So we have a 3 ESXi host setup with multiple virtual servers, two of which were DCs, and both had a "feature"
that annoys me to no end. I am using past tense because one of these DCs has been demoted and is no longer an issue, however both were having the problem and the remaining DC still is. Server names are changed to protect the innocent.
Both were server 2012 and both were DCs. We ran, briefly, just a windows backup from V-DC 1 and while the
backup was running on the one server the following warning would pop up in the DFSR events on every server linked to it.
DFSR Warning 5014
The DFS Replication service is stopping communication with partner V-DC1 for replication group Domain System
Volume due to an error. The service will retry the connection periodically.
Additional Information:
Error: 9036 (Paused for backup or restore)
Connection ID: 3D45591D-3B07-4AA1-8341-5D2A445A0ECD
Replication Group ID: 0586384B-C43A-42F2-9DA3-13F4DF188FEE
Follow shortly after by:
DFSR Warning 5004
The DFS Replication service successfully established an inbound connection with partner V-DC1 for replication
group Domain System Volume.
Additional Information:
Connection Address Used: DNS-DHCP.Bremertonschools.org
Connection ID: 3D45591D-3B07-4AA1-8341-5D2A445A0ECD
Replication Group ID: 0586384B-C43A-42F2-9DA3-13F4DF188FEE
This happened on EVERY backup. Shortly afterwards we went from Windows Backup to the .... interesting....
Appassure backup, and added V-DC2 to the backup schedule. We then began to receive the same warning/cleared combo on both V-DC1 and V-DC2. This now happens at 1 minute past the hour, every hour, spamming the DFSR logs with warning and generally annoying the
crap out of me. V-DC1 has been demoted due to replication issues that it was having (although not likely related) but V-DC2 is still active as a DC.
From everything that I have read this is a "feature" from Windows, however it only happens on
the VMware boxes (meaning the physical servers attempting to replicate to the VMWare server log the error, the VM itself does not log anything). We have something misconfigured and I have no idea what and I can find nothing on this that is pertinent.
I contacted VMWare technical support about this issue and was summarily told that this was a server OS
issue and that I should contact Microsoft.
So does anyone have any idea? Is there any information that I can dump to help? I am a bit stumped.
Thanks for the help!