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Can't access client via Airport


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Hi,

 

 

 

I'm using Retrospect 5.0 Desktop edition on my iMac. I'm trying to add my PowerBook as a client connected via AirPort (using a computer-to-computer network). Both computers are running Mac OS X 10.1.3.

 

 

 

However, Retrospect can't see the client. To narrow the problem down I created a test network configuration, with Aiport as the only active network link. But even with all other network ports disabled on both computers (Airport ist the only active port), it simply doesn't work.

 

 

 

The iMac has 10.0.0.1, the PowerBook 10.0.0.2 assigned as manual IP numbers. Pings between both computers works flawlessly.

 

 

 

The same setup works when I use the wired ethernet ports instead of the Airport port (with another test network configuration) - so, it seems that Airport is not usable with Retrospect 5.0?

 

 

 

Looking for help, Sven.

 

 

 

 

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There are two ways to back up over airport currently:

 

 

 

1. Assign each airport client a static IP address.

 

 

 

2. Turn on Ethernet Bridging so the airport client gains an IP address from a DHCP server on the Ethernet network.

 

 

 

It will not work if airport is sharing its IP address to connected computers using DHCP (NAT). Retrospect will be able to see these clients via multicast, but will not be able to communicate with them.

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I've got an Airport system set up as you suggest:

 

 

 

1) Airport hub configured as transparent bridge

 

2) Clients have manually-defined, static, public IP addresses

 

 

 

These are clients at a remote site; I have put the network address and subnet mask into the appropriate place in Configure Subnets, but Retrospect will not show them when looking at the Network window.

 

 

 

Anyway, when I "Add by IP address", the clients connect fine; they just don't get discovered automatically even though Retrospect is set to discover clients in that IP range.

 

 

 

I have a client on a similar Airport configuration our our local LAN, and it seems to be seen just fine by Retrospect. So it may be an issue with remote networks.

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I am using static IPs (10.0.0.1 for the iMac running Retrospect Dekstop, 10.0.0.2 for the Powerbook running the client), but it does not work!

 

 

 

I have no Airport base station, I am using a computer-to-computer network setup.

 

 

 

Sven.

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My setup is configured just like you suggest. My base station is configured with a fixed IP on the LAN, with bridging on and address sharing turned off. Each of the machines running Retrospect Client have a fixed IP on my LAN (192.168.210.40-192.168.210.45, with the base station at 192.168.210.99 and the router at 192.168.210.1).

 

 

 

Retrospect Backup doesn't see any of the clients (one of which isn't even on Airport, but is instead a 10base100 card in a Windows machine). The clients are confirmed running on all machines, and ping works fine. All machines have functioning network connections.

 

 

 

What do I do next?

 

 

 

Eric Shepherd

 

Syndicomm

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Go to the System Preferences from the Apple Menu and select Network preferences. Change the pull-down menu to Show Active Network Ports. Make sure that the port that you wish to use with Retrospect is listed first in this window. If not, you may change the order by dragging the desired item to the top of the list and clicking "Apply Now."

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have an airport only network at home and the "desktop" version. Does this mean that if I assign my IP's manually and am willing to turn off my connection through the airport to the internet(DHCP and NAT off), that I should be able to use clients with the desktop version and an airport only network? This would be a viable option for backing up my iBook once I go to bed. I would just go into the Admin Utitlity and turn off IP sharing and then turn it back on the next day when I wanted to connect to the internet. Thanks in advance for an answer, Irena.

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Retrospect desktop doesn't include client software. If you purchased client software, you'd just need to be sure that the two machines are on the same subnet, regardless of how the obtain their IP address, and that the interface you want to use with Retrospect is at the top of the list in the Network Preferences Pane.

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While this works (moving my airport interface to the top of the active network ports list), it also has an unacceptable side effect: it changes the default route to go through my airport interface as well, which is a big problem since there is no router on that network. In effect, this means that the machine running Retrospect cannot talk to the Internet. While I'd say that this behavior is an Apple bug and I will report it as such, I think Retrospect's current behavior is also a bug. If a machine has more than one interface, Retrospect ought to scan all of the active ones for clients. If this is a problem for some reason, then Dantz should allow specifying machines by IP address for machines within the same subnet as has been suggested elsewhere on this board.

 

 

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I've got ~30 clients getting backed up over Airport. All are static, all have ethernet bridging enabled and all have been fine. That all said, it is *painfully* slow when backing up over airport. I backu7p at night, when the basestations aren't getting swamped, but I still get an overall performance of only ~5MB/min. The machines are a mix of Ti's and dual iBooks, running both OS 9.x and OS X. Any suggestions to improve speed over airport would be great. Thanks!

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jalex-

 

 

 

(Pardon the unix here but it helps to explain and fix the problem.)

 

 

 

It really isn't a bug per-se with Mac OS X. Multicast (which is the only way Retrospect Desktop can find clients) can really only use one interface at a time. The multicast address Retrospect uses is 224.1.0.38. By default, the interface Mac OS X uses for that address is the topmost active interface in the Network preference pane. You can check to see exactly which interface is being used with the command:

 

 

 

route get 224.1.0.38

 

 

 

It is possible to change the interface that Mac OS X looks for that address. For instance, I have a dual-ethernet setup where the built-in ethernet (en0) connects to my ISP and my AsanteFast card (en1) connects to my internal network. I have natd setup to route between the two but that's not really significant for this discussion. I use Retrospect Desktop to backup a client on my internal network. To tell Mac OS X to use en1 for Retrospect multicast, I use this command:

 

 

 

sudo route add 224.1.0.38 -interface en1

 

 

 

If you do this (substituting for en1 whatever interface you want to use - get a listing with Network Utility), and then run the route get 224.1.0.38 command again, it should list the new interface. Retrospect's multicast scan will now go out on the interface you want it to.

 

 

 

I created a StartupItem to do this automatically. Stick this folder in /Library/StartupItems. If you use an interface other than en1, you'll have to edit the RetroMulticast/RetroMulticast file and change en1 to whatever you use.

 

 

 

http://www.landsurfing.com/clay/RetroMulticast.tar.gz

 

 

 

In the most ideal case, Dantz would either a) add a preference to Retrospect that would do this for you or B) automatically scan all interfaces by doing multiple scans, changing the routing table for each. (Dantz: see man 4 route for the programatic interface.) However, that might not ever happen so don't hold your breath.

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  • 3 months later...

Between yesterday and today I spent $170 upgrading my Retrospect desktop and client software for use with Mac OS X.

 

 

 

Now I believe I may have to request a refund.

 

 

 

My network setup:

 

- Cable modem into an Airport Base Station (graphite) (updated with the latest Apple software).

 

- 1 iMac OS 10.1.5 computer running the latest 'Desktop' software, accessing the network via Airport.

 

- 1 titanium PowerBook OS 10.1.5 computer running the latest client (5.0.536), accessing the network via Airport.

 

 

 

I could not initially 'see' the client from the Desktop software, but was able to briefly, long enough to activate it, so that now on the Powerbook its 'status' is 'Ready'.

 

 

 

The Desktop software can no longer see it.

 

 

 

I have tried all sorts of reboots and turning the client off, then on, and command-clicking the client 'off' and turning it on. Pinging both computers from the other works fine, so I know TCP/IP is working properly.

 

 

 

Irene, from your post, and from what I have read in your forums, it appears that the 'Network Address Translation' method that the Airport Base Station uses for its DHCP IP distribution doesn't work with the current version of the OS X Desktop software.

 

 

 

Thus it seems my options are to invest in a wired network, or to begin the refund process, or to upgrade to the 'workgroup' software (even though I only have one client computer on the same subnet!).

 

 

 

Am I correct or am I overlooking something?

 

 

 

...Birkin

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To back up over Airport, you need to turn on Ethernet bridging. Using Airport's NAT is not supported with Retrospect. The OS X version isn't a factor.

 

 

 

When the AirPort is setup to bridge the existing Ethernet network, the client computer acts as if it was plugged into the LAN. With Ethernet bridging turned on, DHCP addresses can be acquired from the main server. NAT does not have to be used. Because NAT is not in use, Retrospect behaves normally.

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IreneS,

 

 

 

>>>>>>>

 

To back up over Airport, you need to turn on Ethernet bridging... When the AirPort is setup to bridge the existing Ethernet network, the client computer acts as if it was plugged into the LAN. With Ethernet bridging turned on, DHCP addresses can be acquired from the main server. NAT does not have to be used. Because NAT is not in use, Retrospect behaves normally.

 

<<<<<<<

 

 

 

But I have no Ethernet network.

 

 

 

The cable-modem goes directly into the Airport Base Station, which splits the internet connection via DHCP (and NAT alas) to my computers wirelessly.

 

 

 

As I understand (please correct me if I'm wrong), the only way I can keep internet access is if I use the DHCP/NAT base station option.

 

 

 

It seems that one otion would be to get a router that can serve DHCP via a non-NAT method, and then connect my airport base station to that using the Ethernet bridging option you mentioned. Yes? Can you recommend one that does this?

 

 

 

I've been thinking about getting a MacSense wireless router (the 'aero' model), which would replace the Airport base-station (which I'd shift to work). It'd be terrific if that one served its DHCP in a non-NAT way. You wouldn't happen to know, would you?

 

 

 

Please let me know if I'm on the right track here, and thanks for the promptness of your previous message...

 

 

 

...Birkin

 

 

 

 

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Express is designed promarilty to back up local files and folders only; backing up volumes on a remote computer isn't as easy, and Express doesn't have many of the features that allow you to set this up simply.

 

 

 

If you can mount the other computer on the desktop of your computer, you should be able to back the folders up if you log into the Finder as root. Details are in the Retrospect Express Readme:

 

 

 

"Backing Up To or From Mounted AppleShare Volumes: To back up to or from an AppleShare File Server (AFP) volume under OS X you must log in as root. For information on how to log in as root under OS X, please read Apple Computer's KnowledgeBase article #106290, Mac OS X: About the root User and How to Enable It.

 

 

 

If you back up a mounted AFP volume with Retrospect Express, privileges are not preserved and can not be restored. The only way to back up and restore privileges from a volume over a network is to back up the computer using Retrospect 5.0 and Retrospect Client Software."

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So it appears "mounting the other computer on the desktop" means connecting them thru a firewire cable - not what I want to achieve. So it appears that I need a more expensive version of Retrospect than just Express, either Desktop or Workgroup??

 

 

 

Will Retrospect Backup, Workgroup Mac edition v4.2 work on Mac OSX? (I have a chance to buy a used copy.)

 

Thanks,

 

Travis

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In reply to:

So it appears "mounting the other computer on the desktop" means connecting them thru a firewire cable


 

Irena was giving you instructions on how to use Retrosect Express to back up AFP (Apple File Protocol) volumes. She never said anything about FireWire (or Target Disk Mode, which is what you are probably suggesting).

 

 

 

Sharing under OS X uses AFP by default. FileSharing under OS 9 uses AFP. This is what she's referring to in the text you quote.

 

 

 

>>Will Retrospect Backup, Workgroup Mac edition v4.2 work on

 

>>Mac OSX? (I have a chance to buy a used copy.)

 

 

 

No.

 

 

 

Dave

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