Mac Retro 902/Client 902: Lost Client

[13749171A7528DE1E040000A2A666149]

Setup: Engine is on iMac, backing up itself locally and Client MacBook over wifi. Backups saved to a Drobo, locally connected to iMac. Setup works wonderfully, until a recent three-day trip from home. Engine still looks for the MacBook over the network while the MacBook is away, obviously failing. This has happened before, and was never an issue, as backups resumed when the MacBook returned to the home network.

 

After this trip, however, the Client icon in the status bar changed from the solid box seen previously, to a box with an exclamation point superimposed on it. There is no indication on either the menubar or the preference pane as to the nature of what's causing the display of the exclamation point. In the meantime, the nightly scheduled access of the MacBook by the Engine shuts down after five minutes, generating an error -519 (network communication failed).

 

I have shut down and rebooted both machines, examined the sharing preference, verified that each machine can mount the other and share files back and forth. Each machine can do share screen with the other. Evidently, some bit of configuration has gotten changed. But I can't seem to find anything that would point me toward which particular bit I need to set right.

 

I looked through several of the threads here on the forum but could find nothing that helped. Most of you seem to be pretty far advanced over my knowledge and my setup. With any luck, my description of what's happening here is good enough to enable someone to decipher it. Thanks for whatever help anyone could provide.

 

Elaine Poe

[David W Lee]

When clicking the Client's menu bar icon, its popup menu appears with the first item describing its status.

- For gray exclamation, the status text would show "Ready for Retrospect login".

- For black exclamation, the status text can be "No backup in X days", or other less likely status.

The status text is also shown in the Retrospect Client preference pane's Status tab, next to the On/Off button.

What status text do you see?

 

There is a tech note on troubleshooting error -519: http://kb.retrospect.com/articles/en_US/Retrospect_Article/Tech-Note-415-troubleshooting-error-519/?q=-519&l=en_US&fs=Search&pn=1

[13749171A7528DE1E040000A2A666149]

I also worked this issue through Tech Support. They ultimately suggested that I delete, then reinstall the Client. I did that, one backup had a hiccup, then it all worked fine for a few days. Until last night's backup. Now, here's what I get after the script launches:

 

+ Normal backup using Backup MB250 Lion Users at 3/23/13

To Backup Set MB250 Lion Users A...

nertPInstMake: wrong serial number: sought , but found 9-8N7N-5J3F-XUBU-130

nertPInstMake: wrong serial number: sought , but found 9-8N7N-5J3F-XUBU-130

Can't access volume Users on MB250 Lion, error -525 ( wrong client found at that address)

nertPInstMake: wrong serial number: sought , but found 9-8N7N-5J3F-XUBU-130

nertPInstMake: wrong serial number: sought , but found 9-8N7N-5J3F-XUBU-130

3/23/13 2:00:21 am: Execution incomplete

Total duration: 00:00:01

What the heck is this? I can't find anyplace on the prefpane to put a serial number in. And that doesn't address why it worked fine for a few days, then gagged on an alleged bad serial number. I'm becoming increasingly frustrated.

[David W Lee]

nertPInstMake: wrong serial number: sought , but found 9-8N7N-5J3F-XUBU-130

Can't access volume Users on MB250 Lion, error -525 ( wrong client found at that address)

 

To fix this, use Console to remove and re-add the Client named "MB250 Lion" in the list of Sources.

 

(Latest corrections are in red.)

 

The Client serial number is auto generated and saved in the Client's /Library/Preferences/retroclient.state retclient.dat the first time when a Server adds the Client to the list of Sources. From that point on:

 

- Client side: The serial number should remain unchanged until you manually delete it. Recent versions of "Uninstall OS X Client" tool do not delete is invoked and deletes /Library/Preferences/retroclient.state.

 

- Server side: The serial number obtained from each newly added Client is stored in the ConfigXX.dat and ConfigXX.bak files until the corresponding Client is removed in Console's list of Sources. If the ConfigXX.dat file is corrupted somehow (possibly during a Engine crash), that can cause mismatch with the Clients' serial numbers.

[David W Lee]

Sorry, please see corrections in red above.

[13749171A7528DE1E040000A2A666149]

David, thanks for your info. Tech Support's instructions did include locating the retroclient.state file and deleting it. The issue with the "wrong serial number" pretty much solved itself. I'm still not certain why it happened or what changed to correct the problem.

 

All those issues were happening under Retrospect 9. After watching the backups for a few days, I decided to update everything to Retrospect 10. The new server and client went in on the iMac, and the new client went in on the MacBook. Backups ensued, and all was fine. Until this morning. During the overnight last night, the iMac was backed up per normal, at least according to the Activities history. But by 9 or 10 this morning, the Retrospect icon in the menu bar had grayed out again, with a gray exclamation point. Either clicking on the icon or opening the prefpane gave the status "Waiting for Retrospect login." I have tried replacing the client, shutting down and restarting the Retrospect engine, and shutting down and restarting the client.

 

The scheduled script is set to go off at 1am. I guess I'll find out in the morning what happened.

 

In the meantime, would there be any suggestions as to how to make Retrospect log the client in? More to the point, why give such a status message without letting the user know how to get from that point to the point where everything starts behaving itself again?

 

Thanks for your help.

[David W Lee]

The client showing "Waiting for Retrospect login" means it is waiting for a Retrospect server to add it as a source. If a client has previously been added by a server already and then subsequently shows "Waiting for Retrospect login", retroclient.state being corrupted is one of the more likely cause. To check for other possibilities, between the time when the client was working and the later time when it shows "Waiting for Retrospect login":

- Did you use Console to change that client/source's password?

- Has the /Library/Preferences folder or the retroclient.state file located there been restored using Retrospect, or been modified by other apps?

[137491ABC7D58DE1E040000A2A666149]

I'm not exactly sure why the uninstaller doesn't remove that file, but I've modified a version of the uninstaller for my use here, so that when I'm removing and re-installing a client I don't run into this problem any more. There may be a good reason not to remove the retroclient.state file, but so far I've not seen any ill effects from having the uninstaller do it for me.