A backup plan that will run without interaction.

[Steven Taylor]

After a call to tech support, it was determined that our config file was
corrupt because I couldn't get licensing to work after blowing away the
Exchange client. After rebuilding that, I had authentication issues.
Since the article below was very specific on the groups the RBU must
belong to, I followed part 1 to the letter. I also took 7.6 client off
the exchange server and went back to 7.5. 

At this moment, the mailbox backup is running. 

But since our config file has been rebuilt, all clients, volumes, backup
sets, and scripts have to be recreated. Going forward, we'll backup our
config file. 

For those of you using windows, the config file is in documents and
settings > all users > application data > retrospect ...just passing
along this experience for all to see. 

Steve


-----Original Message-----
From: retro-talk-bounces at list.dantz.com
[mailto:retro-talk-bounces at list.dantz.com] On Behalf Of
mayoff_robin at emc.com
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 11:31 AM
To: retro-talk at list.dantz.com
Subject: RE: A backup plan that will run without interaction.

Hello,

This can happen if someone has changed a password used by Retrospect
when authenticating to the Exchange Server. It can also happen if
someone has hidden the RBU account from the global address book.

Follow these requirements for additional ideas:

http://kb.dantz.com/article.asp?article=9633&p=2

Robin

-----Original Message-----
From: retro-talk-bounces at list.dantz.com
[mailto:retro-talk-bounces at list.dantz.com] On Behalf Of Steven Taylor
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 9:01 AM
To: EMC Retro-Talk
Subject: RE: A backup plan that will run without interaction.

Speaking of the Exchange client, during the last nine months, I
virtually had no problems backing up mailboxes. Now, without any
intervention, I can't. Just stopped one day, and everything I've tried
short of re-installing the client has failed. I guess that is the next
step. 

Software that works for nine months and then quits is weird. 

Steve T. 

-----Original Message-----
From: retro-talk-bounces at list.dantz.com
[mailto:retro-talk-bounces at list.dantz.com] On Behalf Of Mike Friedman
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 10:50 AM
To: EMC Retro-Talk
Subject: Re: A backup plan that will run without interaction.

I don't generally have many problems, and I am running Retrospect  
(mostly Windows 7.6) at about 15 client sites. It's a fairly simple  
routine (almost all are backup to disk a few use tape). My biggest  
complaint has been about the Exchange client being unreliable and not  
dealing well with mailboxes that are deleted from the system.

I do find that Mac systems tend to need a bit more babysitting.

On Nov 5, 2008, at 7:43 AM, Drew Weaver wrote:

> Does anyone else find it a little disheartening that we have to go  
> through so much engineering to get this thing to work?
>
> -Drew
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: retro-talk-bounces at list.dantz.com
[mailto:retro-talk-bounces at list.dantz.com 
> ] On Behalf Of Shaw, William
> Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 10:21 AM
> To: Dantz Retro-Talk
> Subject: RE: A backup plan that will run without interaction.
>
> We actually find that we have to go deeper, but we can essentially run
> unattended until Retrospect blows up which happens way too often.
>
> We have a Disk to Disk to Tape solution and have frequently been  
> bitten
> by the damaged catalog issue.
>
> Our plan goes like this:
> 	Daily we backup devices to disk running multiple instances to
> shorten our backup window.
> 	Then we transfer the latest snapshots to tape, consolidating all
> to tape.
> 		The tape backup sets are rotated using a library to
> adhere to best practices.
> 	
> 	Now that our data is backed up, comes the time to manage
> retrospect.
> 	
> 	On a rotating basis, we groom our disk backup sets as Steve has
> listed.
> 	
> 	Then approximately one backup set per day, is reset (recycled);
> this lessens the risk of a bad catalog and doesn't overly burden our
> backup solution.
> 		
>
> This is the best we have come up with so far, if somebody has a better
> solution I'd really like to hear it.
>
> William Shaw
> IT Manager
> Wood Resources LLC
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: retro-talk-bounces at list.dantz.com
> [mailto:retro-talk-bounces at list.dantz.com] On Behalf Of Steven Taylor
> Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 5:57 AM
> To: Dantz Retro-Talk
> Subject: RE: A backup plan that will run without interaction.
>
> I added a script that is a groom-only job. Every morning, it goes
> through each backup set and grooms. I found this to be a help in  
> keeping
> the size of my backup sets manageable.
>
>
> Steve Taylor
> System Administrator
> Signwarehouse.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: retro-talk-bounces at list.dantz.com
> [mailto:retro-talk-bounces at list.dantz.com] On Behalf Of Bill Root
> Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 6:18 PM
> To: Dantz Retro-Talk
> Subject: Re: A backup plan that will run without interaction.
>
> When I started using grooming I had similar problems with the damaged
> catalog files.  I kept reducing the number of backups kept until
> grooming worked properly and the catalog stopped getting
> damaged.  (I'm down to two backups kept per Backup Set.)  It appears
> that Retrospect has problems with full backup sets that result in
> broken catalogs.
>
> For me, grooming now works automatically.  When Retrospect runs a
> backup and runs out of space, it grooms and then continues with the
> backup.
>
> Finest regards,
> Bill Root
>
>
> At 11/4/2008 04:44 PM, you wrote:
>> Has anyone gotten retrospect to run without interaction for more
>> than a few weeks at a time?
>>
>> I have tremendous problems with this which seems like a very simple
>> and what would be a common task for folks.
>>
>> Either A) It doesn't groom properly (it says that the catalog files
>> are missing/damaged)
>> Or
>> B) the catalog files grow to immense size 1TB+ to where Retrospect
>> is unable to 'use them' anymore.
>>
>> Is there a recipe that actually makes this thing flow correctly for
>> any length of time?
>>
>> Currently I have :
>>
>> Two Disks (separate volumes on two different sans)
>> Each Backup set has a member in each disk
>> Each host has its own backup set
>> The maximum number of backups to keep is 7 (1 week)
>> I have a groom job that runs on every backup set once a week
>>
>> Are there any secrets anyone has come up with for keeping this thing
> alive?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> -Drew
>>
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>
>
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=======================
Mike Friedman
MGF Consulting
Computers without Attitude
http://www.mgfconsulting.net
415-823-9990
Instant Message AIM/Yahoo: sfmike64





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