Backup Operators Group Cannot Perform a System State Backup of a Windows 2000 Cluster (821181)

SYMPTOMS

When you log on to a Windows 2000 cluster with a Backup Operators account and then try to use the NTBackup tool to back up the system state, you receive the following message Completed with Skipped Files and the cluster_backup folder is empty. Additionally, the backup log reports the following error:

You do not have permission to access portions of System State\Cluster Quorum. Please see the owner or administrator to get permission. In the cluster log, you can see the error that \\machine_name\__NtBackup_cluster\* is not available.

CAUSE

When you start NTBackup, it tries to create and map a netshare folder to the %SystemRoot%\cluster\cluster_backup folder. To do this, NTBackup calls the NetShareAdd function to add the net share. However, only members of the following local groups can successfully use NTBackup to call the NetShareAdd function:

Administrators
Account Operators
Communication Operators
Print Operators
Server Operators

Therefore, a member of the Backup Operators group cannot create this net share, and as a result, nothing is copied to the cluster_backup folder.

RESOLUTION

To perform a backup of a cluster quorum on a server cluster, you must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer, or you must be delegated the appropriate authority. If the computer is joined to a domain, members of the Domain Admins group may be able to perform this procedure. As a security best practice, consider using the Run as command to perform this procedure.