StatusSummary.StatusSummaryManagement Method=GetDashboardInfo)
Exception generating agent’s dashboard info for {agent Name}
System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
at Replay.Core.Implementation.Agents.Agent.get_Repository()
at Replay.Core.Management.StatusSummary.StatusSummaryManagement.GetAgentsDashboardInfo(AgentDashboardInfoCollection agentsInfo)

Resolution

WARNING: this resolution includes steps to modify the registry.  Please make a backup copy of the entire registry prior to making any changes.

To resolve this issue the invalid agent key must be removed from the registry by following these steps:

1. Stop the core service gracefully.  (Please follow the steps in this article to ensure the core is stopped gracefully)
2. Open regedit
3. Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHIN\SOFTWARE\AppRecovery\Agent
4. In this folder you will find multiple hives each named with a unique GUID.  Browse through each of these hives to find the hive with the key titled DisplayName that is the same as the agent name generated in the error message you received.
5. Make a backup of the entire registry hive for that agent.
6. Delete the agent hive that was generating the error
7. Start the core service

The agent that was causing the issue will no longer appear in the core console and is no longer protected.  If this agent should be protected, please add it back to protection.

1. Open the core console and browse to the configuration tab and then to the license section
2. Force a license portal check in
3. Allow the check in to complete and the grace period expired message will disappear

Affected Builds

AppAssure 5.x

Problem Description

The agent service will not start and no error messages are logged.  When running the agent in debug mode no errors are generated.

Click here for more information on running the agent in debug mode.

Resolution

If no errors are generated when attempting to start the agent service please verify that the Windows Application Logs are not full.  If they are full, please save the events and purge the log.

It may also be beneficial to set the log retention policy to “overwrite events as needed” to ensure this problem does not recur.  Please see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc721981.aspx for more detailed information about log retention policies.

Affected Builds

AppAssure 5.3.6.125 only

Problem Description

In some cases the core web UI may become unresponsive and will not open. When this happens the core is not maxing out system resources and will respond to powershell commands. The following error is also logged in C:\AppRecovery.log:

ERROR 2013-11-26T11:58:48 [9] – Replay.ServiceHost.Implementation.Hosting.ListenerService ()
Accept new requests failed
System.AggregateException: One or more errors occurred. —> System.Net.HttpListenerException: An operation was attempted on a nonexistent network connection
at System.Net.HttpListener.GetContext()
at Replay.ServiceHost.Implementation.Hosting.ListenerService.AcceptNewRequests()
at System.Threading.Tasks.Task.Execute()
— End of inner exception stack trace —
—> (Inner Exception #0) System.Net.HttpListenerException (0×80004005): An operation was attempted on a nonexistent network connection
at System.Net.HttpListener.GetContext()
at Replay.ServiceHost.Implementation.Hosting.ListenerService.AcceptNewRequests()
at System.Threading.Tasks.Task.Execute()<—

Resolution

To resolve this issue CB (custom binary) P-0431 has been created and should be applied to the core server.

To apply this CB please follow the steps in this guide for applying custom binaries. Please note you do not need to perform a full repository check (step 10).

Once the CB has been applied and the core service restarted, the core web UI should no longer freeze.

Affected Builds

AppAssure v5.3.6 (Build 125 and above)

Problem Description

Transfers of EFI Windows 2012 R2/8.1 may fail with “There was a problem with the VSS subsystem on ‘ComputerName’.” error.

The reason for this is that Recovery partition, created during Windows 2012 R2/8.1 installation doesn’t have enough free space required by VSS. According to Microsoft recommendations, volumes below 500MB should have at least 50MB of free space for successful VSS snapshots.

Resolution

Please follow these steps to resovle the issue:

1. Launch diskpart
2. Run “list vol” command to get the list of machine’s volumes
3. Select ‘Recovery’ volume using “select vol [volume_number]” command
4. Assign drive letter using “assign” command
5. Run “list vol” command to get the drive letter that was assigned to ‘Recovery’ volume
6. Exit diskpart using “exit” command
7. Move volume shadow copy storage of ‘Recovery’ volume to another volume that have enough free space, for example to volume C:

• run the following command:  vssadmin add shadowstorage /for=[drive letter assigned to 'Recovery' volume] /on=c: /maxsize=unbounded

Affected Builds

AppAssure 5.x

Problem Description

In some cases replication between core servers may take a considerable amount of time.  If replication is attempting to move large quantities of data and is not able to complete the task, then AppAssure recommends using a seed drive to manually move the data from one core to another and bring them into sync.  The steps detail how to create a seed when replication is already configured.

Resolution

The process of creating a seed drive after replication is already configured is called “Copy and Consume”.  Please note that when performing a copy job, all data in the repository for the selected agent will be copied to the seed drive and will no longer attempt to replicate.  Any new snapshots taken will be replicated to the target core.

1. Open the Source Core console.
2. Select the replication tab.
3. Select the arrow beside the outgoing core name and find the agent in the drop down.
4. Check the agent box and hover over the above actions tool box and select copy.
5. Select a location for the seed to copy to and start copy process.  ***Reducing the number of concurrent running jobs while the seed copy is in process will help the seed to copy faster and cut down on potential I/O failures.
6. Once the copy process is complete transfer the seed volume to the target core.  ***Please note that this process should be done within 7 days if at all possible.
7. On the Target core open the core console and select the replication tab.
8. Select the arrow beside the Core name under the incoming replication section and find agent in the drop down list.
9. Check the agent box and hover over the above tool box and select consume.
10. Enter the path to the seed location and start the consume process.

Once the consume process completes successfully the two cores should have the exact same number of recovery points for the agent that was seeded.

Affected Builds

AppAssure 5.x

Problem Description

AppAssure may take a new base image for a variety of reasons.  For a detailed list of reasons please see this KB article - http://www.appassure.com/support/KB/unexpected-base-images-created-in-appassure-5/

This article details how to find the specific reason for a base image on an agent machine.

Resolution

The core logs (C:\AppRecovery.log) will contain the reason why a base image was needed.

To parse the logs and find the reason, we must have the following information:

• Agent name that is taking new base images
• Time that the base(s) were created

AppAssure keeps approximately 100 MBs of logs on the C volume.  These logs will contain the message related to the new base image creation.  It is recommended that the logs be parsed immediately following a base image since high usage AppAssure environments may overwrite the logs quickly.  In lower usage environments the logs may contain as much as 30+ days worth of logs.

Here is an example of log messages related to base image creation:

INFO 2013-11-22T19:56:44 [61] – Events.Protection.Transfer.TransferStartedEvent ()
Transferring backup of ‘C:\’ on ‘SJSERVER’

WARN 2013-11-22T19:56:44 [933] – Replay.Core.Implementation.Transfer.TransferJob (Transfer ID ’7619d800-0fb4-4477-b6db-23e02ce74aea’ of volumes [\\?\Volume{50b87cdd-f3c9-11de-b5c1-806e6f6e6963}\] from ‘SJSERVER’)
AppAssure 5 has detected the presence of Symantec Protection Software on SJSERVER. Some customers have experienced configuration difficulties between this software and AppAssure 5, preventing backups or causing incorrect behavior. Please review the KB article at http://www.appassure.com/support/KB/third-party-software-conflicts-with-appassure-5 for more details.

DEBUG 2013-11-22T19:58:44 [255] – Replay.Agent.Client.TransferManagementAgentClient (DetermineDataToSendTask AgentDisplayName=SJSERVER VolumeName=C:\)
GET https://sjserver:8006/apprecovery/api/agent/transfer/snapshots/a16fcc73-d3c2-4a4c-8b79-3b0dc9077408/volumes/~|~~|~%253f~|~Volume%257b50b87cdd-f3c9-11de-b5c1-806e6f6e6963%257d~|~/blocks/changed failed with HTTP status code InternalServerError

ERROR 2013-11-22T19:58:44 [255] – Replay.Core.Implementation.Transfer.VolumeTransferJob (DetermineDataToSendTask AgentDisplayName=SJSERVER VolumeName=C:\)
Unexpected exception getting changed blocks for volume; a base image will be forced
WCFClientBase.ClientServerErrorException: Call to service method https://sjserver:8006/apprecovery/api/agent/transfer/snapshots/a16fcc73-d3c2-4a4c-8b79-3b0dc9077408/volumes/~|~~|~%253f~|~Volume%257b50b87cdd-f3c9-11de-b5c1-806e6f6e6963%257d~|~/blocks/changed GET failed: failed with error -895409078 (0xcaa1244a – Unknown error (0xcaa1244a)) —> Replay.Common.Contracts.TevoLib.TevoLibraryErrorException: failed with error -895409078 (0xcaa1244a – Unknown error (0xcaa1244a))
at Replay.Agent.NativeWrapper.Drivers.DriverApi.AddChangedBlocks(_AAVOL_RECORD* changeRecord, IBitmap changedBlocksBitmap)
at Replay.Agent.NativeWrapper.Drivers.DriverApi.ReadChangedBlocksAsMemoryMappedFile(Void* file, _LARGE_INTEGER fileSize, String logFileName, IBitmap changedBlocksBitmap, ValueType cancellationToken)
at Replay.Agent.NativeWrapper.Drivers.DriverApi.GetChangedBlocksFromLogFile(String logFileName, IBitmap changedBlocksBitmap, ValueType cancellationToken)
at Replay.Agent.NativeWrapper.Drivers.DriverApi.GetChangedBlocksFromLogFiles(ICollection`1 logFileNames, IBitmap changedBlocksBitmap, ValueType cancellationToken)
at Replay.Agent.Implementation.Drivers.DriverApi.GetChangedBlocksFromLogFiles(ICollection`1 logFileNames, IBitmap changedBlocksBitmap, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Replay.Agent.Implementation.Drivers.DriverVolume.GetChangedBlocks(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Replay.Agent.Implementation.Transfer.TransferSession.GetVolumeChangedBlocks(VolumeName volumeName)
at Replay.Agent.Management.Transfer.TransferManagement.GetVolumeChangedBlocks(String snapshotSetId, String volumeName, Stream responseStream)
— End of inner exception stack trace —
at WCFClientBase.ClientBase.HandleResponse(Uri uri, String method, HttpResponseMessage response)
at WCFClientBase.ClientBase.GetResponse(Uri uri, String method, String knownEtag)
at WCFClientBase.ClientBase.StreamExecuteServiceCall(Uri uri, String method)
at Replay.Core.Implementation.Agents.AgentClient.GetVolumeChangedBlocks(Guid snapshotSetId, VolumeName volumeName)
at Replay.Core.Implementation.Transfer.VolumeTransferJob.GetChangedVolumeBlocks()

INFO 2013-11-22T19:58:44 [255] – Events.Protection.Transfer.VolumeTransferStartedEvent (DetermineDataToSendTask AgentDisplayName=SJSERVER VolumeName=C:\)
Transferring 20.46 GB base image of ‘C:\’ on ‘SJSERVER’

INFO 2013-11-22T20:09:52 [237] – Replay.Core.Implementation.Transfer.VolumeTransferJob (DetermineDataToSendTask AgentDisplayName=SJSERVER VolumeName=D:\)
Volume is dirty or not enabled, so a base image will be performed

INFO 2013-11-22T20:09:52 [237] – Events.Protection.Transfer.VolumeTransferStartedEvent (DetermineDataToSendTask AgentDisplayName=SJSERVER VolumeName=D:\)
Transferring 168.64 GB base image of ‘D:\’ on ‘SJSERVER’

Notice at 19:56:44, the server started the backup of this agent and at 19:58:44 the core logged that it is unable to get the changed blocks (“Unexpected exception getting changed blocks for volume; a base image will be forced”).  The reason why changed blocks (the AppAssure change log file) were unable to be accessed is unknown. However, the logs do point out that Symantec is present which may be a potential cause.

At 20:09:52, the core logged that the volume is dirty or not enabled for D: (meaning that either the volume has never been protected or is marked as being in a dirty shutdown state). In the case of a dirty shutdown, a base image will be taken, as AppAssure cannot guarantee that all block changes were tracked properly on the volume.

Each base image must be evaluated on a case by case basis as the reason for each may be different.  However, this is a good example of what will be logged by AppAssure and how to review the logs for details related to why a base image was taken.

Affected Builds

AppAssure 5.x

Replay 4.x

Problem Description

This article details the steps necessary to run the AppAssure or Replay Service in debug mode.

Resolution

Complete the following steps.

AppAssure 5

1. Open a command prompt with Administrative rights.
2. Navigate to C:\Program Files\AppRecovery\Agent.
3. Type in agent.service.exe /debug

Replay 4

1. Open a command prompt with Administrative rights.
2. C:\Program Files\AppAssure Software\Replay Agent\Agent64 (or) C:\Program Files <x86>\AppAssure Software\Replay Agent\Agent64
3. Type in tevosource.exe /debug

Affected Builds

AppAssure 5.3.4.x

Problem Description

This article details the steps necessary to add an existing repository in 5.3.4.x.

Resolution

Follow these steps to an en existing repository after you have it ready to be used on a core.

1. On the core go to the configuration tab.
2. Click on Actions and select “Open existing Repository”
3. Fill in the information for your repository location and log/password if needed.
4. Select your repository and confirm information and then press “OK”

This should add the repository to the new core.