Validation of backup on NAS -
On my wife's laptop we have ATI 2018 set up to take a daily backup to a NAS. The path to the destination uses the device's DNS name rather than IP address.
Yesterday's incremental backup filed with a message saying
Error 0xb007f: The initial full backup version is not accessible at the moment.
Error 0xb03e9: Cannot open the backup.
Odd, but I've seen stranger things with a NAS.
I decided to try a Validate before doing another backup but the Validate prompted me for network credentials (which might be reasonable) and showed a path using an IP address that was not the IP address of the NAS. After trying this twice and getting the same prompt I gave up on Validate and tried another backup. The backup worked without error and without prompting for credentials ... which is reasonable since ATI has those credentials in the Windows registry.
So what is up with that Validation? Where is it getting the (incorrect) path information? It's vaguely possible I once had the backup task defined using IP address but I can guarantee that particular IP address has been unused for over a year (when I got a new router).
Steve, I looked but didn't see a log for the validation. Either validation creates a log type that I'm not listing/viewing by default or nothing gets logged if the process is terminated during the prompt for credentials. I don't have access to the laptop right now but I'll check later on. I'll run a validation on my PC right now to see what I should expect in the way of logging.
Update:
Well, I see that validation produces a TI_demon log file same as a backup does. I'll have to wait for access to the laptop to do any further checking.
I did a little more digging. No scripts containing the strange IP addr but a scan of the registry showed some a set of Acronis\Connections\smb\ records with the address. There was another set using the DNS name. I deleted the registry entries containing the IP addr and tried the Validate again. As before, it again prompted for the credentials in a popup displaying the path containing the IP address. (And now my latest successful back is flagged as in error because of the failed Validate.)
And Open Location on the backup works and uses a path containing the DSN name.
I did a search of the laptop's disk for the IP address but nothing was found. Unless I entered the wrong address, ATI has it somewhere in other than plain text.
Patrick, please see KB 58004: Acronis True Image 2016: Troubleshooting Issues Related to NAS Credentials which has details of where credentials are stored and remains valid for later releases.
The other places to check are the Windows Credentials Manager (via the Control Panel) and the local Hosts file (C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc).
Steve, thanks for your suggestions. I don't think this is a problem with credentials but the KB article you pointed to has lots of related information. Unfortunately, it didn't lead me anywhere helpful. I had already deleted the \Acronis\Connections\smb registry keys that had the IP address but the Validate tried using the IP addr anyway. Do I have to shut down and restart the Acronis services before Acronis rereads those registry records?
I did not try deleting the backup script because the backup function works fine; it's just the validate that has problems.
I have only intermittent access to the laptop so have not been able to check the Windows Credentials Manager since you posted your comment, but I don't think will reveal much. There are no valid credentials associated the path using the IP address because the path is not valid; there is no device using that IP address.
By the way, there is a very long pause between my requesting validation and ATI's presenting the popup asking for the NAS credentials. I'm guessing between 15 and 30 seconds, but I didn't time it.
Patrick,
Does this computer use DHCP for IP Address assignment?
Does your NAS have a static IP Address or does it use DHCP?
Do you use mapped drives to access your NAS?
If you use DHCP for IP Address assignment on this computer then the IP Address is volatile and can and will change. If you used an IP address for this machine to designate its location either in TI or Windows and that address has changed then that could be the issue here.
If you use mapped drives to your NAS I would un-map the NAS from Windows on this machine using Windows Explorer and then reboot the machine then, remap the NAS drive again and supply credentials when prompted. Once that is done try the validation again. I believe that TI validation will fail again. If it does open the backup task in TI's GUI, click on the Destination and re-select the NAS share. I believe that TI will ask for your credentials so provide them here as well and test the connection. Once connection is made, if it is, then run the validation again. If this all works you should be good to go again.
If your NAS uses DHCP I would strongly encourage you to change to a static IP address.
I use DHCP for everything but I access my NAS drives via DNS name rather than IP address. This particular NAS is not mapped. On my router - an ASUS RT-AC87U - the DHCP lease time is set to 1 day but the length of time the router saves the name / addr association is much longer. I've had the router powered off for 4 days and it still assigned the same addresses to my computers, NAS drives and printer. In fact the only time the addresses changed was when I switched routers about a year ago. I understand the potential problem here, and I suspect the validate is using an address given out by the old router. But I don't think that explains when the backup function was using the device name while validate was using the old IP address.
It's all moot now, though. I finally got access to the laptop, deleted and re-added the backup task definition, ran a new backup, and successfully ran a validation.
I'm still a bit bothered by this problem but I felt that getting it fixed was more important than diagnosing it. I very rarely use the validate function (and can't remember why I tried it 2 days ago) but I really didn't feel comfortable with its not working.
Many routers can be configured to manually assign IP addresses to devices on the network based on their MAC address. Patrick, I know your Asus router can do that. You just need to go in and configure it.
I use manually assigned IP addresses for all the devices in my house. I never need worry about the IP address changing. It also makes it easy to create shortcuts to the devices.
Patrick,
I think you are right about the previous router. You fixed it by recreating the backup task. That's fine and may have been necessary to clear up the problem.
The problem here is not True Image it is a Microsoft issue. It stems from Windows not allowing more than 1 connection to a network share at a time.
Glad you got it sorted.