Context :
Everybody that has worked with Exchange 2010/2013 is familiar with A backup failure where the most common is a writer error.
When you type
VSSADMIN LIST WRITERS
It will list back something like this :
Writer name: 'Microsoft Exchange Replica Writer' Writer Id: {75dfb225-e2e4-4d39-9ac9-ffaff65ddf06} Writer Instance Id: {088e7a7d-09a8-4cc6-a609-ad90e75ddc93} State: [1] Stable Last error: Retryable error
Resolution :
Restart whatever Service that corresponds with the failed writer :
| VSS Writer | Service Name | Service Display Name |
|---|---|---|
| ASR Writer | VSS | Volume Shadow Copy |
| BITS Writer | BITS | Background Intelligent Transfer Service |
| COM+ REGDB Writer | VSS | Volume Shadow Copy |
| DFS Replication service writer | DFSR | DFS Replication |
| DHCP Jet Writer | DHCPServer | DHCP Server |
| FRS Writer | NtFrs | File Replication |
| FSRM writer | srmsvc | File Server Resource Manager |
| IIS Config Writer | AppHostSvc | Application Host Helper Service |
| IIS Metabase Writer | IISADMIN | IIS Admin Service |
| Microsoft Exchange Writer Microsoft Exchange Writer |
MSExchangeIS MSExchangeRepl |
Microsoft Exchange Information Store Microsoft Exchange Replication |
| Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer | vmms | Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management |
| NTDS | NTDS | Active Directory Domain Services |
| OSearch VSS Writer | OSearch | Office SharePoint Server Search |
| OSearch14 VSS Writer | OSearch14 | SharePoint Server Search 14 |
| Registry Writer | VSS | Volume Shadow Copy |
| Shadow Copy Optimization Writer | VSS | Volume Shadow Copy |
| SPSearch VSS Writer | SPSearch | Windows SharePoint Services Search |
| SPSearch4 VSS Writer | SPSearch4 | SharePoint Foundation Search V4 |
| SqlServerWriter | SQLWriter | SQL Server VSS Writer |
| System Writer | CryptSvc | Cryptographic Services |
| TermServLicensing | TermServLicensing | Remote Desktop Licensing |
| WMI Writer | Winmgmt | Windows Management Instrumentation |
Example:
My Exchange backup failed while running either DPM or Avamar or BackupExec or Veeam.
A retryable error on the “Microsoft Exchange Replica Writer”
Quick script i made:
get-service "MSExchangeRepl" | restart-service
Elaborate version i scheduled 10 minutes before planned backup:
Add-PSSnapin 'Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.E2010'
$Servers = Get-ExchangeServer | where {$_.ServerRole -match 'Mailbox'}
ForEach ($server in $servers)
{
Restart-Service -InputObject $(Get-Service -Computer $server -Name MSExchangeRepl);
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $server -ScriptBlock {
Import-Module WebAdministration
Restart-WebAppPool MSExchangePowerShellAppPool
Restart-WebAppPool MSExchangePowerShellProxyAppPool
Restart-WebAppPool DefaultAppPool
}
}
This script does not only restart that nasty Replication writer, but also clears the powershell AppPools and the normal AppPool where most backup products execute powershell on the target server.