Warning on SQL server database backup

Support
1

Hi,

I have a backup job in a Windows Server 20016 with MQ SQL server 2014.
Backups work fine, but I got warnings :

Warnings: [
        2018-12-10 20:10:28 +01 - [Warning-Duplicati.Library.Main.Operation.Backup.FilePreFilterProcess.FileEntry-FailedToAddFile]: Failed while attempting to add unmodified file to database: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL12.WAVESOFT\MSSQL\DATA\ancien\SANDYTEST_data.mdf,
        2018-12-10 20:10:28 +01 - [Warning-Duplicati.Library.Main.Operation.Backup.FilePreFilterProcess.FileEntry-FailedToAddFile]: Failed while attempting to add unmodified file to database: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL12.WAVESOFT\MSSQL\DATA\ancien\WS_Distribution.LDF,
        2018-12-10 20:10:28 +01 - [Warning-Duplicati.Library.Main.Operation.Backup.FilePreFilterProcess.FileEntry-FailedToAddFile]: Failed while attempting to add unmodified file to database: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL12.WAVESOFT\MSSQL\DATA\ancien\WS_Distribution.MDF,
        2018-12-10 20:10:29 +01 - [Warning-Duplicati.Library.Main.Operation.Backup.FilePreFilterProcess.FileEntry-FailedToAddFile]: Failed while attempting to add unmodified file to database: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL12.WAVESOFT\MSSQL\DATA\master.mdf,
        2018-12-10 20:10:29 +01 - [Warning-Duplicati.Library.Main.Operation.Backup.FilePreFilterProcess.FileEntry-FailedToAddFile]: Failed while attempting to add unmodified file to database: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL12.WAVESOFT\MSSQL\DATA\mastlog.ldf,

Should I worry about them?
Duplicati runs as System account, sqlserver.exe as another user.

Thanks,

Bertrand

2

It’s only a problem if you actually want those files included in the backup.

If so, then check your --snapshot-policy - you may need to enable it so in-use files can be included in backups.

`–snapshot-policy=Auto|On|Off|Required
This setting controls the usage of snapshots, which allows Duplicati to backup files that are locked by other programs. If this is set to “off”, Duplicati will not attempt to create a disk snapshot. Setting this to “auto” makes Duplicati attempt to create a snapshot, and fail silently if that was not allowed or supported (note that the OS may still log system warnings). A setting of “on” will also make Duplicati attempt to create a snapshot, but will produce a warning message in the log if it fails. Setting it to “required” will make Duplicati abort the backup if the snapshot creation fails. On windows this uses the Volume Shadow Copy Services (VSS) and requires administrative privileges. On Linux this uses Logical Volume Management (LVM) and requires root privileges.
Default value: “off”

3

Hi, thank you for your help.

--snapshot-policy value is Required

Does the warning mean that the DB file has not change since last backup?

4

Any warning in Windows event log or in SQL instance log?
I back up couple MS SQL Servers and I never had this warning.

5

I think so. You can look at the file time to sanity-check that idea, although sometimes timestamps aren’t updated.

This looks like a rather recently added message due to Converted exceptions while adding an unmodified file to the database to a log message to avoid stopping the backup when this errors out.

1 Like
6

Hi,

No log messages from Windows or SQL.
I confirm db files timestamps aren’t updated on the server.

I got around the issue by using embedded SQL server dump before Duplicati backup, but I’d rather rely on Duplicati only.

I looked at the link you sent, but I’ll wait the next beta release to check if it runs better.

Thank you for your time, I think there’s no need to search further.