Archive Troubleshooting - Windows File Archiver

Archive Recover  

The following section provides information on some of the troubleshooting scenarios related to Windows file archiving:

Stub recalls for a relocated mount point Does not Work?

Problem Cause

If you archive data from a mount point, and if the mount point is subsequently relocated to some other path, stub recalls for this data will not work even the following operations are performed:

Solution

Stub recalls from a relocated mount point will work only after the File Archiver for Windows client is rebooted. Therefore, be sure to reboot the client in this case.

Unable to Prune 7.0 Stubs

Problem Cause

After an upgrade from 7.0 to 8.0 or to 9.0, the data stubs that were created prior to the upgrade will not be pruned even after selecting the option to Prune Stubs After n Days.

Solution

It is recommended to select the option to Preserve stubs until the media has been pruned to delete the 7.0 stubs post the media pruning operation.

Recently Modified Files are Not getting Archived

Problem Cause

You may notice that the recently modified files are not getting archived during archiving phase because the time on the file server and that of the computer on which the file archiver agent is installed are not in sync.

Solution

It is recommended to synchronize the file server time with the time of the computer on which File Archiver agent is installed.

Archive Job May Freeze

Problem Cause

Archive job may freeze during the scan phase. For the frozen job to continue and complete successfully, restart GXHSMService.exe.

Solution

If you are using Symantec Endpoint Protection 12, we recommend you to upgrade your version to 12.1.2 (RU2 MP1) (12.1.2100.2093) to resolve this issue.

Registry Keys for Migration Archiving

Use the following registry keys to modify the default behavior of the Migration Archiver Agent:

Topic Registry Key(s) Description
Access and Modified Times
GXHSMSERVICEKEEPTIMES

GXHSMSTUBKEEPTIMES

 Stub pruning looks at the archived time of the file to determine eligibility for pruning stubs. If you use the GXHSMSERVICEKEEPTIMES and GXHSMSTUBKEEPTIMES registry keys, the modified time will be preserved. This means that when you run a migration with these registry keys enabled, the preserved modified time will always be older than the time that the file was stubbed. The Prune stub only after n daysis independent of the two registry keys.
GXHSM_PRESERVE_ACCESSTIME_ONMIGRTNS

GXHSM_PRESERVE_ACCESSTIME_ONRECALLS

 The access and modified times on files during migrations and recalls are preserved by default. You can stop preserving these times by using the GXHSM_PRESERVE_ACCESSTIME_ONMIGRTNS and GXHSM_PRESERVE_ACCESSTIME_ONRECALLS registry keys.
Access Control Lists (ACLs) GXHSMSERVICERESTOREACLS You can determine how to handle ACLs on a stub with regard to migration archiving. You can choose either to replace the original ACLs on the stub after migration archiving or to preserve the original ACLs on the stub. See GXHSMSERVICERESTOREACLS in Registry Keys for more information.
Log Files GXHSMSTUBLOGFAILFILESTRUNCATE You can determine whether the existing log file associated with your job should be truncated or appended to. See GXHSMSTUBLOGFAILFILESTRUNCATE in Registry Keys for more information.
Re-Stubbing GXHSMMAINTAINSTUBCACHE In order to speed up migration archiving operations, the software will or can attempt to re-stub files under the following conditions:
  • The file must have been previously archived and then recalled by a non-browse recovery (i.e., stub recovery).
  • The stub for this file must exist in the "stub cache directory".
  • The Archive index must still exist in the system (i.e., was not removed by a data aging operation).
  • The file must not have been modified after it had been recalled.

In this case, during migration archiving, the system will simply swap the file for the stub in the stub cache, thereby speeding up the operation by not transferring or storing it again. This feature is enabled by default; however, it can be disabled by setting the GXHSMMAINTAINSTUBCACHE registry key value to N.

Stubs as Sparse Files GXHSMSTUBCREATESPARSE Stub files are created as sparse files by default so that the file system can utilize space more efficiently. However, if you would like to configure the system to create stub files that are not sparse files, then the value of the the GXHSMSTUBCREATESPARSE registry key must be set to N.
GXHSMIGNORESPARSE You can determine how to handle file migration archiving with regard to the sparse attribute. You can choose either to ignore the sparse attribute when archiving files or to archive only files without the sparse attribute set. See GXHSMIGNORESPARSE in Registry Keys for more information.
However, if you have drives that are being monitored by VERITAS Storage Exec, ensure that GXHSMIGNORESPARSE is enabled to ensure that subsequent migration archiving jobs complete successfully and not just the initial migration archiving job.
Stub Port Number EVMGRC_REMOTE_PORT_OVERRIDE

EVMGRC_REMOTE_PORT

 You can override the stub file port number by using the EVMGRC_REMOTE_PORT_OVERRIDE registry key.  Use this key when the port number changes. Keep in mind that using this key defeats the benefit of being able to recall data using different port numbers for multiple Agents. When the key does not exist, the File Share Archiver client uses the stub content to determine port number. For 7.0 stubs, refer to the EVMGRC_REMOTE_PORT registry key.
Stub Pruning GXHSMSTUBKEEPTIMES Stub pruning is unaffected by the status of GXHSMSTUBKEEPTIMES as the system takes the modification time from the stub content.