duplicate activator code errors 506 and 524

[derek500]

Hi,

 

I have a Mac 10.4.x PPC running Retrospect Server 6.1.126 and I was trying to add a Windows XP client with the client 7.6.107. On the server when I tried to add the client from the Backup Clients on Network window (multicast) by double-clicking the name of the client, I get an error "Can't log in, error 524 (invalid activator code)." The first time I tried this the error number was 506, but I only get error 524 now when I retry.

 

The client is a Dell Latitude D430 which does have two NICs, one ethernet, one wireless. I just had a hard drive failure on this laptop, so replaced the hard drive, built XP from scratch and just restored the users' files from the Retrospect server (not using the retro client to push them - just to a local external hard drive on the server, which I then brought to the client machine). This was an existing client before the hard drive failure and I did reuse the prior computer name at first.

 

I found a few messages in mailing list archives and this forum about these error numbers where the fix was to command line bind the retro client to an IP, but I can't do that when the client uses DHCP, can I?

 

I do have a firewall blocking TCP and UDP for retrospect's port over the wireless card, so there shouldn't be any duplicate broadcast going on. In the Advanced networking pane on XP, I have the ethernet NIC moved above the wireless NIC, so that should get priority. I also switched the wireless card to Off (these Dells have an on/off switch on the side of the machine for wireless devices) and tried unintsalling/reinstalling.

 

It seems to me that the server is remembering the previous client's name or maybe the MAC address, even though I told it to 'forget' the client. How do I make it truly 'forget' the client? I did try changing the domain/network name of the client to something else, same error.

 

All of my reinstalls have been to uninstall from Add/Remove programs, then delete C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Retrospect Client\ and then restart. Install again by running the 7.6 client installer's Setup.exe from a network folder.

 

I have many many Dell XP laptops with dual NICs just like this machine, and I've never had this problem before. This is not the first time I've had to replace a hard drive in a machine. We always build XP from scratch and only restore user's files from Retrospect. This is the first time I've used Windows Client 7.6. I was previously using the 6.0 or 7.5 client and didn't have this problem.

 

I sort of solved my own problem - I rolled back to using the 7.5.116 installer and had no problems with that client. I'd like to know if the 7.6.108 client resolves this issue or not? Do people still have to bind the client to an IP address? Can this be done to bind to an interface instead of an IP, so I can continue to use DHCP?

 

Thanks,

-Derek

[rhwalker]

The client is a Dell Latitude D430 which does have two NICs, one ethernet, one wireless. I just had a hard drive failure on this laptop, so replaced the hard drive, built XP from scratch and just restored the users' files from the Retrospect server (not using the retro client to push them - just to a local external hard drive on the server, which I then brought to the client machine). This was an existing client before the hard drive failure and I did reuse the prior computer name at first.

Derek,

 

There are several issues in play here. First, I believe that Retrospect may think this is a new client because XP was built from scratch. Solution there, I believe, is to "forget" the old client, which releases the license code, then re-add. If you look at Retrospect's client database (Configure > Clients), you should see where Retrospect thinks it has client licenses allocated, and to what clients. If your network infrastructure passes multicast and broadcast packets for Retrospect's client discovery (see the Knowledge Base, or post back if it's not clear) so that you are able to add the client by name from the discovery rather than by IP, then you shouldn't have any of the issues about IP changing of clients.

 

If your network infrastructure doesn't pass the multicast and broadcast packets that Retrospect uses for client discovery, then you have to add the client by IP, and that's when changing IP becomes an issue. See below for a solution.

 

I found a few messages in mailing list archives and this forum about these error numbers where the fix was to command line bind the retro client to an IP, but I can't do that when the client uses DHCP, can I?

Yes you can by proper setup of your DHCP server.

 

You haven't explained your network infrastructure or your DHCP server setup. The DHCP server with MacOS X Server, and the DHCP server with most network appliances (e.g., SonicWALL, etc.) have two ways to set up lease assignments. You can either assign DHCP leases from a dynamic pool (the historic way) or you can assign DHCP leases from a static map based upon the requestor's MAC address, such that the requestor always gets a lease for the same IP for its NIC because the request is made from the same MAC address.

 

Such a setup makes it easy to set up logging, DNS, etc., for your LAN because every IP stays the same for each client, even though the client still makes standard DHCP requests, so you can set up appropriate forward and reverse DNS zone files. Whatever.

 

I do have a firewall blocking TCP and UDP for retrospect's port over the wireless card, so there shouldn't be any duplicate broadcast going on. In the Advanced networking pane on XP, I have the ethernet NIC moved above the wireless NIC, so that should get priority. I also switched the wireless card to Off (these Dells have an on/off switch on the side of the machine for wireless devices) and tried unintsalling/reinstalling.

These should be non-issues. If they are causing problems, then you have bigger problems with your network infrastructure because you have a loop, which will cause routing confusion. This is not a Retrospect issue, really.

 

It seems to me that the server is remembering the previous client's name or maybe the MAC address, even though I told it to 'forget' the client.

Retrospect never sees the MAC address. That's a network layer 1 issue. Retrospect operates at the IP level.

 

How do I make it truly 'forget' the client? I did try changing the domain/network name of the client to something else, same error.

By telling it to forget the client (Configure > Clients). Again, your network may have a loop.

 

Can this be done to bind to an interface instead of an IP, so I can continue to use DHCP?

Binding to an interface solves routing problems, so that Retrospect sees the same IP on its communications with the client. If you have multiple routes from the client to Retrospect, such as can happen if you have multiple NICs that sit on different LANs, Retrospect sees that as multiple clients trying to connect to it.

 

Does this help?

 

Russ

[derek500]

Hi Russ,

Thanks for responding.

 

The client is a Dell Latitude D430 which does have two NICs' date=' one ethernet, one wireless. I just had a hard drive failure on this laptop, so replaced the hard drive, built XP from scratch and just restored the users' files from the Retrospect server (not using the retro client to push them - just to a local external hard drive on the server, which I then brought to the client machine). This was an existing client before the hard drive failure and I did reuse the prior computer name at first.[/quote']

Derek,

 

There are several issues in play here. First, I believe that Retrospect may think this is a new client because XP was built from scratch. Solution there, I believe, is to "forget" the old client, which releases the license code, then re-add. If you look at Retrospect's client database (Configure > Clients), you should see where Retrospect thinks it has client licenses allocated, and to what clients. If your network infrastructure passes multicast and broadcast packets for Retrospect's client discovery (see the Knowledge Base, or post back if it's not clear) so that you are able to add the client by name from the discovery rather than by IP, then you shouldn't have any of the issues about IP changing of clients.

 

If your network infrastructure doesn't pass the multicast and broadcast packets that Retrospect uses for client discovery, then you have to add the client by IP, and that's when changing IP becomes an issue. See below for a solution.

 

Our network does pass multicast and broadcast packets for Retrospect. This is all taking place on a simple LAN.

 

I found a few messages in mailing list archives and this forum about these error numbers where the fix was to command line bind the retro client to an IP, but I can't do that when the client uses DHCP, can I?

Yes you can by proper setup of your DHCP server.

 

You haven't explained your network infrastructure or your DHCP server setup. The DHCP server with MacOS X Server, and the DHCP server with most network appliances (e.g., SonicWALL, etc.) have two ways to set up lease assignments. You can either assign DHCP leases from a dynamic pool (the historic way) or you can assign DHCP leases from a static map based upon the requestor's MAC address, such that the requestor always gets a lease for the same IP for its NIC because the request is made from the same MAC address.

 

Such a setup makes it easy to set up logging, DNS, etc., for your LAN because every IP stays the same for each client, even though the client still makes standard DHCP requests, so you can set up appropriate forward and reverse DNS zone files. Whatever.

 

All these computers, clients and servers, are on a switched LAN. DHCP setup is a dynamic pool.

 

 

I do have a firewall blocking TCP and UDP for retrospect's port over the wireless card, so there shouldn't be any duplicate broadcast going on. In the Advanced networking pane on XP, I have the ethernet NIC moved above the wireless NIC, so that should get priority. I also switched the wireless card to Off (these Dells have an on/off switch on the side of the machine for wireless devices) and tried unintsalling/reinstalling.

These should be non-issues. If they are causing problems, then you have bigger problems with your network infrastructure because you have a loop, which will cause routing confusion. This is not a Retrospect issue, really.

 

It seems to me that the server is remembering the previous client's name or maybe the MAC address, even though I told it to 'forget' the client.

Retrospect never sees the MAC address. That's a network layer 1 issue. Retrospect operates at the IP level.

 

How do I make it truly 'forget' the client? I did try changing the domain/network name of the client to something else, same error.

By telling it to forget the client (Configure > Clients). Again, your network may have a loop.

 

Yes, I did forget the client that way at the server. Several times. And I tried changing the name on the client by uninstalling, renaming the Windows name, and reinstalling.

 

 

Can this be done to bind to an interface instead of an IP, so I can continue to use DHCP?

Binding to an interface solves routing problems, so that Retrospect sees the same IP on its communications with the client. If you have multiple routes from the client to Retrospect, such as can happen if you have multiple NICs that sit on different LANs, Retrospect sees that as multiple clients trying to connect to it.

I still don't see how to bind to an interface specifically. I only found how to bind to an IP address. How do you bind to a specific interface? Or does that happen when you enter that command line bind to IP address? Then what happens when DHCP changes the IP address?

 

Does this help?

 

Russ

Well, mostly you confirmed for me that my network is not a problem. Plus, when I install the 7.5 client, I have none of these problems - it works perfectly. I had to roll the computer out to my user, so I left the 7.5 client installed which is where things were at before.

 

I don't seem to have any problems with the 7.5 client these days, I had been using the 6.0 client exclusively until very recently because any client 6.5 or newer used to interittently lock up the servers when backing up the IE cache files, but something unmentioned along the way seems to have fixed it on the server side. I'd love to know when it was fixed.

[rhwalker]

Our network does pass multicast and broadcast packets for Retrospect. This is all taking place on a simple LAN.

Yes, but there may be a firewall in place that is blocking the multicast and broadcast packets.

 

All these computers, clients and servers, are on a switched LAN. DHCP setup is a dynamic pool.

Ok, then that's why your IP addresses are changing. See my post above regarding setting the DHCP server to lease from a static map by MAC address. It's pretty straightforward on most modern DHCP servers. Or you could set up the open source ISC DHCP server on some machine.

 

There are some posts in the forums here regarding use of a specific interface. Because your issue seems to be on a Windows client machine, I'd suggest posting in that forum. We don't have any Windows machines here.

 

Russ

[twickland]

I have a Mac 10.4.x PPC running Retrospect Server 6.1.126...

That is an outdated version of the Retrospect app, and will not communicate properly with the most recent client versions. Try updating to 6.1.230 here and see if that helps.