why this "resolved container" message I've never seen before?

[x509]

I got this message for the first time two days ago, as part of a scripted backup "Programs" to backup set "Programs."  APHRODITE is one of my LAN client systems.  Retrospect and all the clients are running Win 10 Pro 64, 1709.

For both my desktop, which hosts Retrospect, and my LAN clients, I have various volume Sourcegroups consisting of either volumes or specific folders.  Each sourcegroup has a different backup script and directed to a different backup set.  Once I set all this up, I felt that i really had my backup strategy fine-tuned.

Because of this "resolved" action, ALL these various volumes and folders got backed up into the Programs dataset, probably about 30 GB worth.  As I said, I've never seen this message before, and i didn't see it with last night's (daily schedule) backup operation.

So why did this "resolved" action happen?  And how do I prevent it from happening again.

Also, is there any way to strip out these unneeded volumes and folders from the backup set?  Is that some kind of grooming action that I am not aware of?

x509

 

 

[DavidHertzberg]

Would you like to tell us what version of Retrospect you are running, x509, or would you rather have us guess?

Also, assuming you did not change your "Programs" script, you might want to look at "Containers" on pages 440-443 of the Retrospect Windows 12 User's Guide.

[Lennart_T]

You added the APHRODITE client to the script, instead of adding APHRODITE's C: volume (or whatever volume you wanted to backup with that script).

[x509]

45 minutes ago, DavidHertzberg said:

Would you like to tell us what version of Retrospect you are running, x509, or would you rather have us guess?

Also, assuming you did not change your "Programs" script, you might want to look at "Containers" on pages 440-443 of the Retrospect Windows 12 User's Guide.

Ooops!  Retrospect 12.6.101.

I just looked at those pages in the Retrospect 12 UG.  It appears that I have been doing everything OK.  This screenshots shows all my source groups, with the Programgroup expanded to show each volume from each system.  APHRODITE and DELOS are LAN clients.  I set up these Source Groups probably two years ago now, so I could simplify each backup script with just the name of the Source Group and not all the individual volumes and folders:

 

[x509]

41 minutes ago, Lennart_T said:

You added the APHRODITE client to the script, instead of adding APHRODITE's C: volume (or whatever volume you wanted to backup with that script).

Here is the PROGRAMS backup script. As I said earlier, I set up the script this way probably two years ago, and it has worked without any problems until two days ago.  All my backup scripts follow the same approach:

 

[Lennart_T]

It is hard to see on your first screen shot ("resolved container") that it actually is from the script PROGRAMS.

If it indeed is from that script, I would try rebooting the Retrospect Server.

[x509]

12 hours ago, Lennart_T said:

It is hard to see on your first screen shot ("resolved container") that it actually is from the script PROGRAMS.

If it indeed is from that script, I would try rebooting the Retrospect Server.

Lennart,

You are correct.  The "resolved container" screenshot is from a script PROGRAMS output log.  I have already rebooted the Retrospect host system and as I noted, that "resolved container" message has not appeared in subsquent executions of that script.  So i'm OK there, but I'm wondering why that "resolved containers" issue every happened in the first place, and what I need to do so that it does not happen again.  The manual does not explain any of that.

Is this a bug, that I should submit to Retrospect support?

x509

[Lennart_T]

It is probably a bug, but since there is no way to reproduce the error with any sort of consistency, it is most likely a waste of time reporting it.

How to prevent? Restarting the Retrospect server computer once in a while sounds like a good way.  

 

[x509]

Lennart,

You are probably right.

 

x509

[Scillonian]

On 29/05/2018 at 6:49 PM, x509 said:

So i'm OK there, but I'm wondering why that "resolved containers" issue every happened in the first place, and what I need to do so that it does not happen again. 

Hardware or configuration changes on the Client can cause the 'Resolved container' message to appear. What Retrospect is saying is that something has changed with the Client configuration and the configuration information has been refreshed.

A change of hdd/ssd as well as partition changes (create, remove, resize) on the hdd/ssd can cause this.

On 29/05/2018 at 5:01 AM, x509 said:

Also, is there any way to strip out these unneeded volumes and folders from the backup set?  Is that some kind of grooming action that I am not aware of?

On the Snapshots tab of the properties dialog of the Backup Set Forget... the snapshots from the unwanted backup. When you exit the dialog after deleting the unwanted snapshots you will be prompted to groom the Backup Set immediately or run a scheduled groom later. Also, for a thorough removal of all the unwanted files ensure that Storage-optimized grooming is selected on the Options tab.

[x509]

Scillonian,

I'm impressed.  The same day I had the "resolved containers" issue come up, I had done a copy of the entire volume in the DELOS client as the source and onto another HDD, using MiniTool Partition Wizard.  I don't think that MTPW made any changes to the source, but I could be wrong.  In any case, doing a volume copy is very infrequent for me, so that completely explains why this issue came up when it did, and not before or after.

Much appreciated.

[x509]

7 hours ago, Scillonian said:

On the Snapshots tab of the properties dialog of the Backup Set Forget... the snapshots from the unwanted backup. When you exit the dialog after deleting the unwanted snapshots you will be prompted to groom the Backup Set immediately or run a scheduled groom later. Also, for a thorough removal of all the unwanted files ensure that Storage-optimized grooming is selected on the Options tab.

Done.  Is there any way to delete just selected files or folders within a snapshot or session?

[Scillonian]

3 hours ago, x509 said:

Is there any way to delete just selected files or folders within a snapshot or session?

Not that I know of.

When you remove a snapshot and groom the Backup Set the files and folders, as long as they are not referenced in another snapshot, are removed. (Assuming 'Storage-optimized grooming' is used. If 'Performance-optimized grooming' is used then only complete .rdb files are removed so some redundant files and folder may remain.)

However the record of the backup of the unwanted files and folders will remain on the Session tab until the Backup Set is recycled. The Session is a historical record of what files and folders were included in  a specific backup regardless of whether they still exist or not in the Backup Set media.

[DavidHertzberg]

On 5/30/2018 at 11:54 PM, x509 said:

Done.  Is there any way to delete just selected files or folders within a snapshot or session?

 

On 5/31/2018 at 3:12 AM, Scillonian said:

Not that I know of.

When you remove a snapshot and groom the Backup Set the files and folders, as long as they are not referenced in another snapshot, are removed. (Assuming 'Storage-optimized grooming' is used. If 'Performance-optimized grooming' is used then only complete .rdb files are removed so some redundant files and folder may remain.)

However the record of the backup of the unwanted files and folders will remain on the Session tab until the Backup Set is recycled. The Session is a historical record of what files and folders were included in  a specific backup regardless of whether they still exist or not in the Backup Set media.

x509,

Actually Retrospect Windows 15.1 may have given you a way to do that, provided you can define a Selector that will Exclude the files or folders you want to delete.  I hate to repeat myself unless I have to, so look at this post from another thread and adapt the two-step process described in it.  You may be able to get away with just step [1], if you don't care about altering any Snapshots.

If this works, whisper a "thank you" in the direction of Brussels—whose introduction of the GDPR forced Retrospect Inc. to add the use of Selectors to Groom scripts.

[DavidHertzberg]

2 hours ago, x509 said:

David,

This approach does sound nice, but I am still on Retro V.12 (Windows).   My plate is way filled right now, so I was planning to do the upgrade to 15 probably in mid-July.  Believe me, with the 1803 update from Microsoft, it's knd of urgent that I uprade to V.15.

About EU and GDPR.  Even though I live in the USA, I'm sure that I will benefit at least somewhat to the GDPR, and that's a good thing. 

/rant

Here in the USA, users are treated only as commodities, as revenue sources, and to the devil with issues like data privacy or security breaches.  When Equifax announced that they had been breached and all the data of 143 million Americans (almost half the total population of the USA),  had been stolen, including Social Security numbers, there was some grumbling,.  But no executive has been charged criminally, the company hasn't been fined to the tune of multiple billions, and life goes on as if nothing had happened.  Or we can talk about the corporate strategy for disregard of user privacy at Facebook.  Willful disregard.  And aside from some handwringing and a few critical blogs and such, nothing has happened to them,  Zuckerberg completely snowed Congress in his testimony and no one has called him out.

rant/

x509

x509,

First of all, you made your response in the Product Suggestions—>Windows forum thread that I linked to—not in this thread.  I  have copied your response into this thread so I can respond to it without confusing the academically-harried British LRSFC_DanJ.  Second, you have your ranting tags reversed; by the rules of pseudo-BBCode they should be rant/ .... /rant.  But I will take into consideration that your "plate is way filled right now" (insert appropriate smiley here), and respond to it here.

If my reading of the Wikipedia article on the GDPR is correct, an equivalent regulation—not law—in the U.S. would not by itself have resulted in any Equifax executive being charged criminally.  It would at most have resulted in a fine of 2% of Equifax's worldwide turnover for the preceding year.  According to this section of the Wikipedia article on Equifax, there is (or was) a DOJ investigation going on into insider trading by three executives before the breach was announced.  Facebook is another question, but one that I think the head of Retrospect Technical Support would object to our discussing on these Forums.

At the beginning of last week I attended a seminar on the GDPR, because I am worried about my being subject to it.  I have a tiny business selling musical method books, and over the years I have had a total of 4 orders from customers residing in the EU.  According to what I heard I do not qualify as a GDPR "data controller", but I think I should probably notify those 4 customers by e-mail that I will pseudonymise their orders in my database in thirty days (unless I get their permission not to do so) and leave them as the sole people who know the real names etc. corresponding to the pseudonyms.  Because I recycle each of my Backup Sets (actually Media Sets, since I run Retrospect Mac) every 3 weeks, I would in 21 days after that retain no records of their un-pseudonymised accounts.  One person's benefit from the GDPR is another person's pain in the posterior.

[DavidHertzberg]

On 6/19/2018 at 7:32 PM, DavidHertzberg said:

 

x509,

Actually Retrospect Windows 15.1 may have given you a way to do that, provided you can define a Selector that will Exclude the files or folders you want to delete.  I hate to repeat myself unless I have to, so look at this post from another thread and adapt the two-step process described in it.  You may be able to get away with just step [1], if you don't care about altering any Snapshots.

If this works, whisper a "thank you" in the direction of Brussels—whose introduction of the GDPR forced Retrospect Inc. to add the use of Selectors to Groom scripts.

OK, to prevent people like x509 from going to the other thread and inadvertently making inappropriate posts there, here's an adapted version of the two step process:

x509,

You should be able to groom out the files/folders you want to delete with the following two-step process: [1] Groom the .rdb files containing those files/folders by creating a Selector (per pages 435-437 and 439-440 of the Retrospect Windows 15 User's Guide) that will Exclude the files or folders you want to delete, and then using that Exclude Selector in a Groom script per this newly-added Knowledge Base article. [2] Revise the Snapshots containing those files/folders by doing a Recreate of the Catalog File for the Backup Set (per pages 453-455 in the UG) you have just done a Groom of.

Edited June 23, 2018 by DavidHertzberg
Also see pages 439-440 of the UG for adding multiple conditions to a selector that Exclude multiple sets of files/folders