Tiger Incompatibility

[blantyr]

A few days ago, Apple released Tiger 10.4.2. One of the features of the new release is "improved compatibility with third party products."

 

While it is too soon to be certain I'm good, two of my volume backups that were consistently crashing with no error messages under 10.4.1 just ran clean under 10.4.2. Those who think there may be bugs in Tiger 10.4.1 drivers should definitely consider visiting Software Update.

[CallMeDave]

This is good news. Apple does work with third party developers such as Dantz, and has made OS changes in the past that solved issues in Retrospect.

 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

 

David

[blantyr]

My fingers are still crossed as well, but there is a definite improvement with my problem of crash with no error message when backing up to a file on an external firewire drive. Since upgrading to 10.4.2, I have been able to do a full back up of my internal hard drive, and multiple incremental back ups adding to it. These had been consistently crashing under 10.4.1.

 

I did get one "Internal Consistency Check Failed: Assertion Check at tree.c-3444." However, Retrospect exited cleanly and apparently wrote the catalog of the partial backup. The follow up partial backup picked up where the prior run stopped.

 

Not perfect, but a distinct improvement.

[ben23]

Yesterday I installed the 10.4.2 server update, and last night Retrospect finished with a complete backup - no errors. Apple has also fixed a nasty permissions inheritance issue with earlier versions of Tiger and Tiger server. With this latest update I think OS X 10.4 is finally ready for prime-time.

 

Thanks to Apple and Dantz for listening.

[ben23]

actually, the 10.4 update is still not ready for primetime, maybe Tiger will finally be a decent operating system in another 3-6 months? not just 10.4.2 server is still buggy, but even the regular 10.4 is buggy - other computers in the office that are running 10.4.2 are having strange issues with programs malfunctioning, that don't occur with the same program and version on a different computer running 10.3.9.

 

or maybe i'm SOL until dantz releases the fully 100% compatible version of retrospect? retrospect completed the entire backup, then this morning the server reset. and just this afternoon it reset again for no apparent reason (and a backup was not running).

 

the console reads:

 

Jul 21 07:10:20 fileserver /Applications/Retrospect 6.0/Retrospect/Contents/MacOS/RetroRunSL.app/Contents/MacOS/RetroRunSL: kCGErrorFailure : CGSInternalCopyCurrentSessionDictionary : Didn't get a dictionary. (XML parser error:

Encountered unexpected character j on line 4

Old-style plist parser error:

Malformed data byte group at line 1; invalid hex

)

Jul 21 07:10:37 fileserver launchd: com.apple.servermgrd: exited abnormally: Segmentation fault

Jul 21 07:10:37 fileserver launchd: com.apple.servermgrd: 9 more failures without living at least 60 seconds will cause job removal

Jul 21 07:10:38 fileserver launchd: com.apple.servermgrd: exited abnormally: Bus error

Jul 21 07:10:38 fileserver launchd: com.apple.servermgrd: respawning too quickly! throttling

Jul 21 07:10:38 fileserver launchd: com.apple.servermgrd: 8 more failures without living at least 60 seconds will cause job removal

Jul 21 07:10:38 fileserver launchd: com.apple.servermgrd: will restart in 10 seconds

Jul 21 07:10:38 fileserver crashdump[15332]: servermgrd crashed

Jul 21 07:10:39 fileserver crashdump[15334]: distnoted crashed

Jul 21 07:10:40 fileserver crashdump[15336]: crashdump crashed

Jul 21 07:10:49 fileserver crashdump[15339]: crashdump crashed

Jul 21 07:10:50 fileserver launchd: com.apple.servermgrd: exited abnormally: Segmentation fault

Jul 21 07:10:50 fileserver launchd: com.apple.servermgrd: respawning too quickly! throttling

Jul 21 07:10:50 fileserver launchd: com.apple.servermgrd: 7 more failures without living at least 60 seconds will cause job removal

Jul 21 07:10:50 fileserver launchd: com.apple.servermgrd: will restart in 10 seconds

Jul 21 07:11:00 fileserver launchd: com.apple.servermgrd: exited abnormally: Segmentation fault

Jul 21 07:11:00 fileserver launchd: com.apple.servermgrd: respawning too quickly! throttling

Jul 21 07:11:00 fileserver launchd: com.apple.servermgrd: 6 more failures without living at least 60 seconds will cause job removal

Jul 21 07:11:00 fileserver launchd: com.apple.servermgrd: will restart in 10 seconds

Jul 21 07:11:00 fileserver crashdump[15342]: servermgrd crashed

Jul 21 07:11:01 fileserver crashdump[15343]: crashdump crashed

Jul 21 07:11:10 fileserver launchd: com.apple.servermgrd: exited abnormally: Segmentation fault

Jul 21 07:11:10 fileserver launchd: com.apple.servermgrd: respawning too quickly! throttling

Jul 21 07:11:10 fileserver launchd: com.apple.servermgrd: 5 more failures without living at least 60 seconds will cause job removal

Jul 21 07:11:10 fileserver launchd: com.apple.servermgrd: will restart in 10 seconds

Jul 21 07:11:10 fileserver crashdump[15346]: servermgrd crashed

Jul 21 07:11:11 fileserver crashdump[15348]: crashdump crashed

Jul 21 07:11:22 fileserver /Applications/Retrospect 6.0/Retrospect/Contents E`bOR*etroRunSL.app/Contents/MacOS/RetroRunSL: kCGErrorFailure : CGSInternalCop8

 

 

Does anybody have any ideas? I'd appreciate it, thanks.

[dstranathan]

What do you mean by "Apple dropping SCSI support "? Can you post links to where Apple officialy says this? I just bought an Xserve G5 with a OEM PCI-X SCSI U320 VHDCI dual channel card in it.

[stellar808]

I installed Desktop 6.0 and updated to 6.0.20x. Now Retrospect will not accept my password. Was this update really an upgrade for which I am suppose to purcahse? Otherwise, how can I get Retrospect to accept my password for 6.0?

[tzm]

Within the last week, backing up to a Sony AIT2 firewire drive is no longer possible using 10.4.2 and the Tiger version of Retrospect. Running a script, it gets to the point where it searches the tape to begin backing up and then goes into a beachball. The drive stops working, like it lost contact with the computer. This is on a new iMAC G5. Worked fine up until a couple of weeks ago when it began gettting "element" errors as well.

 

To eliminate the iMAC G5 as the cause, tried in on a 15" laptop running the same versions of the software. Same thing happened.

 

Then booted the laptop using my iPod, running 10.3.7. Everything fine. No problems.

 

Something introduced in 10.4.2 seems like the problem. 10.4.1 worked fine.

 

Any ideas??

[CallMeDave]

Quote:

---

I installed Desktop 6.0 and updated to 6.0.20x

 

---

 

There is no version 6.0.20x of Retrospect for Macintosh; which version are you using?

 

> Now Retrospect will not accept my password

 

Retrospect uses OS X's built in authentication API's. A valid Administrator username and password pair are required.

 

- What, exactly, are you doing, and what, exactly, do you observe when you do it?

 

Dave

[ben23]

There is only one solution to our problems - either dump Tiger or dump Retrospect and find a replacement backup solution.

 

I've given up on Apple and Dantz, it's been two months and things are working no better then the end of May when I first set all of this up. Neither Apple nor Dantz seem to be capable of fixing these incompatibilities and my company can't keep going without a complete and stable backup solution - which neither Apple nor Dantz are capable of providing at this time.

 

Adios EMC Dantz.

[CallMeDave]

> Adios EMC Dantz

 

In a previous post you wrote:

 

"...Since updating my file server from server 10.1.4 to server 10.4.1 I have been unable to successfully back the drive up by any means. When I had the backup drive and Retrospect software installed on another G4 with Panther it would begin to crash Retrospect about halfway through backing up the share. It would always crash with a bad_access or exception error"

 

Does this mean that earlier, Retrospect (6.0.x?) was running on this G4/Panther backing up your OS X Server 10.1.x machine without incident?

 

And the only change was updating the server OS, causing Retrospect to fail to operate?

 

- How is Retrospect accessing the remote machine? Are you running the Retrospecct OS X Client software? Or is Retrospect accessing mounted AFP volumes?

 

"...my company can't keep going without a complete and stable backup solution...

 

Problems with Retrospect 6.0.212 under Mac OS X 10.4.x have sort of been recognized on this Forum by someone who writes as if he/she is a Dantz employee. But it sounds to me as if you had a complete, stable backup solution, but you upgraded your file server before it passed any sort of in-house qualifications.

 

If it were my company, and my IT department changed a production server before testing it fully (where such tests would have revealed a glaring bug in critical software), it would be Adios IT Manager...

 

Dave

[ben23]

I used to have a sole server for backing up over the network, it was running OS X 10.3.9 with Retrospect 6.0.?? (I can't remember which specific version it ran) and it would backup the entire network (including the 10.1.4 server) flawlessly every night.

 

Initially I wanted to run Retrospect on the 10.1.4 server itself but I could never get the ATTO drivers for my UL4S SCSI card to work properly, it would consistently cause a kernel panic so that was the reason for setting up the independent machine for doing only backups.

 

I would've loved to keep 10.1.4 server but it had a problem with inheriting permissions on AFP shares, something that Apple fixed in 10.2.4 server (I think that was the release where they fixed it). This was causing a big problem, especially with OS X-based computers on the network putting files/folders into the nested folders on the File Server's sharepoint. We purchased 10.4 Server Unlimited for the file server and it installed great, everything migrated over properly from the older OS too, it was very slick and I followed the included Migration guide to a tee.

 

The permissions issue was present in 10.4.0 and 10.4.1, something that left a sour taste after shelling out $1K for a program that was supposed to have this permissions issue fixed (it worked in Panther Server but broke again in the early releases of Tiger). Now the permissions issue is fixed and the server was working great.

 

I now have the SCSI card and Retrospect 6.0.204 installed on the standalone backup server and have set it up to backup the network computers and servers (including the 10.4.2 File Server).

 

It's very weird, the 10.3.9 "backup server" will complete the backup of the File Server's drive but then Retrospect crashes on that machine after backing up about a half of a dozen computers over the network. This morning the File Server was crashed again (as well as Retrospect on the backup server), and the crazy thing is that when this happens the screen on the 10.4.2 File Server shows little specks of black (almost like snow or fuzz) randomly on windows and menubars... shortly after that it goes to a kernel panic. Even after restarting the computer it is now randomly crashing and exhibiting that issue.

 

I've consulted Apple's knowledge base and service manuals on the computer and searched for any signs of this problem (the machine is a dual 1 Ghz quicksilver 2002 model G4 tower) and Apple's knowledge base had no mention of this problem.

 

Thinking that it may be a hardware issue/failure that appears to have been conveniently well-timed with the software upgrades I've removed and reinstalled the CPU module looking for bent pins and found none, I've cleaned the machine, I've replaced the RAM with 1 GB of brand new and known good RAM (that ram works fine in another G4 tower that also uses PC133 SDRAM), I've replaced the video card with a known good Radeon 9000 Pro from a MDD G4 tower, I've even completely uninstalled, formatted the OS drive, and reinstalled OS X Server 10.4.2 yet this issue still persists. Just now I've completely removed everything Retrospect related from the File Server's hard drive to attempt to rule out that Retrospect is the problem. Tonight I'll be running a full surface scan of the hard drive to make sure that it isn't dying (it is a Maxtor 250GB that has been under heavy use pretty much consistently for the past year and a half so it would not surprise me if the drive is dying).

 

Other than that I am almost at a dead end. Short of reverting to 10.1.4 Server, and now I'm not sure if that will even solve things. All of the hardware checks out OK on TechTool Pro, the only test I have not done is the surface scan of the drives because of the time involved. Any help or ideas would be appreciated.

[CallMeDave]

Quote:

---

the 10.3.9 "backup server" will complete the backup of the File Server's drive but then Retrospect crashes on that machine after backing up about a half of a dozen computers over the network.

 

---

 

It still isn't clear (to this reader) exactly what's happening.

 

Retrospect successfully completes a remote backup of the new Tiger Server install.

- Are you accessing the Tiger Server through the Retrospect Client software?

 

After the Tiger Server has been successfully backed up, and after other machines in the script have also been successfully backed up, the Retrospect machine crashes.

 

- At this point, the Tiger Server is still working as expected?

 

> This morning the File Server was crashed again (as well as Retrospect on the backup server),

>and the crazy thing is that when this happens the screen on the 10.4.2 File Server shows little

>specks of black (almost like snow or fuzz) randomly on windows and menubars...

 

Is there an indication that the Server's crash is directly related to the Retrospect machine's crash?

Looking at Retrospect's Operations Log, what are the last entries? Does it indicate a situation such as the one above, where it successfully backed up the server but crashed after half a dozen other clients? That would suggest that the two phenomena are not related.

[ben23]

Yeah, I'm accessing the Tiger Server through Retrospect Client. The backup server with 10.3.9 is using Retrospect 6.0.204 with driver update 6.4.102. It also has the ATTO scsi card installed in it. If I take the Tiger Server out of the backup script Retrospect on the backup server still crashes, and it's crashing at the same spot - while trying to backup some mysql databases - so it looks like that is an unrelated issue to Tiger, probably something related to permissions on the 10.3.9 backup server. Retrospect always ran best using the version of 6.0 that came on the CD so I think I'll revert back to that version instead of the latest non-tiger download available from Dantz's website.

 

The Tiger Server is having a very tough time working as it should. Since reinstalling the snow/fuzz is gone but it boots up with half of the icons not showing and trying to launch programs fails. This morning, shortly after restarting the server, it came up with the following kernel panic message:

 

"BACKTRACE TERMINATED - UNALIGNED FRAME ADDRESS 0xFC14F347"

 

Running the Disk Utility from the 10.4 Server install disc finds no problems on either hard drive in the system, Techtool's surface scan checked out OK too. I've done all the standard tricks - zap PRAM, reset cuda chip, reset mobo... nothing works. I thought the pram battery may be toasted but the voltmeter showed 3.6v.

 

Last week when I formatted and completely reinstalled the installation of the system software it didn't appear to have any issue until I installed Retrospect Client 6.0.212 on this computer (Tiger Server). The problems appeared shortly after that but I also installed the 10.4.2 update at the same time, so this time I have reinstalled the system software from scratch and I'm going to refrain from installing the Retrospect Client and see if the machine can remain stable.

 

If my problems occur after installing the 10.4.2 update then I'll have a better idea where my issue lies.

[ben23]

Since reinstalling the OS on the Tiger Server it ran fine yesterday, then crashed early this morning. I had not installed any Retrospect software on the machine this time so that rules out Retrospect as a cause of the crashes.

 

I've checked the console log and this is the only bit of meaningful info I've found:

 

Aug 1 09:18:56 fileserver named[300]: starting BIND 9.2.2 -f

Aug 1 09:18:57 fileserver named[300]: command channel listening on 127.0.0.1#54

Aug 1 20:02:48 fileserver launchd: com.apple.servermgrd: exited abnormally: Bus error

Aug 1 20:02:48 fileserver launchd: com.apple.servermgrd: 9 more failures without living at least 60 seconds will cause job removal

Aug 1 20:20:23 fileserver DirectoryService[39]: NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local

 

Anyways, since this is not a Retrospect issue I'll stop hogging Dantz's bandwidth with this.