[Box Backup] Connection Failures, Hostname Related?

[Stefan Norlin]

> I've been running into some issues with my Box Backup client as of
> late.  Basically, when I try to run a 'bbackupctl -q sync', the logs
> generate:
> 
> Apr 23 17:48:00 fileserver bbackupd[12950]: Opening connection to server
> domain.com...
> Apr 23 17:48:00 fileserver bbackupd[12950]: Exception caught (7/15),
> reset state and waiting to retry...
> Apr 23 17:49:40 fileserver bbackupd[12950]: File statistics: total file
> size uploaded 0, bytes already on server 0, encoded size 0

Hi,

Exception 7/15 is a "normal" connection error.

Can the hostname be resolved?
Try with the IP-adress instead?
Are there any firewalls that may prevent the connection from working?
Do you get a "connected", if you run "telnet hostname 2201"?

> Now, one of the things that has changed that I can think of is that we
> changed the hostname on the server.  Does Box Backup do hostname
> checking against the certificates generated?

No.

> If so, then that probably is the problem, but I don't really see a way
> to re-generate certificates on the client without generating a new .raw
> file (which I think would cause all the old stuff to be lost).

Certificates are used for authentication only.
The ".raw" key file is for encryption only.
If you loose/eliminate your ".raw" file all data in your store is useless,
do NOT do that.

> On a side note, I'm still using 0.9, but I'd really like to upgrade to
> .10.  Can you just do a straight upgrade, restart the processes and away
> you go? Or is there a proper upgrade procedure?  We have some very
> sensitive data that *can not* be lost so to be honest, I've been nervous
> about upgrading. =P

I have upgraded both client and servers using a "straight upgrade".

However, you may want to test it first on a separate box so that
you fell "comfortable" with the procedure before doing it on a production
machine.

And as always... make a copy of all files first... just in case. And when
you do the copy and upgrade, make sure you shut down bbstored first.
Inconsistency is seldom good.

Regards,
Stefan