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VSS script

Script recipe of the week: how to copy an opened file

© Adi Oltean 5 Jan 2005 5:50 AM 31

I just read recently a post on the newsgroups - someone wanted to backup her PST file The problem is that Outlook keeps this file open all the time, therefore we are unable to just copy this file once in a while Argh

A cute little script

Fortunately, we have Shadow copies in XP and Server 2003! So I just wrote a quick script that allows this PST to be quickly backed up The script (called CopyWithVss.cmd) has a syntax which is very similar with the COPY command

in shell

CopyWithVss source file destination file

Here is the script contents:

setlocal

@REM test if we are called by VSHADOW

if NOT "SCALLBACK SCRIPTS$"==""_ goto :IS CALLBACK

@REM

@REM Get the source and destination path

@REM

set SOURCE _DRIVE_LETTER=%~d1

set SOURCE RELATIVE PATH=%~pnx1

set DESTINATION PATH=%2

@REM

@REM Create the shadow copy - and generate env variables into a temporary script

@REM

@REM Then, while the shadow is still live

@REM recursively execute the same script

@REM

@echo .Determine the scripts to be executed/generated

set CALLBACK SCRIPT=%~dpnx0

set TEMP GENERATED SCRIPT=GeneratedVarsTempScript.cmd

@echo .Creating the shadow copy

%~dp0\vshadow.exe -script=%TEMP GENERATED SCRIPT% -exec=%CALLBACK SCRIPTS

$SOURCE_DRIVE_ LETTERS

del /f STEMP GENERATED SCRIPTS

@goto :EOF

:IS CALLBACK

setlocal

@REM

@REM This generated script should set the SHADOW DEVICE 1 env variable

@REM

@echo .Obtaining the shadow copy device name

call TEMP GENERATED SCRIPT%

@REM

@REM This should copy the file to the right location

@REM

@echo .Copying from the shadow copy to the destination path

copy "SSHADOW DEVICE 1%\$SOURCE RELATIVE PATHS" $DESTINATION PATH$

How does it work?

Let's go through all the instructions, step by step

1) The initialization phase:

setlocal

@REM test if we are called by VSHADOW

if NOT "SCALLBACK SCRIPTS$"==""_ goto :IS CALLBACK

@REM

@REM Get the source and destination path

@REM

set SOURCE _DRIVE_LETTER=%~d1

set SOURCE RELATIVE PATH=%~pnx1

set DESTINATION PATH=%2

Here, "setlocal” is used to make sure that any variables that we set in this script will not be defined after its execution is done (we'll see later why) Let's skip the "if NOT” test for a second, and go to the next SET statements Here, we are just interpreting the script arguments So, if the script was invoked with the arguments CopyWithVss c:\path1\foo.txt d:\path2\bar.txt then, %1 will be c:\path1\foo.txt, and %2 will be d:\path2\bar.txt

And the weird-looking expression "%~d1" is nothing more than the drive letter of the path contained in %1 ("d" stands for the "drive letter”) Therefore %~d1 will become ¢c: How about %~pnx! ? Similarly, "p” stands for

“path”, "n" for "name", and "x" for extension And more, %~pnx1 is just a shortcut for %~p1%~n1%~x1 which represents the concatenated path, name and extension of the file contained in %1 In other words, the string path1\foo.txt

For more documentation on these expressions, you can do a "CALL /?" in your CMD shell

2) Let's continue

@echo .Determine the scripts to be executed/generated

set CALLBACK SCRIPT=%~dpnx0

set TEMP GENERATED SCRIPT=GeneratedVarsTempScript.cmd

Now, similarly with the logic above, the variable CALLBACK_SCRIPT will be set to the full path (including drive letter, path, name and extension) of the actual script (since %0 is the name of the currently executing script) So, if you execute the script from z:\foo\CopyWithVss.cmd, then %~dpnx0 will represent this fully qualified path Why we are doing all this manipulation will become apparent in a second

3) The following line is the fun part:

%~dp0\vshadow.exe -script=%TEMP GENERATED SCRIPT% -exec=%CALLBACK SCRIPTS

$SOURCE_DRIVE_ LETTERS

Now, what is this vshadow.exe tool? It is a simple command-line tool that allows anyone to create shadow copies You can find the tool already compiled in the latest downloadable VSS SDK Just copy VSHADOW.EXE in the same directory as the CMD above What this tool does is that it creates a shadow copy of the volume specified as its last parameter Aha! so this is why we had to isolate the drive letter of the source path To go with the example above (%1 being ¢:\path1\foo txt), then the last parameter is the C: drive letter, meaning that we will create a shadow copy of C: Remember that shadow copies are per volume, not per file or directory! But don't worry, the shadow copy creation is a relatively painless operation in terms of performance Most likely it takes less than the time needed to copy your PST file :-)

But what is a shadow copy, anyway? It is a regular volume that appears in the system for a brief time (at least in

XP, because in Windows Server 2003 you have the ability to create a persistent shadow copy - just use the "-p” option in VSHADOW for example) This volume is identified by a temporary device name, looking like this: \\?

\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShad owCopy253 The fact that the volume is somewhat temporary makes our script a little bit harder How do we retrieve the shadow copy device in our CMD script? VSHADOW solves this

in a simple way, offering you the ability to generate a temporary script, containing a bunch of SET commands that will save the new devices as environment variables Then, you can simply refer these devices in some shell commands, like COPY So if you execute this script, it will set a variable called SHADOW_DEVICE_1 (and

subsequently SHADOW_DEVICE_2 N) for each volume to be shadowed So this is the explanation for the "-script” option above: it will generate a script called GeneratedVarsTempScript.cmd that we have to execute to get the actual shadow device

Now, here is another challenging problem: the shadow copy device dissapears immediately after the VsSHADOW program exits! This is by design with all non-persistent shadow copies created by VSS Internally, VsHADOW acts

as a COM client, and the VSS service as a COM server When the last referece to the COM interface referred by VSHADOW goes away, all the created shadow copies are going away too In fact, this is a convenient feature for a backup application; for example if that application crashes, then you won't have leaking shadow copies: COM will automatically release the COM reference after a 6 minutes idle time, therefore automatically deleting the shadow copy

But, this seems to be an impossible problem now - if the shadow copy is gone by the time VSHADOW exits, how

we can still access its contents? Fortunately, VsSHADOW has the ability to execute a “callback” program while the shadow copy is still alive This callback script is passed using the second "-exec” option Whew!

So what Is being passed in the "-exec” option? Nothing more than the fully-qualified path of the original script! In other words, the script is recursively calling itself We avoid the infinite cycle in a very easy way Remember the "if NOT" instruction at the beginning of the script?

@REM test if we are called by VSHADOW

if NOT "SCALLBACK SCRIPTS$"==""_ goto :IS CALLBACK

That does the trick - since the env variable CALLBACK_SCRIPT is defined inside our script, it is (almost) guaranteed

to not be set when the script is invoked for the first time and being set when invoked recursively for the second time This is a neat trick that allowed us to avoid defining a separate CMD script At the same time, the test allows

us to detect what to do when we are inside VSHADOW remember, all we wanted to do is to copy a file This also explains why do we need a "setlocal” at the beginning of the script - otherwise, succesive executions in the same CMD instance will simply not work since the first execution will leave CALLBACK_SCRIPT defined, and the script will

think that it is already in VSHADOW!

All this seems pretty complicated, but if you think a little bit about it, you can see that there is no other way around

it This is actually the simplest way to execute some custom commands while the shadow copy is still alive 4) Let's jump now to the :IS_CALLBACK part - this is what is being executed when we are called by VSHADOW:

@REM

@REM This generated script should set the SHADOW DEVICE 1 env variable

@REM

@echo .Obtaining the shadow copy device name

call TEMP GENERATED SCRIPT%

@REM

@REM This should copy the file to the right location

@REM

@echo .Copying from the shadow copy to the destination path

copy "SSHADOW DEVICE 1%\$SOURCE RELATIVE PATHS" $DESTINATION PATH$

We can see above the call to the generated script (that should define the SHADOW_DEVICE_1 environment

variable) Then, we just invoke the COPY command, passing the source and the destination path Now it is clear

why we needed the SOURCE_RELATIVE_PATH variable in the first place - since the file path on the shadow copy is

actually relative to the root of the shadow copy volume

5) Now, let's jump back to the original code branch:

%~dp0\vshadow.exe -script=%TEMP GENERATED SCRIPT% -exec=%CALLBACK SCRIPTS

$SOURCE_DRIVE_ LETTERS

del /f STEMP GENERATED SCRIPTS

@goto :EOF

Obviously, this deletes the temporarily-generated CMD script and exits the main script Done!

Let's give it a try

Nothing easier here is the generated output

Z:\outlook_backup>CopyWithVss.cmd x:\Store\PST\2004-01-27.pst x:\Store\PST\backup.pst

Z:\outlook_backup>setlocal

Z:\outlook backup>if NOT "" == "" goto :IS CALLBACK

Z:\outlook_backup>set SOURCE DRIVE LETTER=x:

Z:\outlook backup>set SOURCE RELATIVE PATH=\Store\PST\2004-01-27.pst

Z:\outlook_backup>set DESTINATION PATH=x:\Store\PST\backup.pst

Determine the scripts to be executed/generated

Z:\outlook_backup>set CALLBACK SCRIPT=Z:\outlook backup\CopyWithVss cmd

Z:\outlook_backup>set TEMP GENERATED SCRIPT=GeneratedVarsTempScript cmd

Creating the shadow copy

Z:\outlook_backup>Z:\outlook backup\\vshadow.exe -script=GeneratedVarsTempScript.cmd -exec=Z:\outlook backup\CopyWithVss.cmd x:

VSHADOW.EXE 2.0 - Volume Shadow Copy sample client

Copyright (C) 2004 Microsoft Corporation All rights reserved

Option: Generate SETVAR script 'GeneratedVarsTempScript.cmd')

Option: Execute binary/script after shadow creation 'Z:\outlook backup\CopyWithVss.cmd')

Option: Create shadow copy set)

Gathering writer metadata )

(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish )

Initialize writer metadata

Discover directly excluded components

—- Excluding writer 'MSDEWriter' since it has no selected components for restore

Discover components that reside outside the shadow set

- Component '\System Files’ from writer ‘System Writer’ is excluded from backup (it requires C:\ in the shadow set)

- Component '\WMI' from writer 'WMI Writer' is excluded from backup (it requires C:\ in the shadow set)

- Component '\Event Logs! from writer ‘Event Log Writer’ is excluded from backup (it requires C:\ in the shadow set)

- Component '\Registry' from writer ‘Registry Writer’ is excluded from backup (it requires C:\ in the shadow set)

(

(

(

(

Discover all excluded components

Discover excluded writers

-— The writer ‘System Writer’ is now entirely excluded from the backup:

(it does not contain any components that can be potentially included in the backup)

-— The writer 'WMI Writer’ is now entirely excluded from the backup:

(it does not contain any components that can be potentially included in the backup)

-— The writer ‘Event Log Writer’ is now entirely excluded from the backup:

(it does not contain any components that can be potentially included in the backup)

-— The writer ‘Registry Writer’ is now entirely excluded from the backup:

(it does not contain any components that can be potentially included in the backup)

-— The writer 'COM+ REGDB Writer’ is now entirely excluded from the backup:

(it does not contain any components that can be potentially included in the backup)

- The writer 'IIS Metabase Writer’ is now entirely excluded from the backup:

(it does not contain any components that can be potentially included in the backup)

Discover explicitly included components

Verifying explicitly specified writers/components

Select explicitly included components

Creating shadow set {e8d4d81c-337a—4df1l—bda0-b7be9b6c5e0da } :

- Adding volume \\?\Volume{785cc4a6-3d68-11d7-9cc5-505054503030}\ [X:\] to the shadow set

Preparing for backup

(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish )

(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish )

Creating the shadow (DoSnapshotSet)

(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish )

(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish )

Shadow copy set succesfully created

List of created shadow copies:

Querying all shadow copies with the SnapshotSetID {e8d4d81c-337a-4dfl1—-bda0-b7be96c5e0da }

* SNAPSHOT ID = {0b2fc776-3ebc-459c-9437-af02b4 fod46f }

-— Shadow copy Set: (e8dg4dg81c-337/a-4gøf1-bdaO-b/be96c5e03a}

- Original count of shadow copies = 1

- Original Volume name: \\?\Volume{785cc4a6-3d68-11d7-9cc5-505054503030}\ [X:\]

- Shadow copy device name: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy253

- Originating machine: aoltean-dev.ntdev.corp.microsoft.com

- Service machine: aoltean-dev.ntdev.corp.microsoft.com

-— Not Exposed

- Provider id: {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-5labd60b20d5 }

- Attributes: Auto Release Differential

Generating the SETVAR script (GeneratedVarsTempScript.cmd)

Executing command 'Z:\outlook backup\CopyWithVss.cmd'

Z:\outlook_backup>setlocal

Z:\outlook_backup>if NOT "Z:\outlook backup\CopyWithVss.cmd" == "" goto :1IS CALLBACK

Z:\outlook_backup>setlocal

Obtaining the shadow copy device name

Z:\outlook_backup>call GeneratedVarsTempScript.cmd

[This script is generated by VSHADOW.EXE for the shadow set {e8d4d81c-337a—4dfl—bda0-b7be96chedda } ]

Z:\outlook_backup>SET SHADOW SET ID={e8d4d81c-337a-4df1l-—bda0-b7be96c5e0da}

Z:\outlook_backup>SET SHADOW ID 1={0b2£fc776-3ebc-459c-9437-a£02b4fbd46£}

Z:\outlook backup>SET SHADOW DEVICE 1=\\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy253

Copying from the shadow copy to the destination path

Z:\outlook backup>copy "\\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy253\\Store\PST\2004-01-27.pst" x:\Store\PST\backup.pst

1 file(s) copied

- Mark all writers as succesfully backed up

Completing the backup (BackupComplete)

(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish )

(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish )

Snapshot creation done

In the end, we copied the original PST file from x:\Store\PST\2004-01-27.pst into x:\Store\PST\backup.pst (even the

original PST was opened by Outlook)

That's it!

WARNING: Note that there are almost identical two versions of this tool: one for XP, and another one for Server

2003 Do not attempt to run the XP version on server or viceversa - it won't work!

Comments

Yoshihiro Kawabata 5 Jan 2005 6:42 AM #

©

& Very useful script !

I sucess to do it

but, If SQL Server service are running,

CopyWithVss is failed

ERROR Messages Is:

ERROR: Selected writer 'MSDEWriter’ is in failed state!

- Status: 8 (VSS_WS_FAILED_AT_PREPARE_SNAPSHOT)

- Writer Failure code: 0x800423f4 (<Unknown error code>)

- Writer ID: {f8544ac1-0611-4fa5 -b04b-f7ee00b03277}

- Instance ID: {ef567f78-4f42-49be-bb1c-2386a7f489cf}

I want to copy Database/Log Files by this script, because I'm MVP for SQL Server

Regards,

Adi Oltean 5 Jan 2005 11:42 AM #

>>> ERROR Messages is:

ERROR: Selected writer 'MSDEWriter’ is in failed state!

- Status: 8 (VSS_WS_FAILED_AT_PREPARE_SNAPSHOT)

- Writer Failure code: 0x800423f4 (<Unknown error code>)

- Writer ID: {f8544ac1-0611-4fa5 -b04b-f7ee00b03277}

- Instance ID: {ef567f78-4f42-49be-bb1c-2386a7f489cf}

Intersting - this should not happen Are there any VSS errors in the Application event logs? If yes, please

cut & paste them in your reply

Note that with SQL, if the database and the logs are on different volumes, then you might want to

change the script to snapshot simultaneously both the database and the log volumes If everything is on

the same volume, it should still work

By the way, the VSS SDK contains a set of test VSS scripts that can be used to backup and restore a

SQL/MSDE database, and then verify that the restore was succesful

Thanks, Adi

Yoshihiro Kawabata 5 Jan 2005 1:29 PM #

Hello, Adi

Application Event log:

Type: ERROR

SOURCE: VSS

Category: non

Event: : 6004

User: N/A

Description:

"Sqllib ERROR: Database testdb is not simple”

**«T use Japanese Environment (OS, SQL Server)

Therefore, real errormessage is in japanese,

from ‘full’ to ‘simple’,

CopyWithVSS command do complete !

Therefore,

if any database's recovery mode is not simple, CopyWithVSS fail

Regards,

Adi Oltean 5 Jan 2005 2:48 PM #

I have two more questions: Do you have XP or Windows Server on your system? Also, is this a SQL Server 2000 database?

Thanks, Adi

Yoshihiro Kawabata 6 Jan 2005 5:02 AM #

Hello, Adi

Yes, [have

Windows XP Pro + SP2 Japanese Edition)

Windows Server 2003 Std (Japanese Edition)

SQL Server 2000 Std SP3a Vapanese Edition)

and, this problem seems to relate below kb

*Error 800423f4 appears in the backup log file when you back up a volume by using the Volume Shadow Copy service in Windows Server 2003

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;828481

and Windows Server 2003 SP1 will fix this problem

how about XP ?

Regards,

Adi Oltean 6 Jan 2005 4:55 PM #

Isee this is a known problem with VSS & SQL on Windows XP

On Windows XP, the MSDE writer for VSS works only with SQL/MSDE databases with the Simple recovery model

But on Windows Server 2003, the writer should work with databases in full recovery model too, as long

as the VSS backup is in component mode (from VSHADOW.EXE), not in volume mode (like from NTBackup.exe)

AntiMail 20 Jan 2005 9:37 PM #

AntiMail 20 Jan 2005 9:41 PM #

Diego 22 Jan 2005 12:15 AM #

Will work for lotus(domino server) databases?

Adi Oltean 22 Jan 2005 3:42 PM #

It depends The recommended procedure is to have a VSS writer that listens for backup events (shadow copy creation events) and flushes the database in order to minimize the recovery time

If there is no writer involved, then the contents of the shadow copy will look as if the machine was suddenly powered off If Lotus can recover after a sudden reboot (as anyone would expect) then, yes, you can use this technique for Lotus databases

DCortesi blog 22 Mar 2005 11:35 AM #

As I was enjoying a fine dinner of Lipton Italian Sides one night, I came across Adi's post on how to copy

an open file with shadow copies Not bad, I thought, and stored that little nugget of knowledge away for when I might need to do just that

A

mac-and-pc/

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