Re: turning windows client on/off via script
Martijn (and others), This sounds like just what I want. I'll give it a whirl. I understand the options with regards to user priority and schedules, but I think having the client completely inactivated during experiments will be the most effective (and most popular with the end users involved). Thanks for the advice, steven Martijn Lina wrote: Hi. you can always stop the Restrospect Service using this command: NET STOP "RETROSPECT CLIENT" on reboots the service will be automagically started, no extra work needed there. if you want to do it using another batchfile, just use NET START "RETROSPECT CLIENT" Changing User-Priority isn't very effective. Letting the users defer the backup can work, but it defaults to backing up, so if the user would be going for the -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ For urgent issues, please contact Dantz technical support directly at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 925.253.3050.
How to control Writing to any tape...
I have a SONY AIT+ Autoloader from LaCie, and am using Retrospect 4.2 to do network backups. Tonight, I have to switch Backup sets. Problem is there is an "erased" tape in the autoloader, as well as the "1-Backup" and "2-Backup" tapes that normally go with this Backup Set. I need Retrospect to do a recycle backup onto the 1-Backup tape and then proceed onto the 2-Backup tape, and leave the renamed erased tape alone for my offsite backup at the end of the week. In the past, I have found that if Retro stumbles across an erased tape (even one that has been renamed via the erase function) it will simply use that as a Backup Set media, rename it, and to hell with anything else. What is the priority of operations? Does "Writing to any tape that is erased or named 1-Backup" mean that Retro looks for erased tapes first, or does it seek named tapes first and resort to erased tapes if it can't find a named tape? Also, why does it treat erased tapes that have been named as simply blank tapes that it can assign to any backup set it wants? I specifically name the tapes so it will associate them with the proper backup set, but this doesn't seem to matter when Retro runs unattended and loops through my autoloader. Paul Fabris IS Manager Market Connections Inc. 25 Sheppard Ave. West, Toronto ON M2N 6S6 (416) 223-2250 x224 www.markcon.com -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ For urgent issues, please contact Dantz technical support directly at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 925.253.3050.
ecrix vxa tape drive
Greetings, we have a new Ecrix VXA tape drive and Retrospect 5.15, having various problems. Mostly "Lost communication with device" and error -204. (No, I'm not trying to save the catalogue to the device nor backup the desktop.) The drive will work with a "dumb" program like NT backup, but fails on every machine I've tried except an ancient P200, when using Retrospect. I know there is something that I must be overlooking but I can't find it. My environment is NT4.0 servers (9 of them, mostly Dell) all clients at 5.15. The drive will only backup about 3 to 4 gb before I get one of various messages as mentioned or the program just hangs with no message. Thanks to all. Russ Muncy Salem City Schools -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ For urgent issues, please contact Dantz technical support directly at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 925.253.3050.
Re: Force use of tape (was Re: SCSI Voodoo strikes...(continued))
Instead of just restarting, try shutting down for a minute and then restarting. This will ensure that everything is cleared out. Regarding the tape, Retrospect is likely thinking that the error was a result of defective media. When it asks for a new tape, it's erring on the side of caution and preventing you from writing data to a potentially defective tape. Craig's suggestion will allow you to reuse that tape, although with one tape, it will be the same in function as resetting the catalog in a Recycle backup. The 102 error is generated by the hardware and indicates that the Mac is having trouble communicating with the drive. The simplest test that you can do is a backup to a File backup set; this will indicate for sure if you are dealing with a device problem. Next, try a backup to a different device if you have one available to see if the problem lies in the device or the computer. And once you've narrowed it down, go through the troubleshooting steps in order to pinpoint the problem. Of course, if you have any specific questions along the way, please give us a call. Regards, Irena Solomon Dantz Technical Support 925.253.3050 Hi again, I only received one response to the email below about 102 errors disappearing after restarts...so if anyone else has any light to shed it would be appreciated. Since I posted we have found that if IE crashes (which it does extremely frequently on the backup) machine then we will always get the 102 error unless we restart first. However, this is not the only cause of the problem... How do you know? Have you tried never running IE on the computer? If the problem goes away after a restart, there's definitely something corrupting your system over time. If the computer is a dedicated backup system, disable all unnecessary extensions and control panels and don't run IE to see if it happens again. It will always fail if IE has crashed (any maybe even if it has run) but sometimes it will fail if IE has not been run (eg over the weekend). Unfortunately the backup machine is used as a workstation during the day so we can't strip it down (at least not completely - we are in the process of trying to get rid of much as possible). ... when Retrospect gives us the 102 error it assumes that the current tape cannot be used and asks for a new one next time the backup runs, even if the tape appears to be less than half full... So, is there any to force Retrospect to keep using that tape? I don't know of a way to get Retrospect to append to that tape, but you can certainly get Retrospect to use the tape by either setting the tape as missing or erasing the tape. In either case, Retrospect will recopy the files already on the media and continue to fill the tape. HTH, Craig So far we have only got to the stage where we are using 1 tape per set (we haven't brought all the clients online yet because of the problems we are having). In that case I assume reseting the catalog is equivalent to your suggestions. We were hoping to avoid having to re-copy all the data already on the tape because of the difficulties getting our G4s backed up (519 errors, see separate thread). -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ For urgent issues, please contact Dantz technical support directly at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 925.253.3050.
Re: How to control Writing to any tape...
What is the priority of operations? Does "Writing to any tape that is erased or named 1-Backup" mean that Retro looks for erased tapes first, or does it seek named tapes first and resort to erased tapes if it can't find a named tape? Also, why does it treat erased tapes that have been named as simply blank tapes that it can assign to any backup set it wants? I specifically name the tapes so it will associate them with the proper backup set, but this doesn't seem to matter when Retro runs unattended and loops through my autoloader. I'll give you a few examples to illustrate how Retrospect chooses tapes. In these scenarios, there are 3 tapes in the loader slots in this order: erased tape/no name, erased or non-erased tape/pre-named, erased tape/no name. In these examples, Retrospect is running scripted backup on these tapes in two loader states: 1) tapes are scanned and known (i.e., tape names are displayed in Configure - Devices); 2) tapes are not scanned and are unknown (i.e., tapes names display "?" or "Unknown"). In both Mac Windows products, Retrospect will always use the pre-named tape if it has to search the loader for tape names. This is true whether the pre-named tape is erased or has Retrospect data on it. If the tape names are known however, Retrospect will use the pre-named tape if it's got Retrospect data on it but will use the first or last erased/unnamed tape if the pre-named tape is erased. On the Mac, it will almost always have to search all the tapes since memory of the tape names is not retained after relaunches. On the PC, the magazine memory feature will remember the last 5-6 tape configurations and search for the right tape in that order so it should behave like all tapes have been scanned and known when searching for the right tape. Retrospect 5.x for Windows All known tapes w/ non-erased, pre-named tape: Uses the pre-named tape. All known tapes w/ erased, pre-named tape: Uses the last erased tape found . Unscanned tapes w/ non-erased, pre-named tape: Uses the pre-named tape. Unscanned tapes w/ erased, pre-named tape: Uses the pre-named tape. Retrospect 4.3 for Mac All known tapes w/ non-erased, pre-named tape: Uses the pre-named tape. All known tapes w/ erased, pre-named tape: Uses the first erased tape found. Unscanned tapes w/ non-erased, pre-named tape: Uses the pre-named tape. Unscanned tapes w/ erased, pre-named tape: Uses the pre-named tape. Hope that clarifies it a bit. Regards, Irena Dantz Technical Support -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ For urgent issues, please contact Dantz technical support directly at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 925.253.3050.
Re: G4s and error 519
So Retrospect reports errors that it finds in the network setup that doesn't affect ANYTHING else? If these errors existed then why does nothing else complain? Yet. I copy large files from one machine to another, but that never fails Yet. That's taking a rather simplistic approach that my experience so far does not support. I've had no known network failures of any kind - except Retrospect. To simply say that I will have one day is dodging the issue. If you look at how ethernet works, most of time anything you do will mask errors. EtherNet has error recovery built in. So an undemanding transfer, such as a Finder copy, will tend to get through, errors or not. It's those programs that really hammer the network, like a backup program trying to keep a tape at speed, that tend to fail. I've seen what you describe multiple times and it's always turned out to be a system or network problem, not a Retrospect problem. Not that that made it any less frustrating. But I have learned that a repeating problem being reported by Retrospect means I have a problem somewhere that I'll have to solve at some point. While not an expert, I have been using retrospect since about 90, starting with those "incredibly" reliable TEAC 60MB tapes. 30 sites later, I've still not found anything better. -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ For urgent issues, please contact Dantz technical support directly at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 925.253.3050.
