VSS does not truncate Exchange 2013 Logs on Server 2012

Question

I have a single exchange 2013 server on Server 2012. It is being backed up by Veeam and Veeam is utilizing VSS in its operations.

The backups are actually working fine, but at the end of backups, exchange logs are not truncated. This also should be an integrted task of VSS so I am not looking for an answer regarding Veeam.

I have tried to manually trigger VSS by diskshadows -> add volume X: -> begin bacup -> create ->end backup

This also does not truncate exchange logs.

When looking at "VSSADMIN list writers" I am getting the following report.

Writer name: 'Microsoft Exchange Writer'
   Writer Id: {76fe1ac4-15f7-4bcd-987e-8e1acb462fb7}
   Writer Instance Id: {e608c02b-592d-463b-b3c3-21bcfd6485d7}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: Retryable error

I have tried to restart the server, restart VSS, restart Exchange Replication services but they do not help. I also looked at several events in event viewer but could not find anything that looked useful. (I'm probably wrong and missing something, that's where I need help)

I'd like to hear some opinions about where to look about this issue.

Thanks!

Solution

I was able to fix it by enabling and then disabling Circular logging. Interesting thing is that I did not event lose the incremental backup for a single day.

It's quite safe to try that if you have a recent backup.

Comments

[Zoredache]

Well people want to be able to make a snapshots without truncating logs, so it would be very bad if the log got truncated with any snapshot was created. Log truncation is, and should be an operation that requires a specific request. I am almost certain there is a setting in Veeam.

[Zoredache]

BTW, I am supposing you already Google'd 'Veeam exchange truncat logs'? One of the top hits I got was this. helpcenter.veeam.com/backup/70/vsphere/…

[user2629636]

@Zoredache Yes of course, I have exhausted all the settings inside Veeam over two weeks (choosing one setting, restarting server/service etc after each option).

[Admin]

it may be safe to enable and disable circular logging but it's worth mentioning that you must dismount and remount the database for the change to take effect. Therefore, it should not be done during production hours.

[user2629636]

Yes, you're right. Please keep that in mind when you're doing it.

[mfinni]

Also worth mentioning is that if the databases are in a healthy DAG, you can change the circular logging setting without requiring a dismount.