Sharing violation (error)
What is a sharing violation
A sharing violation is an error meaning that the backup agent cannot access to a given file because it is already being used by another application. This error occurs when a file is already opened and :
- comes from a network share
- or if a snapshot cannot be performed.
File coming from a network share
When using a network share as a source, the agent can only perform a cold backup (on closed files).
If this error occurs, make sure that no other application is using the files to backup on the source shares. You can also copy your data (like a database dump, for instance) to back them up without error.
Shadow copy error (VSS)
On the windows systems, it is possible to backup an opened file using the (hot backup) mecanism. If the shadow copy process doesn't work, the opened files will not be able to be backed up and will generate sharing violation errors.
In most of the cases, a system reboot on the machine handling the shadow copy (VSS service) should solve the problem. If it is not the case, the causes can be as various as complexes. We therefore encourage you to contact your system administrator.
