ABR 11 Server: How (and Why) to Disable Catalog (Consequences?)
We recently "upgraded" from ABR 10 to 11 Server, installing version 17437 released on 21 March 2012. I thought that by waiting for ten months or so after 11 was released, we might get a stable product. Wrong!
ABR 11 introduces a new Catalog feature, which adds hours to our backup and overruns the available window. As suggested on page 79 of the User Guide, one might want to disable the catalog in this circumstance. But there are no instructions on how to do so anywhere in the User Guide or the help file. I'm told by support that there used to be a way to disable the catalog in the job definition dialog, but it was removed from the interface. No credible explanation for why that was done could be provided.
It seems from other messages posted here that cataloging is very buggy and frequently does not work properly, and in fact this is more or less acknowledged in several KB articles.
Now the best part: There's no way to disable cataloging in the current (17437) interface. You need to rename the cataloging DLL to disable it!
Instructions can be found in the middle of KB27339 (Backup Plan Creation Fails with 0x0135000F, which is said to be "a sporadic issue related to cataloging of vaults". )
ABR 11 Server is a $853 product, with an annual cost of $209 for maintenance. This is unacceptable!
I'm wondering if we should revert to ABR 10. Does ABR 11 Server perform adequately if cataloging is disabled, and does disabling raise any other issues which we should be aware of? Why was the ability to disable the catalog removed from the interface?
Thanks.
Thanks for the reply but unfortunately that information is no longer current.
In server version 11.0.17437 (21-Mar-2012), there is no "Perform Cataloging" option in either the backup plan or the default BR options. I was advised yesterday by Acronis support that the option was removed from the latest release, but he could offer no credible explanation for why that was done. (His speculation that "customers wanted it removed" seemed unrealistic to me.)
There remains an option in the default BR options (but not in the backup plan) to select either "Full Cataloging" or "Fast Cataloging". But NO option to turn cataloging off.
We find that archive view is quite adequate for the occasional restore that we need to do. Given that cataloging is buggy and takes a slice of our limited backup window, we'd just like to eliminate it.
Even after removing the cataloging DLL by renaming it, we are still having problems as the program tries to run it and generates errors when it can't find the DLL. We will try to resolve this today with support, but if that is not possible we intend to remove ABR11 and reinstall ABR10.
This is really unacceptable for an expensive product designed for server backup that has been released for some ten months . . .
Fast cataloging (partitions level only for volume backups) was (is) performed anyway, in older build even with 'cataloging' option turned off. So 'under the hood' nothing changed in this regard. Did you experience issues with dll renamed back and cataloging option set to 'fast' ?
Hi Thomas,
did you try to switch to "Fast cataloging" before renaming the dll? (Edit the backup plan > Plan parameters > Backup options > Backup cataloging). This might help.
The thing is that it is not possible to completely switch off the cataloging from the UI. The software always performs some shallow cataloging so that you can see at least disks and volumes in the data view (but it must not last for hours for sure). The check box was changed to the Full/Fast selector just to reflect this fact. This is "credible explanation for why that was done".
Thanks for both of the above. I now understand the situation. It would have been helpful if they agent who handled case 01574302 had been aware of those things.
It would also be helpful if the information in 4.7.3 (page 79) of the User Guide reflected the actual functionality of the current release of the program, or if a KB article had been prepared.
KB27339 notwithstanding, renaming the cataloging DLL seems to cause more problems and solves none.
Cataloging was (a bit) overhauled in the current beta (build 17437). The large monolithic bomb-monster was replaced with one catalog db per machine.
This makes cataloging tremendously faster and better manageable, at least if you're backing up a lot of normal sized clients. If you're doing a large server (all at once) and you aren't delegating your catalog to a storage node, then you'll be much better off disabling full cataloging.
That doesn't mean you should use a storage node. Only do so if you have lots of time and like talking to support (a lot).
Thanks Heiko. I completely agree that turning off Full Cataloging (which one does by selecting Fast Cataloging) is highly recommended.
To update this thread, I am pleased to report that after four days of frustration, we finally achieved a good backup last night. Some things that seem to have contributed to this result:
1. Ignore Acronis support advice to disable cataloging by renaming the cataloging .DLL; this only makes things worse.
2. Read Section 4.7.3 (Backup Cataloging) of the User Guide with the understanding that it is seriously misleading and incorrect in several material respects.
3. Unpack the install .EXE and then run each module in Repair mode manually
4. Turn off Restart Failed Task, at least until you've gotten the backup plan to work
5. Select Fast Catalog in B&R Options
6. Make sure that the backup plan is not overriding the Fast Catalog setting
7. Clone the backup plan, and then delete the original plan
A further note on the Catalog that may help clear up confusion:
The Default Backup Options dialog presents a choice between Full and Fast catalogs. However, in the backup job, if you select other than your default setting, the option will be presented as: "Automatically catalog a backup as soon as it is created:" and then the setting, either "On" or "Off".
You need to know that "On" means Full, and "Off" means Fast. As noted by Dev-Anon above, Fast means essentially the basic indexing that has always been done, even before the buggy cataloging "feature" was introduced in ABR 11. In other words, Fast Cataloging is no cataloging.
So: Instead of this semantic hairball, why not just: "Cataloging" and then either "Enabled" or "Disabled"? in both the options dialog and the backup plan?
Thanks for this topic, I found the information helpful. After upgrading to 11 I noticed that "service_process.exe" is stealing a lot of CPU and causing other backups that still run to fail. I now moved to 11.5 and the problem persists.
Why is service_process.exe not doing its work with "below normal" priority? Is there any way to change that? I don't understand why devs do not make use of the scheduling the windows kernel permits these days.
Hello Roland,
Thank you for using Acronis software.
Thank you.
Hi,
Am I correct in suggesting that with Fast (aka NO) Cataloging, a user will not be able to restore individual files? I noticed the "Catalog Now" button which I thought would be awesome. I don't have masses of available space to backup (admittedly I need more, but I'm getting newer servers in a year so I'll have to make do). I turned off Cataloging thinking it will save me a huge amount of space and I'd use the Catalog Now feature on certain backups when the time came.
This has backfired on me because I encrypt all my backups. "Catalog Now" does not appear to support encrypted archives.
In which case, if I enable Cataloging how can I redirect the catalog database? I read the articles about changing registry keys but I got confused because it's all relative. If I used C:\AMS\ as the location, would that use use each of my servers I'm backing up C:\ Drive or would it use my backup servers C: drive?
Any advice is really appreciated! :) thanks guys!!
Am I correct in suggesting that with Fast (aka NO) Cataloging, a user will not be able to restore individual files?
Only from catalog. Restoring from old-style 'archive view' is always possible. If backup is stored on tapes, there are more 'ifs' but I don't remember them.
As for encryption, cataloging doesn't work on encrypted backups, whether specified in backup plan options or run manually.