Retrospect Doesn't Seem to Do Anything...

[kenevans]

I bought a copy of Retrosepct last week and installed it on my Mac Xserve machine.

 

I set up a media set which is a NAS, added the volume and it sees it as a destination.

 

I then setup a backup using the assistant and made a basic backup from 2 SAN volumes to copy to the NAS at 9 every night.

 

I've had this going on for a few days now but nothing happens. In the script window there is my script which says everything is OK. In the activities window it shows the previous backups and the ones to come but in the Past Backup window there is nothing and the NAS drive has nothing on it except some Retrospect folders.

 

I'm getting no error message, it just doesn't seem to carry out the instructions!

 

Any ideas? And is this the official tech support method as I couldn't see a link to anything remotely useful on the site.

 

K.

[Maser]

what kind of script did you make? Proactive? Or basic "Backup"?

 

If basic Backup, how often do you have this scheduled to run?

 

When you say the Activities Window shows the "previous backups", does that mean that the future activities are running? Or not?

[kenevans]

Hi,

 

Not sure what proactive means, I just followed the backup assistant from the tutorial video, so I guess basic. It should run every day at 9pm.

 

In the activity window it shows that it did one yesterday (or that it was scheduled) that there is one today, tomorrow and so on...

 

Nothing runs, even if I just add another script and hit 'start now' there's no action, no errors, it just sits there!

 

Thanks.

 

 

[Maser]

*Upcoming* activities listed in the Activities should have some kind of a "clock" icon next to them.

 

Completed (or errored) activities should have a "check mark" or "red x" icon after them.

 

If the Activity Windows shows that an activity *did* run yesterday at 9 p.m., then you should be able to click on the "Log" tab to see what the activity actually *did*.

 

How about posting the log information from yesterday's activity?

 

 

[CallMeDave]

I set up a media set which is a NAS, added the volume and it sees it as a destination

 

No.

 

You created a Disk [color:purple]Media Set[/color], then added the NAS volume as the first [color:purple]Member[/color] of that Set.

 

The Destination is the Media Set, not any individual or specific Member.

 

 

Dave

[kenevans]

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.mediafire.com/file/ohm2mnmtdmn/Picture 7.png

[Maser]

You didn't post the logs of your past activities (as the lack of any Past Backups makes it look like nothing was backed up.)

 

That log information would help here as that's the only thing that would tell you what went wrong.

 

 

[kenevans]

Where can I find the logs?

 

I did post up about 7 pictures, screen grabs from the server.

 

I'll try again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.mediafire.com/file/ohm2mnmtdmn/Picture 7.png

[scsctech]

You successfully posted the photos twice.

 

Go to Activities>Past tab

This will show any unsuccessful attempts at backing up.

 

Follow this for viewing logs or changing log level

http://kb.dantz.com/display/2n/index.asp?c=&cpc=&cid=&cat=&catURL=&r=0.851864

 

Edited May 27, 2010 by Guest

[Maser]

Or "Activities" and the "All" selection.

 

That will tell you what you have coming up, what is currently running (if anything) and what already ran.

 

When you select an activity, there will be a "Summary/Log" choice (if you aren't viewing the Activities in "full screen" mode -- which is *not* the default...)

[kenevans]

When I click the link to get the log instructions I get this and a blank page:

 

http://kb.dantz.com/sessiontimeout.asp

[kenevans]

Or "Activities" and the "All" selection.

 

That will tell you what you have coming up, what is currently running (if anything) and what already ran.

 

When you select an activity, there will be a "Summary/Log" choice (if you aren't viewing the Activities in "full screen" mode -- which is *not* the default...)

 

In past activities the log and summary tabs are blank. (empty)

 

[kenevans]

I think I've sorted this out:

 

Because it's a particular type of network storage RAID, the disk needs to be unmounted, then added to the media set as a file not a disk, even though it is one. The media set is added via 'add share' and the network address set and the catalog location to a new folder on that network volume.

 

I also need to ensure that certain folders are selected and not the entire volume because the back up RAID source is an XSan system.

 

I'll report back if it was succesful.

[CallMeDave]

Because it's a particular type of network storage RAID, the disk needs to be unmounted, then added to the media set as a file not a disk, even though it is one. The media set is added via 'add share' and the network address set and the catalog location to a new folder on that network volume.

 

 

Sorry, but I can't make sense of the above.

 

>Because it's a particular type of network storage RAID

 

What is? The SAN volume ([color:purple]AV_RAID (kingston)[/color]) that you are using as a Source?

 

> the disk needs to be unmounted, then added to the media set as a file not a disk

 

Please explain what you mean by this. Network volumes can be configured as Sources in Retrospect, and used as either a source for files to backup _or_ as a Member of a Disk Media Set (as such the destination where the files are written). You cannot add a file to a Media Set.

 

Regardless of how you are utilizing a network volume in Retrospect 8, mounting the same volume via the Finder on the Engine host machine that you also want to use with Retrospect can create configuration problems that may prevent proper behavior of the software!

 

 

> The media set is added via 'add share

 

No no no.

 

As I attempted to make clear up-thread, a Media Set is not "added" to anything.

 

 

> I also need to ensure that certain folders are selected and not the

> entire volume because the back up RAID source is an XSan system.

 

If you want to configure "certain folders" as Favorites (to facilitate your Backup Plan) then you are free to do so; but just because your Source is a large volume doesn't make it a requirement.

 

 

Dave

[benn]

Hi - been watching this thread.

 

I have the same problem: On a snow leopard xserve I've added a RAID volume (who's various contents are shared via open directory)as a Source, set up media set, set the schedule etc. When scheduled time arrives the backup doesn't happen. Nothing is added to the log, no event occurs. If I run the script manually, nothing. If a use the 'backup' button (top left) to manually trigger the same activity, nothing. In all cases the the animation occurs where the yellow thing moves to Activities as if it's going to do it, but nothing.

 

I've only just got the xserve, but prior to that I was backing shared volumes of the raid up over the network (using retrospect) successfully. I tell you this so you don;t think I'm a first time user.

 

It's like Retrospect won't accept a raid volume as a valid source. I have also tried adding certain folders within the raid as favourites and making those the source in the schedule. No good.

 

The problem is the raid as a source

 

 

Please help!

 

 

 

[CallMeDave]

On a snow leopard xserve I've added a RAID volume ... as a Source, set up media set, set the schedule etc

 

This description remains incomplete, partially due to Retrospect 8's use of the term "Source" to refer to more then just the data to be backed up (as "Source" was used in Retrospect Classic).

 

Once a Volume is added to the Source window, that volume can be used as either the source of files to be written to a Media Set, or as a Member of a Disk Media Set.

 

I have also tried adding certain folders within the raid as favourites and making those the source in the schedule. No good

 

OK, so this seems to make clear the RAID is to be used to pull files from.

 

The problem is the raid as a source

 

This is a reasonable Gut Feeling, but without some knowledge about what Type of Media Set you are using there is no way to know this for sure.

 

So the first question is, what Type of Media Set are you using?

Have you tried a different Type of Media Set?

Can you successfully backup files from some other source volume to the same Media Set that is causing you problems here?

 

Those sorts of tests can help move a Gut Feeling into a The Problem Is statement.

[benn]

Thanks for your response.

 

The Media Set is type: Disk.

 

The First member is: A 2TB removable Firewire Drive.

 

The first member of the Media Set is: RAID 5 system that mounts the OS as a single volume.

 

No, I cannot successfully backup files from other source volumes to the same media set. See what you mean Maybe not the RAID. Any ideas? I cannot get Retrospect to trigger any activity at all

 

 

[benn]

Sorry, I mean the SOURCE is the RAID.

[WmIrvine]

This appears related to the problem I'm having in this thread: http://forums.dantz.com/showtopic.php?tid/33993/