The operation failed because of a protection agent failure. (ID 998 Details: The semaphore timeout period has expired (0x80070079))

Question

Recently we got this error, while backup to tape, and no idea what is it.
What cause of this error?
The operation failed because of a protection agent failure. (ID 998 Details: The semaphore timeout period has expired (0x80070079)
DPM 2010 with latest roll-up (KB2250444) | DELL Server R710 (Windows 2008 R2 SP1) RAM: 24GB PF: 36-60GB | DELL TL2000 (2 Drives) | And still struggling and monitoring... :(

Answer 1

Hi,
Try this workaround, increase the TcpMaxDataRetransmissions to 10 or more.
How to modify the TCP/IP maximum retransmission timeout
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/170359
Diagnostic steps when "Semaphore timeout" is hit during network transfer:
1. Check if the protected server (sender) or DPM (receiver) was under stress or inaccessible during the time of failure – from event logs from both the machines. Retry should work if the packet loss was because of either of the servers being inaccessible
or under stress for a period.
2. Check if the network between the PS and the DPM is flaky – retransmit count from ‘netstat –s’ or perfmon counters can give an idea.
3. Else contact network support engineer to diagnose the packet loss issue – netmon captures from both machines, packet route and network layout/devices will be required to start the investigation.
4. Take some performance monitor logs on both DPM and Proteted server side.
Some good and basic perfmon counters to take to see if the servers are under stress are below.
Logical Disk/Physical Disk
\%idle
• 100% idle to 50% idle = Healthy
• 49% idle to 20% idle = Warning or Monitor
• 19% idle to 0% idle = Critical or Out of Spec
\%Avg. Disk Sec Read or Write
• .001ms to .015ms  = Healthy
• .015ms to .025 = Warning or Monitor
• .026ms or greater = Critical or Out of Spec
Current Disk Queue Length (for all instances)
80 requests for more than 6 minutes.
• Indicates possibly excessive disk queue length.
Memory
\Pool Non Paged Bytes*
• Less that 60% of pool consumed=Healthy
• 61% - 80% of pool consumed = Warning or Monitor.
• Greater than 80% pool consumed = Critical or Out of Spec.
\Pool Paged Bytes*
• Less that 60% of pool consumed=Healthy
• 61% - 80% of pool consumed = Warning or Monitor.
• Greater than 80% pool consumed = Critical or Out of Spec.
\Available Megabytes
• 50% of free memory available or more =Healthy
• 25% of free memory available = Monitor.
• 10% of free memory available = Warning
• Less than 100MB or 5% of free memory available = Critical or Out of Spec.
Processor
\%Processor Time (all instances)                                                                   
• Less than 60% consumed = Healthy
• 51% - 90% consumed = Monitor or Caution
91% - 100% consumed = Critical
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