Does retro 6.x handle users who move between LAN and wireless???

[mapski99]

I have observed this many times in Retrospect 5.x.....I want to know if upgrading to v6.x solve this issue?

 

The user (a G4 powerbook for example) starts on the LAN, gets connected and a few backups are successful. Then the user switches to the wireless AP. The user gets a 2nd IP address for the wireless card. Retrospect gets completely confused - the uesr cannot be backed up.

 

The solution in retro v5.x is for the user to reinstall the Retrospect client. The server has to delete the user, find it in "network" in retrospect (or manually enter the 2nd IP), then add that user back to any scripts they were previously part of. This workaround is more than impractical.

 

Does Retrospect 6.x have the ability to handle computers that move from the LAN to wireless - without jumping through hoops?

 

thanks

-J

[CallMeDave]

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The user (a G4 powerbook for example) starts on the LAN, gets connected and

 

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How was the Client "connected?"

 

Was the Client machine selected from the "Select a backup client" pane of the "Backup Clients on Network" window?

 

Or was the client added to the Backup Client Database by entering its IP address?

 

>The solution in retro v5.x is for the user to reinstall the Retrospect client.

 

While this may have worked for you, it is hardly "the solution." Reinstalling does nothing a simple kill/restart of the pitond process wouldn't have acomplished, if it was actually necessary.

 

Clients that have been logged into Retrospect via broadcasting can be accessed via different physical network interfaces. This was true in 5.x, and remains true in 6.x.

 

Not to say that Retrospect can't get confused with clients, or that the client sofware doesn't have some problems with sleeping and switching interfaces. But it's basic functionality does allow for roaming machines.

 

Dave

[mapski99]

CMD,

 

thanks for the reply.

 

Was the Client machine selected from the "Select a backup client" pane of the "Backup Clients on Network" window?

 

At first yes, the user is selected using the Backup Client Database. The client shows up in the "Select a backup client" pane when I select Network... -> TCP/IP -> MacOSX.

 

Is that what you mean by logging in by broadcasting?

 

When the user moved to his wireless connection, he no longer appeared in Network... -> TCP/IP -> MacOSX. I had to manually get the IP address from the user's computer, then "Add by Address...". Most of the time that would still result in an error message, such as client not found, or duplicate user.

 

Reinstalling does nothing a simple kill/restart of the pitond process wouldn't have acomplished, if it was actually necessary

 

It sounds like a sudo killall pitond, then restart retroclient via terminal command is equivalent to turning Retrospect OFF and then back ON. Or is there more? It is usually the case that just turning the client on and off does not remedy the situation. In fact, deleting the app and preferences and reinstalling seems to be only solution sometimes.

 

You are also suggesting that killing the pitond process may not even have been necessary. Would be great if it wasn't, but what do you suggest I do instead?

 

Clients that have been logged into Retrospect via broadcasting can be accessed via different physical network interfaces. This was true in 5.x, and remains true in 6.x.

 

So I must be missing something. I can do a clean install, reconnect while he is on the lan, then switch to wireless and lose him completely. I can only find him by entering the IP of his new wireless address, but retrospect thinks he is a new user.

 

I can try killing pitond when I run into problem. Any other suggestions?

 

Thanks for the assistance,

-JD

[mapski99]

With both 5.x and 6.x, are laptop users able to move seemlessly between the lan and wlan and get backed up by retrospect? problem free, error-free, interaction-free?

 

Is this what most retrospect users are seeing with laptops that move between lan and wlan?

 

-JD

[CallMeDave]

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When the user moved to his wireless connection, he no longer appeared in Network... -> TCP/IP -> MacOSX.

 

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Then this is your problem. Your wireless access point is likely blocking the broadcast packets. Make sure that your WAP allows UDP traffic; make sure that UDP port 497 is open.

 

>It sounds like a sudo killall pitond, then restart retroclient via terminal command is

>equivalent to turning Retrospect OFF and then back ON.

 

The On/Off radio buttons in the Retrospect Client application window _can_ be used to kill pitond. But simply clicking "Off" will not do it. If the status window reads "Off" then pitond is still alive, but set not to connect.

 

Option+Off is necessary to kill the daemon, and will result in the Status window showing "Not running"

 

The "on" button will always start pitond; no tricks there.

 

Dave

[mapski99]

That is the confusion. The laptop can be backed up over the wireless connection, but only after I delete the user from the database in retrospect (gets removed from scripts too) and then add the user via IP address.

 

So it's not a matter of blocked traffic on the WAP.

[CallMeDave]

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So it's not a matter of blocked traffic on the WAP.

 

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Sigh.

 

The fact that you are able to connect to the client via its IP address tells you nothing about your network's ability to pass UDP traffic.

 

But if the wireless client doesn't show up in the "Backup Clients on Network" window, then that _is_ telling you something. Either that your WAP is not passing UDP packets on port 497, or broadcasting is being filtered in some other manner.

 

- What is the make/model of the WAP that this client is connecting to?

 

Dave

[mapski99]

Netgear MR814

[CallMeDave]

Quote:

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Netgear MR814

 

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- Is it the MR814, the MR814v2, or the MR814v3?

 

- What version of the firmware is running?

 

You can download a trial version of IPNetMonitorX, which has UDP port scanning. On a well configured network, you will get a response on UDP port 497 on both wired and wireless.

 

You should also make sure that the Netgear's firmware is up to date.

 

Dave

[mapski99]

I ended up successfully finding a work around, which was to assign the same ip address to the mac via wired and wireless routers. This setup is working fine.

 

I then pulled the Netgear MR814v1 wireless router and replaced it with a Netgear WRG614v6 (fw V1.0.11_1.0.7NA). I still don't see any UDP packets on the network, whether wired or wireless (using IPNetMonitorX)

 

It's a small network with a Mac OS X 10.2.8 Server running Retrospect 5.0.238. The server is connected to an unmanaged switch which is then connected to a mixed enviro of a few desktops and laptops. The netgear WAP is connected directly to the switch.

 

Thanks,

-J