Time Machine - Advanced Server

Hi there,
I'm new to Mac - and I have a xserver configured as an Advanced server. I was reading elsewhere that it is not encouraged to use time machine with advanced server, as it can corrupt a database. Is there any truth to this, all I'm looking to do is back up the server each night.
Thanks.

If you are using an Advanced Server configuration I strongly suggest setting up an Open Directory Master and configuring the clients to use that OD Master with Directory Utility. They can then authenticate to the server in the background.
I just set that up a few hours ago and it works like a charm.

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Time Machine AFP Server

So...I created a Time Machine AFP Server connection when I first got Lion (to backup things wirelessly). Everything was working fine...but then I moved my modem/router to the home office, rather than the living room. Now my Mac can't find the AFP server. I'm assuming it's because the address changed. How can I find which address to set it to (it's connecting to an airport extreme) to correct this issue?

What we get in the error log for Calendar Server for example is:
2008-06-03 15:05:10+1000 [-] [caldav-8011] [AMP,client] User 'jamie' is not enabled with the 'calendar' SACL
2008-06-03 15:05:11+1000 [-] [caldav-8009] [AMP,client] Unauthenticated users not enabled with the 'calendar' SACL
Yet, a refresh doesn't have this error. It just seems that randomly it will decide not to authenticate for me (in this example). And seconds later it will authenticate.
I have authentication set as "Any method". If I try "Digest", I can't log in. If I try just "Kerberos" it behave as "Any method", complete with the above occasional errors.
Any ideas anyone?

Time machine osx server backup to multiple drives?

Hello,
I've just discovered Time Machine for Mac OSx Server. It can act as a centralizad point for the backups of all the computers in the network, how cool!
I know that Time Machine "client" can back a system up to multiple drives. My question is, can I do something similar with Time Machine "server" so I can have more than one storage product onto which I can back up all the systems? That would be very interestin if I want to implement a off-site backup from all my systems.
I would love to hear your inputs.Thanks in advance,
Regards,

I don't know. If the TM preference pane is scriptable then you could do it with an AppleScript. Unfortunately, TM is not designed to also schedule different backup times. For example, assume you could automate drive switching, you still need to tell TM to backup to one drive at some time then backup to another drive at a different time.
I suppose the latter could be done via a cron job as long as you did not use TM preferences to turn TM on in which case it will backup each hour automatically.
It seems to me you'd be better off using a different backup utility that would allow you to schedule such backups. For example:
1. Retrospect Desktop (Commercial)
2. Synchronize! Pro X (Commercial)
3. Synk (Backup, Standard, or Pro)
4. Deja Vu (Shareware)
5. Carbon Copy Cloner (Donationware)
6. SuperDuper! (Commercial)
7. Intego Personal Backup (Commercial)
8. Data Backup (Commercial)
9. SilverKeeper 2.0 (Freeware)
10. Tri-Backup (Commercial)
Others may be found at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
Not all of the above will backup over a network, but most can backup to any mounted device including a network drive except SuperDuper!.
In an enterprise setting your best choice of the above is Retrospect. There are a few other enterprise level backup utilities (costly) that you can track down at VersionTracker or MacUpdate. BRU is an example.
Oh, and if you know how to use the command line you can use the Unix tools, ditto and rsync.
Message was edited by: Kappy

Mavericks (10.9.5) time machine and server 3.2.1 user permissions conflict

We are using a Mac mini Server (mid 2010) 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB 1067MHz DDR3, NVIDIA GeForce 320M 256MB machine. There are 2 500GB hard disks which have each been partitioned into 2 separate logical disks of 250GB each (in total 4 logical 250GB disks).
We having been using this server to file share on the local network for years using Snow Leopard, Lion and Mountain Lion (although there were teething problems with Mountain Lion using the new Server app).
After experiencing some issues with an iCloud password change and App Store failing to load, we decided to try updating to Mavericks. Upon update we were prompted to update the Server app to Mavericks version (Server app 3.2.1), this seemed to work to begin with, preserving file sharing and network user records and permissions, however we soon started to experience issues with permissions and Time Machine. We noticed that the Open Directory set up to store our network users was no longer available in the Server app and so decided to erase one of the alternate partitions and perform a clean install of Mavericks and Server app 3.2.1. This proved to produce the same issues with Time Machine permissions and also difficulties with the shared folder permissions.
Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Hi Linc,
Thanks for the reply.
The Time Machine folders shown are from the Server app Storage tab which shows all connected hard drives. I haven't set TM drives up to be shared and hopefully the following screenshots will illustrate the current setup. This setup was created from a clean install of all involved software i.e. drives were erased and setup from scratch and the TM drives were simply connected and TM took control from there.
As you can see from these screenshots, when viewing the permissions through the Server app, there appears to be an extra user when compared to the OS Get Info window.
After leaving TM to its own devices over the weekend, I was greeted with a 'preparing backup' message this morning(Mon 13th October), with a last backup completed on Sat 11th October at 15:19:16. Stopping this backup and starting a manual backup has now resulted in a new, never before experienced error message stating that the backup disks can not be found:
Console reports:
I must re-iterate, the disk was erased and simply connected and Time Machine did its thing. Now as 'admin' it is clear that the folders created by TM do not have permissions so that I can simply view them in Finder, but does this directly affect TMs ability to access folders it has created itself?
One useful bit of information I seem to have neglected is that the erased TM drive is encrypted, however the password was entered when the drive was connected to the machine and there has been no prompt thereafter.
Please help. Only other comment I can make is that before the update to Mavericks and Server app 3.2.1, none of this was a problem.

Time machine on server doesn't show correct amount of free space

Hi
I have a mac mini server running 10.9.3, with a drobo raid connected via usb (I wouldn't have chosen the drobo, but not my decision..). The server has Time Machine service enabled, pointing to a folder on the drobo.
When users connect to it (various mavericks clients) they can choose to use it for Time Machine, but when the clients starts to back up, they all quits quite fast, because it states that there is only from around 3-400 MB to around 80-90 GB free space.
There is, however, around 1.5 TB free space on the disk, and this registers also fine in the server app on the server.
I have tried to use another drive as the backup target, which leads to the same issue.
I have also tried to remove the backup and initiate a new on the client, but still the same. It is not consistent how far the client backup gets - the one that have gone furthest is around 45 GB.
Any idea on what it might be?
A few more details:
- the drobo is hfs+ journaled
- I have checked the size restriction in the time machine settings on the server and have tried with both a 500 GB restriction and no restriction
- the clients are all set up to do unencrypted backup
- the clients have both been cabled connections and wifi connections
- the clients have no problem backing up to a local connected drive
TIA,
Peter

I haven't got access to the server right now (so I can't provide the complete details), but something like 6-700 GB (which is more than it shows in the client time machine windows, but less than what is true (which was around 1,5 TB))

Time Machine OSX Server Help

i recently had a imac in the office crash which backs up to the OSX server using the Time Machine Service.
When i try to restore the backup i get the following message.
"backup cannot be opened if this is a password protected backup you may have entered an incorrect password or the backup may be damaged."
We have employees come and go at the office so user accounts are created and deleted frequently both on the server level and the local level
Thanks in Advance

Look folks I am seriously desperate. I've progressed from hanging up to Time machine remebering that a backup was created on March 10th but not remebering that it has backed up afterewards. This is the first time since I purchased my First Mac a SE/30 I am Rady to throw my Computer as far as I can throw it. And Jump on it.
One time it will get through and remember the last update. and next time. But then the next time it may update normally or may forget and go back to square one again. I can't find anymore USB2 Drives and the last USP 3 Drive I had burnt the cable or the drive out. I need a FireWire or thunderbolt Drive. I feel the problem with the GoFlex Drive is because it depends up wifi. Frankly My Comcast Cable connection is not dependable.
I thought this Forum people knew how time machine works.
Is there anywhere I can Go

Time Machine on Server / Usage

If I setup TM on a server, and set it to only TM the /User shares (AFP home directories), can I also share out the TM disk and allow the client to "restore" via the TM interface?

I asked my Apple rep what functionality we could use with respect to Time Machine and our users and he said it really is designed for a consumers in a local user environment. There may be ways to hack it to work in a networked environment, but I haven't seen anything on that yet.

Time Machine to server drives

I want to configure Time Machine on my various Macs to use a PowerMac I've dedicated for storage (the Time Machine machine). I've got 1.5T of storage available (roughly 2.2X current needs)... but can't get any Mac to see it. I can go wireless to the AEBS or hardwire in.
Suggestions on this configuration of Time Machine? Do I need to mount this PM as a server first?
Thanks!
Phoopster

Be sure your PowerMac is also upgraded to Leopard.
Then, using System Preferences>Sharing, be sure to set the drive you want to use for TM by the other machines to be sharable (read & write) by the users you designate. Reboot the machine.
On the other Macs, you should be able to "see" the backup drive. Mount it. Then in TM set that mounted drive as the TM backup drive. Start the backup - you'll be asked at some point to enter the username and password that you previously designated. Once done TM will remember that info along with the backup drive. After doing the backup, you can unmount the drive. TM will remount it when it starts its hourly backup.

Time Machine Server backup speed

Has anyone used time machine on OS X 10.5.8 Server to backup 50+ client machines at one time?
We have a project where we will be binding 50 Macs to AD and migrating user data. We have a process for the migration and will have done extensive testing by the time the migration happens, so if I have any questions about that it will be in a different forum.
We would like to have a solid backup that is easy to restore if we run into issues. We have Retrospect backups yet the backup server is a Windows 2008 Server and sometimes even restoring small amounts of data can be troublesome. I would rather not restore a user's account using Retrospect if at all possible.
We don't want to goto each machine and use Carbon Copy Cloner if possible, yet we are looking into using CCC over the network for backups/restores.
One backup plan is to setup a Time Machine server on one of our OD masters with an external RAID.
Next we touch every machine and direct each client to the Time Machine Backup drive on the network and they all start backing up.
How long would you think it takes for 50+ machines averaging 10GB of data to backup using Time Machine on a new Gigabit LAN with CAT 5e cables and a Cisco managed switch setup?
Is there a way in ARD to send a command to set clients to choose a Time Machine Backup server?
If you were in my position and needed to backup 50+ machines in the shortest amount of time with the quickest/easiest restore process, how would you do it?
Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Well SAM
It actually worked. THANKS A BUNCH! I trying again as root, allthough I thought sudo did it.
I needed to first do some repairing (permissions and so on), change the host name and bind all the machines anew to server.
Anyway it finall works. The disk is available form startup prior to ANY login.
So aganin: thank you. I am sorry I can't find how to change the appraisal of your answer from 'helped' to 'solved' to give you more credit(s).
Francesco

Time Machine fails on OS X 10.6 Server with Drobo external backup

My external backup drive is a Drobo model 4D-D using Firewire. A while back my Time Machine would run OK for a few months and then stop working. It would not complete a backup. I tried repairing the disk repeatedly to no avail. My co-worker who set this up thinks it is an Advanced Server. (How do I tell for sure?) I have since used a trial version of Retrospect for backup and restore with great success, but when I ask for money for Retrospect, the boss says no, I just need to learn to use Time Machine properly, I must be doing something wrong. Right now I have OS X 10.6.8. Does Time Machine choke on too much data, or too many files? Is there a list of Apple-recommended backup software somewhere? My server is Xserve 1.1

Never mind. I spoke to an Apple Advisor at Apple Care. He said they do NOT recommend Time Machine for server backup. Better to use Disk Utility, or Retrospect, or Carbon Copy Cloner.

Lion Server Time Machine sparsebundles

Subject indicates where I think my problem lies, but for background:
MacBook Pro got bit by Thunderbolt firmware upgrade snafu last week. Contacted Apple Store the next morning, saw Genius at 11:00. Concuded hardware and firmware were OK and because I had a Time Machine backup less than an hour old I gave permission to install a fresh 10.7.3 image on my bare metal.
Got home and booted Command-R. Happily saw my Time Machine shares on Mac Mini Server running Lion Server 10.7.4. Yes, "shares." A Backup and Backup-1.
As a Lion Server novice I found a tip here to "defaults write /private/var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default/sharepoints/Backups timeMachineBackup '(1)' to make my shared mountpoint work with Time Machine over the network. Perhaps thats how one does it if one doesn't have Server. I later found the Time Machine panel in Server and turning that on gave me a Backups-1 share as well.
So back with Command-R my MacBook Pro saw both the Backups and Backups-1, I navigated to Backups and it saw its previous Time Machine archive. I started a bare metal restore and happily went to bed. Next morning found the restore stopped at about 20% of the progress bar and message instructing me to reboot the computer. Repeated, same results.
Back to Command-R I reinstalled a new copy of Lion from Apple over the internet. Did minimal configuration until I could get into Time Machine and try to manually pull files. Again it quit unexpectedly no matter holding the Option key to Verify Backups passed.
So back to the Mac Mini Server I turn off Sharing from System Preferences and Time Machine from Server. The /private/var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default/sharepoints/Backups file disappears when Server Time Machine is turned off.
I have attempted to move "David Kelly's MacBook Pro.sparsebundle" from "/Volumes/Macintosh HD2/Backups" to "/Volumes/Macintosh HD2/Shared Items/Backups" where Server Time Machine seems to expect it. The problem now is that the MacBook Pro doesn't see this Time Machine archive in that location, or see it at all.
I have performed the Disk Utility verify tasks listed in the Time Machine FAQ with no errors found or repaired.
I have seen a -6584 error this week but don't remember exactly when: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3123920?start=0&tstart=0
How can I get the sparsebundle back under Time Machine Server?

Finally figured it out on my own 2 weeks later.
You have to open the Lion Server app and then turn on Time Machine on the server.
It will then ask what disk you want to use, which in my case was an external 2tb USB.
My confusion was that this is not they way you had to do it on Snow Leopard Server.
On SLS, I never used Time Machine, but had to partition my external disk individually for each user. e.g. 2tb disk was partioned into 4 separate volumes. This was necessary to keep one user's Time Machine backup from taking up the whole disk and not leaving room for the other users.
You then setup these partitions as Time Machine Sharepoint which would then show up as a choice on the users machine under Time Machine preferences, select disks.
Therefore, under SLS, a user could select from any number of partions to backup to on the server. On Lion Server, it appears you do not have a choice and can only backup to the one disk you selected on the Server App.
At the risk of carrying on a conversation with myself online, my concern is now about limiting the size of the individual user's sparse bundle to again keep one user from taking up the entire disk for their Time Machine. I guess that is another fight for another day.

Should I use time machine to backup server?

moving from 10.4 server running on an emac, to a 10.5 setup on a mac pro tower, 2 500gig hard drives. I used to use silverkeeper as an automatic backup utility, I am wondering if it is a good idea to use time machine. I like the idea of being able to go back in time to restore users files, or take the system back when something gets messed up. Any suggestions? I have about 100 users with home directories on server. Clients are mostly running 10.4 with some 10.3. I am not talking about allowing clients to time machine to server, but rather backing up the entire server to the 2nd drive using time machine.

I think this is a controversial topic.
Apple certainly doesn't support it. Apple omits a bunch of key folders depending on what you use your server for. For example, Time Machine does not backup /var/spool which is where the mail store is located. Additionally, Time Machine does not back up logs.
These exclusions can be seen, and commented out, here:
/System/Library/CoreServices/backupd.bundle/Contents/Resources/StdExclusions.pli st
I personally comment out the exclusion of /var/spool and additionally any logs. I also set ServerAdmin to roll my logs so that Time Machine isn't constantly backing up the same log file for more than 7 days.
Of course, you must re-verify that your changes are in place after any software update.
Once I made these changes, I've been very happy with the use of Time Machine to backup my server.

OSStatus 5 when trying to use Lion Server as time machine

I've set two volumes on hard disk 2 of the mac mini server with snow leopard server (now running lion server).
When I point my new MacBook Air at the time machine the Lion Server is serving which is simply displayed as Time Machine on server1.voigtstr.com, I authenticate (both server and laptop share the same username and password) and then I get
Time Machine can't access the backup disk "Time Machine"
The operation couldn't be completed. (OSStatus error 5.)
What needs to change at either the server or client side?
thoughts so far were that the time machine volume was case sensitive and the laptop was not, so I reformatted the server volume to be not case sensitive.
Any other thoughts?
When I choose "Do Not Backup" the Time Machine system prefs applet is left in a state of "Preparing Disk". Is that likely to finish in multiple hours? Or is it just in a hung state?
Cheers
Voigtstr!

I had the same problem.
Time machine on my server, updated from Lion to Mountain Lion.
Fixed it by:
(To be completely safe, always start by backing up to a extra external hard drive, if you can.)
On the Machine that is your Server
I went to (Server>Services>Time Machine). My Time Mahine backup folder was there.
Open a Finder window and follow the path to your backup folder
When I checked on the backup drive folder it didn't exist.
In Finder use "New folder" and recreate the directory folder as shown in (Server>Services>Time Machine) eg. Volumes/TM folder/Shared Items/Backups.
Go to the Server>Services>File Sharing. Check that the Master folder (ie. TM folder)you are using for your time machine is shared. Double click on it and check that the account you use to connect to the server has "Read & Write" access.
Open the Server Panel, under Services >go to "Time Machine" and turn off the Time Machine. (Server>Services>Time Machine)
Select the current folder and remove "-" the folder currently showing.
Then add "+" the newly recreated folder
Go back to Server>Services>Time Machine
Then turn on the Time Machine
Then try to connect your macbook to the Time Machine server again
If you get to step 3 and find the folder is there then just skip step 4 and do the rest to reset it.
It may not connect your machine to it's previous TM folder so before continuing on to step 5, mark that by ctrl+click>Label> any colour. You can then go back later when you have a couple of up to date backups in the new folder and delete the old on for more space.

Configuring Lion server as time machine target?

I've got a mac mini (2009) that I'm considering upgrading to Lion. Can I use this soon to be lion server as a remote (wireless) time machine target for my laptop? Is there any tutorials on how to do this? I'd prefer to not have to go about the older methods of running NFS mounting scripts and such.
Thanks

I had the same problem.
Time machine on my server, updated from Lion to Mountain Lion.
Fixed it by:
(To be completely safe, always start by backing up to a extra external hard drive, if you can.)
On the Machine that is your Server
I went to (Server>Services>Time Machine). My Time Mahine backup folder was there.
Open a Finder window and follow the path to your backup folder
When I checked on the backup drive folder it didn't exist.
In Finder use "New folder" and recreate the directory folder as shown in (Server>Services>Time Machine) eg. Volumes/TM folder/Shared Items/Backups.
Go to the Server>Services>File Sharing. Check that the Master folder (ie. TM folder)you are using for your time machine is shared. Double click on it and check that the account you use to connect to the server has "Read & Write" access.
Open the Server Panel, under Services >go to "Time Machine" and turn off the Time Machine. (Server>Services>Time Machine)
Select the current folder and remove "-" the folder currently showing.
Then add "+" the newly recreated folder
Go back to Server>Services>Time Machine
Then turn on the Time Machine
Then try to connect your macbook to the Time Machine server again
If you get to step 3 and find the folder is there then just skip step 4 and do the rest to reset it.
It may not connect your machine to it's previous TM folder so before continuing on to step 5, mark that by ctrl+click>Label> any colour. You can then go back later when you have a couple of up to date backups in the new folder and delete the old on for more space.

Can you transfer files using Time Machine back-up to a new computer?

I have an early 2006 iMac and would like to get a new one. Would I be able to copy the files that I want moved to the new computer by using my Time Machine back-up? I would only want to transfer a handful of items including my iTunes and iPhoto libraries as well as my iWork files.

You most certainly can. What you want to do is to go to System Preferences>Time Machine>Advanced> and exclude everything except the files you want to bring over. Then, plug the Time Machine Backup into the new machine and use Setup Assistant; It'll walk you through the rest.
Move your content to a new Mac - Apple Support

Time Machine - Advanced Server

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