error -540 (trouble creating service) and unexpected EOF

[UoD]

 

It appears that I am not the only one getting the "error -540 (trouble creating service)" issue on linux clients. Unfortunately, there has yet to be a solution to this problem.

 

For reference : I am using Retrospect 7.5.370 with update 7.5.10.104. My client is a Fedora Core 4 machine running client version 7.5.112.

 

 

I have noted several things about this error. Hopefully someone will be able to parse through my observations and assist with a solution....

 

1. The error only started to occur when I updated to Retrospect 7.5 (from Retrospect 7.0). This leads me to believe that something changed in 7.5 that has caused this bug.

 

2. The error occurs no matter which client version is installed (have tried 6.5 versions on up to 7.5 versions).

 

3. The error -540 always throws an "unexpected EOF" error in the /var/log/retropds.log file.

 

4. The "unexpected EOF" always occurs on a file that changes size on the system. By this, I mean is occurs on mail spool files (which would shrink in size if the user popped his/her mail), on PHP session files (files that would disappear if the session ended), or imap TOC files (files that would again have the opportunity to shrink).

 

Here is what I believe to be happening ----> At the same time that retrospect is trying to backup a file, the system changes the size of the file that it is smaller than what Retrospect originally noted as the file size. For instance, Retrospect starts to backup a 3 mb mail spool file. As it is doing this, the user's e-mail client pops the mail and thus reduced the size of the spool file to something less like 1mb. Retrospect makes an attempt to continue reading this file, but fails because it reaches an EOF before it expected to reach an EOF. There is apparently no error handling (either in the client or the server, sure which) ... and this causes the backup execution to halt and move onto the next source.

 

The odd part is that I have been experiencing this error for a very long time (even since 7.5 came out), and yet it does not seem that there has been a fix. My previous solution was to downgrade to 7.0 ... which I did for about 6 months. Unfortunately, I now have to backup my servers using 7.5.

 

Does anyone have any clue how to fix this? I assume it would not take much for EMC Insignia to add some simple exception handling to the code to prevent this from killing the backup like it is doing.

[unitedfuture]

No solution but this should bump some life back in this thread.

 

I am experiencing the same issue but only on an older system that I haven't upgraded to Fedora Core 5 yet. I don't have this problem on my other FC5 machines so there is something in Core 4 that Retrospect 7.5 doesn't like. I can also confirm that the EOF errors are on recently changed files (like my MRTG updated html files).

 

Any update on your situation would helpful. Thanks.

 

--kduane

 

edit (for search engines sake): the actual error message in the Retrospect Operations log is:

Trouble reading files, error -540 (trouble creating service)

5/29/2007 10:16:47 AM: Execution incomplete

 

 

[Biskit]

I still have this same problem on an Ubuntu 6.10 client. I'm using the latest *nix client and version 7.5.387 with driver 7.5.12.103.

 

Still getting this in my retropds.log file:

 

1186591176: fetFileSpec: unexpected EOF on "/var/mail/username"

 

This will give me the error -540 (trouble creating service) error on the server side.

 

What is interesting is that sometimes the backups are successful. Every time I have a failure it is always with /var/mail or some other imap file in the users home directories.

[sbillis]

I too have this error and have been for some time with Centos 4 (RHEL4 Binary compatable). It would be good to have EMC fix this little bug.

[Mayoff]

 

A few weeks ago, EMC Insignia announced the Universal Client Beta #2 for Macintosh. Today this beta is being updated with a new beta version of the Retrospect for Windows Application. Universal Client Beta testers will want to replace 7.5.513 with this new update. Beta testers should continue to use 6.2.222 Client beta and Retrospect 6.1.222 Mac application data.

 

This beta update is version 7.5.516 for Windows and contains some important bug fixes for Windows users of Retrospect.

 

Changes Since 7.5.513 beta

-Fixed a "file didn't compare" error for .jpg and other image files.

-Fixed an MD5 verification error when spanning backup disks. Reported by Jason Z.

-Fixed a long standing -540 error with Linux Clients.

-Fixed a problem seeing mailboxes with two exchange servers in the same domain.

 

Changes Since Beta #1 or 7.5.508

-Fixed a hang when polling Exchange mailboxes

-Fixed a catalog out of sync error when adding members to a disk backup set

-Fixed a problem seeing multiple instances of SQL on the same computer

-Fixed a WMI Repository error when backing up Windows XP systems

 

This update does not require a RDU.rpx file. All prior RDU updates have been added to the 7.5.516 application

 

Download this beta from:

http://download.dantz.com/archives/beta/Retro_EN_7_5_516_1.exe

 

 

An FAQ document for this beta is found at:

http://forums.dantz.com/showpost.php?post/104247/

 

 

 

 

We're excited about our new features and hope you will test them, but please remember to put safety first. Although we have tested these features thoroughly, it is Beta software. Please do not rely on this release for your primary backups.

 

 

Reporting Bugs

 

BUG REPORTING

It is extremely important that you report any problems you find immediately. This ensures a final product release that best meets your needs. Please report all bugs on the Public Beta section of the Retrospect Forum.

 

Support for this beta product is NOT available by calling technical support. All support is handled via the forum. You will find the Forum at:

 

http://forums.dantz.com/showforum.php?fid/98/

 

Before you can post your issue to the forum, you must create a user account, if you don't already have one. New account registration can be found at:

 

http://forums.dantz.com/register.php?

 

Users with existing forum accounts can login at:

 

http://forums.dantz.com/login.php?

 

We're excited about our new features and hope you will test them, but please remember to put safety first. Although we have tested these features thoroughly, it is Beta software. Please do not rely on this release for your primary backups.

[Mayoff]

This error is fixed in the 7.6 version released today. Please go to http://www.emcinsignia.com/updates to get this update.