Couldn't start up the remote connection by executing

[Devon Johnson]

I am attempting to backup a windows machine via my fqdn. I have installed minarca on a Linux machine, and I am using a cloud flare tunnel to proxy. I have ran the backup on 4 different windows machines, using the wan, and the fqdn. Nothing seems to work. I always get this error. 

2025-06-11 21:01:42,169 [4652][DEBUG][AsyncioExecu] https://bu.ceyephersecurity.com:443 "POST /api/currentuser/sshkeys HTTP/11" 200 None
2025-06-11 21:01:42,598 [4652][DEBUG][AsyncioExecu] https://bu.ceyephersecurity.com:443 "GET /api/minarca/ HTTP/11" 200 None
2025-06-11 21:01:43,037 [4652][DEBUG][MainThread  ] instance 0: testing connection
2025-06-11 21:01:43,042 [4652][DEBUG][MainThread  ] instance 0: remote schema: C:\PROGRA~1\Minarca\MINARC~1\core\openssh\WIN_AM~1\ssh.exe -oBatchMode=yes -oPreferredAuthentications=publickey -oUserKnownHostsFile=C:\Users\admin\AppData\Local\minarca\known_hosts0 -oIdentitiesOnly=yes -i C:\Users\admin\AppData\Local\minarca\id_rsa0 %s 'minarca/6.0.3 rdiff-backup/2.2.6 (Windows 10 AMD64)'
2025-06-11 21:01:43,042 [4652][DEBUG][MainThread  ] instance 0: constructing backup path for None
2025-06-11 21:01:43,043 [4652][DEBUG][MainThread  ] instance 0: remote backup path: min...@bu.ceyephersecurity.com::.
2025-06-11 21:01:43,044 [4652][DEBUG][MainThread  ] instance 0: executing command: rdiff-backup -v 5 --remote-schema "C:\PROGRA~1\Minarca\MINARC~1\core\openssh\WIN_AM~1\ssh.exe -oBatchMode=yes -oPreferredAuthentications=publickey -oUserKnownHostsFile=C:\Users\admin\AppData\Local\minarca\known_hosts0 -oIdentitiesOnly=yes -i C:\Users\admin\AppData\Local\minarca\id_rsa0 %s 'minarca/6.0.3 rdiff-backup/2.2.6 (Windows 10 AMD64)'" test min...@bu.ceyephersecurity.com::.
2025-06-11 21:01:46,067 [4652][DEBUG][MainThread  ] rdiff-backup 2.2.6
2025-06-11 21:01:48,123 [4652][DEBUG][MainThread  ] * Executing remote command C:\PROGRA~1\Minarca\MINARC~1\core\openssh\WIN_AM~1\ssh.exe -oBatchMode=yes -oPreferredAuthentications=publickey -oUserKnownHostsFile=C:\Users\admin\AppData\Local\minarca\known_hosts0 -oIdentitiesOnly=yes -i C:\Users\admin\AppData\Local\minarca\id_rsa0 min...@bu.ceyephersecurity.com 'minarca/6.0.3 rdiff-backup/2.2.6 (Windows 10 AMD64)'
2025-06-11 21:06:46,406 [4652][DEBUG][MainThread  ] ssh: connect to host bu.ceyephersecurity.com port 22: Connection timed out
2025-06-11 21:06:46,407 [4652][DEBUG][MainThread  ] ERROR: Couldn't start up the remote connection by executing 'C:\PROGRA~1\Minarca\MINARC~1\core\openssh\WIN_AM~1\ssh.exe -oBatchMode=yes -oPreferredAuthentications=publickey -oUserKnownHostsFile=C:\Users\admin\AppData\Local\minarca\known_hosts0 -oIdentitiesOnly=yes -i C:\Users\admin\AppData\Local\minarca\id_rsa0 min...@bu.ceyephersecurity.com 'minarca/6.0.3 rdiff-backup/2.2.6 (Windows 10 AMD64)''
2025-06-11 21:06:46,407 [4652][DEBUG][MainThread  ] due to exception 'Truncated header <b''> (problem probably originated remotely)'.
2025-06-11 21:06:46,407 [4652][DEBUG][MainThread  ]
2025-06-11 21:06:46,410 [4652][DEBUG][MainThread  ] Remember that, under the default settings, rdiff-backup must be
2025-06-11 21:06:46,414 [4652][DEBUG][MainThread  ] installed in the PATH on the remote system.  See the man page for more
2025-06-11 21:06:46,414 [4652][DEBUG][MainThread  ] information on this.  This message may also be displayed if the remote
2025-06-11 21:06:46,414 [4652][DEBUG][MainThread  ] version of rdiff-backup is quite different from the local version (2.2.6)
2025-06-11 21:06:46,414 [4652][DEBUG][MainThread  ]
2025-06-11 21:06:46,415 [4652][DEBUG][MainThread  ] ERROR: Location 'min...@bu.ceyephersecurity.com::.' couldn't be connected

Please if there is anyway to fix this let me know. 

[Patrik Dufresne]

Hello Devon,

Thank you for reaching out.

Networking configuration can indeed be a bit tricky, especially since every environment is unique. Based on the information you provided, I suspect the issue might be related to the Cloudflare tunnel setup — unfortunately, that’s outside of what I can directly support.

However, you may find this section of our documentation helpful:
https://nexus.ikus-soft.com/repository/archive/minarca/6.1.0b3/doc/networking.html

It explains how to deploy Minarca behind a reverse proxy, which shares similarities with your Cloudflare configuration. One critical point to understand is that Minarca relies on two separate services to function correctly:

1. Web services over HTTP/HTTPS – for the UI and API.

2. Backup over SSH – for the actual data transfer.

Both must be accessible and correctly routed through your proxy or tunnel for backups to work properly. Be sure to check firewall rules, DNS resolution, and SSH accessibility from your Windows machines to your FQDN.

Let me know if you need help confirming whether the SSH endpoint is reachable — that’s often a common issue.

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[Devon Johnson]

I appreciate the confirmation. Let me run this reverse proxy and see if that changes things. Thank you Patrik.