When backing up remote shares, the backup job fails:"Unable to back up the Distributed File System Configuration. Ensure that all namespace member services are online."

Problem

When backing up remote Windows shares or NAS shares the backup job fails with an error Unable to back up the Distributed File System Configuration. Ensure that all namespace member services are online

Error Message

Final error: 0xe000e34c - Unable to back up the Distributed File System configuration. Ensure that all namespace member servers are online.
Final error category: Resource Errors
For additional information regarding this error refer to link V-79-57344-58188


Backup- NAS_Device V-79-57344-3844 - The media server was unable to connect to the Remote Agent on machine NAS_Device.
The media server will use the local agent to try to complete the operation.


FIGURE 1

Cause

If the Windows Server's Distributed Files System (DFS) is configured with the DFS root share on the Backup Exec for Windows Media server the job will fail if one of the following conditions exists:


A) The backup job contains a backup selection of a remote Windows Server or workstation share. The remote Windows Server or workstation does not have the Backup Exec Remote Agent (RAWS) software installed.

B) The backup job contains a backup selection of a remote NAS  (Network Attached Storage) device or CIFS share. No remote agent is present or installable on the NAS device or CIFS host.

Solution

If the backup selection or resource being protected is a Windows server or workstation Install the Backup Exec Remote Agent Software (RAWS) - Required.  See Related Documents.

A hotfix is now available for this issue in the current version(s) of the product(s) mentioned at the end of this article. Refer to the Hotfix link under Related Articles Section at the end of this article to obtain the hotfix needed to resolve the issue