How to Resolve "An error occurred during agent backup initialization" Error

 If a backup fails, and the error "An error occurred during backup initialization" displays, there can be a number of causes. Use the information in this article to resolve this error.

Use the following troubleshooting options to resolve this error:

• Review error message details on the data source
• Review the Barracuda Backup Reports
• Review the Backup Agent bbtrace.txt log file
• Review the Server Application and System event logs
• Additional resources

1. Log in to Barracuda Backup, and go to the Backup > Sources page.
2. To the right of the source, a red status indicator () displays if an error is generated during backup. Mouse-over the status indicator to view error details:
   
3. If the error "An error occurred during agent backup initialization" displays, then something during the beginning of the Agent backup failed.

Review Reports

Use the following steps to review the Barracuda Backup Agent log file and determine if something failed to initialize.

1. Go to the Reports > Backup page, and select the following options in the filter section above the table:
   
   1. Schedules – Select All
   2. Sources – Select Agent directly below the Source in question
   3. From – Specify a date
2. View the list of reports. A red status indicator displays to the left of a failed backup. Click Details to the right of the most recent backup report.
3. At the bottom of the Report details page, a list of errors display. Determine the date and time the error occurred:
    

Review Backup Agent Log Files

Use these steps to review the Backup Agent log files for the specific error reported by the Backup Agent.

1. Log in to the data source that is failing to back up data, and go to the Backup Agent log files. By default, the log files are located in:
   C:\Program Files\Barracuda\Barracuda Backup Agent\log

2. Locate the file bbtrace.txt; this is the most recent log file.

   If the server was rebooted, or the agent was restarted, you may need to review older bbtrace.txt files to find the time listed in the Report details page in the previous step.

3. Open bbtrace.txt in Notepad. This file contains data that is helpful in determining the specific error. Each log entry is time stamped, so first identify when the failed backup occurred based on the Report details page; note that there may be multiple days of log details so it is recommended that you use the search function to find the error.

4. Search the log file for terms such as Failed or Critical. Once you locate the term, review the associated content to determine the specific error message:
   
   In this example, a VSS snapshot failed due to an unexpected operating system error on the targeted server.

   Note that an Agent error message is typically followed by associated CRITICAL Sup: Resource not put details which is not needed for troubleshooting.

Review Source Logs

If the Backup Agent log files indicate an error on the source, use the following steps to review the Application and System log files: 

1. Log in to the source server, and locate the Application and System log files for further troubleshooting.
2. In the Application and System log files, locate the time the errors occurred on the Backup Agent based on the Report details page.
3. Critical errors should display for the time in the log files.
4. Review the error messages and determine if additional troubleshooting is needed on the source.

Restart the Barracuda Backup Agent

If you determine that restarting Services is appropriate for your environment, complete the following steps:

1. Log in to the system, and click Start.
2. Enter services.msc in the Start Search box, and press Enter.
3. In the Services window, right-click Barracuda Backup Agent, and click Restart .
4. Close the Services window.

Additional Troubleshooting

See How to Check Volume Shadow Copy Services Driver State for details on troubleshooting Volume Shadow Copy Services (VSS) drivers.