Is it still possible to store backups on another Mac?

[macpro]

I'm running a mini server with Retrospect 9 Server edition.

In my network are a couple of Lion Macs and I want to store Media Sets on those Macs.

 

I have added two Macs as Sources with an AFP connection.

Then I created File based Media Sets and stored them on those Sources.

 

So far, so good.

 

But somehow Retrospect doesn't connect properly to those Macs and the backup fails.

When I make sure the volume is connected on the server, Retrospect has no problems making the backups.

 

Of course all the client Macs involved are up and running when it's time to backup and the server is always on.

 

I had a similar backup scheme with Retrospect 6, but used FTP in those days to connect to the client Macs.

 

Is it (still) possible to do what I want to do with Retrospect?

[CallMeDave]

I have added two Macs as Sources with an AFP connection.

Then I created File based Media Sets and stored them on those Sources.

 

You really should use Disk Media Sets here; they distribute the data into multiple file-parts (the way the Internet Backup/Storage Sets did before) instead of a single size-limited file.

 

But somehow Retrospect doesn't connect properly to those Macs and the backup fails.

 

Likely because you have the remote volume mounted in Finder and Retrospect at the same time, or you configured Retrospect in such a way that it can't see the volume when you try later.

 

This is due to OS X (and unix in general) not allowing a remote volume with a particular name to be mounted more then once (whether it's the same actual volume or not). And to prevent this, OS X has an auto renaming feature to keep itself safe.

 

If you mount a volume in Retrospect, it will mount on the Engine host machine at /Volumes/Foo

If you then mount that same volume in Finder, it will mount at /Volumes/Foo-1

 

Which would be fine; but if you reverse that when first setting up Retrospect, you'll have /Volumes/Foo on the Desktop and Retrospect will be set with the path to /Volumes/Foo-1

 

Now restart the machine; when Retrospect attempts to connect to the path it was setup with (Foo-1) it won't be found, because until OS X does its naming voodoo that volume simply doesn't exist.

 

The answer? Configure Retrospect after a restart, and don't mount the same destination volume(s) on the machine that hosts the Engine.

[macpro]

Thanks Dave and sorry for this late reply. I somehow didn't receive an e-mail about that.

 

Can I use Disk Media Sets on a disk with other data, like I do with File Media Sets? I always thought that Disk Media Sets would take over the entire disk and use all space for backups.

 

Your explanation about Foo and Foo-1 is spot on. That was my problem. I solved it by creating uniquely named folders on the remote Macs and sharing those folders.

So the Retrospect server now has a connection to the volume "MediasetsMac1" and "MediasetsMac2", instead of "mac" and "mac-1".

 

But it has given me another problem. The Retrospect server expects those remote shares to be online and accessible all the time. But they aren't. The remote Macs that I'm using are on during working hours and during the night (via Energysaver preferences). Between those hours, Retrospect will pop up messages saying "There was a problem connecting to the server".

And when these messages appear, Retrospect will wait until someone presses OK to dismiss the messages.

 

I'm not quite sure who is showing those messages: the server process or the client. I would expect the Retrospect client to show these messages, but I get them even when the Retrospect client is not running.

 

I do realize that I might be using the remote shares feature in a way that the Retrospect developers didn't expect and intend. So if someone has another way to use a remote Mac to store backups, with those Macs not always on and available, please let me know.