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I am using Retrospect 10.1.0 (221) on a MacMini to back up several Mac clients as well as three NAS devices.

 

I have two (Synology) NAS in my LAN, both with different IP addresses.

 

I experience several strange behaviours, probably all related to the same underlying problem:

  • I add NAS 1 as a source with afp://IP_address_NAS_1/share_A --> Share A is correctly mounted as a source in Retrospect
  • I would like to add my second NAS 2 with afp://IP_address_NAS_2/share_B --> Instead of mounting my second NAS under "sources", the "machine name" of NAS 1 is changed to the machine name of NAS 2. No second share is mounted

In order to narrow down the problem, I tried several things:

  • If I remove NAS 1 as a source in Retrospect and then try to add NAS 2, Retrospect adds again NAS 1. However, with the IP address of NAS 2 but with the share name of NAS 1. I can only add NAS 2 if I power down NAS 2 --> I am able to add each NAS independently, hence the login process to each NAS seems to work fine. Unfortunately, I can not add both NAS as sources in Retrospect
  • I added NAS 1 with afp://IP_address_NAS_1/share_A. Alle fine. If I want to add a second shared with afp://IP_address_NAS_1/share_B, Retrospect does not do anything --> it seems that the number of possible NAS sources is somehow limited to one

There was a posting late March, which seems to point in a similiar direction, but I did never see a resolution: http://forums.retros...and-nas-shares/

 

Any hints are greatly appreciated.

 

Cheers, Tom

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Hi Tom,

 

How do you (auto)connect to your 2 nas-ses when booting your Mac-Mini?

 

Cheers

 

Hi Berend

 

I tried two options:

  1. not to (auto)connect the two NAS in the finder but only do through Retrospect
  2. to (auto)connect to the two NAS my defining them as "login items" in my login account under "System Preferences/Users & Groups"

Both leads to the exact same behaviour as described above.

 

Many thanks for any hints or directions.

 

Cheers, Tom

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Robin's response makes it clear Retrospect knows about the issue, but I wanted just add something for the benefit of others who might read the thread.

 

Retrospect doesn't know about, nor care about, shared volumes you might access via Finder.app.

 

Retrospect always runs with a UserID 0, while most of the time as a Finder user you are running with a UserID of 501 or similar. And Mac OS X will not allow an application running under one user to have access to a volume mounted by an application running under a different user.

 

At the same time, Mac OS X does care about the names used for volumes mounted on the system. And it will not allow a name of a volume to be used more then once.

 

So a volume "Foo" that Retrospect mounts at startup will be attached at /Volumes/Foo/, while if you later use Finder.app to log into that same volume OS X will present it as /Volumes/Foo-1/

 

Retrospect will be able to read/write to the volume on the path /Volumes/Foo and you (in the Finder) will be able to read/write to the volume on the path /Volumes/Foo-1/, but each will not be allowed to read or write to the other.

 

And don't forget, if you should configure Retrospect to use a volume on a specific path, and later that path is not available, Retrospect will fail.

 

So if your initial configuration of Retrospect is done with /Volumes/Foo/ already mounted by the Finder, the same volume will be presented for Retrospect as /Volumes/Foo-1/ and written that way into the program's preferences.

 

Restart the system without doing anything in the Finder and Retrospect will no longer be able to find that shared volume; the path it has in its configuration is different then what OS X will provide.

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Hi Tom, (others)

 

Sorry for my late response!

 

This is my 'automation' for (auto)mounting my Synology NAS to my Mac (the back-up server for all devices) and having no more 'share issues' while using Retrospect 10.1 backup up OS X and Windows 8 devices.

 

Cheers.

opstart-ds1812.jpg

RS_10.1.0.221_pica2.jpg

PS Never mind the last bu-dates, it's an old screendump! ;-)

Edited by BDMSTUDIOS
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This is my 'automation' for (auto)mounting my Synology NAS to my Mac

 

You are, of course, free to ignore my previous post. But note that the volumes shown in your two screen shots are entirely unrelated. The "backup" volume shown in the Retrospect Sources list was mounted when the Engine was loaded at system startup, using credentials stored by Retrospect.

 

The "backup" volume in your User login items list is almost certainly actually being mounted as "backup-1" by OS X, well _after_ Retrospect has what it needs to work.

 

Completely unnecessary.

 

Dave

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Robin's response makes it clear Retrospect knows about the issue, but I wanted just add something for the benefit of others who might read the thread.

 

Retrospect doesn't know about, nor care about, shared volumes you might access via Finder.app.

 

Retrospect always runs with a UserID 0, while most of the time as a Finder user you are running with a UserID of 501 or similar. And Mac OS X will not allow an application running under one user to have access to a volume mounted by an application running under a different user.

 

At the same time, Mac OS X does care about the names used for volumes mounted on the system. And it will not allow a name of a volume to be used more then once.

 

So a volume "Foo" that Retrospect mounts at startup will be attached at /Volumes/Foo/, while if you later use Finder.app to log into that same volume OS X will present it as /Volumes/Foo-1/

 

Retrospect will be able to read/write to the volume on the path /Volumes/Foo and you (in the Finder) will be able to read/write to the volume on the path /Volumes/Foo-1/, but each will not be allowed to read or write to the other.

 

And don't forget, if you should configure Retrospect to use a volume on a specific path, and later that path is not available, Retrospect will fail.

 

So if your initial configuration of Retrospect is done with /Volumes/Foo/ already mounted by the Finder, the same volume will be presented for Retrospect as /Volumes/Foo-1/ and written that way into the program's preferences.

 

Restart the system without doing anything in the Finder and Retrospect will no longer be able to find that shared volume; the path it has in its configuration is different then what OS X will provide.

 

You helped me enormously by pointing this out. I now know why my back-up was asking for media (http://forums.retrospect.com/index.php?/topic/150426-media-sets-on-a-nas/). Apologies, as I am probably cross posting... now how do I make Retrospect mount "Foo" automatically after a restart? At the moment my Retrospect only mounts the destination volume if I try to verify the media set it contains - and then I have to press a blinking tape icon. Should it do this automatically? I kind of thought the Retrospect engine would handle that sort of thing.

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You helped me enormously by pointing this out. I now know why my back-up was asking for media (http://forums.retros...-sets-on-a-nas/). Apologies, as I am probably cross posting... now how do I make Retrospect mount "Foo" automatically after a restart? At the moment my Retrospect only mounts the destination volume if I try to verify the media set it contains - and then I have to press a blinking tape icon. Should it do this automatically? I kind of thought the Retrospect engine would handle that sort of thing.

 

Retrospect should access any volume it needs to access when it needs to access it; and as far as I know it never _unmounts_ a volume after it has done so.

 

How do you know if/when the Retrospect engine is (or is not) mounting the remote volume?

 

Are you watching the system with the "mount" shell command? Retrospect mounts network volumes with the "nobrowse" flag, so you won't see it in GUI tools.

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Thanks for your reply Dave,

 

You are, of course, free to ignore my previous post. But note that the volumes shown in your two screen shots are entirely unrelated. The "backup" volume shown in the Retrospect Sources list was mounted when the Engine was loaded at system startup, using credentials stored by Retrospect.

 

First thing, I never ignore advice/directions so I tried your routine! ;)

 

When I deleted the start-up item in my admin log-in options I rebooted my Mac. When opening RS, the system gives me the pop-up that the "backup" disk is not available and needs to be mounted to the Mac!

 

Schermafbeelding%202013-04-22%20om%2012.29.23.png

 

 

The "backup" volume in your User login items list is almost certainly actually being mounted as "backup-1" by OS X, well _after_ Retrospect has what it needs to work.

 

Completely unnecessary.

 

Dave

 

In my case, of course not the 'golden standard' the re-mouted backup disk is listed as "backup" and NOT "backup-1" as you can see.

 

[edit: exchanged screendump]

 

resource-backup.jpg

 

Only after putting the start-up option back in my admin log-in auto start-up options, I get the following readings in my network-monitor:

 

Schermafbeelding%202013-04-22%20om%2012.29.47.png

 

"ds1812.local" is perfect, otherwise RS is not able to make back-ups.

 

Perhaps I'm doing something terribly wrong here, but for me it seems to be working flawless!

 

Cheers.

Edited by BDMSTUDIOS
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When opening RS, the system gives me the pop-up

 

I'm pretty sure that's a Retrospect dialog, not a "System" dialog.

 

the re-mouted backup disk is listed as "backup" and NOT "backup-1

 

I see that the Summary-Overview window in Retrospect lists "/Volumes/backup/" as the path on which Retrospect expects to see the volume. That doesn't mean it's there or not.

 

But my contention is that OS X would name the volume you mounted _via login items_ as "backup-1"; you would see this through the "mount" shell command. The first process to mount the volume get's its plain name, subsequent processes get the modified names.

 

"ds1812.local" is perfect

 

I have no idea what this is intended to show; sorry.

 

 

for me it seems to be working flawless!

 

 

I'm perfectly open to the possibility (reality) that there is something wrong with how Retrospect is currently handling network shares. But consider this; if it's necessary to have a Source share-point mounted at login, how could Retrospect possibly work if _no_ user is logged into the Finder of the machine hosting the Engine?

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Thanks for your prompt reply Dave,

 

I'm pretty sure that's a Retrospect dialog, not a "System" dialog.

 

I get the pop-up the moment I start the RS-application, so 'it is' a RS dialog

 

I see that the Summary-Overview window in Retrospect lists "/Volumes/backup/" as the path on which Retrospect expects to see the volume. That doesn't mean it's there or not.

 

How can I check that on in my RS-app, MAC or NAS?

 

But my contention is that OS X would name the volume you mounted _via login items_ as "backup-1"; you would see this through the "mount" shell command. The first process to mount the volume get's its plain name, subsequent processes get the modified names.

 

What do you mean by plain- and modified names?

 

I have no idea what this is intended to show; sorry.

 

Is showed this screen to explain, that my RS works only when the ds1812.local is mounted! Even with full the ip-adress of my NAS listed instead of the ".local", RS does not work for me.

So yes, I'm also a bit confused about the way RS works in this matter.

 

I'm perfectly open to the possibility (reality) that there is something wrong with how Retrospect is currently handling network shares. But consider this; if it's necessary to have a Source share-point mounted at login, how could Retrospect possibly work if _no_ user is logged into the Finder of the machine hosting the Engine?

 

I'll give that a try, as I now only work with back-up on demand. I'll setup an automated daily back-up routine for my MAC_RAID0, not starting the RS-app in OS X and then see what happens. Great suggestion and direction Dave!

 

rs-backup-01.jpg

rs-backup-02.jpg

[edit] added screens, and meanwhile deleted the login afp:mount of the disk "backup" rebooted the MAC-server!

 

Keep you posted about the outcome!

 

Thanks & Cheers.

Edited by BDMSTUDIOS
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I posted this: 10 *still* requires users logged in: #11 with a command that will suppress the unmount of volumes when you log out.

 

It appears to work with network volumes too, in my limited testing.

 

You might want to give it a try.

 

Be careful, though, the auto-unmount is pretty important in some cases, and this setting is not per-volume, but machine-wide. It's great for a server, but not so great for a user machine.

 

YMMV

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I posted this: 10 *still* requires users logged in: #11 with a command that will suppress the unmount of volumes when you log out.

 

It appears to work with network volumes too, in my limited testing.

 

You might want to give it a try.

 

Be careful, though, the auto-unmount is pretty important in some cases, and this setting is not per-volume, but machine-wide. It's great for a server, but not so great for a user machine.

 

YMMV

 

Thanks, see my reply in other post! Cheers.

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I posted this...

You might want to give it a try.

 

That thread is specifically discussing the behavior of machines running Retrospect OS X Client software, and the long reported issue of client accessibility after logout (or perhaps only after double-logout). And _that_ issue is not about external or shared volumes; the problem is seen when attempting to backup the boot volume of the client machine.

 

This thread is discussing the behavior of the Retrospect engine process, and how it behaves in regards to accessing network volumes.

 

The two issues are different.

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I see that the Summary-Overview window in Retrospect lists "/Volumes/backup/" as the path on which Retrospect expects to see the volume. That doesn't mean it's there or not.

 

How can I check that on in my RS-app, MAC or NAS?

 

The "mount" command, issued in Terminal.app, will show you attributes of all mounted filesystems.

 

 

But my contention is that OS X would name the volume you mounted _via login items_ as "backup-1"; you would see this through the "mount" shell command. The first process to mount the volume get's its plain name, subsequent processes get the modified names.

 

What do you mean by plain- and modified names?

 

If a network share point is named "foo" and mounted at /Volumes/foo/ , that would be unmodified.

If the same share were mounted at /Volumes/foo-1/ , that would be modified (by OS X).

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