Troubleshooting
Problem
Tivoli Storage Manager Flashcopy Manager performs VSS backup of Exchange database and the snapshot is stored on an XIV volume. When expiring the old backup data, some snapshots are not deleted successfully from the XIV volume and become orphan data.
Cause
The orphan snapshots are unmapped from the host, and FlashCopy Manager is unable to delete them.
Diagnosing The Problem
When FlashCopy Manager tries to expire the snapshot, the XIV VSS Provider encounters an error.
Track the snapshot and volume related activities by looking at the XIV VSS Provider logs in the X:\Windows\Temp\xProvDotNet directory. Reviewing the entries in this log shows that a volume was not deleted by the XIV VSS Provider; this causes the snapshot to become an orphan.
The Windows Application and System Event logs should be examined to determine why the snapshot was orphaned. For example the below message may be seen in the application event log:
Warning 12/20/2011 3:30:21 AM VSS 12329 None Volume Shadow Copy Warning: A plug-and-play devnode could not be found for the volume while attempting to restart or remove the associated device. The function GetHiddenVolumeDevinfo failed with 2. The operation will be continue, however some state associated with this volume may not be cleaned up.
Operation:
Deleting Volume
Delete Shadow Copies
Resolving The Problem
As a first step to resolving this problem, you should ensure there are sufficient volumes available in XIV storage for the necessary Flashcopy Manager backups.
Do not use any unmap operation with the XIV volumes during normal operations. For example, if the XIV unmap_vol command if utilized, this will unmap the snapshots from the host and can subsequently cause the deletion failure that results in the orphan snapshot remaining on the XIV.
To remove any existing orphans that need to be cleaned up, complete the following steps:
- Ensure that FlashCopy Manager is no longer using the snapshots.
- If necessary, unmap the snapshots from the host.
- Delete the snapshots.
Product Synonym
TSM FCM
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Document Information
Modified date:
17 June 2018
UID
swg21576922