[rdiff-backup-users] Problems backing up to CIFS using rdiff-backup

[Jordi Mallach]

Hi list!

I'm trying to backup a system to a Lacie NAS system, and no matter what
I try, it keeps breaking on me.

The system I'm trying to backup is nothing special: it's a backup of an
ext3 filesystem mounted from a LVM snapshot -- something I've been doing
for years without years, so this shouldn't be a suspect.

What's new (for me) on this setup is that the destination is mounted via
CIFS to a NAS that is mounted in localhost. This is the fstab line used
to mount the appliance, as suggested in the rdiff-backup FAQ:

//mbackup/share /srv/backup cifs 
noauto,defaults,nocase,directio,sfu,credentials=/etc/samba/creds.txt 0 0

After reading a few very old rdiff-backup threads, I learned how to find
out what version of Samba the NAS is running. Originally 3.0, I got it
upgraded to 3.4 via a firmware update. Unfortunately, the same errors
persist.

multiscan3:~# cat /proc/fs/cifs/DebugData
Display Internal CIFS Data Structures for Debugging
---------------------------------------------------
CIFS Version 1.52
Active VFS Requests: 0
Servers:
1) Name: 192.168.1.154  Domain: WORKGROUP Mounts: 1 OS: Unix  
        NOS: Samba 3.4.1        Capability: 0xf3fd
        SMB session status: 1   TCP status: 1
        Local Users To Server: 1 SecMode: 0x3 Req On Wire: 0
MIDs:

Shares:
1) \\mbackup\share Uses: 1 Type: NTFS DevInfo: 0x0 Attributes: 0x1002f
PathComponentMax: 255 Status: 1 type: 0 

I have tried with CIFS Linux extensions both enabled and disabled.

Kernel is 2.6.24; unfortunately it's not trivially upgradeable, so for
now it needs to stick at this version.

Finally, I've found out that passing --exclude-special-files
--no-hard-links (but not just --no-hard-links) to the rdiff-backup
invocation appears to make a backup run go pass the first few seconds.
I've still haven't found out if it succeeds because the initial backup
is huge.

This NAS *should* be offering a NFS share, but that is nowhere to be
found.

Finally, rdiff-backup is 1.2.5, as found in Debian lenny. Would going
1.2.8 help at all? If there are no related fixes, I would not bother
doing a package backport.

Can anyone hint me of what might be going on? Is anyone successful in
this kind of setup?

MANY thanks!

Jordi

The rdiff-backup error I'm getting is:

Warning: hard linking not supported by filesystem at 
/srv/backup/openvz/multiscan/ldap.102/rdiff-backup-data
SpecialFileError vg01-vzdata/private/102/aquota.group [Errno 95] Operation not 
supported
SpecialFileError vg01-vzdata/private/102/aquota.user [Errno 95] Operation not 
supported
SpecialFileError vg01-vzdata/private/102/bin/bzcmp [Errno 95] Operation not 
supported
SpecialFileError vg01-vzdata/private/102/bin/bzegrep [Errno 95] Operation not 
supported
SpecialFileError vg01-vzdata/private/102/bin/bzfgrep [Errno 95] Operation not 
supported
SpecialFileError vg01-vzdata/private/102/bin/bzless [Errno 95] Operation not 
supported
SpecialFileError vg01-vzdata/private/102/bin/ksh [Errno 95] Operation not 
supported
SpecialFileError vg01-vzdata/private/102/bin/mt [Errno 95] Operation not 
supported
SpecialFileError vg01-vzdata/private/102/bin/nc [Errno 95] Operation not 
supported
SpecialFileError vg01-vzdata/private/102/bin/netcat [Errno 95] Operation not 
supported
SpecialFileError vg01-vzdata/private/102/bin/pidof [Errno 95] Operation not 
supported
SpecialFileError vg01-vzdata/private/102/bin/rbash [Errno 95] Operation not 
supported
SpecialFileError vg01-vzdata/private/102/bin/rnano [Errno 95] Operation not 
supported
SpecialFileError vg01-vzdata/private/102/bin/rzsh [Errno 95] Operation not 
supported
SpecialFileError vg01-vzdata/private/102/bin/sh [Errno 95] Operation not 
supported
SpecialFileError vg01-vzdata/private/102/bin/zsh [Errno 95] Operation not 
supported
SpecialFileError vg01-vzdata/private/102/dev/console [Errno 95] Operation not 
supported
SpecialFileError vg01-vzdata/private/102/dev/core [Errno 95] Operation not 
supported
SpecialFileError vg01-vzdata/private/102/dev/fd [Errno 95] Operation not 
supported
Exception '' raised of class '<type 'exceptions.AssertionError'>':
  File "/var/lib/python-support/python2.5/rdiff_backup/robust.py", line 32, in 
check_common_error
    try: return function(*args)
  File "/var/lib/python-support/python2.5/rdiff_backup/rpath.py", line 119, in 
copy
    elif rpin.isfifo(): rpout.mkfifo()
  File "/var/lib/python-support/python2.5/rdiff_backup/rpath.py", line 1016, in 
mkfifo
    assert self.isfifo()

Exception '' raised of class '<type 'exceptions.AssertionError'>':
  File "/var/lib/python-support/python2.5/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 304, in 
error_check_Main
    try: Main(arglist)
  File "/var/lib/python-support/python2.5/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 324, in 
Main
    take_action(rps)
  File "/var/lib/python-support/python2.5/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 280, in 
take_action
    elif action == "backup": Backup(rps[0], rps[1])
  File "/var/lib/python-support/python2.5/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 346, in 
Backup
    backup.Mirror(rpin, rpout)
  File "/var/lib/python-support/python2.5/rdiff_backup/backup.py", line 38, in 
Mirror
    DestS.patch(dest_rpath, source_diffiter)
  File "/var/lib/python-support/python2.5/rdiff_backup/connection.py", line 
450, in __call__
    return apply(self.connection.reval, (self.name,) + args)
  File "/var/lib/python-support/python2.5/rdiff_backup/connection.py", line 
370, in reval
    if isinstance(result, Exception): raise result

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/rdiff-backup", line 30, in <module>
    rdiff_backup.Main.error_check_Main(sys.argv[1:])
  File "/var/lib/python-support/python2.5/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 304, in 
error_check_Main
    try: Main(arglist)
  File "/var/lib/python-support/python2.5/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 324, in 
Main
    take_action(rps)
  File "/var/lib/python-support/python2.5/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 280, in 
take_action
    elif action == "backup": Backup(rps[0], rps[1])
  File "/var/lib/python-support/python2.5/rdiff_backup/Main.py", line 346, in 
Backup
    backup.Mirror(rpin, rpout)
  File "/var/lib/python-support/python2.5/rdiff_backup/backup.py", line 38, in 
Mirror
    DestS.patch(dest_rpath, source_diffiter)
  File "/var/lib/python-support/python2.5/rdiff_backup/connection.py", line 
450, in __call__
    return apply(self.connection.reval, (self.name,) + args)
  File "/var/lib/python-support/python2.5/rdiff_backup/connection.py", line 
370, in reval
    if isinstance(result, Exception): raise result
AssertionError
Fatal Error: Lost connection to the remote system

-- 
Jordi Mallach <address@hidden>      ::       Àrea de Sistemes, Seguretat
Institut Tecnològic d'Informàtica     ::               i Programari Lliure
Telèfon: 96 387 94 87                 ::      E-mail:  address@hidden