参见：Arcgis 10.1 Desktop Help
找了一下帮助文档，错误描述为：
The background server experienced a problem. This typically generates an error report which can be sent to Esri for analysis by pushing theSubmit button on theError Report dialog box.
提供的解决方法是“停用 background processes”：The tool itself could have had a problem during execution. Sometimes disabling background processes and executing the tool in the foreground will serve as a workaround to the particular issue.
具体如何操作呢？帮助文档中提供了一个链接，指向“foreground and background processing”，具体的操作方法如下：
You can control whether tools execute in the foreground or background by clickingGeoprocessing>Geoprocessing Options on theStandard toolbar.
The Background processing panel is where you control whether a tool executes in foreground or background mode.
- If Enableis checked, tools execute in the background, and you can continue working with ArcMap (or other ArcGIS applications, such as ArcGlobe) while the tool executes. You'll see a progress bar at the bottom of your document displaying the name of the currently executing tool. When the tool finishes executing, a pop-up notification appears on the system tray. You can control how long the notification message appears by moving theNotification slider or disable the message by moving to the far left.
- If Enableis not checked, tools execute in the foreground. When a tool is executing in foreground mode, you must wait until the tools stop executing before you can continue with other work.
如果是background processing，工具运行时如下图(图片来源：arcgis 10.1 desktop help)：
如果是foreground processing，工具运行时如下图(图片来源：arcgis 10.1 desktop help)：
