Catalog 0ut of sync on NT server

[Rob Davies]

Title: Catalog 0ut of sync on NT server






I have a Compaq DL380 server with a separate disk array attached via two (long) SCSI3 cables. 1GB RAM & plenty of HD space.

Server has 35/70 DLT drive internal


Symptoms:
scripted backup of two volumes (C & D drives). 
scans C drive, backs it up ( 200MB/min typical), verifies backup, commences backup of D, stops before writing anything to tape and complains 'catalog out of sync with backup set'.

Reports watcher says its an error -106 'data overwrite attempt', but the Dantz site doesn't list  error -106. 
all attempts at recatalog fail - no errors reported - it just sits at 0K found - as if it cannot see anything on the tape.

DLT drive has been replaced, without any change in the symptoms.


further symptoms: 
1. when tape is ejected and re-inserted (Retrospect still running) it does not see the tape in 'configure/devices', even after refreshing the scan (the drive is visible, though). Quiting Retrospect and relaunching it results in tape becoming visible. 

2. rescripted the backup to do the 'my computer' container, without compare, and ran it. it resolved the container into two volumes, and backed up ~100MB before Blue Screen. Event log complained of 'dirty heads' (though the 'clean heads'  light on the drive was not lit). Cleaned the heads & tried again. Successful backup.

Then tried a normal backup with compare. It did the C drive (& verified), but complained 'catalog out of sync' when it tried to write D drive data to tape. Recatalog fails - as it sits 'building catalog' 'Completed 0 files  zero KB' until I stop it

ASPI is installed.
I suspect hardware issues but NT backup works(!)
Any ideas on what to try next would be very much appreciated. 


Thanks,


Rob Davies
TSG-SSO  COMPAQ
(Technical Services Group - Server Support Operations)
desk phone # 61+ (2) 9342 7997; fax # 61+ (2) 9342 7566
available between 7:30am & 4pm weekdays


Server belongs to Cable & Wireless Optus

RE: BSOD with Retrospect 5.1 Server

[Rob Davies]

Title: RE: BSOD with Retrospect 5.1 Server





Thanks Ben and Irena for your answers. It was indeed the ASPI problem, and ASPI install fixed it.
The same server had Netshield on it, which I removed at the same time.


It was also choking halfway through a backup, which I traced (I believe) to lack of space on C drive. I re-aranged the allocations of virtual memory page files to the other drives, and the server now runs like a dream. Back ups are quick & smooth.

-Rob



--
From:   Ben Eastwood
Reply To:   retro-talk
Sent:   Tuesday, 5 December 2000 10:36 AM
To:     retro-talk
Subject:    RE: BSOD with Retrospect 5.1 Server




I called Dantz and they quickly solved the problem for me.
In the Retrospect directory (C:\program files\dantz\retrospect) is a file
called aspichk.exe. Run this to find out which version (if any) of aspi is
installed on your server. Mine had none. ASPI stands for Advanced SCSI
Programming Interface, BTW (I had to look that up!). By default, Retrospect
uses ASPI to acess the SCSI drives, but can use something called "NT
Passthu," which uses the installed specific drivers. I think that there is
a conflickt between the SmartArray drivers and retrospect, because without
ASPI, I got the BSOD every time.


The answer is to install ASPI on the system. this doesn't seem to affect
the smart array cards at all, they still use their own drivers, but it made
Retrospect much happier. Dantz supplies this, too. In the same directory,
run aspiinst.exe and then reboot the system. Now I can scan the SCSI busses
and see the tape drives! It also appears to ignore the Smart arrray cards
and the RAIDs on those busses. Pretty cool, thanks to Dantz tech support!


On a related note, I found that OFM was incompatible with my Anti-virus
software(McAfee Net Shield  4.0), and had to remove it 'till I can upgrade
the AV later this week. It also caused a nasty BSOD.


--Ben





Rob Davies <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> on 12/04/2000 02:54:22 PM


Please respond to "retro-talk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>


To:   "'retro-talk'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
cc:    (bcc: Ben Eastwood/HMG/Wilson Learning/US)
Subject:  RE: BSOD with Retrospect 5.1 Server





Yes!
I also have a 1600R with RAID 5 and Retrospect 5.15. It also crashes
everytime it does a device scan in ineteractive mode. It doesn't crash when
it autolaunches (well, usually - I have found some unexpected restarts the
next morning, but can't be certain of the cause). The server is running
WinNT, SP5.
It runs NT Backup perfectly (though with some open files)


The Compaq tech has replaced the internal DAT drive and is considering
replacing the RAID controller, SCSI card etc.


Any ideas would be gratefully accepted.


Thanks,
Rob


> --
> From:   Ben Eastwood
> Reply To:    retro-talk
> Sent:   Tuesday, 5 December 2000 3:52 AM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: BSOD with Retrospect 5.1 Server
>
>
>
> I get a reproducable blue screen on a compaq 1600 R with two smart array
> controllers (221 and 3200) both controlling RAID 5 arrays. The crash
> happens everytime I  do the device scan. I think it's related to the RAID
> controllers, but I'm not sure. Has anyone seen this behavior before?
> Machine is running NT 4.0 SP 6a, and we have St Bernard's Open File
> Manager
> on it as well.
>
> TIA
>
> Ben
>
>
>
>
> --
> --
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>
> For urgent issues, please contact Dantz technical support directly at
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 925.253.3050.
>





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RE: BSOD with Retrospect 5.1 Server

[Rob Davies]

Title: RE: BSOD with Retrospect 5.1 Server





Yes!
I also have a 1600R with RAID 5 and Retrospect 5.15. It also crashes everytime it does a device scan in ineteractive mode. It doesn't crash when  it autolaunches (well, usually - I have found some unexpected restarts the next morning, but can't be certain of the cause). The server is running WinNT, SP5.

It runs NT Backup perfectly (though with some open files)


The Compaq tech has replaced the internal DAT drive and is considering replacing the RAID controller, SCSI card etc.


Any ideas would be gratefully accepted.


Thanks,
Rob


--
From:   Ben Eastwood
Reply To:   retro-talk
Sent:   Tuesday, 5 December 2000 3:52 AM
To:     [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject:    BSOD with Retrospect 5.1 Server




I get a reproducable blue screen on a compaq 1600 R with two smart array
controllers (221 and 3200) both controlling RAID 5 arrays. The crash
happens everytime I  do the device scan. I think it's related to the RAID
controllers, but I'm not sure. Has anyone seen this behavior before?
Machine is running NT 4.0 SP 6a, and we have St Bernard's Open File Manager
on it as well.


TIA


Ben





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RE: Newcomer Questions

[Rob Davies]

Title: RE: Newcomer Questions





I'd probably go DDS-4, then buy a second DDS-4 unit when needed, as you add more clients. Retro intelligently uses chained tape drives, writing to one, then the other. Use an incremental backup process. 

Recent previous Retro talks had discussions of relative merits of various types of backup drive units, too. Check the archive.

-Rob


--
From:   Adrian Smith
Reply To:   retro-talk
Sent:   Thursday, 10 August 2000 12:55 PM
To:     retro-talk
Subject:    Newcomer Questions


Hi all,
    I am brand new to this list and I have looking for some 
suggestions/comments...


I have been using Retrospect for a while on my home computers to 
back-up to CD-RWs. After a particularly close shave with a crashed 
hard disk this week my supervisor has decided that we need to get a 
backup system running for our lab. (We have been trying to get 
something organised on an Institute wide basis for a while but it has 
proven too difficult to get full cooperation). We currently have 5 
Macs (total hard disk space ~30GB) that would we would like to backup 
each night. The setup we are looking at would be the following...


* DAT Tape drive - DDS3 or DDS4 attached to a PowerMac 7300, probably 
Sony (or LaCie which I think uses a Sony mechanism), no particular 
reason to go with Sony.
* Retrospect 4.3 with clients on each of the Macs.


After the intial backup there will not be a huge amount of change 
from day to day as we will not be backing up our raw data files as 
they live on the UNIX server (which is already effectively covered - 
by law our raw data has to be accessible for at least 10 years).


Ideally we would like the system to be scalable so that when the rest 
of the Institute realises how important it is they can be added 
later. This would mean approximately 5-10 fold more machines. I 
suspect that for the maximum number here we would probably want a 
larger capacity drive? Or could we just add a second DAT drive and 
split the backups into 2 groups? How would Retrospect handle that?


Any general comments would be welcome, especially with regards to 
tape drives (I have never used one before).


Thanks
Adrian Smith


-- 
**
Adrian Smith (PhD Student)    T CELL BIOLOGY GROUP
Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine & Cell Biology
Locked Bag No.6 Newtown, NSW 2042 AUSTRALIA. 
** 



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RE: Aarrggh! 519 error...-Spanning Tree Protocol?

[Rob Davies]

Title: RE: Aarrggh! 519 error...-Spanning Tree Protocol?





If it is the Spanning Tree Protocol causing the problem then you have two alternative courses of action - 
1. Disable it entirely, or 
2. Enable Portfast  at the Switch


The STP problem only affects Appletalk on the G3's & G4's, because the STP keeps the port closed during the  critical seconds at startup, when the Mac broadcasts its preferred Appletalk Address. The fast Macs do not wait long enough for the port to open. Hence it may get a duplicate address. You can force the Mac to rebroadcast it's address by turning Appletalk off then on manually, after it is running. This should give it a new, unique Appletalk Address. 

Refer to Apple's Tech Info Library for a complete discussion of symptoms of this infuriating problem.


-Rob







>We have a 519 network-loosing-connection-with-client-error, which i 
>have traced (finally) to a new HP Procurve 2424M switch installed as 
>a central switch in our star topology network.
>It has 100tx links to SMC Tigerswitches in other buildings.
>
>If the Blue and white G3 running retrospect is connected directly to 
>the HP switch only 4 of our 30 clients get backed up
>
>When i move the G3 to one of the arms of the star and plug into any 
>SMC switch the backup runs just fine achieving speeds up to 60 
>Mb/minute.
>
>The HP switch does not report any errors
>
>anyone come across this?


This might be a bit late to do any good, but I thought I'd mention one 
observation. I've had plenty of trouble in the past when setting up 
NetBoot labs where new switches have been installed. Starting with iMacs 
and B&W G3s (the first Macs with built-in 10/100 Ethernet), switches with 
Spanning Tree turned on do not work well (if at all) with those Macs. You 
might check your HP switch to make sure to turn off Spanning Tree 
routing/switching for the ports where you have your Macs. Once this was 
done in my NetBoot labs, everything sprang to life and it worked 
perfectly. Hope this helps...


Fred



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RE: Backup and Compare Performance ... lots of small files

[Rob Davies]

Title: RE: Backup and Compare Performance ... lots of small files





I'm not familiar with this particular backup device but it sounds like the read head is out of alignment with the write head. To eliminate other causes we would

1. clean the heads
2. run a short test backup/ compare/ restore on a fresh tape.
If the problem remains, get the heads checked.


Rob Davies
TSG-NDSA
(Technical Services Group - Non Datacentre Server Admin)
CWO





-Original Message-
From: Church Initiative WebMaster [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Friday, 19 May 2000 5:19
To: retro-talk
Subject: Re: Backup and Compare Performance ... lots of small files



I am having a related problem.  Up until two days ago everything was working
fine, but since then a backup has yet to complete.  Last night, the backup
computer did not even finish backing up itself.  Our back up server is a G3
400 Mhz with 192 MB of RAM with 23 GB of Hard drive space and our backup
device is a VXA 66 GB tape drive.  After running for 13.5 hours, the backup
had managed to backup 12.4 GB but only compare 10.5 GB.  The MB/min for the
copy was 130.4 and for some unknown reason plummeted to only 15 MB/min for
the compare!  Remember this is NOT over a network, but on the local machine.
There are only 153 files that make up the 12.4 GB so why the slowdown


<><
Stiles Watson
Director of Information Services
The Church Initiative, Inc.
www.divorcecare.org
www.griefshare.org


- Original Message -
From: John F. Lambert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: retro-talk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2000 7:45 PM
Subject: Re: Backup and Compare Performance ... lots of small files



> >
> >Anyone had similar experiences where the hierarchy of the data has a
> >dramatic effect on performance?
> >
>
> I find that Retrospect on a 10base T network, Backup Server on a
> Pentium II 233, Client on a PowerBook G3 266, (or even better, on
> Virtual PC on a PB G3 266)  can achieve 60MB/min transfer rates (=
> 1MB/sec = pretty much the maximum transfer rate on 10BaseT) when
> transferring large files, but performance drops away to around
> 12MB/min when reading lots of small files - I am surprised by this
> large drop in performance too!
>
> John
>
>
>
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_
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