Backup Exec 20 backup jobs fail with "0xe000fe30 - A communications failure has occurred" error if the Windows firewall is enabled on the Remote server and the TCP dynamic range has been enabled in "Network and Security"

Problem

Error Message

Completed status: Failed
Final error: 0xe000fe30 - A communications failure has occurred.
Final error category: Server Errors

For additional information regarding this error refer to link V-79-57344-65072

UMI Code: V-79-57344-3877: A communication failure occurred when attempting to connect to this server. Some common causes for this error are:  the computer name is typed incorrectly, the computer is not powered on, a Backup Exec agent is not installed,  or the network is improperly configured.
Error Code: 0xE0000F25

Cause

Backup Exec 20 introduced a new feature which allows the Backup Exec Remote Agent to add  inbound rules dynamically to the Microsoft Windows firewall  on the Remote agent at every execution of the backup job. 

If the Microsoft Windows firewall is enabled on the remote server with RAWS installed and the "Enable TCP dynamic port range" is checked but the port values have not been modified the port range added to the "netsh  advfirewall.." command is not correctly collected  (Localport=0-0 instead of Localport=1025-65535) which causes the command to fail and therefore the backup job fails

Solution

This issue can be solved by either unchecking the "Enable TCP dynamic port range" if this option is not needed (the port range to be used is the default one defined by TCP) or by setting the right port values in the corresponding fields, in compliance with  the port range restriction required due to the company security policy.

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

Backup Exec 20.4 Patch Update  (100043560)