Pause a running snapshot

Question

Hi All, 
 I have one client who experiences more than their share of dirty shut downs. Clearly a problem but one for another day and not their only one. The problem is each time appassure wants to run a base image it takes just over two days and on this one particular server they send out a large email blast every few days and if the base image is running it takes hours to send these messages rather than the minute and a half it normally does. Again a problem and again one for another day. 
 My question is, is there a way to pause the base image while it is running? I just need to pause it for maybe five minutes while this email blast goes out then it can run again and complete. 
 If there is no supported way does anybody know of a way this might be accomplished? I'm not on site but something like pulling the cable from the core for a minute and then putting it back in so the backup resumes. I know how that sounds but I'm desperate to get these base images done while they work to address the bigger issues. 
 thanks for any suggestions.

Tim Seymour · Answer

A base image is created as part of the first backup. After that the software does it's best to only take incrementals. Hence why we call it an "incremental forever" model. However, here are some of the reasons another base image may be taken: 
 
 Dirty shutdown of the agent. If the protected machine has a dirty shutdown, AppAssure will automatically take a new base to ensure that the recovery chain is not corrupted by any potential errors that the machine could have due to the dirty shutdown 
 The driver log file has been deleted ( AALog_*.log ). The file is located at [drive letter]:\System Volume Information folder. 
 The driver failover file ( AAFailover.md ) has been deleted. The file is located at [drive letter]:\System Volume Information folder.
 
 WARNING: Quest strongly discourages users from manipulating driver files without the help of a trained engineer.

Driver logging was disabled due to some troubleshooting steps. This might occur if the assuremc. exe utility was used in the environment during possible troubleshooting steps. 
 The AppAssure filter driver (AAFsFlt) was unloaded. By unloading the filter driver AppAssure is unable to track changes on the volume and must start over with a new changelog and base image. 
 Amount of changes in the log file is too large and the system runs out of memory while building a map of the changed data. This can happen to large file-servers with significant amounts of data. 
 The source volume currently under protection has been extended or shrunk after performing a rollback. 
 A new encryption key was set for the agent. After the key has been added, a new base image will be taken. 
 The encryption key has been removed for the agent. After removing the key, a new base image will be taken. 
 The encryption key for the agent has been changed. 
 There is not enough space on the agent&rsquo;s volume to write driver log files. 
 Improper permissions &ndash; the user protecting the agent does not have administrative privileges on the System Volume Information folder. 
 Check-disk &ndash; if check disk is performed on the system volume or on the non system volume, an incremental snapshot should be taken. If corruption was found and repaired by check disk then a base may be taken. 
 User Access &ndash; Access to the System Volume Information folder and MSInfo is blocked by a third party product. 
 Third Party Product Interference &ndash; the volume is protected by another software product or the driver log file has been blocked by antivirus software. 
 Formatting Error &ndash; the volume is marked or formatted as &ldquo;dirty&rdquo; after undergoing an improper shutdown. 
 Environmental issues &ndash; different environmental issues may interfere with the software&rsquo;s normal functionality. 
 Another VSS-based backup solution is running on the agent machine

Tim Seymour · Answer

There is no way to pause a base image. You could try increasing all the timeouts to crazy high levels (1 hour or so on everything) and then see if pulling the cable for a minute works, but I doubt it will. Pulling the cable severs all those network connections and our timeouts are for latent connections, not completely disconnected ones. This isn't something supported for sure. 
 
The only other thing you could try is tweaking the transfer settings for that agent to try and speed up the backup. Try reducing the values for Concurrent streams and Concurrent Writes by half and then increase the outstanding reads per stream to 24. You could also try increasing the segment size or reducing the segment size. Adjust those settings up and down and see if there is any improvement in speed. It's possible you'll be able to dial those settings in and get faster base image backups.