SBS - Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Required ...

We have one client that we have been holding off the application of Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 due to the age of the hardware and stability issues we have encountered on this box after updates were applied.

We have recently installed ShadowProtect on this server and setup a backup regimen.

So far, we have had two successful backups. Since those two, we have been unable to get a backup to successfully write to the USB hard drive.

For now, we have modified the backups to stream across the network to their data mirror server which also serves as a backup server. The network version seems to write okay.

Going through the system logs, we are pointed to what could be a source of the problems we are experiencing:

Error: VSS Event ID 6013: Sqllib error: OLEDB Error...

There are a lot of these types of VSS errors showing up in the logs.

A quick search turns up VSS event 6013 on SBS at the TechArena forums.

The first three KB articles pointed to in the response are included in SBS SP1. We are working with a server that is up to date in this regard.

So, we go on to the others pointed out in the forum post:

• KB 891957: Update is available that fixes various Volume Shadow Copy Service issues in Windows Server 2003
• KB 913648: A new Volume Shadow Copy Service update is now available that fixes various Volume Shadow Copy Service problems in Windows Server 2003
• KB 915331: The backup process may fail and a time-out error may occur in Volume Shadow Copy Service writers

And, of course they all point to the newest Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2.

This is one server we have been trying to avoid applying the service pack due to its history.

We are now in a position where we will need to be in the office after hours, run a full backup after booting to the ShadowProtect Server Edition CD to a USB hard disk, or the network if the USB drive fails, and boot the server up and make an attempt at the service pack.

At least we have great insurance in the ShadowProtect backup if the SBS OS decides to choke on the service pack.

Recovering the system partition will only take a couple of hours if the service pack does indeed kill the server.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

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