jtfey Posted October 30, 2008 Report Share Posted October 30, 2008 At my daily newspaper we use an application called CirculationPro. It's a web-based app that connects to a FrontBase database on a server. Server A (Xserve) contains our Retrospect application. Within in the past three weeks I put new disks into Server A and upgraded the OS to 10.4. Server B (Xserve) has been running 10.4 for over a year. Server B is where the Frontbase database is located. It's always had a Retrospect Client installed on it. Within the last week the people using CirculationPro have noticed a slowdown in processing times. Running bigger reports that require more memory have caused the entire app to stall. If I restart Server B after Retrospect is finished with its script, the slowness problems disappear. If I remove the Retrospect Client from Server B the problems are not encountered. Any ideas why the client is causing the problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhwalker Posted October 30, 2008 Report Share Posted October 30, 2008 How much RAM on xserve Server B? What is its architecture (Intel? PPC?) Which Retrospect client version is on Server B? Have you tried adding more memory to Server B? What does Activity Monitor show for memory usage on Server B after the reboot? When this stall happens? Russ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeDave Posted October 31, 2008 Report Share Posted October 31, 2008 If I remove the Retrospect Client from Server B the problems are not encountered. This seems to imply that you see the problem with the client installed, even if you don't actually connect to it with Retrospect? Or are you simply noting that without the client installed, you don't back that machine up. A distinction with a difference. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtfey Posted November 6, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2008 How much RAM on xserve Server B?--2GB What is its architecture (Intel? PPC?) --PPC Which Retrospect client version is on Server B? --The latest for Mac. Same problem existed on the previous two versions. Have you tried adding more memory to Server B? --Memory is maxed out. What does Activity Monitor show for memory usage on Server B after the reboot? When this stall happens? --Initially, after a TOP command in Terminal, I discovered the server's RAM was being almost all used by pitond, which is associated with the Retrospect Client. I upgraded the Client and did not see this same RAM usage but the initial problem still exists. Thanks for the interest!! Russ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtfey Posted November 6, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2008 If I remove the Retrospect Client from Server B the problems are not encountered. This seems to imply that you see the problem with the client installed, even if you don't actually connect to it with Retrospect? -- Not sure of this statement. With the client installed, there is a problem AFTER the Retrospect script has run. If I restart the server, the problem stops until the next time the script has run. Or are you simply noting that without the client installed, you don't back that machine up. -- Obviously, if the client isn't installed the server isn't back up. Retrospect needs the client to find the server and run the script. A distinction with a difference. -- hmmm? Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeDave Posted November 6, 2008 Report Share Posted November 6, 2008 I upgraded the Client and did not see this same RAM usage but the initial problem still exists. OK, here's where "The latest for Mac...." is an unresponsive answer to the question Russ posed [color:red]"Which Retrospect client version is on Server B?"[/color] - Which Retrospect client version is on Server B? - When you had the problem with pitond, what version of the client were you using then? With the client installed, there is a problem AFTER the Retrospect script has run. If I restart the server, the problem stops until the next time the script has run. That is what I was attempting to get confirmation on. So after Retrospect has successfully connected to the client and completed the backup, the database issues continue? - Can you confirm that the Retrospect application has reported a successful completion of the backup operation? After the backup has completed, instead of restarting the machine, what happens if you open the Retrospect Client application, hold the Command key, and click the "off" radio button (confirming that the status field text changes to "Not Running")? There is still the question of what Activity Monitor shows for the machine as it is experiencing the database problem. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtfey Posted November 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2008 I upgraded the Client and did not see this same RAM usage but the initial problem still exists. OK, here's where "The latest for Mac...." is an unresponsive answer to the question Russ posed [color:red]"Which Retrospect client version is on Server B?"[/color] - Which Retrospect client version is on Server B? [color:orange]6.2.234[/color] - When you had the problem with pitond, what version of the client were you using then? [color:orange]6.1.130[/color] With the client installed, there is a problem AFTER the Retrospect script has run. If I restart the server, the problem stops until the next time the script has run. That is what I was attempting to get confirmation on. So after Retrospect has successfully connected to the client and completed the backup, the database issues continue? [color:orange]Yes[/color] - Can you confirm that the Retrospect application has reported a successful completion of the backup operation? [color:orange]Yes[/color] After the backup has completed, instead of restarting the machine, what happens if you open the Retrospect Client application, hold the Command key, and click the "off" radio button (confirming that the status field text changes to "Not Running")? [color:red]I will try that. Right now I have Server B set up to reboot after backup.[/color] There is still the question of what Activity Monitor shows for the machine as it is experiencing the database problem. [color:red]I'll check on this. We're now set up to have someone reboot the server before I get here. But I can check on Saturday.[/color] [color:red]Thanks for the help![/color] Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtfey Posted November 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2008 I upgraded the Client and did not see this same RAM usage but the initial problem still exists. OK' date=' here's where [i']"The latest for Mac...."[/i] is an unresponsive answer to the question Russ posed [color:red]"Which Retrospect client version is on Server B?"[/color] - Which Retrospect client version is on Server B? [color:orange]6.2.234[/color] - When you had the problem with pitond, what version of the client were you using then? [color:orange]6.1.130[/color] With the client installed, there is a problem AFTER the Retrospect script has run. If I restart the server, the problem stops until the next time the script has run. That is what I was attempting to get confirmation on. So after Retrospect has successfully connected to the client and completed the backup, the database issues continue? [color:orange]Yes[/color] - Can you confirm that the Retrospect application has reported a successful completion of the backup operation? [color:orange]Yes[/color] After the backup has completed, instead of restarting the machine, what happens if you open the Retrospect Client application, hold the Command key, and click the "off" radio button (confirming that the status field text changes to "Not Running")? [color:red]I will try that. Right now I have Server B set up to reboot after backup.[/color] UPDATE -- Yes, it does switch to Not Running. There is still the question of what Activity Monitor shows for the machine as it is experiencing the database problem. [color:red]I'll check on this. We're now set up to have someone reboot the server before I get here. But I can check on Saturday.[/color] UPDATE -- I see no "situations" in AM. I also see no evidence of pitond. [color:red]Thanks for the help![/color] Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallMeDave Posted November 8, 2008 Report Share Posted November 8, 2008 I see no "situations" in AM. I do not know what this means. I also see no evidence of pitond. "pitond" was the name of the unix process used in the previous (pre-6.2.x) client software. You are now using 6.2.x, where the relevant process is named "retroclient" Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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