at wit's end

[mbizer]

I don't know what to do. I'm trying to start (i.e. save) a combined file backup set on a MacOS X server volume mounted via afp. If I mount the volume manually in the Finder via "Connect to Server...," I can see my subfolder (they're sorted by faculty name) just fine in the Finder or Retrospect's Navigation services dialog, but I can't actually save the backup set file to the server: I get error -5000 (server: no privileges). If I have Retrospect mount the server volume via the Volumes list in "Configure" (I click on Browse), then I can't see the contents of the server volume in Retrospect's Navigation services dialog and thus I'm unable to select a destination for saving.

 

 

 

This would appear to be a problem related to the fact that Retrospect runs as "root."

 

 

 

What can I do?

[lv2ski]

An error -5000 (server no privileges) is an AppleShare-generated error, alerting you that you do not have the required privileges to access the volume in question.

 

 

 

Check your access privileges to this volume to make sure it is completely accessible to you. If you are getting this error consistently on one volume, try dismounting the volume from the desktop, forgetting it from the Volume Selection window (Configure>Volumes), remounting the volume on your desktop, and try the backup again.

 

 

 

You can make Retrospect use a password to automatically mount a shared volume when it is needed—typically, while executing a backup script—and unmount it when Retrospect is

 

done with it. To configure the password of a shared volume, such as from a file server, select the volume and choose Configure from the Volumes menu. The password configuration dialog appears, listing the server, volume, and user names. In the space provided, enter the password for the shown user name, then click OK.

 

 

 

Another possibility is that you've got some kind of security software

 

installed on the machine you're backing up, and that that software is

 

preventing you from accessing a protected area of the hard drive. Check to

 

see if there is any software running on that machine fitting this

 

description and try disabling it.

 

 

[mbizer]

The volume is completely accessible to me: I can drag files to it from the Finder and delete files from it.

 

 

 

I have Retrospect set up to automatically mount the volume with a password.

 

 

 

I do not have any security software installed on my Mac.

 

 

 

Any other suggestions?

[lv2ski]

Log in as Root. Test it out...does it make a difference? just wondering....

[CallMeDave]

In reply to:

---

This would appear to be a problem related to the fact that Retrospect runs as "root."

---

 

Yes indeed.

 

 

 

When Dantz provided the Macworld Preview of Retrospect 5.0 last January it handled things differently.

 

 

 

In that version, the SaveFile dialog box ran as root, the same as the application did.

 

 

 

The problem with that was if you used OS X's built in navigation shortucts (for Home or Desktop, for example) files would be saved into /var/root/; usrs could not see or access catalogs from the Finder.

 

 

 

They apparently changed this for the shipping version. Now the SaveFile dialog runs as the current logged in user, so shortucts such as Command+Option H bring you to _your_ Home directory, and not root's.

 

 

 

But this apparently prevents you from accessing sub-directories in a volume for which you are not the owner (I just tried saving a catalog to a mounted AFP volume for which I was the owner and had no problem, but saw what you see when I tried the same thing for a server for which I am but a lowly user).

 

 

 

So for now this seems like a limitation of the program. You can back up data _from_ a mounted AFP volume (if you have permissions for them). And you can save a catalog file _to_ a mounted AFP volume if you are the owner, or if the permissions of the server give you full access all the way down to the destination directory.

 

 

 

You might need to request your server administrator go provide you with your own share point into which you can save your backup catalogs.

 

 

 

Dave

[mbizer]

How can a dialog run as one user (the currently logged in one), and the app run as root?

 

 

 

Most interestingly, I had no problems until June, after (I believe) I updated to 10.1.5.

 

 

 

This is a HUGE limitation of the program: I would think that the currently logged-in users is most often NOT the owner of the server to which s/he is backing up.

 

 

 

Marc

[CallMeDave]

In reply to:

---

How can a dialog run as one user (the currently logged in one), and the app run as root?

---

 

Well, I suppose through API's provided by the operating system.

 

 

 

Retrospect's behavior in this regard has not changed since it was shipped as version 5.0.203, no matter which version of Mac OS X.

 

 

 

I agree it's a severe limitation. One that could certainly have been alleviated had Apple made AFP and OS X work better together (by perhaps giving the file sharing protocol an understanding of the super access expected by root).

 

 

 

Hopefully Dantz will come up with a solution to this issue in the near future.

 

 

 

Dave

[mbizer]

The backup utility "Tri-Backup" is wonderful in that it actually detects the problem whereby a server expects a regular user log-in while the application is running as "root" and offers to stop running as "root" (then it quits and launches again). Once I did this, I was able to locate my folder on the remote server in the OS X Nav dialog.