"A timeout occurred waiting for data from the agent during operation shutdown" or "The network connection to the Backup Exec Remote Agent has been lost" is reported during a backup operation

Final Error Code: a00084f8 HEX (0xa00084f8 HEX) or e00084f8 HEX (0xe00084f8 HEX)

Final Error Description:

- "A communications failure has occurred between the Backup Exec job engine and the remote agent."

- "The network connection to the Backup Exec Remote Agent has been lost. Check for network errors."

Final Error Category: Resource Errors.

Error Text In Job Log:

- "A communications failure has occurred between the Backup Exec job engine and the remote agent."

- "The network connection to the Backup Exec Remote Agent has been lost. Check for network errors."

 

The remote agent uses the Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP) and binds to TCP Port 10000 on a remote machine by default. It creates a listener on this port, waiting for the media server to establish a control connection. Once a data move command has been sent across the control connection, the remote agent will initiate a data connection for the Backup Exec job engine. The remote agent and the Backup Exec job engine will utilize TCP ports 1025 to 65000 between the media server and remote machine.

 

To resolve the remote agent timeout issue, perform the following steps:

1. Confirm that the source server (the server being backed up) is online, connected to the network, and the remote agent is installed, running, at the latest revision of Veritas Backup Exec (tm), and that another application running is not blocking or conflicting with the same ports the remote agent uses
https://www.veritas.com/content/support/en_US/article.100016014

2. Run the Windows Error Checking and Disk Defragmentation Utilities on the remote server, to confirm that the backup is not hanging on a heavily fragmented hard disk or a bad disk block (  https://www.veritas.com/docs/000004909)

3. Update the network card drivers on the media server and remote machine. Also make sure that the link speed/duplex values are set properly on all machines and that networking errors are not occurring in the Windows Event Viewer logs. Check the event logs for any other warnings, errors, or normal events that may take place when the backups run.

Note: Although the following two Microsoft knowledge base articles are relatively old, they still contain potentially useful information so have been retained for reference:

https://www.betaarchive.com/wiki/index.php/Microsoft_KB_Archive/325487 -  Advanced network adapter toublershooting for Windows workstations

https://www.betaarchive.com/wiki/index.php?title=Microsoft_KB_Archive/159168 -  Multiple Default Gateways Can Cause Connectivity Problems

4. Check whether Firewall is disabled.

5. Run backups to test. If the backup still fails with the same error, break down the backup job into test components to further diagnose. For example, back up the remote machine's C: drive by itself, then System State (if applicable). If the Open File Option (OFO) is installed, run a backup with AOFO not selected in Job Properties | Settings | Advanced Open File.  If backups are being performed using Veritas Backup Exec Exchange, SQL, Oracle, or Lotus Domino Agents, back up the individual components of those applications also (i.e. individual databases, file groups, mailboxes, public folders, etc.). Once it is determined what the backup is hanging on, put the remote agent and job engine into debug mode, run another backup, and contact Veritas Backup Exec Technical Support to have the debug logs reviewed.