error -105 ( unexpected end of data )

[itssab]

Hey,

 

We're having a major problem with Retrospect 7.7 at one of our customers. It's setup to store the backup on a NAS (Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra II, over a good quality gigabit network connection).

It works for a few weeks, then it just comes to a complete halt spitting out "Device trouble: "1-Huvudbackup - IQFSQL, error -105 ( unexpected end of data )"

A rebuild/repair doesn't work at all, it keeps spitting out the same message.

 

While this is happening, the actual connection between Retrospect and the NAS works just fine. Everything copies nicely if you do it through explorer etc.

The disks are tested and tested again, and even replaced. Still the same fault.

 

I have to recycle the entire backup for it to work, which is a big no no. The backup size is around 3,5TB.

 

Please help!

 

/Daniel, ITSSAB

 

 

[dan.jordan]

Years ago we had bad luck doing Retrospect backups to servers across the network.  The suggestion by tech support was that our network was not "robust", though they couldn't tell us in what way it was not robust.  Our solution was to stopping backup up to targets across the network from Retrospect.  I suspect that what is not robust is Retrospect's ability to compensate for network slow-downs, etc. that may normally occur across networks?  If you do not have  similar problems backing up to disks on the Retrospect server itself then maybe similar causes are afflicting you?

[Scillonian]

DanJo's post has reminded me about problems I was having with Retrospect backups failing randomly saving to backup sets on a NAS. Purely by luck I traced the problem to the D-Link switch I was using. I replaced it with a Netgear switch and the random failures went away.

 

What size is the catalog file for the backup set? Because the backup will run for a time before failing I am just wondering if some size limit (catalog file on disk size, number of backup set files on the NAS) is being hit somewhere.

[itssab]

Hello and sorry for the late response!

 

The catalog file is 271MB on disk and hosted locally on the server running Retrospect.

 

I am actually gonna try setting up an ad hoc network between the server and NAS and see if that solves the problem. I've never had these problems before, but then again, I've never managed a network backup of this size.

[Scillonian]

The catalog file is 271MB on disk and hosted locally on the server running Retrospect.

Nothing unusual size wise. There are systems running with catalogs many times this size.

 

I am actually gonna try setting up an ad hoc network between the server and NAS and see if that solves the problem. I've never had these problems before, but then again, I've never managed a network backup of this size.

I am wondering if you are running into some subtle bug with the NAS firmware. A 3.5TB disk backup set will consist of at least 5,834 files (assuming 600MB .RDB files) which is a lot of files to have in one folder. As more data is added more files are created. (I know in theory this shouldn't be a problem but some NAS firmwares have been proven to have issues under these conditions.)

 

You can see if this is the problem by splitting the backup set over several members instead of a single member. This will spread the .RDB files over several folders instead of putting them all in one folder. Additional members can be added and the existing member resized on the Members tab in the backup set properties dialog.

[itssab]

I am wondering if you are running into some subtle bug with the NAS firmware. A 3.5TB disk backup set will consist of at least 5,834 files (assuming 600MB .RDB files) which is a lot of files to have in one folder. As more data is added more files are created. (I know in theory this shouldn't be a problem but some NAS firmwares have been proven to have issues under these conditions.)

 

You can see if this is the problem by splitting the backup set over several members instead of a single member. This will spread the .RDB files over several folders instead of putting them all in one folder. Additional members can be added and the existing member resized on the Members tab in the backup set properties dialog.

 

This is interesting indeed. I will definitely do this and see if it helps.

Thank you for your help so far :-)

[Scillonian]

... It's setup to store the backup on a NAS (Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra II, over a good quality gigabit network connection). ... The backup size is around 3,5TB.

 

Would I be right in thinking this is a two bay NAS? Setup in RAID1 with 4TB drives this would at most give you a formatted capacity of about 3.6TB which doesn't leave much free space.

[itssab]

You're right, but 3,5TB was a pretty round figure. It's around 3.1TB actually. It's set to use at max 90% of the drive space.

 

I've setup an ad-hoc network and split the backup in two now, lets see if it does the trick.

[Scillonian]

... It's set to use at max 90% of the drive space. ...

 

Remember that is total disk space not free disk space. If the volume is used for other purposes it is possible to allocate more space for the backup set than is available. I've inadvertently done this but was not brave enough to see what would happen when the physical space ran out.