Topic: The famous 4GB backup problem

[lproven]

This is mainly for information, but I'd welcome comments.

As far as I know, there's still no fix for the problem of backing up to a Windows PC failing if the backup exceeds 3.99GB in size. Is this still correct?

This being so, I thought it might interest some people to know that I am successfully backing up one client's server to an OS X Macintosh - in fact,  a PowerBook G4 1GHz. Using Apple's Safari browser, this successfully created a "smeserver.tgz" file of 7½GB, which I then stored on an external FireWire HD.

I've tried on a Win2K PC using IE6, FireFox 0.8, Opera 7, Lynx, Links and K-Meleon - all failed at 4GB or before.

Mac OS X works, though. IE5 failed but Safari seems fine.

[raem]

> ....there's still no fix for the problem of backing up to a
> Windows PC failing if the backup exceeds 3.99GB in size.

As I understand it, it's a interactive limitation of various components when they are all used togather, rather than a "fault" that needs fixing.

Darrel Mays backup2ws contrib is a good workaround for the issue.

> Using Apple's Safari browser, this successfully created a "smeserver.tgz" file of 7½GB,
> which I then stored on an external FireWire HD.


Have you tried to restore that file, it may not work, due to other limitations ?
Please let us know.
Regs
Ray

[jvdbossc]

I am not an expert in SME server, but I do manage windows servers and clients.

I noticed over the years that when downloading a file, it is first saved in (i think temporary internet files)  People report here somethimes 2gb..

Probably it depends how much space there is on the windows drive..

I already was wondering about the backup feature,..Therefore I searched on this topic...

Regards,

[knut]

As stated above "Darrel Mays backup2ws contrib is a good workaround for the issue".

I am using this myself and it works wonderfully. You can yourself decide on the size of the backupfiles and the contribs breaks the backup file up in smaller sizes as defined by the backup operator.

Regards
Knut

[lproven]

RayMitchell: I'm sorry, but I don't buy that. It's a fault all right. It's a feature that doesn't work, i.e., a bug.

Meanwhile, I'll try a test restore to see. I have a contingency plan of setting up a Linux workstation on an old machine, solely for backup purposes.

I'm going to try backup2ws soon; I'll report back. For now, I'm using the free edition of XXcopy to backup.

[lproven]

jvdbossc: not, it's not an issue with temporary files. Yes, some browsers make a temp file first, but all my client workstations run NTFS, which has no 2GB file size limit, and the free space on the volumes holding the browser cache is 6-8GB.

However, I can confirm it's not an IE issue. I've tried *every* single current PC browser I know and they *all* do it.

[raem]

There are plenty of posts here about the backup issue, Search on backup and backup2ws and you will find the answers. Go back to the start of 2003 at least.
There are TWO SEPERATE issues, one is the backup file size issue, the other is the ability of the browser (& processor & memory) to restore the large backup file.

To my understanding the backup file size issue has nothing to do ext2 or ext3 or FAT32 or NTFS file systems, it IS a Linux limitation of smb and tar when used together. The "packages" used by sme server are what needs fixing, not the sme server as such. It has nothing to do with Windows (32 bit versions).
Some people can create large sme server backup files bigger than 2Gb somehow, but they often stop at 3.99Gb, I never have been able to so, and this is on NTFS file systems on which I & they can create 20Gb sized files without difficulty (not backups from sme though).

The restore issue does involve the particular brand and version of browser you are using. I have tried different browsers, some work some don't, IE is troublesome esp v5.5. A large (< 2Gb) backup file will not restore at all using some browser (IE 5.5) but will restore OK using different browser (Netscape 6). The URL that you use to access server manager also has some effect depending which sme version you use, particularly when Verifying your Backup file, http://servername/server-manager appears more stable.

You don't have to believe me, just let the other posts tell the same answers, I have read them all and that's what they say, as well as what I have experienced.

If you can restore that 7Gb file, then that's good, tell us how you did it.

Regs
Ray

[Kelvin]

G'Day Ray & Iproven,

If memory serves (a big IF   )... Charlie Brady actually answered in a previous post that :-
a) Backup to desktops can be as big as your OS allows (and yes, in the past I've actually gotten a 5GB desktop backup done before - XP on NTFS)
BUT
b) Restores cannot be bigger than 2 (or was it 4   )GBs because of the temporary file that needs to be created on the SME server during the restore from desktop process

smbfs limitations did not come into the backup to desktop but actually came up in a discussion which I believe both Ray and I participated in. The gist of that discussion was to overcome the backup to desktop limitation by using flexback to disk on a windows NTFS share (ie. idea was because flexbackup itself does not have filesize limitation - check with the archival engine, be it tar, dump or otherwise, and NTFS can support large files as well, we could backup to a windows drive share even if it is > 4GB --- NOT !) As it turns out, smbfs has file size limitations, along with quite a few other supporting libraries, etc. This, by the way means that you might be able to create a huge file under the new file system on SME through SME itself, but that file is not accessible across the network from a windows PC (so I won't be storing any work-in-progress Video editing jobs on SME   ).

Regards,

Kelvin