Symptoms
1. Backup Set not in sync (SYNC Flag)
The error is reported in DS-User when trying to run a backup (either scheduled or on demand).
2. Backup Set not in sync (SYNC Size) (path of backup set)
The error is reported when a backup is attempted ( it can happen for any backup set type ) and a synchronization is automatically triggered
3. Backup Set not in sync (No such file or directory (data/…/_dirdesc)
Error message reported in the DS-Client and DS-System Event Logs that the DS-Client database is not in sync with the DS-System
4. Backup Set not in sync (SYNC Time) (backup_set_directory_path)
The error is reported during an automatic synchronization triggered when a backup or retention is attempted (ether scheduled or on demand) for a certain backup set or during weekly admin (when all sets are synchronized by default).
Cause
1. An activity that ran on the DS-System side (e.g. autonomic healing or system admin) found inconsistencies on the set and marked it out of sync.
2. The message is reported when there is a large discrepancy between the existing statistics on DS-CLient side at the time the backup starts and the statistics available on DS-System side ( which are updated by system admin ). When a backup starts for a certain set, DS-Client randomly compare the statistics at DS-Client level with the DS-System, if the discrepancy for the stored size is more than double on one side, a synchronization is automatically triggered.
3. When Autonomic Healing runs and finds corrupted files on the storage, it deletes these files and marks the backup set as out of sync. Another reason would be if during a backup, the source is changed by another application, then that could cause the backup set to go out of sync
4. A backup session or retention ran for the set reporting the error after the most recent daily or weekly admin ran on DS-Client side, then a DS-Client database recovery was performed, this way the last backup time for this set became different (incorrect) on DS-Client side comparing with the last backup time (correct one) available on the DS-System side, basically whenever a backup session or retention completes successfully the last backup time is saved both in DS-Client database and in the set descriptor (DS-System online storage).
This error might be also reported if the Rolling Upgrade feature was used on the DS-System side to prevent DS-Client upgrading from a new version (while DS-System was upgraded).
Workaround
1. Usually no action is required (when a backup is attempted, if the set was marked out of sync on the DS-System side, it will automatically run a sync first, then the backup). If the error is reported every time a backup is attempted, check the DS-System side for relevant errors (In DS-Operator > right click on the set > activities).
2. i. Ensure that a system admin ( such process can be started either via a schedule or manually from DS-Operator at backup set or DS-Client level ) can complete on all backup sets belonging to the affected DS-Client ( even if only some sets are reporting the error ) so that the statistics are updated periodically.
If these two values are off by a large margin and is not fixed by system admin, then the DS-System database will need to be manually changed so that the two values are similar (or the same).
To manually update the dssystem database:
i. Stop the DS-System service on all nodes.
ii. Connect to the dssystem database using SQL tools
iii. Change the used_size value in the storage_locations table to match current storage size (value in bytes)
To change all backup sets to in sync status run the following queries:
UPDATE dsset_size SET cookie = null UPDATE ds_data SET cookie = null, cookie2 = null Once the database has been updated start the DS-System service and verify size change in Extensible Storage Locations window.
3. Running Synchronization from DS-Client will fix this issue.
4. No action needed, basically the automatic synchronization is triggered from DS-Client side when any activity starts and a connection to DS-System is open, at this time the discrepancy (if any) is detected and fixed, subsequent activities will not report the error again.
If the error is reported again, run a system admin (from DS-Operator) on the affected backup set, then a synchronization.
If the DS-System was upgraded to v.13.3 for example and DS-Clients left at v.13.1.2, upgrade the DS-Clients to v.13.3.
