Topic: [Solved] How do you configure a Workstation Backup?

[LANMonkey]

Yes, I found it.

I checked it off, but the option did not show in my folder until I went through the File and Printer Sharing Wizard again.  To get that going, I brought up My Network Places and found "Set up a home or small office network" on the left margin.  When I went through that, option "allow network users to change my files" showed in the Sharing part of my Folder Properties.

So, I ticked off the box and ran the Configure Workstation Backup with the following inputs:

• I used the IP address of the Windows XP machine.
• I used the share name of the folder I designated to be shared
• I tried two different users on the XP machine.

And I am still getting an error back,
 
"Unable to mount workstation shared folder mount error 20 = Not a directory Refer to the mount.cifs( 8 ) manual page (e.g.man mount.cifs)"

[mercyh]

AH, Now we are getting somewhere. This is a different error then you had before.

This is where I usually have to fool around a bit with things to get it talking.

If you use another windows machine and browse with network neighborhood to the workstation you are trying to backup too, can you see the share and what is the name?

Mine looks like this: \\Royceh\sme_backup

In the SME configuration screen I have this,

Backup workstation settings

Workstation IP or hostname:  192.168.xxx.xxx 
(IP of workstation named Royceh)

Backup share:    sme_backup

Login name:     NameOfUserOnXpMachineWithRightsToThisFileLocation
   
Password is:    UsersPassword

[LANMonkey]

Yes, all those inputs look exactly the same as mine.

On this particular network, there is only the XP and SME server.  My LAN has two networks seperated by a router.  I have already confronted the fact that my other windows machines are unable to share files accross different networks.

Is there another way to test the connection from the SME's command line?

[mercyh]

exactly how are you getting the error you described. I cannot make my server throw an error at all in the configuration screen. It will even accept a non existant server IP addres.

You are not perhaps going into verify backup directly after configuration and getting this error?

I would suggest that you set the backup with a time 2 minutes later then the server time. Then watch the share on the windows machine and see what happens. You will either get an e-mail to admin that the job did not run, with the error, or you will see the job start writing to the share on the workstation.
(You will have to manualy refresh the window on the workstation to see the files added)

The Verify backup option will show the share but will not complete without errors unless a backup has been run (It shows all the files in a backup set).


 

[mercyh]

Another thing to try,

make sure the share name has no spaces and set a simple password on the user on the XP machine for testing. (no special characters and no spaces)

[LANMonkey]

This is what shows up in the mail:

Error while mounting Jay:SharedJay :
mount error: could not find target server. TCP name Jay/SharedJay not found
No ip address specified and hostname not found
Backup terminated: backup failed - status: 7424

==================================
DAILY BACKUP TO WORKSTATION REPORT
==================================
Backup started at Tue Feb 17 23:23:22 2009
Backup of mysql databases has been done.
Mounting backup shared directory Jay/SharedJay
*** No backup allowed or error during backup ***
Error while mounting Jay:SharedJay :
mount error: could not find target server. TCP name Jay/SharedJay not found
No ip address specified and hostname not found

[LANMonkey]

Here is the email from another attempt with the name corrected to the IP address:

Error while mounting 192.168.1.10:SharedJay :
mount error 20 = Not a directory
Refer to the mount.cifs( manual page (e.g.man mount.cifs)
Backup terminated: backup failed - status: 7424

==================================
DAILY BACKUP TO WORKSTATION REPORT
==================================
Backup started at Wed Feb 18 03:07:21 2009
Backup of mysql databases has been done.
Mounting backup shared directory 192.168.1.10/SharedJay
*** No backup allowed or error during backup ***
Error while mounting 192.168.1.10:SharedJay :
mount error 20 = Not a directory
Refer to the mount.cifs( manual page (e.g.man mount.cifs)

I should also say that I get the same above results whether the firewall is up or not, so I assume that the firewall has been properly set, else a mount could not be attempted.  And also, I've been to the mount.cifs manual page and it is no help.

[Craig Cabrey]

I realize that this is probably not what you want to here, but have you raised a bug?

You will get help directly from the developers and if it is a true bug, then the developers can include a fix in the next update.

BTW, be sure to post the bugzilla number here for future reference.

Craig

[mercyh]

Over here on the French side is a user that reported the same error.

http://forums.contribs.org/index.php/topic,38503.0.html

Using Google translation (I am sorry but I don't know french) it looks like that user fixed it by creating a  user with the proper access.

FOR TESTING PURPOSES ONLY

1. Create a new share that is a folder on C:\ on the windows machine, lets call it backup. You would now have a folder that looks like this C:\backup.

2. Share the folder with Windows file sharing tab with the share name of backup click the allow network user to change my files box.

3. Create a new administrative user in windows with the user name of backup and a password of backup1

4. Set the SME backup routine to point to the new share and use the backup user name and the password of backup1

5. Pour a little Snake Oil on the top of the server and massage gently  .

6. Set a backup to run in 5 minutes and see what happens.

**Be sure to delete your shares and account after this test if you do not wish to keep them.

If your windows share is in the Documents and Settings area of the Windows file system and it is created on a different user then the user used for the backup, The backup user may not have access rights to the directory. 

[LANMonkey]

I realize that this is probably not what you want to here, but have you raised a bug?

You will get help directly from the developers and if it is a true bug, then the developers can include a fix in the next update.

BTW, be sure to post the bugzilla number here for future reference.

Craig

How would this qualify as a bug?  mercyh has already demonstrated that she can do on her exact same systems what I can't do on mine.  Where is the bug?  If I can figure out how those who are successfully backing up SME to Windows workstations are different from my setup, then the problem is solved, there is no bug.

Is there anything else I can test on my setup or anything else I can report about my systems to get this going?

[LANMonkey]

Over here on the French side is a user that reported the same error.

....

mercyh, have you been able to reproduce this error?  You have already explained that you have successfully managed to use the Workstation backup option to a XP Pro machine.  Do I get that right?

[mercyh]

I have not been able to reproduce the error. I have not tried using a user that does not have access to the share.

I am almost certain that the problem is with configuration, however, if the test I outlined above fails I would call it a bug.

I would say anytime that two exact same setups do not return the same result a bug is suspected.

The other advantage of raising a bug is that you get answers from the people that developed the system not just users. You also contribute back to the overall good of the software and the community if you actually have hit a bug that can be corrected.

I would say, Try the test. If it fails go to bugtracker.

PS> The gender of mercyh is male (at least my wife thinks so)

[LANMonkey]

I have not been able to reproduce the error. I have not tried using a user that does not have access to the share.

I am almost certain that the problem is with configuration, however, if the test I outlined above fails I would call it a bug.

....

Have you tried that exact procedure outlined above?  What do you mean you have not tried a user that does not have access to the share?  Is that what the above procedure does?

[mercyh]

Yes, I have tried the EXACT procedure above and it does work. I have NOT been able to reproduce your exact error I "think" your error is in configuration of the share either on the Windows machine or how the share is configured on the server.

The purpose of the above procedure is to test if a share built at the most simple level and a user with the highest privileges will work. Another thing that I didn't say which I would do is turn off ALL firewalls on the windows machine for the test.

It would be helpful to bring another workstation onto this network and test that the share is accessable.

======================

What do you mean you have not tried a user that does not have access to the share?

I have tried several things to reproduce your error. I have not tried the above.

The french user fixed this error message by creating a user with the correct permissions on his windows machine.

[LANMonkey]

Yes, I have tried the EXACT procedure above and it does work.

By "does work", do you mean it reproduced the error?

The french user fixed this error message by creating a user with the correct permissions on his windows machine.

And how do you do that?