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Backup server still not seeing destinations


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Back in August I reported a situation where backup server scripts would get stuck because they were unable to see certain destination backup sets. I had no responses, and frankly was hoping the problem I reported earlier would go away with a new hardware configuration. However, it's still present, but with slightly different symptoms.

 

Our current setup: Retrospect 6.0.204, RDU 6.6.101 on a G5 1.8 GHz DP running 10.3.9. The destination drives are two SCSI (ATTO UL4S) DDS tape drives (HP DAT-72 and Sony SDT-10000) and two FW HDs (SmartDisk Crossfire 180GB; and LaCie Big Disk Extreme 500GB, multiply-partitioned, containing two Retrospect backup sets plus non-Retrospect partitions) being used as removable disks.

 

The basic problem is the same: Normal backup scripts and duplicate scripts run fine, writing to the designated storage set (DDS or removable disk). Backup server scripts also work fine under most circumstances.

 

However, backup server scripts often get stuck (usually after backing up a single client) when the destination storage set chosen is one of the DDS storage sets AND two other conditions are fulfilled: a backup set on one of the LaCie FW HD's partitions is listed as one of the destinations in Backup Server AND the disk itself is mounted.

 

"Stuck" means that the Backup Server "Backup Sets" window's "Action" indication flashes alternately between "Polling" and "Checking media," while the "Sources" window flashes "Media" opposite the client due for backup, and nothing further happens.

 

Quitting and relaunching Retrospect will fix the problem temporarily; unmounting the LaCie Drive or removing it from ALL backup server scripts (active and inactive) seems to fix the problem for good.

 

Sound like something weird with the LaCie drive? Perhaps, except that earlier this summer, where the only difference in our setup was that I was using a G4 450 DP instead of the G5, relaunching Retrospect did not help. The only thing I found to work then was using the ATTO configuration tool to rescan the SCSI bus or rebooting the whole machine. (I never tried unmounting the LaCie drive with the G4 because the problem then seemed SCSI-related.)

 

LaCie is skeptical that their drive is at fault, since I can use Finder and Carbon Copy Cloner to copy FROM any partition and TO any non-Retrospect partition, and since I can consistently perform reads and writes using Retrospect. The fact that the problem only surfaces in Backup Server and only when the LaCie drive is NOT an active destination does seem bizarre.

 

Any suggestions as to why Retrospect may be exhibiting this kind of behavior with the LaCie drive would be appreciated.

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Your post has lots of detail (which is good). But the first thing that springs to mind is to ask why on earth you're using Removable Backup Sets on a partitioned drive.

 

There is a reason that the ability to use FireWire/USB fixed platter drives as if they were removable media is provided only as an option in the preferences. Retrospect for Mac OS is not really designed for this.

 

The only time that one would want/need to do this if the user was expecting to span the Backup Set across multiple volumes. And the only time _that_ would be truely necessary is if the user expected to span the Backup Set across multiple physical hard drives.

 

It sounds as if you are not doing that; it sounds as if your backup data fits within the size of the partitions you're using. So the _first_ thing I'd try is changing the Removable Backup Sets to File Backup Sets and see if the problem persists.

 

Dave

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Quote:

But the first thing that springs to mind is to ask why on earth you're using Removable Backup Sets on a partitioned drive.

 


 

Habit and prejudice.

 

Habit because we received the FW HD as a replacement for a tape drive that had failed under warranty, and we began using the HD as a direct replacement for one of our tape backup sets.

 

Prejudice because I've been using Retrospect since the time that file backup sets were only a crippled alternative for users who didn't have any better options for backup media.

 

We'll try shifting to a file backup set to see if that gets around the problem.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I too am using Backup Server to back up (three) computers to a LaCie Big Disk Extreme 500 GB FireWire hard drive.

 

I was having a similar problem of Retrospect Backup Server flashing "checking media" and "polling" alternately and not really doing anything else. (Except chewing up the processor, as viewed in Activity Monitor -- every few seconds, Retrospect demanded 70+% of the machine for several seconds).

 

The problem of "checking media"/"polling" flashing back and forth started after I reinstalled OS X 10.4, but before I applied the combo updater to 10.4.2.

 

Since applying the Tiger 10.4.2 combo update (via Software Update), the problem has gone away.

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  • 9 months later...

Quote:

The basic problem is the same: Normal backup scripts and duplicate scripts run fine, writing to the designated storage set (DDS or removable disk). Backup server scripts also work fine under most circumstances.

 

However, backup server scripts often get stuck (usually after backing up a single client) when the destination storage set chosen is one of the DDS storage sets AND two other conditions are fulfilled: a backup set on one of the LaCie FW HD's partitions is listed as one of the destinations in Backup Server AND the disk itself is mounted.

 

"Stuck" means that the Backup Server "Backup Sets" window's "Action" indication flashes alternately between "Polling" and "Checking media," while the "Sources" window flashes "Media" opposite the client due for backup, and nothing further happens.

 

Quitting and relaunching Retrospect will fix the problem temporarily; unmounting the LaCie Drive or removing it from ALL backup server scripts (active and inactive) seems to fix the problem for good.

 


 

Our backup configuration is exhibiting this behavior while trying to use the Backup Server to backup clients. The "stuck" description explains exactly what is happening on this system.

 

Our current setup: Retrospect 6.1.126, Device Access Version 1.0.107, on a Power Macintosh G4 (AGP Graphics) running 10.4.7. The destination drives are two 120 GB internal hard drives (one drive contains the OS and some Retrospect file backup sets and catalogs. The other internal drive being used a removable disks as a destination for the Backup Server).

 

Quitting and relaunching Retrospect does not solve this problem. I am surprised to read that after a year and several releases later in the both the OS and Retrospect software that this would still be an issue.

 

Any suggestions as to why Retrospect may be exhibiting this kind of behavior, as the original poster requested, would be appreciated.

 

Changing the destination to a file set instead of using an internal hard drive as a removable disk seems to have corrected this behavior.

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