Can't get email notification script to be driven properly

[sdawson]

I'm trying to get the external script to do email notification working. Retrospect Single Server 6.5.350, Windows Server 2003. I have the sample retroeventhandler.bat sitting in the Retrospect folder. I've put some code at the top of it to log every time it gets driven. When I start a backup, it only gets driven with the MediaRequest parameter (3 times in a row). It never gets driven with any of the other parameters mentioned in the manual or the script, like Startscript, Endscript etc. What am I missing here?

 

The script does say "If you are using Retrospect's Backup Server you need to schedule your email reports as detailed in the external scripts read me." Does this apply to me? There isn't actually anything about this in the readme, but the manual mentions how to schedule the running of retrohandler.bat using the Windows Scheduler. Unfortunately, it says to use the ATSendBUSreport parameter with the script, but all this does is attempt to email a report called RetroBUSfile.txt, which doesn't exist and I have no idea how this file gets created in the first place.

 

Anyone offer any suggestions? Thanks.

[natew]

Hi

 

Does the mailer work when you remove the additional code you added? It should be called on every event that way.

 

What kind of mail are you looking to get from this script?

 

Thanks

Nate

[sdawson]

Nate,

 

I've found that the script does get driven and works fine for backups started automatically. If you start one yourself, it doesn't get driven. So at the moment, I'm relatively happy. Working on a way to email the actual backup log as well though. I tried scheduling a script that used the program that retroevenhandler uses to send email, telling it to email the backup log, but I only get the first 13 or so lines of the log in the email. May be a restriction of that program, so I'm researching other ways of emailing the log itself. I find the summary email that retroeventhandler emails a bit frustrating, since if there are errors you have to go hunting for them.

 

Thanks for the input!

 

Steve

[natew]

Hi

 

That is correct. Only scripts call the event handlers. Manual executions do not.

 

If I were to do this I would export the last 100 lines of the log to a text file, zip it up and then mail it.

 

Thanks

Nate

[sdawson]

Well, when I said manual execution, I meant to manually start an existing script. I did expect this to drive the external script, but apparently it doesn't.

 

Any tips on where to find the right log file? At the moment I'm emailing "backup report.log" from Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Retrospect as an attachent, using the free blat emailer in place of the Retrospect one used by the sample script. Sort of works, but it does seem to have some funny characters in it that display strangely. If I email this log using the Retrospect emailer mailsndr (in place of the generated summary log), it cuts off after 13 lines. I suspect this is because the log contains a funny character that is interpreted as some sort of "end of file" marker by something or other.

 

Thanks for all your input.

[natew]

Hi

 

The actual log is in

 

C:\documents and settings\all users\application data\Retrospect\operations log.utx

 

Have you considered using the backup report.utx file instead? That will give you a summary of the last backup for each backup set/source combination. Only the most current information is kept. You can turn on the backup report option in the Retrospect preferences.

 

Thanks

Nate

[sdawson]

I'm looking more for a detailed log that contains any actual errors that occur, and backup report.utx doesn't contain that. I guess backup report.log will have to do, even with its funny characters!

 

Thanks for the help.

[ozbill99]

I have the same problem, however, I'd be satisfied with just the bare bones message, "Did it run or Didn't it", as we have regular, short, power brownouts, not sufficient to bring the systems down, but usually enough to confuse the scheduler which then attempts to run sometime, randomly, within the next 24 hrs.

 

There was a "discussion" in the Knowledge Base (http://kb.dantz.com/al/12/1/1145.html) which describes the retroeventhandler.bat file containing a script with email address details and indicating some mail servers couldn't handle names before <email address> and recommended removing the name/s.

 

However, in the 4 x retroeventhandler.bat files I have, none have this script, and my system doesn't even have the folder (/Email Notifier) in which they were supposed reside.

 

Totally confused - any assistance would be appreciated.