RxWorks

Troubleshooting Your Backups

There are some basic checks that you can do if your system reports that a backup has failed. The access to some components and folder locations may vary depending on the server load that you use.

TROUBLESHOOTING STEPS

1. Check that the Backup Locations exist.

Check that the path to the FULL and LOG backup folders exists and is can be accessed. If the path points to a network location e.g. on a backup workstation, check that the workstation is switched on and connected to the network.

2. Check that the drive/folder security permissions for the backup locations are set correctly.

If security on the backup location is set incorrectly, RxWorks will not be able to write the backup data to the nominated backup location.

3. Check for free drive space on the drive where RxWorks is installed.

The SQL backup process initially backs up the database into the server’s ‘\RxWorks\Database\SQL’ folder. A Database Restore file is also stored in this folder. It is a good idea to have enough free drive space to allow the full size of the ‘RxMain.MDF’ database file to be stored many times over.

An example of enough disk space would be to:

1. Times the size of your database by three.
2. Times the size of your log file by three.
3. Add the two totals together.

Old files may need to be removed from the hard drive or maintenance will need to run on the database to shrink its size. If this is not possible, a larger hard drive may need to be installed in your server.

4. Check for free drive space on the backup workstation.

There must be enough free space on your backup workstation to ensure that it can store the number of days backup, or the total size of the backup files set in the backup configuration settings.

SCENARIO:

Backup settings are set to keep up to 30 Gigabytes of backup data.

The backup workstation has only 20 Gigabytes of free drive space.

RESULT:

The backup process will fail to remove old backup data and will eventually fill the drive. Backups will fail to complete.

You must set the total size or number of backups to keep to a value smaller than the available free space on the workstation hard drive. If this is not adequate for your backup requirements a larger hard drive may need to be added to the workstation.

5. Check that the Backgrounder task can start and is running at 5 minute intervals for 24 hours.

The Backgrounder Task is responsible for starting all of the automated background functions in RxWorks, including the backup processes. If this task is not correctly set up in the Windows Task Scheduler, the backup functions will fail to start.

6. Ensure the server and backup machines are left on.

Ensure the server, backup workstation (if you are running an RxWorks 2003 Server Load) or the machine that your backups are configured for are left switched on each night. If RxWorks does not have access to these machines, your backups will not complete.

7. When you receive a Restore failed error.

A ‘Restore failed’ error  could be due to the lack of disk space on your server. Or it failed to the backup workstation. (For example, RxEmergency). It can also be because the backup workstation’s SQL instance is not configured correctly. In this case, you will need to contact an RxWorks Support Team Member.