Server 2003 Standard .bkf file issue

[Guest Boethos]

I am running SQL Server 2005 on Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition.

Several times in the last few months, and twice in the last few days an odd

thing has happened.

I start getting errors related to lack of available drive space. When I

check it out, I find that there is a file that has been created, apparently

automatically by windows, that is taking up all 54+ gigs of available drive

space. The file is named 'emergency.bkf' and it always appears in the

'inetpub' directory.

This server hosts a Cold Fusion driven website using a SQL Server database.

I have SQL Server database set to back up regularly, and several scheduled

tasks in Cold Fusion. But I cannot figure out what is causing this

'emergency.bkf' to appear, apparently at random times. I have done searches

everywhere and can find no reference to anything of this sort. It is giving

me a headache - any ideas what could be causing this? I don't even know

where to start looking...

[Guest Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Re: Server 2003 Standard .bkf file issue

 

Boethos <Boethos@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> I am running SQL Server 2005 on Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition.

> Several times in the last few months, and twice in the last few days

> an odd thing has happened.

> I start getting errors related to lack of available drive space.

> When I check it out, I find that there is a file that has been

> created, apparently automatically by windows, that is taking up all

> 54+ gigs of available drive space. The file is named 'emergency.bkf'

> and it always appears in the 'inetpub' directory.

> This server hosts a Cold Fusion driven website using a SQL Server

> database. I have SQL Server database set to back up regularly, and

> several scheduled tasks in Cold Fusion. But I cannot figure out what

> is causing this 'emergency.bkf' to appear, apparently at random

> times. I have done searches everywhere and can find no reference to

> anything of this sort. It is giving me a headache - any ideas what

> could be causing this? I don't even know where to start looking...

 

What do you have as scheduled tasks? Nothing native is doing this on its

own. How well protected is this server?

[Guest Boethos]

Re: Server 2003 Standard .bkf file issue

 

 

 

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]" wrote:

> What do you have as scheduled tasks? Nothing native is doing this on its

> own. How well protected is this server?

>

>

>

 

I have Cold Fusion scheduled tasks updating indexes and sending automatic

email notifications from the database. The server has pretty basic

protection, nothing extra fancy - standard firewall / AVG / Windows built in

security. I'm sure a good hacker could get in if they wanted to. Are you

thinking this is a virus? Because .bkf is what the Windows Backup utility

uses as a file extension, I figured it was some automatic Windows function

that I didn't know about. It looked to me like Windows was trying to back up

the entire hard drive on the same drive. Like I said, I really have no idea

where to even start looking. (I'm the database admin, not the network

engineer - he's doing his own research on the problem...)

[Guest Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Re: Server 2003 Standard .bkf file issue

 

Boethos <Boethos@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> "Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]" wrote:

>

>> What do you have as scheduled tasks? Nothing native is doing this on

>> its own. How well protected is this server?

>>

>>

>>

>

> I have Cold Fusion scheduled tasks updating indexes and sending

> automatic email notifications from the database. The server has

> pretty basic protection, nothing extra fancy - standard firewall /

> AVG / Windows built in security. I'm sure a good hacker could get in

> if they wanted to. Are you thinking this is a virus? Because .bkf

> is what the Windows Backup utility uses as a file extension, I

> figured it was some automatic Windows function that I didn't know

> about. It looked to me like Windows was trying to back up the entire

> hard drive on the same drive. Like I said, I really have no idea

> where to even start looking. (I'm the database admin, not the

> network engineer - he's doing his own research on the problem...)

 

Yeah, nothing built in would be doing that on its own - hence my suggestion

you look in scheduled tasks. Certainly nothing in Windows is going to put a

file called emergency.bkf in your inetpub folder!

[Guest Boethos]

Re: Server 2003 Standard .bkf file issue

 

 

 

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]" wrote:

 

> Yeah, nothing built in would be doing that on its own - hence my suggestion

> you look in scheduled tasks. Certainly nothing in Windows is going to put a

> file called emergency.bkf in your inetpub folder!

>

>

 

Okay, well thanks anyway. So that means you have no idea what it actually

might be? I guess I would have to go to a Cold Fusion forum to see if a Cold

Fusion task might somehow create a Windows Backup file without me telling it

to.

I'm not holding my breath on that one, though... :)

This feels like one of those problems that everybody denies responsibility

for, and may never be pinned down to anything specific.

Windows - Oh no, our software would never do that. Try Cold Fusion.

Cold Fusion - Oh no, our software would never do that. Try SQL.

SQL - Oh no, our software would never do that. Try Windows.

 

Rinse, repeat.

 

(Not frustrated with you personally, by the way, just Microsoft in general.

Thanks for answering.)

[Guest Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Re: Server 2003 Standard .bkf file issue

 

Boethos <Boethos@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> "Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]" wrote:

>

>

>> Yeah, nothing built in would be doing that on its own - hence my

>> suggestion you look in scheduled tasks. Certainly nothing in Windows

>> is going to put a file called emergency.bkf in your inetpub folder!

>>

>>

>

> Okay, well thanks anyway. So that means you have no idea what it

> actually might be?

 

No - again, did you check your scheduled tasks in control panel?

> I guess I would have to go to a Cold Fusion forum

> to see if a Cold Fusion task might somehow create a Windows Backup

> file without me telling it to.

> I'm not holding my breath on that one, though... :)

> This feels like one of those problems that everybody denies

> responsibility for, and may never be pinned down to anything specific.

> Windows - Oh no, our software would never do that. Try Cold Fusion.

> Cold Fusion - Oh no, our software would never do that. Try SQL.

> SQL - Oh no, our software would never do that. Try Windows.

>

> Rinse, repeat.

>

> (Not frustrated with you personally, by the way, just Microsoft in

> general.

 

Well, I don't work for them! But I've been supporting Windows servers for

over ten years and I have never seen anything like that, for what it's

worth.

> Thanks for answering.)

 

No problem - I understand your frustration.

[Guest Boethos]

Re: Server 2003 Standard .bkf file issue

 

 

 

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]" wrote:

>

> No - again, did you check your scheduled tasks in control panel?

>

 

I did for a short time have one task scheduled in the control panel, but it

didn't seem to work right anyway so I deleted it. The latest appearance of

the 'emergency.bkf' file occurred after I had deleted it, so there were no

tasks in the windows task scheduler at that time.

 

How many programs are there that generate a .bkf file?

We do offsite backups with Iron Mountain, so we don't even use the Windows

Backup Utility. What else would even do something like that?

[Guest Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Re: Server 2003 Standard .bkf file issue

 

Boethos <Boethos@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> "Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]" wrote:

>

>>

>> No - again, did you check your scheduled tasks in control panel?

>>

>

> I did for a short time have one task scheduled in the control panel,

> but it didn't seem to work right anyway so I deleted it. The latest

> appearance of the 'emergency.bkf' file occurred after I had deleted

> it, so there were no tasks in the windows task scheduler at that time.

>

> How many programs are there that generate a .bkf file?

> We do offsite backups with Iron Mountain, so we don't even use the

> Windows Backup Utility. What else would even do something like that?

 

I'm baffled, sorry. No clue.

[Guest Al Williams]

Re: Server 2003 Standard .bkf file issue

 

After scanning the file for viri you may want to open it up with a hex

editor (http://www.hhdsoftware.com/Family/hex-editor.html) and see if you

can recognize what it is a backup of (perhaps one of your client PC's?).

 

The first few 4 bytes of a proper .bkp file should be "TAPE" IIRC and it

should have some unicode text info in the header.

 

--

Allan Williams

 

 

 

"Boethos" <Boethos@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:37DFC03F-A9F3-4D5F-9CCB-C7597C1405FD@microsoft.com...

>

>

> "Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]" wrote:

>

>>

>> No - again, did you check your scheduled tasks in control panel?

>>

>

> I did for a short time have one task scheduled in the control panel, but

> it

> didn't seem to work right anyway so I deleted it. The latest appearance

> of

> the 'emergency.bkf' file occurred after I had deleted it, so there were no

> tasks in the windows task scheduler at that time.

>

> How many programs are there that generate a .bkf file?

> We do offsite backups with Iron Mountain, so we don't even use the Windows

> Backup Utility. What else would even do something like that?

[Guest Al Williams]

Re: Server 2003 Standard .bkf file issue

 

Just realized hex edit will not work with big files. You just need to look

at the first few hundred bytes of the file to see the text header

information. Something like the UNIX "head" cli would do it, or even echo?

 

--

Allan Williams

 

 

 

"Al Williams" <donotreplydirect@usenewsgroup.com> wrote in message

news:uwGchPXJIHA.4808@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

> After scanning the file for viri you may want to open it up with a hex

> editor (http://www.hhdsoftware.com/Family/hex-editor.html) and see if you

> can recognize what it is a backup of (perhaps one of your client PC's?).

>

> The first few 4 bytes of a proper .bkp file should be "TAPE" IIRC and it

> should have some unicode text info in the header.

>

> --

> Allan Williams

>

>

>

> "Boethos" <Boethos@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

> news:37DFC03F-A9F3-4D5F-9CCB-C7597C1405FD@microsoft.com...

>>

>>

>> "Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]" wrote:

>>

>>>

>>> No - again, did you check your scheduled tasks in control panel?

>>>

>>

>> I did for a short time have one task scheduled in the control panel, but

>> it

>> didn't seem to work right anyway so I deleted it. The latest appearance

>> of

>> the 'emergency.bkf' file occurred after I had deleted it, so there were

>> no

>> tasks in the windows task scheduler at that time.

>>

>> How many programs are there that generate a .bkf file?

>> We do offsite backups with Iron Mountain, so we don't even use the

>> Windows

>> Backup Utility. What else would even do something like that?

>

>