run retrospect from command line

[stevering]

Is there a way to run retrospect from a windows command line and use arguments to run a particular script?

If there is, than I can get around the problem that retrospect won't wake a sleeping machine and won't keep the machine awake while it's running. I could do this by having a task that changes the power profile, runs retrospect and then resets the profile.

[Scillonian]

When you select a script from the 'Run' menu you are presented with a dialog with choices to 'Execute now' or 'Make a "run document"'. Select 'Make a "run document"' and save it to somewhere convenient to your needs. When you execute a "run document" by double-clicking on it it will launch Retrospect and execute the script. Therefore you should also be able to use it in the task you outlined.

[stevering]

Since I won't be double clicking on the file, but using it as an argument on a task line, this doesn't really work (i.e. basically a line in a batch file). It just launches retrospect to run a specific script. The retrospect command immediately returns. So, in a batch file it would set the power profile, launch retrospect and reset the power profile before retrospect had finished opening. But, the fact that this works at all indicates that retrospect recognizes some command line arguments - are there any that would be useful for this? Are they documented anywhere?

[Scillonian]

You could take a look at the External Scripting feature that is installed with Retrospect if you did a default installation. It is covered on page 306 of the PDF manual which on my Retrospect installation is in the "/Program Files/Retrospect/Retrospect 8.0/Documentation" folder. It gives Retrospect the ability to interact with external scripts that call it.

[stevering]

This looks like it will probably work. But, it will take a fair amount of time to figure out. A long way to go to fix what shouldn't need fixing.

[Scillonian]

The most likely reason why Windows goes back to sleep after Retrospect wakes it to do the backup is because there is no user interaction – mouse activity, keyboard activity – with the system. Because Windows sees no user activity, even though you have asked it to perform a task, it thinks it has been woken in error and sleeps again. There is a Windows registry key that can be set/modified to stop Windows going back to sleep after it has been woken by a task. Search Ggogle for something like "computer goes back to sleep after wake on LAN".

 

Another avenue you could investigate is to use an application like SmartPower (http://ignatu.co.uk/SmartPower.aspx) to control the sleeping and waking of the system. I use SmartPower to control the sleep and wake periods of my Retrospect backup server and then use the schedule feature in Retrospect to enable Proactive Backup after the server wakes and then disable it before it sleeps.

 

Edit: Post edited to correct typo in URL.

[stevering]

SmartPower seems to be a good thing, for a variety of reasons. It's waking up my machine 10min before retrospect is supposed to run and keeping it awake for a couple of hours. However, retrospect isn't running its scheduled tasks. When I come back the next day and start it up to see what's run, then they run. Any idea why this is happening?

[Scillonian]

Here is how I have SmartPower and Retrospect setup:

 

I have a Dell Precission 390 (retired desktop) as a dedicated Retrospect backup server serving three clients with the backup set storred on a QNAP TS-459 Pro+ NAS using a UNC path. It is a headless system running Windows 7 Professional 64-bit. Administration is done using remote desktop.

 

SmartPower is set on the server to wake it at 16:00 and hibernate it at 22:00 daily.

 

In "Preferences -> Startup" I have the "Enable Retrospect Launcher service" option unchecked. When the server starts I manually launch Retrospect. When the server is to be shutdown/restarted I manually stop the Proactive Backup schedule and exit Retrospect beforehand. For me this gets around a problem with Retrospect automatically launching itself after a restart and me not being able to access the UI because of the way Windows 7 security works.

 

I am using Proactive Backup on a schedule starting at 16:10 and stopping at 21:10 with a fourty minute wrapup period. Therefore all activity should be finished by 21:50 ready for the hibernation at 22:00. The Retrospect remains open during the hibernation periods.

 

A some point I want to setup the process monitoring function in SmartPower to monitor the Retrospect process so that I can set Retrospect to execute housekeeping tasks (groom, transfer snapshots, etc) after the Proactive Backup schedule window closes and stay awake untill these tasks complete. Currently I perform these tasks manually.

 

Hope this is of some help to you. If you have any more questions post back.

[David W Lee]

It's waking up my machine 10min before retrospect is supposed to run and keeping it awake for a couple of hours. However, retrospect isn't running its scheduled tasks. When I come back the next day and start it up to see what's run, then they run. Any idea why this is happening?

 

Was Retrospect running before the machine sleeps, or was it terminated? When the machine wakes up, is Retrospect somehow relaunched?