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external scripts won't execute


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I can perform backups via the 7.5.112 linux client of volumes on my RHEL4 server. But when I enable external scripting (by creating the /etc/retroeventhandler folder), all backups fail and the server gives the error: Source volume skipped (external script intervened: ). This happens when there is no script in the folder and when the folder contains the default retroeventhandler script, copied over from the /usr/local/dantz/client folder. The script will run just fine when called directly from the command line.

 

One clue to the problem might be in the retropds.log file. When I enable the external scripting I get this error when a backup is executed and fails: volScriptFork[1]: execv() failed with error 13

 

This implies to me that the retrospect client cannot run the execv() function which executes the script. Does this mean that I am missing some dependencies? Like maybe some compat C libraries or maybe GCC or Xorg packages?

 

Has anyone else had this problem and/or have a solution?

 

Thanks.

 

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You may be the first person I have heard of trying to use the external scripting function on a linux client. It has been so long, I am not sure if it was ever actually supported.

 

Has this ever worked for you?

 

The current version of Retrospect does have some bugs with Linux clients that can kill the backup. A beta bug fix should be released this week.

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I haven't actually gotten external scripting to work before, but I have used the client for Linux backups without scripting since version 7.0 came out. I have only tried scripting on RHEL 4 once before about a year ago and had the same problem as described above. I gave up right away at that time. I had seen in the past instances of people using this to restart the client after a backup (to combat the Linux client problem that you mentioned). Here are some successful examples:

 

http://forums.dantz.com/showtopic.php?tid/13688/post/50862/hl/retroeventhandler/fromsearch/1/#50862

http://forums.dantz.com/showtopic.php?tid/3256/post/12413/hl/retroeventhandler/fromsearch/1/#12413

 

 

The scripting would be very useful these days, because I need to run a script before backup that will take an lvm snapshot and mount the snapshot for retrosepect to back up. This seems to be the best and quickest way to do a cold backup of a system that requires minimal downtime and needs to maintain state (no changes) during the backup. (I am actually backing up a Zimbra Collaboration Server).

 

I kind of assumed that the external scripting was a neglectable component of the Linux client, judging by the lack of mention in the user guide. I, and a few other consultants like me, would find this useful for lvm backups if we could get it to work. For now I can get buy with performing the snapshot with a cron job well in advance of the backup. But, I'd rather have the client initiate the snapshot.

 

---

 

On the technical side, do you know how retrospect calls the execv() function? And do you know if I have to have certain packages installed for this function to work? Error 13 usually implies permission denied, is this the case here? I double checked and the the script permissions were 777.

 

I am not sure if this is the actual problem, but this seems to be where the trail ends for me. I hope this is informative.

 

-Paul

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just wanted to bump this again and see if I could get anyone else to try to get external scripts via the Linux client working, or at least verify my problem with a test run of external scripts.

 

LVM backups are SAAH-WEET! I am manually creating an LVM snapshot, running a backup via the Linux client, and then removing the snapshot. So far my experience with this performance-wise is very good. The only thing I am missing is automation. Downtime for the mail server amounts to 2min - tops, which is the amount of time it takes to stop and start all the mail server processes. The snapshot is darn near instantaneous. Once I can get Retrospect to create and remove the snapshot, I will have an awesome backup solution.

 

Any other automation suggestions would be welcome.

 

THX

 

 

 

 

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Hi warmbowski,

 

I setup a matching environment but with the newest updates and found that I too received the same errors.

 

I will look into this a bit, but because you are possibly the only person ever to use this function, I assume engineering would not make this their priority if reported.

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Hey, thanks a lot! Much appreciated.

 

 

Now that LVM is pretty ripe and many server apps are database driven, I don't think that I'll be the only one looking for this in the long run. I see tons of tutorials on the Internet explaining how to backup via lvm snapshot . It's quick and easy.

 

I prefer to use Retrospect to rsync. It's an awesome product.

 

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warmbowski

 

I fooled around a little bit and this is what I think.

 

The executable should not be in folder /etc/retroeventhandler. The executable itself should be named /etc/retroeventhandler.

 

As soon as I made a directory with that name I found myself to be getting that error, but when I moved the script called "retroeventhandler" found in /usr/local/dantz/client to /etc/ the script was executed properly. In this case it makes a history log in your /root folder.

 

Whether the original intention for this feature was to execute scripts in a directory with the path /etc/retroeventhandler/ or to just to execute a single script with that name, I do not know. Hopefully if you had multiple scripts that you planned on using, you’ll find a way to merge them together.

 

-Jeff

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