Backup works once, will never not backup again
I have run into this problem, in two different Windows environments, with two different versions of ABR10. Apparently these new builds are breaking more than they are fixing. Following a fresh install, I can make a backup run once without any problem. After that, it will no longer run, either scheduled or manually, until I can restart the service. This does not happen on all my server, but it does happen on more than one. Sometimes the service will restart fine, other times it will get hung on the "Stopping" status and will not start again until I reboot the server. But it takes a service restart to get it to back up again AT ALL.
This issue is just the face of a more troublesome and underlying problem. I have been a huge fan of Acronis software since I starting working with computers, back when it was just Acronis TrueImage 9.1. I love the technology that is used, it makes sense to me, and it has saved my tail numerous times. However, since moving a few of my clients to using the Acronis Enterprise products, I have gotten nothing but trouble getting these things to back up on a schedule, and a bunch of dumb looks and questions from Acronis Support. The biggest problem is that I am paying for a maintenance contract to support all of this, and anytime I go to Tech Support, as soon as I tell them what version I am running, I get this: "Oh we have a new build out now, you should install the latest build and it will fix your problem." They refuse to troubleshoot any further until I do this. I have not used Acronis tech support in a long time for this very reason. So I go download the latest build, and since it will not simply Upgrade, I am forced to do a complete uninstall and reinstall using the latest build, and I have to re-setup all of my backup jobs, which takes a little while to do when you are as anal as I am and got them like you want them. And Acronis does not work well when you run different builds concurrently, so basically when one server screws up, I have to upgrade every server in the organization to get it right again for a couple of weeks before a new problem arises. But the best part is, this particular issue is happening on the latest build, 11639, so I can't wait to see what they have to tell me this time. Much of Acronis's trouble seems to be centered around users and permissions, but I cannot verify that because tech support refuses to troubleshoot with me.
I have no problem with using the Acronis Boot Media, which is Acronis technology at its most bare-bones form. Works great, the concept is great. I also have no problem with older versions of TrueImage that I use for manual backups before I install something. That part works great. But getting these things to run on an automated schedule just DOES NOT work, especially since ABR10 came out. It will work fine for a few weeks or months and then screw up for no reason. And it happens on a different server every time, so you can't isolate the problem that way. But as soon as one server stops backing up, I have to clear my weekend plans and come in on a Sunday to upgrade the entire organization to the latest build to get it working again.
I spent a lot of time convincing my clients that Acronis was the way to go, but the software has consistently fell short of our expectations. And after reading a lot of these forums, it sounds like I am not the only dissatisfied customer here. If the makers of Acronis cannot find out how to make their software backup and restore in a consistent manner, without forcing the customer to reconfigure their Active Directory structure to make it work, then I swear to all that is holy that I will scrap the entire thing and go back to Windows Backup.
HAHA, good to know! Once you get it working, it runs like a CHAMP........until it breaks.
I'm actually on site at one of the troublesome locations for the whole day, so I'm gonna try a reinstall on the two servers that are giving me trouble out here before I take my rant to the tech support chat! But thanks for listening! :D
Hello all,
Thank you very much for your feedback.
Lucas Jones,
I am terribly sorry for all the inconvenience caused by our software and our support. I will be very happy to assist you with any issues that you are having.
The reason our support engineers were constantly asking you to update the software to the latest build is because a lot of issues are constantly fixed, especially when it comes to centralized management.
I would really appreciate if you could get back to me and let me know if you continue experiencing issues with build 11639 and out technical support. I will do my best to resolve them for you.
Please let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.
Thank you.
Thank you Anton.
I did indeed go to technical support with this issue, and I was assigned Bhaskar. We started with one server at a time, as I have multiple environments. This particular server would get hung on the cleanup task following a backup, and when I tried to stop the task manually, the task would get hung until I restarted the service or the server.
All in All I spent about half an hour with him while he researched and gathered info about my organization. I gave him a link to this exact forum post to save time, he spent 10 whole minutes just reading all of this. :) He finally came back with a link to a tool that is supposed to completely uninstall and clean all remnants of AB10 so that I may do a fresh install afterward. I will admit that this is the first time I have heard about such a tool, kinda wish a complete clean was built into the regular uninstall process. Most people tend to uninstall when they want the whole thing gone, not just bits and pieces of it. I still think we need a way to import and export jobs through the use of .xml files or some other method, so we could uninstall and reinstall completely without having to build all of your jobs back. But I will try this and get back to you. If it works for more than a week, I will try the same process on other servers.
Hello Lucas Jones,
Thank you for getting back to us.
Hopefully in a future update of our software we will be able to import/export backup jobs. Also, it is very likely that we will implement the clean up utility feature in one of our future releases. The initial clean up utility came out in November, whereas the software was released in the summer of 2009.
Please let us know if you run into any issues with the latest build or have some problems with our technical support, we will do our best to take care of it.
Thank you.