Remote client issue with Catalina

[bookcent]

Hi

I have updated one of my remote macs to Catatlina and upgraded both the server and the remote to v 16.5.1.(104)

However I am getting error -503 (backup client not found) almost every time

If I reboot the remote mac it sometimes works and does a backup

I know that the network is fine (i can load shares from both machines on the other) and I don't have a firewall running

I'm stuck at this point !

Thanks

Steve

[DavidHertzberg]

bookcent/Steve,

First of all, "backup client not found" is error -530, not -503.  I presume you have taken steps 1-5 in this ancient Knowledge Base article.

Second, I solved a 2-year-long problem with -530 errors by Removing my MacBook Pro client from Sources and re-adding it using Add Source Directly—after having assigned the MBP a fixed IP on my router using its MAC address (stands for Media Access Control and has nothing to do with Macintosh, obtained from System Preferences -> Network -> Advanced for active Ethernet connection -> Hardware tab), per pages 66 and 79-80 in the Retrospect Mac 16 User's Guide.  You speak of "remote Macs"; are these "clients" possibly on a different subnet from your "backup server"?  If so, Subnet Broadcast, per page 79 in the UG, may work for you instead of Add Source Directly; it worked for me when I briefly tried it in late 2018 per henry-in-florida's suggestion.

Third, once you have eliminated the -530 error, upgrading your remote Mac to Catalina means you'll have to comply with this KB article to fully access it with Retrospect.  This KB article is also applicable, but you have complied with its current contents by upgrading your "backup server" to Retrospect Mac 16.5.1.(104); Retrospect "inc." promised new contents several weeks ago, but so far there's been no update of the article.

P.S.: As Nigel Smith has pointed out below, while I was writing this you started another thread.  In that one you mentioned a "multicast port unavailable" message; have you simultaneously made changes to either your "remote Mac" hardware or how you operate it (i.e. use of wireless)?

Edited November 19, 2019 by DavidHertzberg
P.S.: Have you simultaneously made changes to either your "remote Mac" hardware or how you operate it?

[Nigel Smith]

9 hours ago, bookcent said:

If I reboot the remote mac it sometimes works and does a backup

Do you have more than one network connection on the client, eg you're using ethernet and wireless is also turned on? You mentioned a "multicast port unavailable" message in another thread, which is usually seen after the RS client sees a network change -- either a different IP on the same interface, or a different interface becoming primary. Make sure ethernet is above wireless in your service order (System Preferences->Network, click the cog-wheel under the connection list, "Set Service Order...", drag into the order you want) and/or turn off your wireless.

You can often get multicast working again (assuming your IP is stable!) by turning the client off and on. If going direct as David suggests above you may still have to sort this out -- if the client binds to the wireless when you entered the ethernet IP you'll have the same problem -- or make use of static IPs and Retroclient's "ipsave" command, documented here.

[bookcent]

10 hours ago, DavidHertzberg said:

bookcent/Steve,

First of all, "backup client not found" is error -530, not -503.  I presume you have taken steps 1-5 in this ancient Knowledge Base article.

Second, I solved a 2-year-long problem with -530 errors by Removing my MacBook Pro client from Sources and re-adding it using Add Source Directly—after having assigned the MBP a fixed IP on my router using its MAC address (stands for Media Access Control and has nothing to do with Macintosh, obtained from System Preferences -> Network -> Advanced for active Ethernet connection -> Hardware tab), per pages 66 and 79-80 in the Retrospect Mac 16 User's Guide.  You speak of "remote Macs"; are these "clients" possibly on a different subnet from your "backup server"?  If so, Subnet Broadcast, per page 79 in the UG, may work for you instead of Add Source Directly; it worked for me when I briefly tried it in late 2018 per henry-in-florida's suggestion.

Third, once you have eliminated the -530 error, upgrading your remote Mac to Catalina means you'll have to comply with this KB article to fully access it with Retrospect.  This KB article is also applicable, but you have complied with its current contents by upgrading your "backup server" to Retrospect Mac 16.5.1.(104); Retrospect "inc." promised new contents several weeks ago, but so far there's been no update of the article.

P.S.: As Nigel Smith has pointed out below, while I was writing this you started another thread.  In that one you mentioned a "multicast port unavailable" message; have you simultaneously made changes to either your "remote Mac" hardware or how you operate it (i.e. use of wireless)?

Hi

Thanks for the answer and sorry about the -503 typo !

My client and server are on the same subnet, i can ping and traceroute no problems

I thought about removing and re adding the source but the fact it works sometimes has led me to believe that this is not the issue

When I upgraded to Mojave i did all the stuff on that KB article and retrospect is still allowed full access

Are stated both server and clients are v 16.5.1.(104)

Also I did not start another thread I found it while continuing to research the problem and noticed the multicast message, not changes have been made to the networking setup

Plugging and unplugging the ethernet cable and rebooting the hub and the client mac allowed me to do  a backup last night

Steve

 

 

 

 

[bookcent]

6 hours ago, Nigel Smith said:

Do you have more than one network connection on the client, eg you're using ethernet and wireless is also turned on? You mentioned a "multicast port unavailable" message in another thread, which is usually seen after the RS client sees a network change -- either a different IP on the same interface, or a different interface becoming primary. Make sure ethernet is above wireless in your service order (System Preferences->Network, click the cog-wheel under the connection list, "Set Service Order...", drag into the order you want) and/or turn off your wireless.

You can often get multicast working again (assuming your IP is stable!) by turning the client off and on. If going direct as David suggests above you may still have to sort this out -- if the client binds to the wireless when you entered the ethernet IP you'll have the same problem -- or make use of static IPs and Retroclient's "ipsave" command, documented here.

Hi

Thanks for the reply, I do have more than one connection thought the ethernet is top prioriy and has a fixed IP address

Turning the client on and off seems to work occasionaly but not every time.

I was unaware of the "ipsave" command so i'll give that a try

If i still have issues I think i'll try replacing the hub because that seemed to work in the other thread I found

Thanks

Steve

 

 

[Nigel Smith]

On 11/19/2019 at 10:49 PM, bookcent said:

Thanks for the reply, I do have more than one connection thought the ethernet is top prioriy and has a fixed IP address

That doesn't matter. The client will bind to the first interface to become available, regardless of your preferences. So if your ethernet is slower to come up than your wireless -- because, for example, your hub is a bit flakey! -- the client binds to the wireless interface instead of the ethernet.

You can solve that by turning off your wireless and restarting the client but, since you're on a static IP for your wired connection, it's even easier to use "ipsave" (since that persists across restarts etc) to force the client to bind to the ethernet interface.

And yes -- if you suspect your hub for any reason, get another. It could save you a lot of troubleshooting in the future!

[bookcent]

Hi

The ipsave cpmmand helped a little, though I had to use sudo to make it work

I replaced the hub and now it's all working fine, so that was the final part of the issue !

Thanks for all the help

Steve