Upgraded to MacOs 10.6.3: TimeMachine changes max sparse bundle size to the full Drobo partition size

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Cedric

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Mar 30, 2010, 5:11:26 PM3/30/10
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Hello,

I have been using BMFU for a long time without problems. I'm running
BMFU on a Droboshare connected a Drobo v2. The Drobo has 4 x 1 TB
drives and is formated (thin provisioning) as 8TB, one single
partition. I'm backing up a single Mac using TM.

Last night I upgraded to 10.6.3. During the following TimeMachine
backup, the max size of my sparse bundle was changed from 550GB to
8TB.

.....
Attempting to mount network destination using URL:
afp://;AUTH=No%20User%20Authent@DroboCapsule._afpovertcp._tcp.local/DroboCapsule
Mounted network destination using URL:
afp://;AUTH=No%20User%20Authent@DroboCapsule._afpovertcp._tcp.local/DroboCapsule
Warning: Destination /Volumes/DroboCapsule does not support TM Lock
Stealing
Warning: Destination /Volumes/DroboCapsule does not support Server
Reply Cache
Resizing backup disk image from 550.4 GB to 8191.6 GB
QUICKCHECK ONLY; FILESYSTEM CLEAN
Disk image /Volumes/DroboCapsule/MacBook_001f5be7e5f4.sparsebundle
mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of macbook
Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of macbook/Backups.backupdb
No pre-backup thinning needed: 305.4 MB requested (including padding),
7.05 TB available
Copied 16442 files (222.3 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
No pre-backup thinning needed: 100.0 MB requested (including padding),
7.05 TB available
........

This is bad because I don't want my TM backups to occupy all space on
my Drobo and it will ultimately fail as my Drobo only has 2.7TB of
disk space when using the 4 x 1TB.

I've then connected the Drobo directly to the Mac and changed back the
max size of the sparse bundle to 550GB with:

hdiutil resize -size 550g /Volumes/Drobo/DroboCapsule/
MacBook_xxxxxxxxxx.sparsebundle

But on the next TM backup, the max size of the sparse bundle is again
changed to 8TB.

Is someone else experimenting the same issue? any solution?

While I don't think the problem is related to BMFU itself, I wonder if
there is something specific about our afp server (not supported by
Apple) which could make TM acts like this.

Thanks for any help.

Cedric

Jon Stevens

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Mar 30, 2010, 5:29:23 PM3/30/10
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Woah! That is really interesting. I'll have to check this out tonight when I get home. Thanks for the report.

This may be the motivation I need to upgrade BMFU to the latest netatalk. I should have some time coming up to focus on that.

jon


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EtonMike

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Apr 6, 2010, 9:30:38 AM4/6/10
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Cedric,

I have recently switched to a Mac MIni server and so now have the
Drobo connected to the Mac Mini (no Droboshare). I kept the
Drobocapsule sparse images as the TM backup.
I have just had a look at the logs and have exactly the same issue.
The sparsebundle was originally set to 750GB. So this looks like a Mac
issue rather than BMFU.

Starting standard backup


Attempting to mount network destination using URL:

afp://office@jamserver._afpovertcp._tcp.local/DroboCapsule
Mounted network destination using URL: afp://office@jamserver._afpovertcp._tcp.local/DroboCapsule


Warning: Destination /Volumes/DroboCapsule does not support TM Lock
Stealing

Running backup verification
QUICKCHECK ONLY; FILESYSTEM CLEAN
Backup verification passed!
Resizing backup disk image from 750.0 GB to 8191.6 GB
QUICKCHECK ONLY; FILESYSTEM CLEAN
Disk image /Volumes/DroboCapsule/Office_d49a20d053b9.sparsebundle
mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of Office
Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of Office/Backups.backupdb
Ownership is disabled on the backup destination volume. Enabling.
Detected system migration from: /Volumes/Office Clone orig
Backup content size: 199.5 GB excluded items size: 1.4 GB for volume
Office HD
Backup content size: 427.0 MB excluded items size: 480 KB for volume
Office Workspace
No pre-backup thinning needed: 238.21 GB requested (including
padding), 7.71 TB available
Waiting for index to be ready (101)


Jon Stevens

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Apr 6, 2010, 1:00:31 PM4/6/10
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btw, on my two 10.6.3 macs, i did not see this issue. weird.

jon


Cedric

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Apr 7, 2010, 5:22:15 PM4/7/10
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Hi,

I tried "hdiutil resize" a 2nd time with more success:

1) connected the Drobo directly to the Mac with the firewire cable
2) ran: "hdiutil resize -size 550g /Volumes/Drobo/DroboCapsule/
MacBook_xxxxxxxxxx.sparsebundle" -> the max size of the sparse bundle
went down from 8TB to 550GB.
3) ran Disk Utility and "verified" Drobo, as well as the sparse bundle
4) reconnected the Drobo to DroboShare

5 days and a lot of TM backups later, the max size of the sparse
bundle is still 550GB.
Comparing with my original attempt, the only extra step I took was
running Disk Utility while the Drobo was connected to the Mac.
Solution or just pure luck? I'd be interested in hearing feedback from
others with the same issue.

Cedric

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EtonMike

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Apr 8, 2010, 2:34:03 PM4/8/10
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Cedric,

I have repeatedly tried the hdiutil resize without success. The
sparsebundle is set to the desired size, but then resized again by TM.
I have now tried your solution with the Disk Util/Verify option but no
success on the first try. I will have another go and report back. Off
to Tango now!

Mike

Toby

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Apr 8, 2010, 2:58:05 PM4/8/10
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The hacker inside me suggests creating an non-sparse image file on the
Drobo, formatting it, and modifying the USB mount script to loopback
mount it at /mnt/DroboShares/Drobo/DroboCapsule as expected by BMFU.
Watch the chaos ensue :-)

Yes, horrible, devious, wrong on many levels. But it would be
something I'd love to try if I was home right now just to see how it
breaks.

- Toby

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Toby

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Apr 8, 2010, 5:43:23 PM4/8/10
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When in a managed environment, Workgroup Manager can push policies to
“Limit total backup storage to: # MB" for TM backups among other
things. Does anyone on the list have a copy of OS X Server that could
push this config to a client and see what config files are touched on
the slave computer?

The solution to the issue may be as easy as twiddling the right magic
in /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine

- Toby

"Managing Time Machine Preferences", (Mac OS X Server, User
Management, Version 10.6 Snow Leopard p241)
1 In Workgroup Manager, click Preferences.
2 Make sure the correct directory is selected and you are
authenticated. To switch directories, click the globe icon. If you are
not authenticated, click the lock and enter the name and password of a
directory administrator.
3 Select one or more computers or computer groups.
4 Click Time Machine.
5 Set the management setting to Always.
6 In the “Backup server” field, enter the URL of the file server or
share point that will store Time Machine backups, using the form
afp://www.example.com/Backups/. Replace www.example.com/Backups/ with
the URL of the file server or share point. The location you enter must
already exist.

On Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 2:34 PM, EtonMike <mik...@gmail.com> wrote:
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EtonMike

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Apr 8, 2010, 6:15:22 PM4/8/10
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OK back from Tango. Previously I tried Disk Util/Verify on the volume
ONLY. This time I reset the size in hdiutil, verified the volume and
then the sparsebundle, sadly no success. Looking at the Apple
Discussions board this problem is not Drobo specific but a general
problem with any network backup solution. I will look into Toby's
comment but haven't a great deal of time for experimentation at the
moment.

Mike
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