Just about had enough....

[Camelhump]

I installed this software (retrospect 8) mid Sept.

 

I was out of town for a week.

I was sick for a few more days.

 

I have YET to be able to back up and restore a single computer.

 

I think I have the Rules figured out - finally (again thanks for your help).

 

I ** STILL ** can not find more than about a dozen clients via multicast. And ALL of them are on the same subnet as the server. I can not see another 40ish clients on the same subnet, and I can not see another 40-60 computers on a second subnet at all!!!!

 

I am NOT looking forward to having to manually add 100ish computers to Retrospect for backup purposes.

 

I am just about done with this software....

and I am about ready to return it and get a refund - as it appears that the software does NOT do what it is advertised as doing - backing up and restoring files.

 

While the tech support people I have talked to have tried to help - it has gotten me nowhere in resolving the problems.

 

 

[Maser]

The multicast thing has come up occasionally.

 

In Preferences --> Network -- what do you have for the name and connection in the top box? I believe it's supposed to have the IP address of the engine computer and *not* a "dash" for multicast browsing to work.

 

(And, I'd recommend manually adding the clients anyway by hostname -- assuming you do static DHCP/DNS -- it's a *lot* easier to keep track of things in the long run that way...)

 

Besides, you have to add the sources once anyway, so why not add them by hostname?

[twickland]

In Preferences --> Network -- what do you have for the name and connection in the top box? I believe it's supposed to have the IP address of the engine computer and *not* a "dash" for multicast browsing to work.

In our setup, the network connection name is "Default" with just a dash and multicast works fine.

 

I ** STILL ** can not find more than about a dozen clients via multicast. And ALL of them are on the same subnet as the server. I can not see another 40ish clients on the same subnet, and I can not see another 40-60 computers on a second subnet at all!!!!

You might try increasing the multicast time-to-live in Retrospect's Preferences/Network/Advanced... from the default 1; try upping it to 2 or 3 and see if that helps.

[Maser]

In Preferences --> Network -- what do you have for the name and connection in the top box? I believe it's supposed to have the IP address of the engine computer and *not* a "dash" for multicast browsing to work.

In our setup' date=' the network connection name is "Default" with just a dash and multicast works fine.

[/quote']

 

 

Yeah, this is a weird one. On my test machine, I have the IP address and the multicast sees the clients.

 

On my prod. machine, I have the "-" and it *doesn't* see clients.

 

And both machines are on the same subnet, too!

[Camelhump]

in the preferences -> Network there is the machine's IP address. I have even added both subnets I need Retrospect to see.

 

All I see (using multi cast) is about a dozen clients. Using subnet broadcast I see none.

 

I just changed the network settings -> advanced -> the time to live to the value: 3

This makes no difference in the multi cast client visibility.

 

I have used the Multi-cast ping software on a test client (one that does NOT show up) , and there is no problem.

 

[Maser]

What I might suggest you try is to add a new Network connection (just call it "New Connection" -- the default name) and have it point to your engine IP address.

 

Then *delete* the "Default" connection. Quit and restart the console and see what happens when you try to "Add" a client using "New Connection". For me, that populated the multi-cast.

[Camelhump]

After a discussion with tech support, there were 2 questions asked about the network that I couldnt answer (I have emailed the proper person).

 

These questions are (my wording):

1 - do vLANs, on my enterprise's network, correspond in a 1 to 1 manner with the physical subnets.

If not (a vLAN does/can split a subnet) then this may be causing the problem with seeing only some clients on the same subnet as the Retrospect server.

 

2 - are subnet broadcasts blocked?

if so then the Retrospect server can not send the needed network 'query' to find the clients on the 2nd subnet.

 

 

 

 

[CallMeDave]

I ** STILL ** can not find more than about a dozen clients via multicast. And ALL of them are on the same subnet as the server

 

Just to confirm:

 

You have VLANs involved in this setup, AND omitted that information FROM your original post?

[rhwalker]

2 - are subnet broadcasts blocked?

if so then the Retrospect server can not send the needed network 'query' to find the clients on the 2nd subnet.

To aid you and/or your network person in diagnosing this issue, you might want to try the little multicast diagnostic that one of the Retrospect GUI engineers wrote:

Multicast Ping on a Mac

 

It takes Retrospect out of the loop when trying to figure out what is happening.

 

Russ

[Camelhump]

CallmeDave - I have no control over the network (it is managed by the enterprise). I dont *know* there are vLans, but then again I dont *know* there arent any either.

 

I have sent an email to the greater powers of the network to find out. I asked the 2 questions I posted above.

 

So far I have not gotten an answer, it is possible that the Network Deity is on vacation today

 

SrhWalker - I have done this - and between 2 computers (the Retrospect server and 1 of the computers that will not/does not show up in the client list, and it does work (multicast ping).

 

[rhwalker]

Ok, then it's possible that the problem is related to the Leopard (or more restrictive) Snow Leopard "application firewall", which is different from the standard ipfw. You haven't provided any details of your OS environment, so it's not possible to speculate on the problem or its solution.

 

Whether by updates / upgrades, or for whatever reason, there may be a software firewall in play on one or both of the problematic computers. Without any configuration information, no way to tell.

 

Russ

[Camelhump]

srhwalker -

The systems that fail to show up via multicast are both Mac and windows. The Macs are mostly 10.6.4, with Retrospect 6.3.??? clients.

 

The windows machines are not up to date with the clients - yet - and are running (I think) 6.1.30, and so are some of the older Macs.

 

When I add clients manually, via IP im am getting about 50% failure rate (-519). I know that means going an updating the clients.

 

[Daniels]

I would definitely update all your clients to the latest versions and see if that resolves the issues. I always keep my clients up to date and really have not had any problems.