Azure Backup update: May 2016

View products that this article applies to.

This article describes the improvements and fixes in the May 2016 update of Microsoft Azure Backup.

Improvements and fixes

Status and error reporting improvements

This update of Microsoft Azure Backup includes improvements to provide more detailed information about the stage of backup and more actionable error messages. A few examples of this include reporting errors about incorrectly-specified cache-folder location and providing write-permissions to the recovery target location. Additionally, Azure Backup can now detect and apprise users of any unsupported configurations, thereby preventing associated backup errors.

Upgrade notification improvements

With this update, we enable ease of discovery and installation of future releases of the Microsoft Azure Recovery Services (MARS) Agent.

Issues that are fixed

Fixes an issue that leads to un-optimized incremental backups in certain scenarios.
Fixes an issue that prevents the MARS Agent from working on Windows Technical Preview builds.
Fixes an issue that prevents correct cataloging of files in large data-sources and stalling backup operations.
Fixes issues in order to improve the stability and reliability of both backups and recoveries that use the MARS Agent.

↑ Back to the top

Known issue

During Offline Backups, transfer of data from staging location to a disk, initiated by using the Microsoft Azure Import/Export tool, might fail for data sources greater than 1 TB.

Applies to

Offline Backups performed by using this update of the MARS Agent.

Symptoms

On running the Microsoft Azure Import/Export Tool for transferring backup data from staging location to a disk, text similar to either of the following appears as part of the logs printed by the tool:

[Date][Info] Excluding file <Staging Location>\<BlobID>_SpanningDataBlob as its size (1099668288000) exceeds the maximum (1099511627776) allowed for Page Blob.

[Date][Info] Excluding file <Staging Location>\<BlobID>_BaseBlob as its size (1099668288000) exceeds the maximum (1099511627776) allowed for Page Blob.

Resolution

To fix the issue follow these steps:

Important Follow the steps in this section carefully. Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Before you modify it, back up the registry for restorationin case problems occur.

In Registry Editor, locate and then select the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Azure Backup\DbgSettings\OnlineBackup
Press and hold (or right-click) Configuration, select New, and then select DWORD (32-bit) Value.
Name the new registry entry as TimeBetweenCheckpoints.
Double-click the TimeBetweenCheckpoints registry entry.
In the Edit DWORD Value dialog box, enter 0 in the Value data field, and then select OK.
Exit Registry Editor.
Open MARS Agent.
Delete the associated backup-policy from the MARS Agent.
Delete the contents of the staging location.
Select Schedule Backup on the MARS Agent.
Create a new backup-policy with the Offline Backup option.
Perform the steps associated with Offline Backups as usual.

↑ Back to the top

Update information

To apply this update, install the latest version of the Microsoft Azure Recovery Services agent.

The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:

Download the Azure Recovery Services agent update package now.

Note The latest version of the Microsoft Azure Recovery Services agent is 2.0.9037.0.

For more information about how to download Microsoft support files, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

119591 How to obtain Microsoft support files from online services

Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help prevent any unauthorized changes to the file.

↑ Back to the top

Restart information

You may have to restart the computer after you apply this update.

Replacement information

This update replaces the previously released update 3146941 .

Prerequisites

If you use System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager (DPM), apply Update Rollup 10 for System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager or a later version after you install this update for the Azure Backup agent.

↑ Back to the top