Re: G4s and error 519 - update of the update
Just to update everyone, we have found that switching the clients to AppleTalk rather than TCP/IP has eliminated all the errors we were experiencing (As suggested by Brooks Peters in the thread "G4 Client's OT Wiped Out by Backup via TCP/IP"). The backup is not as quite as fast (say 40 MB/min vs 50) but it does work. A timely thread! I just today moved our DAT drive (HP SureStore DDS-3 external) from one machine to another, and copied all the Retrospect stuff to make it the new machine. I've immediately got this 519 error backing up my own G4. We have 519's like a rash when backing up over a mixed 10/100 network using 3Com SuperStack 10/100 autoswitching hubs. Backup server is a beige G3 266 tower with a DDS-2 DAT drive. 519's are the order of the day with the one G4 machione. It has work files on an external 12 Gb FireWire drive and I think we've only once had an error-free backup. Changing to AppleTalk did not help in any way. Some days most machines (20+) give a 519 which makes me think network or backup server. I am going to test a Cisco Catalyst Switch (with Spanning Tree turned off) and see what happens. Regards -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ Search: http://www.mail-archive.com/retro-talk%40latchkey.com/ For urgent issues, please contact Dantz technical support directly at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 925.253.3050.
Re: Purchasing a new system
I can't speak for everyone but I hope you keep this discussion on the list. If it does happen to go off-line, I would greatly appreciate a copy of the final thoughts. I agree. IMHO the biggest problem with tape drives is not the purchase cost or the tape costs, but the sheer level of grief caused by hardware faults. That's why I would always prefer a solution with some hardware rdundancy - if one drive fails you can still backup - or, more to the point, still restore. Because the one occasion when you _must_ restore files will, of course, be the time that your only drive has just died. -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ Search: http://www.mail-archive.com/retro-talk%40latchkey.com/ For urgent issues, please contact Dantz technical support directly at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 925.253.3050.
Re: Purchasing a new system
Julia Currently, we are using one DDS-3 tape drive for our entire local base of about 70 users I am also interested in doing a remote backup of our NYC office. They have static IPs, and could possibly be added to our backup sets. So, should I keep the same tape system (DDS-3) and get a new drive (auto-loader), get an additional drive (poor man's auto-loader), or go with something new? Oh, Retrospect is running on a Mac vanilla G3. It *could* possibly be run on a MP G4, with a SCSI card or maybe Firewire/USB if that was the way to go. I'd replace the DDS3 drive immediately - they only last 2-3 years in my experience so you're probably on borrowed time already. I'd do the remote office over TCP/IP, either to your new tape drive or to a holding disc then to tape. Then I'd get an Exabyte M2 or a rackmount dual-drive Ecrix to back up to. That way, even with addituonal data to be backed up, you should be able to complete the backup overnight without changing tapes. Regards PS - I would strogly recommend not re-using the DDS drive anywhere. If you need another drive get another Exabyte or an Ecrix. Another Ecrix won't break the bank, and then you have drive redundancy... -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ Search: http://www.mail-archive.com/retro-talk%40latchkey.com/ For urgent issues, please contact Dantz technical support directly at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 925.253.3050.
RE: Holding disk (feature request)
RE: Holding disk This is something that can be done now; just run one backup to the holding disk, then another from that to tape. If this two-step process was managed by Retrospect (rather than being done with two scripts) it would still have to copy and verify on each pass so there probably wouldn't be much speed difference. I think the best way of doing it would be to run Backup Server overnight to backup clients, then run another Backup Server during the day to tape. That way you can juggle the server active times to optimise backup - and be around to swop tapes... -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ Search: http://www.mail-archive.com/retro-talk%40latchkey.com/ For urgent issues, please contact Dantz technical support directly at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 925.253.3050.
Re: Retrospect 4.3 network client IP NetRouter on OS 8.1 imac
Rob A client whose imac I recently added the Retro client to has complained of instability since it was added. He has the configuration above. I am thinking of upgrading him to OS 9.04 anyway but is there any known conflict with OS 8.1 or IP net router? I have never known of any version of the Retrospect client that has caused instability. That doesn't mean it's impossible, but I don't think it's ever been an issue. Is the machine unstable during the backup or when being used? -- -- 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: Hard drive partitions in Config/Devices
Chad I have a client who is running Retrospect 4.1i and they recently installed a new firewire drive that they partitioned into about 6 separate partitions to organize their data. The strange thing is, that when you open up Retrospect and go to Configure/Devices, all of those partitions are listed along with the single backup drive. I have never seen a hard drive show up in the Configure/Devices tab before. What is even scarier is that if you accidentally select erase from the menu, it does erase the partition! (Which actually happened to them by the way!). Is this something that is indicative to firewire drives? Any help would be greatly appreciated. This is do-able with any drive. I used to use Hammer Tools to format drives and it would do this - erroneously set the drive as if it was a renoveable disc. This makes it a "target" drive in Retrospect, and you can imagine the consequences on a fileserver that also ran Retrospect. I'd stick to Drive Setup or make sure the volumes are not flagged as "removeable media". Regards -- -- 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: Mac-compatible CR-RW
Keith Secondly, I'm looking to buy a Mac-compatible CD-RW drive for use with Retrospect 4.3. I've looked at the hardware compatibility list, but the problem I'm having is that a lot of these drives have been superceded by newer models. So, can anyone recommend a recently purchased Mac-compatible external CD-RW drive which has a SCSI-1 connection? I've recently been through this (in the UK) with no success. Retrospect requires packet-writing capability and most Mac-compatible drives don't support it. La Cie used to make a drive that does this, and it is listed in the compatibility chart, but they have since changed the drive mechanism supplier and it is no longer compatible. Please post back to the list if you succeed in finding something that works, especially if it is a USB drive. Regards -- -- 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
Before the guys at Dantz get back from the holiday, I'll let you in on a little secret - 519 errors are some of the most common. They are not caused by Retrospect, just found by it. Retrospect is very demanding. It requires that everything be right in your machine and network setup (Imagine that). If you are having 519 errors, there is a problem in your setup, either hardware, software or network. You most likely either have a SCSI problem (which was the case the last time I had a 519, termination problems), a system incompatibility (sometimes a corrupt system or mismatched components (like OS 8.5 with ASIP 5 (that was pretty stupid)) or a network problem (replace those old hubs with switches, which creates more potential problems). I've always said that if you tried to design a network stress-testing tool you'd end up with Retrospect... It is obviously trying to max out everything, all the time, and will find problems wherever they lie. If 519 is, at it seems to be, a generic error, then how do we find the cause(s)? It seems to me that they present a problem only if their frequency undermines the successful completion of a backup. On a setup (as I described) that can't complete a Recycle or Incremental backup on one day, a 519, leading to one machine not being backed up, can't be considered a problem - unless it fails again the next day. Yes I'd like to fix every problem on the client's network, but it isn't financially viable to do so. So what is the best methodolgy for finding the problem? The Dantz TIL is useful but does not address this. One thing that is always common is the backup machine, backup device and the network. If a 519 can be caused by local, backup server-related cause such as a termination problem, as well as client-related problems, then the error message is useless for fault-finding. So where to start? BTW, why are we all at our computers this morning? Isn't this supposed to be a holiday? Only for that small percentage of people in the world who live in the USA... -- -- 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
Adrian We are having problems backing up G4s over the network. Basically, they ... Disable the OT AutoPush extension and try again - worked for us! Have you got TCP/IP set as active and "Load only when needed" unchecked - I thought so.. Unfortunately, we don't have the OT AutoPush extension to disable. And yes, TCP/IP is active and "Load only when needed" is unchecked... Mmmm. OK, check the connection speed and duplex setting to the hub/switch in Apple System Profiler. If it's 100Base-T try setting it down to 10Base-T for the backup and see what happens then. There's an unsupported tool to do this - check the Apple site. How much data are you backing up? Is the problem intermittent? Does it happen on any other machines? As a percentage, what proportion of the backups (of the G4s) fail? In a client's setup we found the problem (error 519) to be apparently unrelated to anything. It would occur on almost every machine at some point, after a few Mb had been copied or after copying 5 Gb out of 5.2 Gb, independent of machine OS, independent of date or time, and all the backups were being done overnight when there was no other network traffic. The only thing I concluded was common to the each failure was the backup server Mac and the network. I disabled OT Autopush one one machine - the worst affected - and the occurrence of 519s dropped to be average. The client has so much data to backup that an ovenight backup won't get all the data on the network, so I rationalised that one error 519 per night was acceptable. Backup Server would then prioritise that machine the next night - and we haven't seen any cases of the same machine erroring out on successive nights. Not exactly problem solved, but problem minimised. Regards -- -- 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
Mmmm. OK, check the connection speed and duplex setting to the hub/switch in Apple System Profiler. Hmm, You know, this one got me. I was not aware of any program that would get speed and duplex on a Mac. I just checked Apple System Profiler (version 2.4.4) and it don't show me. Maybe this works only on Apple cards? I have an Asante 10/100 NIC. ASP only works on Apple Cards. It's under System Profile:Network Overview Try switching to the Apple NIC - why would you want to use an Asante one? The built-in NIC is 10/100.. See if the Apple NIC reduces 519s. Regards -- -- 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: retrospect crash
Mark can you help resolve a retrospect crash: Retrospect is version 4.3b1 on a Mac G4 running OS9. Client is Win98 with Retrospect client v5.1, I am running a backup server script. The error is: System clock seems to have changed, expected dd/mm/2000, hh:mm:ss dates times and statistics may be inaccurate. Internal consistency check failed: assertion check at "elem.c-811" Backup server stops with general error. This is now happening on TWO of my Win98 clients - I have to forget them in order to run my server. Thanks in anticipation Internal consisyency checks are bad news. Assume you have corrupted preferences and follow the procedure in the manual for recovering from this problem. When it's running again OK (omit the PC clients at first) make a backup of your prefs and scripts, etc in case the problem re-occurs. Then uninstall reinstall the PC clients, relog then in and test again. Is the date warning a result of an automatic change in the clock due to the clocks going back? Regards PS what's the weather like in Bangor? -- -- 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: tape capacity
Ok, explain to me...I took a 220MB system file and compressed it down to 28MB. And to recover any one file would require the whole archive to be decompressed.. Compressing a finite amount of data is one thing. Compressing a potentially infinite amount of data on the fly, to multiple media, with a verification pass is another. By your logic the contents of a 220 Gb drive would compress down to a 28 Gb archive. Verifying the backup would require the archive to be read back off tape (in one go, as it's one archive..) decompressed to 220 Gb (in one go, as it's one archive..) which would be held in RAM (hmmm) and compared with the original... Restoring any one file - say a 4 kb icon - would require the entire archive to be read back off tape, decompressed, the one file found and extracted. It's just not practical. And I think that Dantz, and other manufacturers of backup, probably have a good grasp on compression technology. -- -- 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: Backup renders ASIP server mute, deaf
... 5. Retrospect log reports "519" error for the G4 backup. From reading through the archives, I gather that I should be looking for flaws in the network hardware, but I don't really know where to start. Everything else about these servers is runnning just fine. This ties in with our experiences at one client. One machine in particular exhibits this behaviour, erroring out with a 519 at some point in the backup every time - but never the same point. Some other machines do it occasionally, but this one is remarkably consistent. My hypothesis was that it was crashing - but the user reports no untoward behaviour whilst working on it. Now I think it might be an OS-related TCP/IP deafness of a kind that has been affecting some people who post to the WebStar list. It could of course be hardware - but what hardware breaks occasionally and then is fixed after a reboot? I think Dantz are right to say it is network, but I'd hazard a guess it is OS-related and just an effect that is brought on by the huge traffic a backup creates - similar to a hard-worked webserver? This one will run and run - I'd be grateful for any and all feedback on this problem. -- -- 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: retrospect and filemaker
what's the suggested route when not using FM Server? I use a standard copy of FileMaker sitting on my ASIP server to run a set of database files which five or so users make use of. Should I be tinkering with Applescripts or somesuch to close the database files prior to back up? Yes -- -- 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: Hourly Network Checks Revisited...
Irena said: Here's a little background on how the Retrospect client deals with network connectivity, so we can better understands why this is happening and how it might be addressed. The Retrospect client does in fact initiate a check of the network once an hour. It sends a request to Open Transport; if this is configured to use a dial-up connection, a dial-up will be initiated at that time. As mentioned, OT doesn't communicate the protocol to the client. This should only be problematic with clients set to use PPP in the Open Transport Control Panel. However, if the clients are set to use Ethernet and the LAN has a Routed dial-on-demand Internet connection, what happens when the clients initiate a network check? If the packet is destined for the LAN the Router would not initiate a call - but is that the case? -- -- 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.
clones
I'm running it on a beige G3 300MHz desktop. I wouldn't trust a Power Computing system as a backup server...those are the Packard-Bell of the Mac clone world. Actually, most of the motherboards are the same as the Apple equivalents. They changed other things like floppy drives and CD-ROM drives to a cheaper 3rd party though. I had a customer that had a Power Computing PPC. Equivalent to the 8500. I opened it up and the motherboard had an Apple part number on it. The processor board was made by someone else. The floppy drive had died within months of getting the system. The CD-ROM drive makes an awful noise, but it still works. The power supply is basically an ATX power supply that was modified a little. I think that is exactly what the first contributor meant when he said he wouldn't trust one! -- -- 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.
Backing up to CDRW
I'm setting up Retrospect 4.2 on a Mac to backup to a USB-attached CDRW drive with a Mitsumi mechanism. It appears the mechanism might not be supported by Retrospect as it does not work. I can burn and erase CDs using Toast so the drive functions OK. My question is not "what drives does Retrospect support?" - because the wbesite is clear on that - it is "how do I know when it is working?" Because I've not backed up to CDR before I don't know what to look for. Discs don't mount on the desktop, but should they appear in the "Please choose a new disc" dialog box at the start of a backup? And should the CDRW drive show up in Configure:Devices? Regards -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ Problems?: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Retrospect and Quantum Snap Server / again [x-post toMac-Managers list]
I am testing a Snap Server loaned by Quantum next week. I would appreciate anyone with experience of backing these up using Retrospect emailing me their observations. I will summarise later to this list. Specifically I'd like to know: * what machine the Snap is mounted on for backup * OS of that machine * whether mounted via AppleTalk or TCP/IP * size of Snap and amount of data * any problems observed during Recycle and/or Normal backups Regards -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ Problems?: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Retrospect running on servers
Phillip and Rhona said: We are also running an Appleshare server and Retrospect on the same machine - ... This configuration has been very stable for us. I can think of a number of extremely good reasons not to run Retrospect on a fileserver: 1 - you can't work on fine-tuning the setup without prejudicing the server 2 - the server is less stable 3 - you can't easily rename removeable media for use by the backup You wouldn't use a fileserver to burn CDs, so why use it to copy data for a backup? Until you've been in the position of losing the entire contents of a client's fileserver, just because Retrospect was on that machine **, you won't appreciate what a bad idea it is. I now won't work on backup systems on servers, and would never recommend a server hosts backup or even removebale media drives. Regards ** This was not a Retrospect problem; the file server drive had been formatted with Hammer Utilities, and had erroneously been setup as being a removeable media drive rather than a fixed hard drive. Whilst testing the backup, the fileserver volume then appeared as a target volume to backup to - and the inevitable happened. The file server volume was selected as the target drive, the backup was started, and the drive was wiped clean. This was a once-in-a-lifetime situation. But, of course, once is enough. -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ Problems?: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Retrospect and Quantum Snap Server
Matthew Thanks for your reply. I think the only way to be 100% sure would be to field-test such a configuration. I would appreciate being informed if anyone does test such a setup and they report back to Dantz. To help you find out why I did not get a reply, below is a copy of the mail I sent on 12/5/2000: To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Nicholas Froome [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Network Attached Storage Cc: Bcc: X-Attachments: Message-Id: a04310101b5418047178f@[213.1.5.73] Support We are considering specifying a Quantum Snap Network Attached Storage device for a Macintosh-based LAN used by a design client. What is the situation regarding backing up such devices using Retrospect? Regards -- -- To subscribe:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives:http://list.working-dogs.com/lists/retro-talk/ Problems?: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
