IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for Mail, Data Protection for Microsoft Exchange Server, Version 7.1

Gathering files from Exchange with VSS before calling IBM

Several log files and other data can be collected for Data Protection for Microsoft Exchange server diagnosis.

Gather as many of the following files as possible before you contact IBM Support. To collect information manually, refer to the following list. The MMC automatically collects this information.
  • The contents of the C:\adsm.sys\vss_staging directory and subdirectories. Or gather the appropriate directories if you are using the VSSALTSTAGINGDIR option.
  • The Data Protection for Microsoft Exchange configuration file. The default configuration file is tdpexc.cfg.
  • The Data Protection for Microsoft Exchange Tivoli® Storage Manager API options file. The default options file is dsm.opt.
  • The Tivoli Storage Manager registry hive export.
  • The Exchange Server registry hive export.
  • The Tivoli Storage Manager Server activity log. The Data Protection client logs information to the server activity log. A Tivoli Storage Manager administrator can view this log for you if you do not have a Tivoli Storage Manager administrator user ID and password.
  • If the Data Protection client is configured for LAN-free data movement, also collect the options file for the Tivoli Storage Manager storage agent. The default name for this file is dsmsta.opt.
  • Any screen captures or command-line output of failures or problems.
Log files can indicate the date and time of a backup, the data that is backed up, and any error messages or completion codes that might help to determine your problem. The following files are the Tivoli Storage Manager log files that you can gather:
  • The Data Protection for Microsoft Exchange log file. The default location of this file is C:\Program Files\Tivoli\TSM\TDPExchange\tdpexc.log
  • The Tivoli Storage Manager API Error log file. The default location of this file is C:\Program Files\Tivoli\TSM\TDPExchange\dsierror.log
  • The DSMAGENT error log file. The default location of this file is C:\Program Files\Tivoli\TSM\baclient\dsmerror.log
  • The dsmcrash.dmp and DSMAGENT crash log file, if requested. The default location is C:\Program Files\Tivoli\TSM\baclient\dsmcrash.log.
Important: The Windows event log receives information from the Exchange Server and many different components that are involved during a Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) operation. Export the event log to a text file format.

You can use the Data Protection for Exchange console to list the events that originate by Data Protection for Exchange. Select Dashboard - ServerName > Diagnostics > System Information and double-click the dpevents.ps1 script in the PowerShell section of the System Information page.

On Windows Server 2008 and later, You can use PowerShell scripting to list the events information. You can also use the export function from within the Event Viewer to do this function. The utility, by default, produces a tabular listing of all event log records in three sections (one section per event log type). Specify the type of event log you require by using one of the following /L parameters: The following example generates output only for the application and system event logs:
cscript c:\windows\system32\eventquery.vbs /L Application >eq_app.out
cscript c:\windows\system32\eventquery.vbs /L System >eq_sys.out
You can use the /V parameter to receive detailed (verbose) output:
cscript c:\windows\system32\eventquery.vbs /V >eq.out
cscript c:\windows\system32\eventquery.vbs /L System /V >eq_sys.out
You can use the /FO parameter to specify tabular, list, or comma-separated (CSV) output. The following are the different methods of specifying the output:
  • /FO TABLE
  • /FO LIST
  • /FO CSV
The default format is TABLE. The LIST output puts each column of the record on a separate line. This technique is similar to how the Tivoli Storage Manager administrator's command-line interface (CLI) displays output when it is too wide for tabular display. The CSV output can be loaded into a spreadsheet or database tool for easier viewing. The following example generates a detailed CSV file of the application log:
cscript c:\windows\system32\eventquery.vbs /L Application /FO CSV /V >eq_app.out
You can get more help information for the tool by using the following example:
cscript c:\windows\system32\eventquery.vbs /?

To increase the number of events that are logged by the Microsoft Exchange Writer, use the Set-EventLogLevel PowerShell cmdlet command. For more information about the Set-EventLogLevel PowerShell cmdlet command, see the Microsoft documentation.

The following VSS provider log files can also be helpful, if applicable:
  • System Provider - (Windows Event Log)
  • IBM System Storage® SAN Volume Controller, IBM Storwize® V7000, or DS8000® - %Program Files%\IBM\Hardware Provider for VSS\IBMVss.log
  • NetApp - %Program Files%\SnapDrive\*.log
  • XIV® - zip up all of the files in the C:\Windows\Temp\xProvDotNet directory


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