Getting RetroClient 6.0 to autostart under OSX?

[awnews]

I recently installed Retrospect Client (6.0) on an OSX machine to back it up from a Retro MS 6.5 server. I was unable to see the client over the network and assumed that it was a firewall issue but then found out it was something far simpler--the Retrospect Client wasn't running after the OSX machine was booted. Once I manually started RC I was able to see the client and back up the OSX machine.

 

On a Windows (9x, XP, etc.) platform, RC starts automatically when the machine is booted. This didn't (doesn't) seem to be the case under OSX. Is there an option during the RC install to make this happen? The "StartupItems" folder/mechanism under OSX seems to be some sort of scripted deal (can't just throw an alias in there as worked under OS9). There's also a logon setup (System Preferences) and I *did* just "drag and drop" the Retrospect Client there (run as "hidden" when the user logs in) to see if this would cause the program to autostart. There's no RC Preference to enable and disable autostart.

 

What's the correct way to get RC to startup automatically when OSX is booted? It seems like a StartupItem would be preferable since that runs as "root" and runs (starts up) even if a user isn't logged in.

[awnews]

So manually adding Retrospect Client to the (System Preferences) Logon items list causes RC to start automatically when a user logs in (but not when the Mac OSX just starts up and nobody is logged in). But why doesn't the Mac RC installer automatically configure RC to start automatically via the auto Login pane (or ask the user if he wants to do so?) so that RC will start on login? On the PC the installer sets RC to start automatically without any extra work, but on the Mac the user has to set this up with an extra manual step.

 

Also, when RC starts via the (auto) login mechanism, it starts and runs with a visible icon in the Mac launcher bar. This is true even if RC is set as "hidden" in the Login panel. This can be a problem since it gives the user easy access to a visible RC icon (e.g. to shutdown the program by mistake). On the PC RC runs with no UI (as a background task or service) although it is possible to manually launch the RC program to change config options. Can't be Mac version be set to run RC as some sort of background task without a visible icon?

[nuvs]

GoAWest:

 

I'm having the same problem: the Retrospect 6.0 client keeps shutting itself off on OS 10.2.3 machines, and I can't seem to get it to stay "on". This happens even if the machine has not been rebooted-I can have the user log in, turn on the Client, and then a few hours later it has turned itself back off!

 

I haven't researched it yet, but there may be a connection with Classic. I had one user who had the client turned on. Later on, Classic crashed and had to be restarted (OS X itself was not harmed or restarted). Since then, the RC was "off". I'll investigate this to see if this is a possible culprit (all of my 10.2.3 users also have Classic running)

 

BTW, adding the Client to the Logon Items in the System Preferences is not a good solution for the end user (like you said, they shouldn't be able to access the client app and mess around with it). When the Client does work, it is running in the background. In the case you described, the RC is actually launched at log in, and that is why the client app's icon shows up in the dock. If it is to run as a background app, you shouldn't even have to add it to Logon Items.

 

 

nuvs

[awnews]

Quote:

---

 

BTW, adding the Client to the Logon Items in the System Preferences is not a good solution for the end user (like you said, they shouldn't be able to access the client app and mess around with it). When the Client does work, it is running in the background. In the case you described, the RC is actually launched at log in, and that is why the client app's icon shows up in the dock. If it is to run as a background app, you shouldn't even have to add it to Logon Items.

nuvs

 

---

 

Can you tell me how to run it as a background item under OSX (and OS9 or ...)? Adding something as a StartupItem seems to be some sort of scripted deal, and it's mentioned for programs that don't have a GUI. Even when running the RC in the background, there needs to be a way (e.g. just launching the RC program) to bring up a GUI and configure things.

[nuvs]

GoAWest:

 

Sorry, I don't know of any way to make the RC client (or any other program) run as a background process...that's beyond my capabilities...

 

Another question: have you used the 5.1 client for OS X. I had used that previously, and had the same problems. I thought using the 6.0 client would resolve it, but it didn't.

 

We're backing up a mix of OS 9/X clients to a Win2000 Pro box running Retrospect Server 6.5.343. All of the OS 9 clients are being backed up properly, but the OS X clients keep shutting themselves off...

[natew]

Hi

 

The client should be starting on its own with no extra workarounds. Have you run the client uninstaller and then rebooted the machine? That should clean out everything related to Retrospect client. After the uninstall make sure that there are is no RetroClient folder in /Library/Startupitems. Also make sure the /Library/Preferences/retroclient.state file has been deleted.

 

Nate

[nuvs]

Nate:

 

I'm not quite sure what you are saying in your post...are you saying that we should install the client and then uninstall it?

 

Or are you saying that if the client is shutting itself off, then uninstall it completely then reinstall?

 

Please explain...

 

nuvs

[awnews]

I've installed two 5.1 clients under OS9 and two 6.0 clients under OSX. The OS9/RC5.1 startup fine. But on the two OSX/RC6.0 machines RC didn't start (i.e. couldn't access anything from RMS, no running RC icon in the Mac launcher bar, etc.) automatically.

 

On both OSX/RC6.0 machines my "fix" was to manually add RC6.0 to the Logon Items. This works, but had the drawback that it leaves a visible RC GUI (even though I set that Logon item to "Hidden") which a user may accidentally quit. I also found that it only runs RC for the user logged on when I set up the Logon Item. If another user logs in under a different account, RC doesn't run and I have to manually add RC to each user's Logon Items setup.

[AmyJ]

Is the client located any place other then the default location (Applications/Retrospect Client/)? In the StartupItems folder (/Library/StartupItems/RetroClient/) is a unix shell script that's hard coded with the path to the Retrospect Client's default location.

 

If you want the client to be kept somewhere else you can edit the shell script to reflect your custom location.

[nuvs]

Amy:

 

Aaah! That makes a lot of sense! I've changed the script in all of my OS X clients...we'll see if this takes care of the problem!

 

Stay tuned....

 

nuvs

[ices]

RE: RC turning itself off... I have the 6.0.108 RC in the proper place, that being '/Applications/Retrospect Client'

location and it (seemingly) randomly turns itself off on some clients, and some clients it stays on. I've found no

pattern so far. This is really annoying in that I just discovered a client that had not been backed up for weeks, and

when the RC turns itself off, the user of that client does not receive any warnings or statements about backups.

 

I don't know of any users that are using Classic, and I centainly don't in my laptop - and I just noticed that RC had

turned itself off on this laptop - so I don't think any sort of Classic operation is causing RC to turn itself off.

 

Anyone else seeing RC switch off with the above conditions? I see this as a critical problem, since I really don't

have time to read through a long log file every morning to see who responded and who didn't.

 

Setup: Retrospect 6.0 Server Mac running on Mac OS X Server 10.3.3, clients are 6.0.108. Note that this was

happening also when we were running Retrospect 5.1 with the 5.x clients.

 

TIA - Larry

[ices]

Well, there don't seem to be any new postings for this problem, Dantz doesn't seem

to be paying any attention (or at least hasn't replied to any), so I'll reply to my own post.

 

Anyhow, I decided to follow some of the suggestions of looking in the /Library/StartupItems/RetroClient

folder, even though the client is installed in the proper place. Lo & Behold - on the machines

that have the problem of the client switching itself off, there IS NO RetroClient folder! For

some reason it never installed.

 

So, tried the 'uninstall, restart, reinstall' process, and now everything seems to be

in place. I'll see if it actually works as expected, but I suspect all will be OK. Note that

I did notice a difference in how things were installed (maybe this will help Dantz

correct the problem?): Originally, before the uninstall, the path to the client was

/Applications/Retrospect Client/Retrospect Client

and after the reinstall, the path is now

/Applications/Retrospect Client

and, as noted above, the StartupItems folder for RetroClient is now in place.

Note that I didn't change the install path - possibly this is left over from a previous

install?

 

Hope this helps others correct this problem.

 

--Larry

[GrandFenwick]

Well, you guys certainly gave me the clues I needed to solve the same problem on my machine.

 

I don't allow programs to just sit in "Applications," because I have way way too much crap in there to have it all piled in one horrible mess. It's all sorted into categories. "Retrospect Client 6" (because I also have 5 here, if needed) is inside the "Backup" folder in "Applications."

 

Alas, as somebody noted, some installer puts a hard-coded path as part of the auto-start system.

 

So for others who aren't quite sure what the solution is from the bits scattered in the earlier messages, it's this:

 

Figure out what the path to the Retrospect Client actually is.

Edit /Library/StartupItems/RetroClient/RetroClient

 

For my setup, I changed

 

if [ -f "/Library/Preferences/retroclient.state" ] && [ -d "/Applications/Retrospect Client.app" ]; then

ConsoleMessage "Starting Retrospect Client"

/Applications/Retrospect\ Client.app/Contents/Resources/pitond &

fi

 

to

 

if [ -f "/Library/Preferences/retroclient.state" ] && [ -d "/Applications/Backup/Retrospect Client 6.app" ]; then

ConsoleMessage "Starting Retrospect Client"

/Applications/Backup/Retrospect\ Client 6.app/Contents/Resources/pitond &

fi

 

Make sure to leave the backslash in the second occurrence of the path, but not the first.

[awnews]

Quote:

---

Anyhow, I decided to follow some of the suggestions of looking in the /Library/StartupItems/RetroClient

folder, even though the client is installed in the proper place. Lo & Behold - on the machines

that have the problem of the client switching itself off, there IS NO RetroClient folder! For

some reason it never installed.

--Larry

 

---

 

I took a look at an OSX machine on which I had already installed the Retro Client 6.0.x in the

 

/Library/StartupItems/RetroClient/RetroClient

 

default directory and found *no* RetroClient. So I downloaded a new copy of the Retro Client installer for OSX (not sure if it's the same or newer) and installed again (OSX asked for my root password to allow an install, just like it did last time). This time, after the install, I ended up with a RetroClient in the expected place. So I don't know if that means it was a new installer that fixed something *or* if the Mac OSX Retro Client always has to be installed twice...