I have been seeing the WHS Console/Computers and Backup displays showing that backups are not being taken overnight for all of my PCs. Which one are not being taken varies by the night. The Backup Logs (on the server, hit Win+R and enter %qlogs% which shows filenames of "backup-mmddyy.log)".

If I look at 6/2/2014 in these logs, I see that Kevin_2010 and Kevin-Notebook show as being backed up successfully. However, the Computers and Backup screen in the WHS_Console shows that only Kevin_2010 was backed up. Other nights show different cases.

I have attached a .doc file that shows the backup log for 6/2/2014 (reduced a bit of repeated duplicate entries) and a screenshot of the Computers and Backup screen showing that Kevin-Notebook as NOT being backed up.

Anyone have any clues as to what could be happening here?

I'm tempted to delete all the backups and reset up the backup jobs again and see what happens.

EDIT1
I have noticed that since 6/5 that the Notebook has backed up every night (the Notebook is the only one that is wireless in the house).

EDIT2
I installed the "Event Viewer" addin today (6/17/2014) in the WHS. I do notice (in the Home Server filter) messages like this (not sure whether the dates tie in with the Word document I am keeping based on the "Backup" window backup results in the WHS):

Received abort message from GLORIA-LAPTOP with reason 3.
Received abort message from KEVIN-NOTEBOOK with reason 5.

Does anyone know what these reason codes mean?
Still seems to me that the netbook (with a wireless connection) is the most consistent of the lot. My house is wired with CAT6 and I have a WD Gb 7 port router and an HP Procurve 16 port switch (this switch connects the other rooms in the house). I have attached the current Word document showing the backups taken (as reported by the WHS Console/Backup window). BTW, I have been running the WHS Server for about 3.5 years now (along with backups taken every night). The "intermittent" problems only "seem" to have started after I put a Win8 desktop on the network (this may or may not be relevant).

It seems that this site doesn't take .docx files, so as of 6/17, I reposted a .doc file in its place, sorry for any confusion there. The message saying that the site doesn't take .docx files was at the top of the message and when trying to upload a .docx file is not even visible unless one scrolls up to the top. NOT the best place for an error message IMHO.

EDIT3, 6/19/2014
I cleared out the WHS event logs (using the Event Log addin) on 6/17 and backups have been taken on all 4 PCs the last two nights. Really odd.

EDIT4, 6/20/2014
This morning only the netbook and laptop did a backup. Neither of the two desktops took a backup. The only "errors" I see in the WHS Event Log are:

"The master browser has received a server announcement from the computer MYNETN900
that believes that it is the master browser for the domain on transport NetBT_Tcpip_{3ABD37B6-431F-4C2C.
The master browser is stopping or an election is being forced."

Does anyone know what this really means (MYNET900 is my WD router)?

Thanks,

Kevin

_________________
ASUSTOR AS6204T, 12 TB RAID-5 over three drive bays (3 * 4TB HGST drives), 2TB Fantom Esata backup drive

"In theory there's no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is." [Attributed to L. P. "Yogi" Berra]

Edit 5

I'm still seeing this problem. One of the log entries this morning was this:

System.IO.IOException: The write operation failed, see inner exception. ---> System.Net.Sockets.SocketException: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.Send(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 size, SocketFlags socketFlags)
at System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.SocketStream.Write(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 count)
at System.Net.Security.NegotiateStream.StartWriting(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 count, AsyncProtocolRequest asyncRequest)
at System.Net.Security.NegotiateStream.ProcessWrite(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 count, AsyncProtocolRequest asyncRequest)
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---

Server stack trace:
at System.Net.Security.NegotiateStream.ProcessWrite(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 count, AsyncProtocolRequest asyncRequest)
at System.Net.Security.NegotiateStream.Write(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 count)
at System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.ChunkedMemoryStream.WriteTo(Stream stream)
at System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.Tcp.TcpClientSocketHandler.GetRequestStream(IMessage msg, Int32 contentLength, ITransportHeaders headers)
at System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.Tcp.TcpClientSocketHandler.SendRequest(IMessage msg, ITransportHeaders headers, Stream contentStream)
at System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.Tcp.TcpClientTransportSink.SendRequestWithRetry(IMessage msg, ITransportHeaders requestHeaders, Stream requestStream)
at System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.Tcp.TcpClientTransportSink.ProcessMessage(IMessage msg, ITransportHeaders requestHeaders, Stream requestStream, ITransportHeaders& responseHeaders, Stream& responseStream)
at System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.BinaryClientFormatterSink.SyncProcessMessage(IMessage msg)

Exception rethrown at [0]:
at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.HandleReturnMessage(IMessage reqMsg, IMessage retMsg)
at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.PrivateInvoke(MessageData& msgData, Int32 type)
at HPMediaSmartServer.IMediaCollectorProxy.GetMediaCollectionStatus()
at HPMediaSmartServer.MediaCollector.GetMediaCollectionStatus()
at MediaCollectorAddIn.MediaCollectorStatus.Setup()

Other than "communications" not working (the socket stuff)...does anyone have any idea of how to trace this back to something meaningful?

This message came out 2 seconds after the backup window time started.

Thanks,

Kevin

_________________
ASUSTOR AS6204T, 12 TB RAID-5 over three drive bays (3 * 4TB HGST drives), 2TB Fantom Esata backup drive

"In theory there's no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is." [Attributed to L. P. "Yogi" Berra]

Do you have the Media Collector and Converter configured to run? I see them listed in the exceptions and they are or can be very processor intensive especially if they get hung up on one or more files they are trying to process and it all boils down to Twonky. If your running these functions take a look at the link below:

http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2010/03 ... 0-patch-2/

If your not running these functions and have no desire to run them or to stream content via a remote access connection then make an RDP connection to the server and disable the Twonky Service. You can disable it from the console but it will run again after a reboot so disabling the service will resolve the reloading issue.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

Thanks for the reply...I must not have checked notify me as I didn't see the reply until I checked manually this morning. I have checked it now (I wish that this was the default action!).

I have just disabled MediaCollectorService and HPMSSConnectorService on the server (which I thought I had tried before).

I don't use Twonky, per se, but do use the Denon receiver in my family room to pull MP3s over to it (via iTunes on my desktop PC and the Denon Airplay function). It is not obvious to me whether the MediaCollectorService is used in that operation or not.

BTW, my netbook appears to have just died (won't power up...power transformer is OK) - outputs 19V which is what the netbook calls for), so that is off the network for backups. The damn thing is not even worth repairing (about 6 years old now).

I have just installed a new version of iTunes and have to reboot to use it. I'll post an update later on to see if those services are needed for the Denon/AirPlay to work.

EDIT1
OK, new iTunes installed and everything via iTunes and the Denon Airplay working OK. Hmmm, It looks I changed the initial two services (above) to disabled on my desktop PC. I just now disabled Twonky on the server.

What are MediaCollectorService and HPMSSConnectorService used for on a desktop PC? Should I re-enable these again?
K

_________________
ASUSTOR AS6204T, 12 TB RAID-5 over three drive bays (3 * 4TB HGST drives), 2TB Fantom Esata backup drive

"In theory there's no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is." [Attributed to L. P. "Yogi" Berra]

For the time being I would leave the MediaCollector Service Disabled but I would not disable the HPMSSConnectorService. I am not quite sure what the HPMSSConnector Service is for but it may be for the Webpages but this is pure speculation on my part.

Anyway leaving the services disabled for a day or two will tell you if one of them was causing the issue or not and if not then you can turn them back on and look elsewhere. Its always a process of elimination and often it can prove to be time consuming and frustration.

As for your netbook not powering up it could be something as simple as a broken lead on the power button. Not to long ago I serviced a netbook and notebook both made by Gateway which is owned by Acer of course taking these things apart is a pain but if you have ever taken one apart then you can apply the same process to your unit. The other issue with notebooks is the power connector on the notebook end sometimes loosens up and you get poor connectivity when you plug in your power adapter. Sometimes a slight wiggle will get the thing to power up but its just an indicator that the power connector either needs to be replaced or a poor solder joint needs to be corrected.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

Thanks for suggestions. I'll take a look at the netbook. I'll add the connector back in again.

I'll let you know what results I get.

EDIT1
Now, having plugged in the netbook again, it works. I wiggled the connector on the netbook all over the place, could not get it to fail. This morning I tried two different 110V outlets. I also measured the output of the transformer block. It was at 19V...just where the block said it should be. Weird.

EDIT2
Automatic backup early this morning ran ONLY for the netbook (this had been removed from the backups yesterday and I redid the backup setup yesterday evening for the netbook after it started powering up again). The other three PCs did NOT backup. I'm running a manual backup on the Win7 desktop PC now (as not taken for the last 5 days). The Win8.1 desktop PC has not backed up in 4 days either. I'll run a manual on that PC next.

Kevin

_________________
ASUSTOR AS6204T, 12 TB RAID-5 over three drive bays (3 * 4TB HGST drives), 2TB Fantom Esata backup drive

"In theory there's no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is." [Attributed to L. P. "Yogi" Berra]

That's aggravating for sure. I would if you have not done so already change the backup times so that you can watch what is happening. If your clients are sleeping and the server can not wake them up that could be part of the issue so you can also try putting the client to sleep and then from the console instruct it to backup the client and see if it wakes the client up. I know a lot of people put their toys to sleep at night where I do not and as such I never have an issue with backups.

Back to your notebook does it have an LED to indicate when the charger is attached but not necessarily turned on? If it does just pay more attention to it especially if the notebook will not turn on because if it does have an LED as most do to indicate there is a power connection and it does not turn on then the issue pretty much points to the actual power button which could have bad contacts or possibly a broken lead which is floating around inside the unit. This is an annoying issue for sure but easily resolvable by replacing the power switch or board if its part of a board and once you extract it which is the fun part the next thing would be to check the contacts and power leads or both. Once you find the issue then its off to either the OEM or eBay for parts. You can also do a google search regarding the issue and see if the issue is common and see what corrective action was needed to take. Sometimes units actually are one but the screen is not working because of a failed component or component connection from the screens inverter board. Notebooks are a pain to disassemble but since you mention its 6 yrs old then you should be able to download a disassembly or service manual for the notebook.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

When I first set backup up (a long while ago now), I did run it during the day and checked it out that way, but have not done this again since. The backups being somewhat intermittent "seems" to have started around the Win 8.1 desktop being put on the network although why that would have any impact, I don't know.

The netbook was the PC that almost always took the backup overnight (at least by far the most consistent PC to do so). It does have a power LED and it is on currently. It is not used too much and was sitting in the corner of the office doing nothing for a while now. It's now sitting by my desktop monitors and I'll keep an eye on it. It's not the end of the world if it goes bye-bye. It's old enough to be still running XP and not worth upgrading. Yesterday when first looking at the netbook, I don't remember ever seeing the LED light up.


EDIT1
I changed the backup window to 15:00 to 18:00 and so far only my Win7 PC and the netbook have automatically backed up. It's now 17:50.


EDIT2
Today (7/13/2014) - everything except the laptop backed up. I noticed that the laptop (which lives in the garage and is only really used to drive a charger for RC batteries nowadays) was waiting on Windows Updates to be installed (the little icon in the tray). So, I installed those (after 18:00 tonight. I believe that I have noticed before that "waiting" Windows Updates seems to stop automatic backups from being taken.


EDIT3
7/14/2014 - Laptop didn't take a backup, the rest did.


EDIT4
7/15/2014 - All PCs took backups today.


EDIT5
7/16/2014 - No PCs took backup today.

K

Thanks again,

Kevin

_________________
ASUSTOR AS6204T, 12 TB RAID-5 over three drive bays (3 * 4TB HGST drives), 2TB Fantom Esata backup drive

"In theory there's no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is." [Attributed to L. P. "Yogi" Berra]

So, having changed the backup window from 03:00 -> 06:00 to 15:00 -> 18:00, I see a much more consistent pattern to the backups being taken. Not all 4 PCs backup each day but a much higher percentage. The rationale for the original backup window was to take backups when the PCs were not being used.

I noticed this afternoon that my PC did not take backup (the others did). I was actually using my PC for most of the afternoon.

So, a question is does backup NOT run in certain circumstances (files locked etc)?

Is there a list of circumstances under which backup does not attempt to run?

Thanks,

Kevin

_________________
ASUSTOR AS6204T, 12 TB RAID-5 over three drive bays (3 * 4TB HGST drives), 2TB Fantom Esata backup drive

"In theory there's no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is." [Attributed to L. P. "Yogi" Berra]

Its possible but I am not aware of any specific thing. I have run WHSv1, WHS2011 and WS2012E and have always used my computers during their backup times although WHSv1 will display a message telling you a backup is about to begin and if you want you can postpone it for a bit. At work both with WHSv1 and WHS2011 I have always had the backups done when I knew the clients would not be in use. I even was backing up the Video Servers but not the actual video files because they were always being updated, deleted and such and if I did attempt to back up that part of those systems the backup would never complete so for those I just backed up the OS Drive.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

Yes, I've seen the notification message that you mentioned. As you suggested, the best time to do a backup is when the PCs are not being used. I did that with this same server for several years. I hate it when I can't solve these problems. Dammit <g>.

K

_________________
ASUSTOR AS6204T, 12 TB RAID-5 over three drive bays (3 * 4TB HGST drives), 2TB Fantom Esata backup drive

"In theory there's no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is." [Attributed to L. P. "Yogi" Berra]

Right now it appears that 3 of your clients are backing up daily with the new backup time settings and the other client is not being backed up daily.

Everything here involved observation so the first order of business is to observe the backups when they actually take place. What your looking for is how long does it take to backup the 3 clients and is the time frame being used up by those clients in which case you may want to extend the time period.

The other thing you will need to try out is to put the clients to sleep prior to the backup times to see if the server is able to properly wake the clients up and again how much time does it take to perform the backups.

Typically the backups do not take all that long but if the connections are over WiFi then they will take longer. You could also test each client individually buy having the server perform a manual backup both when the client is sleeping and not. This will give you an idea of how efficiently things are being done and its a major pain to do but easier then staying up all night to observe the event.

With this all said and done if nothing sticks out during your current time slot then one needs to look at what the server might be doing during your original time slot and you could try changing the time slot around setting it earlier or later to achieve the same goal.

Again as you are well aware the incremental backups should take only a few minutes because WHS takes a snap shot of the client and only backs up the changes then moves on to the next client. The main differences between your setup and mine aside from the OS Part is I do not put my clients to sleep because sometimes its a pain to wake them up so for me its either let them run all night or just turn them off which is why I have my backups scheduled in the evening. Also I have to point out that I do not store an abundance of data on my clients as its all sent to the server do have hard drives in clients used for temporary storage so data is always changing there and then once I am done I move the files to the server and if they are important to another backup location for added protection.

Not all my clients are available to the server every night and they do not see an abundance of activity but I will connect those clients up and manually back them up once a week or if I am at work I will use my servers VPN Connection to backup those clients.

Anyway just wanted to also give you a snap shot of what I do on my end. I have about 20 clients I work with both on and off site across multiple servers and locations.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

Many thanks for the thoughts. Different PCs here either backup or don't and it varies by the day (well, seems to vary by the day...maybe it's something else). I wish that the error message logged were actually meaningful to the user (me) rather than to the people that wrote the code. Some of them mean absolutely nothing to any user IMHO.

I'll be keeping an eye on them as it does seem to have improved since shifting the time to the afternoon (versus early morning). I have three hours set for the backup window (which is more than enough except maybe for WHS backup cleanup on Sundays). I would suspect that 2 hours is plenty even. Like you, I keep almost no data files on the PCs...all kept on the server.

Kevin

_________________
ASUSTOR AS6204T, 12 TB RAID-5 over three drive bays (3 * 4TB HGST drives), 2TB Fantom Esata backup drive

"In theory there's no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is." [Attributed to L. P. "Yogi" Berra]

Okay, I have a hp envy laptop. Win 8.1 64bit having similar issues.
I finally went to control panel power management and found that the powersave option disables WOL intentionally.
In fact they warn you that if you enable it it may wake the notebook at the most inopportune time.
Such as when on a plane.
Also there is a warning that it may drain the battery. Due to keeping the unit awake.
Once I disabled it or enabled it,depending on your frame of mind. The nags for missing backups went away.
And all backups have been successful even if the notebook is asleep.
Now I will admit that I have kept the power pack plugged in.

_________________
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Popcorn C-200
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Rasberry PI OSMC(KODI)
ReadyNAS RN316
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MyMovies

Hi Ruben,

I have an HP Envy laptop being delivered soon (somewhere in the middle of the Pacific last time I looked). But, my backup issues have been "intermittent" over 2 desktops (1 Win 8.1/64 and 1 Win7/64), 1 laptop (Vista/32) and 1 notebook XP/32). Since switching the backup window (WHS V1 BTW) from 3 to 6am to 3 to 6pm, the backups have been much more consistent (why, who knows?). Before this starting happening, I ran backups overnight for several years with only odd times when the backup would not work. The new laptop is Win 8.1/64, so I will keep an eye out for what you mention. Once the new laptop gets configured etc, the Vista laptop will go away.

BTW, has anyone used www.packagetrackr.com - neat website that graphically the route that a package takes. Show my laptop going from Chongquing, China to Shenzhen, China to Sennan-Shi, Japan to Beijing, China and then across the Pacific. Why China top Japan and back to China? Who knows.

K

_________________
ASUSTOR AS6204T, 12 TB RAID-5 over three drive bays (3 * 4TB HGST drives), 2TB Fantom Esata backup drive

"In theory there's no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is." [Attributed to L. P. "Yogi" Berra]