Hi all!

I recently adopted a network from an abusive administrator. They are using BackupPC (on Debian Squeeze) to backup several Windows7 & SBS 2011 servers. Backups from Linux server have gone off without a hitch after the config was "repaired".

Backups from the Windows machines are failing with:

inet connect: connection timed out

After attempting to configure the firewall to let rsync on windows through (added rsync.exe & cygunsrv.exe to allowed programs) I get the same error. After turning Windows firewall off completely, I get the error:

inet connect: connection refused

I'm stumped. I have gone over every config on BackupPC, as well as uninstalling and reinstalling cygwin-rsync on the Windows machines. The machine I am working on in particular (in the hopes I can find a fix for all of them here) is named "cad" at 192.168.0.58, with the backup server "backup" at 192.168.0.2

root@backup:~# nslookup cad
Server: 192.168.0.7
Address: 192.168.0.7#53

Name: cad.gsanalysis.local
Address: 192.168.0.58

root@backup:~# nslookup backup
Server: 192.168.0.7
Address: 192.168.0.7#53

Name: backup.gsanalysis.local
Address: 192.168.0.2


So I know the name is lookup-able... On the Windows machine, here is rsyncd.conf:

# Please see rsyncd-COPY.conf for details

use chroot = false
max connections = 4
log file = c:/rsyncd/rsyncd.log
pid file = c:/rsyncd/rsyncd.pid
lock file = c:/rsyncd/rsyncd.lock

[c-drive]
path = c:
comment = Full C-Drive Backup
auth users = backuppc, root, Steve, stevec
secrets file = c:/rsyncd/rsyncd.secrets
hosts allow = 192.168.0.2
strict modes = true
read only = true
list = false

[e-drive]
path = e:
comment = Full E-Drive Backup
auth users = backuppc, root, Steve, stevec
secrets file = c:/rsyncd/rsyncd.secrets
hosts allow = 192.168.0.2
strict modes = true
read only = true
list = false

And here is the config file on the backup server (cad.pl):

$Conf{RsyncShareName} = [
'c-drive',
'e-drive'
];
$Conf{XferMethod} = 'rsyncd';
$Conf{BlackoutPeriods} = [
{
'hourEnd' => '18.5',
'weekDays' => [
'1',
'2',
'3',
'4',
'5'
],
'hourBegin' => '7'
}
];
$Conf{FullPeriod} = '13.9';
$Conf{IncrPeriod} = '1';
$Conf{IncrKeepCnt} = '15';
$Conf{BackupFilesExclude} = {
'*' => [
'',
'/System Volume Information',
'/RECYCLER',
'Local Settings/Temporary Internet Files/',
'Local Settings/Temp/',
'Local Settings/History/',
'Local Settings/Application Data/',
'USRCLASS.DAT',
'Thumbs.db',
'/Pagefile.sys',
'NTUSER.DAT',
'Iconcache.db',
'/hiberfil.sys',
'desktop.ini',
'~*',
'/media/ioSafe/',
'/proc/',
'/lost+found/',
'/sys/',
'/tmp/',
''
]
};
$Conf{RsyncdPasswd} = 'nottherealpassword';
$Conf{ClientNameAlias} = 'CAD';
$Conf{CompressLevel} = '1';
$Conf{RsyncdAuthRequired} = '0';
$Conf{ClientCharset} = 'cp1252';

Anybody got any ideas on what I'm doing wrong? I would love to move them to Bacula, but being their new admin, I need to get their old crap up and running... and when they see the bill for it, I'm sure they will decide on a new solution!

Anyways, thanks all for letting me vent my frustrations, and for being willing to dig through conf files with me. Cheers to you!

- Steve

Found out it was the data cable playing up so I swapped the cable for a new one, it is working better than before now.

You might need to look at your cabling and see if they are starting to go bad. You can get a device to check the cables (a bit faster than pulling and replacing the cables) to see if they are OK or not.

I actually tested the cables yesterday, they appear to be all good... so says my handy-dandy cable-tester. Thanks for the idea, though!

Here's my plan of attack:

1. Layer 1 - Physical Cabling
2. Layer 2 - Switching
3. Layer 3 - IP Addressing
4. Layer 4 - Ports
5. Services Active?
6. Confs setup correctly?
7. Perform small test backup. If passed, then continue toward resolution.
8. If failed, what caused it to fail? Check event logs.

#1-5 appear to be functioning properly. Data is being communicated, so 1 & 2 should be good. IP & DNS appears to be good. Port is set to 873, the default port. The service appears to be active on the server side (since I can make linux server full/incremental backups), but I don't know how to test the Windows client-side.

Even a small test backup has failed with basically the same errors. I tried look at a packet capture at the router, but I didn't find anything that seemed to point to a problem (and there are no filters, so it's a lot of data!). I don't really know how to troubleshoot rsync further!

Obviously, my hope is to check #6 on that list... maybe the confs are wrong and I'm just not seeing it.

Anyways, thanks much for the reply! Have a nice one, buddy!

- Steve

Admittedly, I also don't know what other logs to check... any ideas on what I could look at? Here is the host's log (LOG) on the server as I start the process:

full backup started for directory c-drive (baseline backup #41)
Got fatal error during xfer (inet connect:connection timed out)
Backup aborted (inet connection:connection timed out)

And here is the xfer log (XferLOG.bad.z):

full backup started for directory c-drive (baseline backup #41)
Error connecting to rsync daemon at CAD:873: inet connect: Connection timed out
Got fatal error during xfer (inet connect: Connection timed out)
Backup aborted (inet connect: Connection timed out)

Thanks again for taking the time!