Error. Cannot get configuration for backup of database

    • Summary:Description of and steps to resolve the issue when a Microsoft SQL Server backup fails with error 'Cannot get configuration for backup of database'.
    • 2 min read
    On this page

    Error message

    Message logs in the Management Console of the Backup & Disaster Recovery appliance show the following error related to Microsoft SQL Server backup:

    SNFCSQL2012-FileIO JobId 9929: MSSQL: error: can't get configuration for backup of database 'distribution' on DEFAULT server instance: GetConfiguration timed out after 300000ms

    Error description

    The Microsoft SQL Server plug-in not being able to back up databases on Microsoft SQL server 2012. This appears to be an issue with the permissions of the account the agent is running as. The job does not fail, but completes with errors, and does not actually back up the SQL databases.

    The requested backup cannot be completed by the SQL Server because the log chain has been broken. This is likely caused by a conflict from another tool or service.

    Steps to resolve

    It seems that Microsoft SQL Server 2012 has additional security requirements to enable plug-in to run a backup that were not present in earlier versions of SQL. Depending on your SQL security settings there may be a number of places that you will have to change permissions to allow backups.

    Since backup agent runs as the local system account by default, the instructions below will reference the NT Authority\System account. If you are using a different account to run the backup agent, then change these settings for that account. These instructions also assume that you have the backup agent set up according to the normal setup instructions, and also have the SMOs and the NCLI installed, but are getting the error above.

    1. In SQL Management Studio, go to Security › Logins.

    2. Under Login. right-click the NT Authority\System account, and then select Properties.

    3. In the Properties window, click Server Roles.

    4. Make sure both the Sysadmin and Serveradmin roles are selected.

    5. Click OK to close the window, and then try new backup.

    If you are still getting the error after setting the roles:

    1. Sign in to the SQL Management Studio.

    2. Right-click the server, and then select Properties.

    3. In the Properties window, select Permissions, and then select the NT Authority\System account from the list in logins or roles.

    4. In the Permissions group, select Grant for all allowable permissions, verifying that none of these permissions have deny the selection.

    5. Click OK to close the window, and try new backup.

    At this point, if the backup is still getting this error, then it is not likely a permission issue. Most of the time you can skip making the individual changes to the security settings above by setting the agent to run as your SQL administrator account. To do this log into the agent configuration on the SQL server, browse to the Service Control tab, stop the service, then enter the username/password of the account, then start the service again.