Service Configuration Assistance

[danielholm]

I have the software set to do an Exact MIrror from Left To Right. Left side is a local drive, drive D:. Remote side is a file server on a T1 link, setup via a UNC path (\\<server>\d$)

I have the service installed on the remote end, and I want to use partial updating with checksums, and remote file listing. As I watch the sync process, my setup doesn't appear to be working as I see the source querying every file and directory on the remote end.

Under Special I have
Use Partial File Updating - Checked
Right side uses Remote Service - Checked
No full copying if service unavailable - Unchecked

Right side listing users Remote Service - Checked
Use different folders for communication... - Unchecked

On my service I have D:\ in the far right tab, with the service installed and running. The console looks like it has checksummed 6 files, but I synced several thousand, and I don't think remote lists are working.

Can anyone shine some light here? The documentation didn't really help, I imagine there are some default folders to use, but I cant get it right.

[superflexible]

Hello,
there is some documentation available here:
http://www.superflexible.com/remoteservice.htm

The "Partial File Updating" will only be use for files at least 400,000 bytes large.

Concerning the remote listing, you need to check if there is a SFFS.listingrequest.$$$ file. The folder where that file is needs to be monitored by the Remote Service. Subfolders do not need to be monitored.

Plus the service must have write access to that folder. For example it may not have write access to D:\ depending on your security settings.

It might be better to work with a folder on D:\ rather than D:\ directly, although it is possible too.

You should also check the profile's log file. Maybe it was not allowed to write the listing request file to \\<server>\d$. Also it's usually better to create your own share called D rather than using the default administrative share D$.

[danielholm]

That file doesn't exist, nor does it get created. I changed the service to run as the same user that my backup process runs as, and have ensured file permissions.

Since I'm doing a full sync of D:, i put a folder on C: for the list purposes, and updated the remote end service accordingly. I then changed the profile on the local (left) side to use different folders for communication. I only configured the bottom two boxes, and specified the communication path as the remote shared path, and the local path as D:\.

Upon running the profile, it appears to freeze (no progress bar), the log doesn't get flushed out, and if I watch file share access, no SFFS.listingrequest.$$$ file ever is opened, but I can see the application running a remote list of every folder rather than using the service.

The log ends:

Left Side Volume Name:
Left Side Supports Security Settings: Yes
Right Side Volume Name: New Vol

Any help would be appreciated!

[superflexible]

The log is incomplete because the job is still running. You must cancel / stop it completely before looking at the log.

Please post the complete paths that you specify in the communication paths dialog.

[danielholm]

I did hit cancel, but it still hasn't canceled. It's crawling through everything manually across the network. It will take forever to finish (really, several hours this way). I ran it as a background tasked, I hit cancel from the scheduler, and it appears to have stopped from the console, but there's still some sort of thread running in the background. How can I stop it?

Left-Hand Side: D:\
Right-Hand Side: \\dr-fs-01\d$

Communication path for left-hand side: Blank
Local Path on server that needs to be listed: Blank
Communication path for right-hand side: \\dr-fs-01\c$\Program Files\SuperFlexible\ServiceFiles
Local Path on server that needs to be listed: D:\

(on dr-fs-01 service)
Folder(s) to watch for the checksum or listing request files: C:\Program Files\SuperFlexible\ServiceFiles

[superflexible]

Hi,

please kill it with Task Manager (ExtremeSyncService.exe, there might be several).

As long as you are trying, run it in attended mode in the foreground only.

Once you have stopped it, please send the log to support@superflexible.com.

[danielholm]

There were 3 copies of the service, and we had checked under security to copy base folder security too, so it was iterating remotely through folders pre-listing.

The remote listing service now appears to be functioning properly. It's waiting for a response, but I see the other end has received the request and is processing. Thanks for your help.

[superflexible]

Just a quick note why there can be three ExtremeSyncService.exe processes:

1) the scheduler running as a service
2) a separate process running jobs
3) a separate process owning the tray icon

When several jobs are running simultaneously, they are normally running as threads within the second process mentioned above. However sometimes there can be more processes running jobs.

[danielholm]

Thanks for the info, getting pretty close to understanding all of this. Will come in handy for many clients of mine...

One new issue, probable issue. I think this relates to the service too since I use it for CheckSum calculation and partial updating. I have 5 concurrent copies enabled, and the 5 threads all get stuck at different times on WaitingForMD5. The remaining time continues to count up and up, but never seems to get unstuck and go down.

The remote service isn't apparently doing anything, no CPU usage, no network file activity. One of the files is just 200MB and has been stuck on the WaitingForMD5 for over 30 minutes now.

[superflexible]

Hi,
there aren't any known issues of this kind. I think you just need to check if there are any unprocessed sffschecksumrequest files and make sure that the Remote Service is monitoring the folders where these files are.

Also the Remote Service must have write access to all folders. It will read the checksumrequest file from the folder that corresponds to the job's base folder, but it will write the checksum files in the same folders where the actual files are stored.

On some systems, the checkbox "Included subfolders" might cause checksumrequest files being missed. If that happens then you can't use it and need to specify all the base folders used in jobs separately.