We have a issue with our Server 2012 Standard server with Exchange 2010 running Windows Server Backup. The backup is freezing the server to an extent that mouse and keyboard are frozen, the server does not ping and you are unable to send any sort of reboot command to the device. It is a case we have to hard reset the server.
The configuration of the server is such: OS and Exchange installed on C drive, Exchange Data and Logs on D drive. Full server backup configured to backup to dedicated disk in the server. I am able to create and amend the backup schedule without issue and have checked I have the relevant VSS writers which are showing working status. Upon the system freeze the event log stops, after reboot I have examined the logs which shows the VSS writers enabling and Shadow Copy status (there are no errors only informational). The server is installed on the hardware so is not a virtual machine.
Upon first configuration of the windows backup it was working for several days but has then gone into the locking state. I tried recreating the backup and reformatting the dedicated disk to no avail. I am currently investigating dedicated backup applications for the server but still have a concern that if they are using any of the inbuilt backup technologies I may end up with the same issue.
Server is full patched with Windows Updates and Hardware is only 4 months old.
I have read several articles to ensure I have the backup correctly configured, eg. setting it to VSS Full Backup, rather than copy.