ISSUE
When Act! is installed, SQL backups fail.
RESOLUTION
- If the database does not have a Microsoft VSS writer that it can talk to, you will need to perform a native backup (a backup using the database tools) and have us collect the backup that is created.
- If it does work with Microsoft VSS (for example Microsoft SQL VS Writer), then you must add the user NT Authority\System to the SQL "sysadmin" group role for all the databases you need protected, plus MSDB, MASTER, and MODEL.
There is a post in the Act! community that recommends changing the Act! Windows Service to use the Local Service account instead of the Local System account. Unitrends can support a solution that is not supported by the vendor (in this case Swiftpage). The user that is used for VSS backups is NT Authority\System, and that is what is used for Unitrends backups on Windows.
That being said, the most likely reason that backups work after changing the user of the Act! Windows Service is that it eliminates Act! from being touched by the Microsoft SQL VSS writer. If you choose to use this path, you will want to ensure that you perform a native backup of Act! that Unitrends can collect.
Start Act!, log in as Administrator or Manager Level, and Click File > Back Up > Database and place the backup somewhere the Unitrends File Level backup has access to (and remember that path). You can use the Act! Scheduler to perform this work for you prior to the Unitrends Backup occurring. Act! does support SQL Server 2016 allowing you to use the full version of SQL Server, eliminating the need for SQL Express, which appears to be the culprit. We strongly recommend using SQL Server 2016 as the choice for Act! deployment which Unitrends can easily protect (since version 10.0.0-5).
CAUSE
The database either does not have a Microsoft VSS writer that can talk to it, or the permissions do not exits if it does. In reviewing details about SQL Express, there is a typo that appears to cause errors leading to the failure (NetLocalGroupGetMemebers instead of NetLocalGroupGetMembers).