Sharepoint 2016 GRT restore fails with error: The Backup Exec remote agent cannot mount the backup set for the restore operation

Problem 

Attempting to perform a restore of granular items from a Sharepoint backup that had Granular Recovery Technology (GRT) support enabled may fail with the following error:

Error Message

The Backup Exec remote agent cannot mount the backup set for the restore operation. See the Backup Exec remote agent logs for more details

V-79-57344-1003

Cause

Part of the restore process for granular items is to virtually mount the Sharepoint content SQL database on the production Sharepoint SQL server.  If the Sharepoint content databases are stored on a Cluster Shared Volume this mount does not work properly.

Solution

The Backup Exec Sharepoint agent presently does not support GRT restores when Sharepoint Content databases are stored on a Cluster Shared Volume for Sharepoint versions 2016 and 2019.

Workaround

If a backup has been performed of this configuration of Sharepoint, there is a way to retrieve granular items from the backup.  To accomplish this, a redirected restore of the Sharepoint content database is performed to SQL.  Then, using the tools within Sharepoint, sites/subsites/lists/libraries can be extracted using the Sharepoint tools.  See Related Article How to recover (restore) individual items for Sharepoint when the Granular Recovery Technology (GRT) option is not used during the backup of Sharepoint resources.

Background:  As referenced here, a Clustered Shared Volume (CSV) is an evolution of ‘Shared Storage’ in Windows Failover cluster.  A CSV allows for simultaneous read/write from all nodes in a cluster (Active-Active cluster config). Thus, it gives an advantage over a ‘cluster with Shared Disk’ where only 1 node in the cluster could own it causing others to stay passive until failover or move. In traditional cluster, the shared disk is attached as a drive to active node. Backup Exec can mount the Content databases to this volume and attach those to SQL server to extract GRT data but when using a CSV in failover cluster, the disk is never exposed to the nodes. The CSV gets mounted in a folder by design which prevents the GRT database mount process from working.

There are currently no plans to address this issue by way of a patch or hotfix in the current or previous versions of the software at the present time. While this issue may be resolved in a future major revision of the software at a later time, it is not currently scheduled for any release.  If you feel this issue has a direct business impact for you and your continued use of the product, please contact your Veritas Sales representative or the Veritas Sales group to discuss these concerns.