NMM Exchange Incr backup is always Full

The Full log of the backup is the following:

4/24/2019 8:00:01 PM Action backup traditional 'NMM backup' has initialized as 'backup action job' with job id 2586232
4/24/2019 8:00:01 PM mail-dag-01.xxx.gr:APPLICATIONS:\Microsoft Exchange 2013\DB01 level=incr
4/24/2019 8:00:01 PM mail-dag-01.xxx.gr:APPLICATIONS:\Microsoft Exchange 2013\DB02 level=incr
4/24/2019 8:00:01 PM mail-dag-01.xxx.gr:APPLICATIONS:\Microsoft Exchange 2013\DB03 level=incr
4/24/2019 8:00:01 PM mail-dag-01.xxx.gr:APPLICATIONS:\Microsoft Exchange 2013\DB04 level=incr
4/24/2019 8:00:01 PM mail-dag-01.xxx.gr:APPLICATIONS:\Microsoft Exchange 2013\DB05 level=incr
4/24/2019 8:00:01 PM mail-dag-01.xxx.gr:APPLICATIONS:\Microsoft Exchange 2013\DB06 level=incr
4/24/2019 8:00:01 PM Action backup traditional will run up to 100 jobs in parallel
4/24/2019 8:00:01 PM Policy 'Backup', workflow 'Exchange2013WF on DD160', action 'NMM backup', group 'Exchange2013WF Full Monthly Retention DD160'.
4/24/2019 8:00:01 PM Starting action backup traditional 'NMM backup', which has 1 clients.
4/24/2019 8:00:01 PM mail-dag-01.xxx.gr:savefs started
4/24/2019 8:00:01 PM savefs -s backup.xxx.gr -c mail-dag-01.xxx.gr -g "Exchange2013WF Full Monthly Retention DD160" -p -l full -R -v -F "APPLICATIONS:\\Microsoft Exchange 2013\\DB01" "APPLICATIONS:\\Microsoft Exchange 2013\\DB02" "APPLICATIONS:\\Microsoft Exchange 2013\\DB03" "APPLICATIONS:\\Microsoft Exchange 2013\\DB04" "APPLICATIONS:\\Microsoft Exchange 2013\\DB05" "APPLICATIONS:\\Microsoft Exchange 2013\\DB06"
4/24/2019 8:00:02 PM Group Exchange2013WF Full Monthly Retention DD160 waiting for 1 jobs (0 awaiting restart) to complete.
4/24/2019 8:01:00 PM mail-dag-01.xxx.gr:APPLICATIONS:\Microsoft Exchange 2013\DB01
4/24/2019 8:01:00 PM level=full, vers=pools, p=6
4/24/2019 8:01:00 PM mail-dag-01.xxx.gr:APPLICATIONS:\Microsoft Exchange 2013\DB02
4/24/2019 8:01:00 PM level=full, vers=pools, p=6
4/24/2019 8:01:00 PM mail-dag-01.xxx.gr:APPLICATIONS:\Microsoft Exchange 2013\DB03
4/24/2019 8:01:00 PM level=full, vers=pools, p=6
4/24/2019 8:01:00 PM mail-dag-01.xxx.gr:APPLICATIONS:\Microsoft Exchange 2013\DB04
4/24/2019 8:01:00 PM level=full, vers=pools, p=6
4/24/2019 8:01:00 PM mail-dag-01.xxx.gr:APPLICATIONS:\Microsoft Exchange 2013\DB05
4/24/2019 8:01:00 PM level=full, vers=pools, p=6
4/24/2019 8:01:00 PM mail-dag-01.xxx.gr:APPLICATIONS:\Microsoft Exchange 2013\DB06
4/24/2019 8:01:00 PM level=full, vers=pools, p=6
4/24/2019 8:01:00 PM mail-dag-01.xxx.gr:savefs succeeded.
4/24/2019 8:01:00 PM Exchange2013WF Full Monthly Retention DD160 mail-dag-01.xxx.gr:savefs See the file C:\EMCLegato\nsr\logs\policy\Backup\Exchange2013WF on DD160\NMM backup_2586232_logs\2586235.log for command output
4/24/2019 8:01:00 PM mail-dag-01.xxx.gr:pseudo_saveset started
4/24/2019 8:01:00 PM nsrnmmsv -LL -s backup.xxx.gr -g "Backup/Exchange2013WF on DD160/NMM backup/Exchange2013WF Full Monthly Retention DD160" -a "*policy action jobid=2586232" -a "*policy name=Backup" -a "*policy workflow name=Exchange2013WF on DD160" -a "*policy action name=NMM backup" -y "Wed May 15 23:59:59 GMT+0300 2019" -w "Wed May 15 23:59:59 GMT+0300 2019" -m mail-dag-01.xxx.gr -z -a DIRECT_ACCESS=Yes -o "\"RENAMED_DIRECTORIES:index_lookup=on;REQUESTED_LEVEL:level=incr;\"" -l incr -q -W 78 -N pseudo_saveset "APP
4/25/2019 5:50:29 AM command 'nsrnmmsv -LL -s backup.xxx.gr -g "Backup/Exchange2013WF on DD160/NMM backup/Exchange2013WF Full Monthly Retention DD160" -a "*policy action jobid=2586232" -a "*policy name=Backup" -a "*policy workflow name=Exchange2013WF on DD160" -a "*policy action name=NMM backup" -y "Wed May 15 23:59:59 GMT+0300 2019" -w "Wed May 15 23:59:59 GMT+0300 2019" -m mail-dag-01.xxx.gr -z -a DIRECT_ACCESS=Yes -o "\"RENAMED_DIRECTORIES:index_lookup=on;REQUESTED_LEVEL:level=incr;\"" -l incr -q -W 78 -N pseudo_saveset "APP' for client mail-dag-01.xxx.gr exited with return code 1
4/25/2019 5:50:29 AM job (2586313) host: mail-dag-01.xxx.gr savepoint: pseudo_saveset had ERROR indication(s) at completion
4/25/2019 5:50:29 AM mail-dag-01.xxx.gr:pseudo_saveset failed.
4/25/2019 5:50:29 AM Exchange2013WF Full Monthly Retention DD160 mail-dag-01.xxx.gr:pseudo_saveset See the file C:\EMCLegato\nsr\logs\policy\Backup\Exchange2013WF on DD160\NMM backup_2586232_logs\2586313.log for command output
4/25/2019 5:50:34 AM Action backup traditional 'NMM backup' with job id 2586232 is exiting with status 'failed', exit code 1

From what I can see the save set applies to DAG..

Below it shows that the attempts were made with level Full.. (the final fail was due to the full DD)

3 issues are coming into my mind:

  -  First make sure that you run a supported environment.

       - The backup server should not have an older version than the client.

       - And I think that a 9.0.x server is not supported any longer

  -  For the action, you should select 'Client can not override'.

       This ensures that no client config will be able to kick in.

  -  Finally, you should verify that the save set entries will be applied to the correct client.

       Otherwise NW will start as usual ... always with a full.

Thinking again about your problem reminded me that we had the same/similar problem a while ago.

As it turned out at that time, it was a wrong configuration/naming issue with respect to the exchange and the DAG clients. This again leads to the fact that the backups are assigned to the wrong client.

nsrclientfix helped to check and correct the issue.

With 9.x the exchange backups with NMM are block-based backups which means that when you do an incremental backup only changed blocks are backed up but the level if I am not wrong, will always show as incremental. 

Are you using NMM 9.x?

OK, Then as I said Exchange id Block based backup. So the level will always show as full. 

I have upgraded to NetWorker 9.2.1.1.Build.194 and my DD to 6.2.0.35 (just in case).

As mentioned the schedule is set to INC but in the action logs it shows full.

Also the time it takes also indicates full (always around 15h)..

That is normal behavior. Exchange Backups are Block Based Backups and when backing up to a DD Device incr backup will be converted to full (virtual synthetic full). Great Feature: You get full backups at the cost of incrementals...

@ituser, Do you see anything in the logs which says that the backup is being promoted to a full. A complete log from this backup job might help shed some light on what exactly is happening.

I have read the same thing..

One question, when the server creates the synthetic full is it supposed to transfer files?

What I see is transfer of data @ full bandwidth for 15h+. Each DB full size..

Exchange support only Full and incremental levels. Its does not support synthetic level

On a Data Domain device, selecting any backup level apart from full results in a virtual full backup. The backup save sets are displayed as level full. Forever incremental backups are supported. Virtual full backups apply only to the Data Domain devices.

Virtual Synthetic Backup Merging full and incremental backups for new full backup without reading backups from disk. Works only when backup is performed to Data Domain with BOOST. Just after incremental backup to Data Domain boost device, NetWorker always merges last full backup and current incremental backup. The merge is performed directly on Data Domain without physical reading data to NetWorker server or Storage Node.The process is called Virtual Synthetic. Virtual Synthetic happens on Data Domain only. The whole process is invisible to whole production / backup environment.