Event ID 9554 and Backup Exec 11d backup failures for Exchange Server 2007 Mailbox Servers

You may encounter an issue with Backup Exec 11d performing backups of Exchange Server 2007 Mailbox Servers using Granular Restore Technology (GRT) when the backup job is targeted at tape media.

The backup job fails with the following error:

Backup- \SERVER.domain.localMicrosoft Information StoreFirst Storage Group V-79-57344-33928 – Access Denied. Cannot backup directory Mailbox Database and its subdirectories.

However a backup of the Exchange server to a Backup-to-Disk (B2D) device is successful.

The cause of the error is outlined in this Symantec support article.

The above error occurs if the logon account being used in the backup job has insufficient rights or because of the presence of one or more disabled Active Directory User Accounts which still have mailboxes in the mailbox store.

You may also find one or more instances of Event ID 9554 in the Exchange server Application Event Log, which correspond to the disabled mailbox accounts.

Event Type:    Warning
Event Source:    MSExchangeIS
Event Category:    General
Event ID:    9554
Date:        1/12/2008
Time:        8:07:05 PM
User:        N/A
Computer:    SERVER
Description:
Unable to update Mailbox SD in the DS. Mailbox Guid: 8ee3f344-9005-4f2e-bc81-d53821dbbe6c. Error Code 0x80070005

You can trace the disabled mailbox account using the Mailbox Guid in the event log entry by following the instructions in this Microsoft support article.  The process is as follows:

1. Download ADFind here (http://www.joeware.net/freetools/tools/adfind/index.htm) and extract the zip file to a location on the Exchange server.
2. Run the following command, substituting the Mailbox Guid from your own event log message where appropriate:

   C:Admin>adfind -gc -b "" -binenc -f " msExchMailboxGUID=
   {{GUID:8ee3f344-9005-4f2e-bc81-d53821dbbe6c}}" -dn

3. The command will produce output similar to this:

   AdFind V01.37.00cpp Joe Richards (joe@joeware.net) June 2007
   
   Transformed Filter:  msExchMailboxGUID=DF3E38E5902EOBC81D5821DBBEl
   Using server: DC1.domain.local:3268
   Directory: Windows Server 2003
   
   dn:CN=John Smith,OU=Users,OU=Corp,DC=domain,DC=local

Now that the mailbox user “John Smith” has been identified you can either remove the mailbox via the Exchange Management Console, or re-enable the account, so that the next scheduled instance of the Exchange backup job will run successfully.