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Re: Backup error. Write operation failed. The specified network name is no longer available.

Daz_ReadyNAS
Aspirant

Backup error. Write operation failed. The specified network name is no longer available.

We have been sucessfully running a ReadyNAS Pro Business Edition (Radiator 4.2.27) for one level of network backups each day.

Normally the NAS has been powered-on all the time. A scheduled backup job is initiated by the SBS 2003 server to write a backup of selected server folders / files to a  folder on the NAS.

 

We have been trying to improve our backup procedure by running a backup script in Macrium Reflect to 1) Wake the NAS using the WOL feature (via a batch file). 2) Run the backup. 3) Shutdown the NAS (via SSH in a batch file). In this way the NAS is only 'live' when needed.

 

Whenever we run the script the NAS wakes-up, however, even if we give it several minutes to complete the boot process (and test as browsable via Frontview) the backup job fails with 'Write operation failed. The specified network name is no longer available'.

If we leave the NAS awake (for long enough ?) and run the backup component separately, if the backup starts it generally completes. If we then go back to the 3 step script it fails at backup.

 

We have looked at related problems through various forums and have tried many things in a controlled manner (changing ethernet ports, changing cables, enabling WINS on the NAS, checking folder permissions, giving the NAS more time to finish booting, upgrading firmware to 4.2.30,  disabling antivirus, disabling power saving on the network card, disabling the auto-disconnect feature in Windows for the network card, flushing DNS, checking DNS records, forcing a windows repair of the network card, using static IPs, using the IP address vs hostname in the backup folder path and checking network ports for errors - nil).

 

Root access to the NAS has been enabled so we can inspect it as needed but we are not experienced in exploring a Linux based system for errors.

 

There are no other recorded networking errors with our users.

 

We suspect it is something 'not ready' on the NAS when it has to boot which eventually resolves itself with the SBS 2003 server if left on the network for long enough. It is all too flakey to rely upon for system backup.

 

We have been trying to resolve this for too long and would welcome advice on where else to look or what else to try before retiring this device.

Model: ReadyNASRNDP6310|ReadyNAS Pro 6
Message 1 of 7
StephenB
Guru

Re: Backup error. Write operation failed. The specified network name is no longer available.

How long a delay do you have applied between the WoL transmission and the backup start?

 

An alternative is to do the backup with a NAS backup job.  That would also let you avoid the WoL altogether - you can put the NAS on a power schedule.  The NAS will defer the scheduled shutdown until the backups complete, so the scheduled shutdown time can be pretty aggressive.  It does require that you back up network shares on the SBS though.

 

I'm using the alternative approach with several ReadyNAS (v1 sparc and OS-6 NAS) - but not my pro-6.  I also have the backup jobs configured to send me an email on completion (not just if there's an error).

 

 

Message 2 of 7
Sandshark
Sensei

Re: Backup error. Write operation failed. The specified network name is no longer available.

Were you also using Macrium Reflect when the NAS was left running continously?

 

Macrium Reflect uses an elevated user status for scheduled backups.  I suspect, but don't know for sure, that it uses standard user credentials when run manually.  So, I suspect that the elevated user does not have NAS access and the normal user does.  But if you've always used Macrium with a schedule, then that's not it.

Message 3 of 7
Daz_ReadyNAS
Aspirant

Re: Backup error. Write operation failed. The specified network name is no longer available.

Thank you for your contributions to-date.

 

To answer responder questions so far :

 

1. WOL - We wait at least 3 minutes for the NAS to be ready from a WOL event. We have tried waiting 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes and 30 minutes to see if this improves the ability to run a backup task but it does not. Our minimum time test is based on when it appears ready in Frontview and we can browse and write to shares on the NAS.

 

2. Running the backup job within a Macrium Reflect session or as a background task (pre-scheduled via Macrium Reflect) incorporating a WOL step all fail first-up.

 

3. Making Use Of Backup Jobs On The NAS - We did consider this and run a few experiments, however, the NAS scheduler is restrictive and a single backup job cannot capture disparate folders across the server.

 

 

We are testing a work-around at the moment given the flexibility Macrium Reflect affords in creating script files.

 

What we are trying is a four step backup sequence 1. WOL 2. Sacrifical Backup  3. Main Backup 4. Shutdown NAS.

 

Given the history of the first backup failing following a WOL of the NAS (and as long as we keep the NAS awake) subsequent backups being successful, we added a sacrificial overwrite backup of a single ~ 1Gb file from the server to the NAS. We ignore whether it is successful or not. It does not add much time or space to the backup process / storage but it does the job of clearing the way for the main backup. After some single pass testing we have set it up to repeat x5 sets of the 1-4 sequence as a single script using ~1Gb sacrificial file and ~6Gb main full backup file / verify.

 

If we get no errors we will increase the size of the main backup file to something more meaningful to our application.

 

Model: ReadyNASRNDP6000|ReadyNAS Pro 6 Chassis only
Message 4 of 7
jak0lantash
Mentor

Re: Backup error. Write operation failed. The specified network name is no longer available.

What command do you use in your script to shut down the NAS?

If you add a test in your script after WoL but before starting the backup to test the availability of the share, like trying to access the share in a while loop exiting when successful, does the share eventually become available? How long does it take?

Do you see anything specific in dmesg after WoL, when your script fails to write to the share?

Message 5 of 7
Daz_ReadyNAS
Aspirant

Re: Backup error. Write operation failed. The specified network name is no longer available.

Thank you for your suggestions.

We are using Plink.exe NAS_IP -l username -pw "password" -ssh -P 22 - 2 -m "C:\shutdown.txt" in a batch file .

The text file "shutdown.txt" simply contains the instruction shutdown -h now

We have been successful so far with pre-conditioning the main backup with a small backup ~ 1Gb (ignoring whether this is successful or not).

Once we get our backup regime more on track we will go back and investigate dmesg for differences.

It would be possible to adjust the script to wait until a successful write reponse fron the NAS but we would need to be able to manage the situation where we fail to get a response from the NAS and how that erro is handled.

'The specified network name is no longer available' does show up in the Windows event log so we are not ruling out something on the SBS2003 server side which needs to be refreshed or stopped / restarted to re-establish a good / fresh connection to the NAS when it reappears on the network.

 

 

 

Model: ReadyNASRNDP6310|ReadyNAS Pro 6
Message 6 of 7
jak0lantash
Mentor

Re: Backup error. Write operation failed. The specified network name is no longer available.


@Daz_ReadyNAS wrote:

shutdown -h now


To gracefully shutdown the NAS, you should use rnutil rn_shutdown or rn_shutdown directly (use -r for a reboot).

Message 7 of 7
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