Mr. Gillett,
The reason the client checks your network connection once an hour is to make
sure it has one, and to report problems if they exist. If we turned this
off, the client would sit there cheerfully reporting that absolutely no
problems exist when in fact they may. This would make client-side
troubleshooting nonexistent, an extremely frustrating situation for a tech
support rep, as you can imagine.
But let's step back here...
Why did we create the client? The client was created so that backups were
not limited to just one local computer, or one computer plus mounted servers
and shared drives. With clients, Retrospect simply looks for your client on
the network, and assuming it finds it, backs it up. No need to make sure
servers are mounted, no missing files the Mac OS doesn't allow you to
transfer over file sharing.
Notice I've been saying "network," and not mentioning dial-up connections.
Dial-up connections, especially over a modem, are not specifically what the
Retrospect Client was intended for. You can do it, since when you dial into
your company's network, you're creating a TCP/IP connection just like your
Ethernet connection to your LAN, but trying to back up a large hard drive
over a 56K modem is like trying to fit Lake Michigan through a straw.
OK, it wouldn't quite take that long, but you get my drift. The client is
not assuming you have a free or extremely low-cost telephone connection to
your network (if only US telephone rates were as rosy as you suggest...),
it's just assuming most people connect via a local Ethernet connection.
That said, I need to reassert my original suggestion: Location Manager. Here
on my PowerBook, I have two Extensions Manager settings: one called
"Network," for when I'm connected to the Dantz network, and one called "no
Client," for when I'm not, and the only way to connect to the Internet is
through my dial-up modem connection (sorry folks, not quite cool enough for
DSL yet). In my TCP/IP control panel, I have two settings: one called
"Dantz," with all the settings I need to instantly hook up to the network at
Dantz, and one called "Dial-up," with all necessary settings for my ISP.
In Location Manager, then, I have two settings, Dantz and Dial-up. In
addition to other customized settings, these two locations appear as
follows:
DANTZ:
Extension set: Network
AppleTalk & TCP/IP: (TCP/IP Configuration:) Dantz
DIAL-UP:
Extension set: no Client
AppleTalk & TCP/IP: (TCP/IP Configuration:) Dial-up
Whenever I need to switch locations, I open my control strip and switch
locations using the Location Manager CSM. You probably do something like
this every time you have to switch to a PPP setup from your Ethernet setup,
and vice-versa, right? So why not set up Location Manager and allow for even
more automation? Apple's on-line help for setting up Location Manager is
great.
In short, there is a very good reason for the client wanting to connect
every hour--stability and ease of troubleshooting, not arrogance. Unless you
want to back up your client through your modem connection (which is not
recommended) simply set up your Mac to disable the client control panel
whenever you're on the road.
OK, back to the weekend,
Matthew Tevenan
Technical Support Specialist
Dantz Development Corporation
925.253.3050
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> From: Ken Gillett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Reply-To: "retro-talk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2000 08:47:44 +0100
> To: "retro-talk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: Re: Powerbook dials internet once an hour?
>
> At 1:11 PM -0700 29/6/00, Matthew Tevenan wrote:
>>
>> The Retrospect Client will check its network connection every one hour. If
>> your connection is a dial-up connection, this means it will try to dial out.
>> That's why I recommended using Location Manager to switch between extension
>> sets...
>
>
> Can you elaborate on this? I have not found the Retro Client does
> this, but I'm on a LAN so the connection presumably exists and the
> client is happy. But if the Mac is set to 'Connect via' PPP will it
> then dial up? That might be unusual though to have the Client running
> when on a PPP dialup connection. Where's the backup server going to
> be?
>
> I have to say that IMO ANY software that causes these sort of
> uncontrollable dialups is seriously flawed, badly written, arrogantly
> conceived, call it what you like. If you pay for calls, as we do here
> in the UK, this software costs you money every time it feels like it.
> Since the minimum call time is likely to be several minutes this is
> not trivial and irrespective of the cost it is just not acceptable
> for a programmer to make decisions like when he will spend your
> money. I am VERY against this sort of arrogance (so typical of
> Microsoft in fact) and I'm surprised at Dantz.
>
>
> At 3:38 PM -0400 29/6/00, Stefan Jeglinski wrote:
>> For example, I have a 6500 with 9.0.4 which demands the right to do
>> a DNS lookup whenever the File Sharing CP is opened. It does not
>> matter if file sharing is on or not; in fact, the CP can be already
>> open and if I just click on the Activity Monitor tab and then back
>> to Start/Stop, it demands to do a DNS lookup -again-. No way to turn
>> it off. If that 6500 can't get to a DNS server, it's a 45 sec
>> -lockup-.
>
>
> Internet Explorer tries a reverse lookup on the address when you
> attempt to load a page which cause a dialup to find the DNS (assuming
> that the TCP config specified a remote DNS), yet if the target is on
> the local LAN the dialup is wasted. Worse than that, the Mac
> effectively hangs while it waits for the answer as this process hogs
> the entire CPU. When it cannot get an answer IE just carries on, so
> having the name rather than numeric address is obviously not
> important so why waste my time and money.
>
> Stefan's problem with File Sharing is I believe the same problem -
> there's a lookup going on and if there isn't a DNS entry you're stuck
> for about 45 seconds waiting for the lookup to fail. I'm not sure why
> it occurs on the 6500 and not the G4 with the same OS though. Are
> they both pointing at the same DNS?
>
> I have found that once I set up a local DNS (MacDNS) these long waits
> disappeared as the lookups were quickly completed and everything is
> happy.
>
> This hogging the CPU for lookups is a MacOS thing though, not an
> application problem and BTW WiNT doesn't do it. It seems to be able
> to figure there's no response to the DNS query and get on with things
> much more rapidly and even while it is waiting you can still do other
> things.
>
> My major complaint is that many programs seem to be written in a way
> that assumes a permanent or free Internet connection and while that
> may be true for a lot of the US, it certainly isn't the case here in
> the UK and this arrogance makes me very angry indeed. NO application
> should EVER cause a dialup that the user has not requested or
> specifically allowed.
>
>
> --
>
>
>
> Ken G i l l e t t
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
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