SOLVED Tested CrashPlan 4.5 setup

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Andrew076

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Apr 5, 2015
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I still think my issue is with Java because the port isn't showing up. Any idea on how to fix that?
 

Tom_

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Jan 4, 2015
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Anything in /var/log/crashplan/engine_error.log?
 

Andrew076

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Anything in /var/log/crashplan/engine_error.log?

Code:
/etc/host.conf: line 2: bad command `hosts'
 /etc/host.conf: line 3: bad command `dns'
 

marcevan

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Dec 15, 2013
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I don't use the Crashplan plugin as I feel it's quite unbaked and since it's headless it sort of defies the point of a GUI system.

Instead I just install Crashplan on a PC (or Mac if you prefer) and then just create a Crashplan directory there.

Now create a symlink to your FreeNAS folders and they will be eligible in your Crashplan system.

On Windows 7/8/10 you could do as admin: "mklink /D c:\Users\[You]\Crashplan //freenasname/Media"

And that would create a link and local install of Crashplan would let you pick your folders (sic, datasets) to include in backup.
 

Andrew076

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I don't use the Crashplan plugin as I feel it's quite unbaked and since it's headless it sort of defies the point of a GUI system.

Instead I just install Crashplan on a PC (or Mac if you prefer) and then just create a Crashplan directory there.

Now create a symlink to your FreeNAS folders and they will be eligible in your Crashplan system.

On Windows 7/8/10 you could do as admin: "mklink /D c:\Users\[You]\Crashplan //freenasname/Media"

And that would create a link and local install of Crashplan would let you pick your folders (sic, datasets) to include in backup.

So there are several things I like about this approach, one it would seem to get around all the issues that keep cropping up. I would have to keep the desktop on, but that isn't too much of a problem as it is on most of the time anyway.

My only issue so far in implementing the above is the "//freenasname/" part. It doesn't show up in my Network or homegroup. I always just used its IP address and mapped a drive, i.e. \\192.168.1.11\Pictures

Edit
So with some experimentation, I was able to find under System that my Hostename is "freenas.local" and when I typed within explorer //freenas.local/Pictures it took me to my Pictures folder.

So I did the following:
mklink /D C:\Users\Andrew M. Herold Jr\Documents\CrashplanLink //freenas.local/Pictures

but I get the following Error "The syntax of the command is incorrect."

Any ideas?
 
Last edited:

marcevan

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The way I did it was do CIFs account for access to the IP of the computer running Crashplan. Then I can find the Freenas name in my Network.

In your mklink statement:
1) Make sure you run command as Admin
2) Put your entire c:\ path in " " (e.g., "C:\Users....")

Otherwise I think you have it right. Be sure your Crashplan was installed as running just for you, not everyone on the PC, else it will not work with soft links.

Btw, I only backup documents and photos and home videos. I use Google play to house all my music so no need to backup to CrashPlan...plus TVs and Movies can always be obtained again.
 

Andrew076

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I uninstalled and reinstalled crashplan on my PC. When I installed it just for my user, I could then see the mapped network drives. So I believe this should work. I was hoping there was a way to adopt the data but it doesn't look like it and I have over 2TB of data backedup...
 

wtfR6a

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Jan 9, 2016
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if the drives are mapped identically it should rescan the files and recognise the data set and adopt it. Read the online support FAQ - 2TB is enough of a PITA to upload its worth the time doing a bit of research.
 

marcevan

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Yes, 2 TB is quite a lot to process and would take well, more than 24 hours which is the normal frequency to run.

This is why I don't backup TV Shows, or Movies. I do strictly Documents (MB), Home Videos (small GB), and Pictures (small GB). If I added in Movies and TV Shows I'd be in TB and in same boat.

Anyway, you can select the Files in Crashplan and each time you make a change it will re-scan your backup targeted folders.
 

Andrew076

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Yes, 2 TB is quite a lot to process and would take well, more than 24 hours which is the normal frequency to run.

This is why I don't backup TV Shows, or Movies. I do strictly Documents (MB), Home Videos (small GB), and Pictures (small GB). If I added in Movies and TV Shows I'd be in TB and in same boat.

Anyway, you can select the Files in Crashplan and each time you make a change it will re-scan your backup targeted folders.
2TB... that is just pictures and home videos (small GB) lol... movies etc. not in the back up :) My wife loves her digital pictures...
 

windyboi

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Jan 7, 2016
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Thanks for the guide. I am having an issue, however.

I am on OSX and I do not have a ui_info file where it is expected to be. CrashPlan support told me that one does not get a ui_info file until a first backup is started.

Can anyone please assist as to how I proceed from here? Initial instructions say to not open Crashplan when you install it. So, I don't know how to get my ui_info file so I can edit it!

Thanks
 

MortenSJ

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Oct 3, 2015
Messages
59
I'm very new to this, so I didn't really now what i was doing, but tried to follow the guide as long as possible. I'm getting an error when trying to SSH into crashplan

Code:
Morten:~ solvstrom$ ssh -L 4200:localhost:4243 crashplan@crashplan_1 -Nv
OpenSSH_6.9p1, LibreSSL 2.1.8
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config
debug1: /etc/ssh/ssh_config line 21: Applying options for *
ssh: Could not resolve hostname crashplan_1: nodename nor servname provided, or not known
Morten:~ solvstrom$



 

Allan Wilmath

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Nov 26, 2015
Messages
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I'm not an expert, but your ssh command relies on your dos resolving crashplan_1 which is probably not happening. Thee errors indicates it could not convert that name to an IP address. You should be able to find the IP address in the logs or jail settings. You can substitute the ip address in place oc crashplan_1 Or you could add a static entry in your DNS server so that the lookup works. To use that name you can test by using 'dig crashplan_1', if that doesn't work then your ssh command never will.

I think you can open a command window from the freeness web interface and use the jails on the left to access the web command line and do a 'ifconfig' to find out the ip address of the jail if you really needed too.

Good luck
 

S1RC

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Jul 28, 2016
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Code:
/etc/host.conf: line 2: bad command `hosts'
/etc/host.conf: line 3: bad command `dns'

I am also having these errors show up in my /etc/host.conf file. The SSH tunnel connects and asks for my password. Once connected and I launch the MacOS CrashPlan GUI, the tunnel reports:

Code:
debug1: Connection to port 4200 forwarding to localhost port 4243 requested.
debug1: channel 2: new [direct-tcpip]


However the CrashPlan GUI gives me an "Unable to connect, check your network" when trying to enter my CrashPlan credentials or creating a new account.
 

Andrew076

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I am also having these errors show up in my /etc/host.conf file. The SSH tunnel connects and asks for my password. Once connected and I launch the MacOS CrashPlan GUI, the tunnel reports:

Code:
debug1: Connection to port 4200 forwarding to localhost port 4243 requested.
debug1: channel 2: new [direct-tcpip]


However the CrashPlan GUI gives me an "Unable to connect, check your network" when trying to enter my CrashPlan credentials or creating a new account.

So, I just checked my error log and that is still in there. However everything is working just fine (as far as I can tell anyway, the GUI connects and I am 100% backed up with no error or other events in the history tab).

You state that you are using the SSH tunnel above - I don't think anyone (or very few people anyway) are using that. Most modify the .ui_info file on the host maching and change the port to match the port in the .ui_info file on the server machine so that it connects directly. I do anyway, and my reasoning is that my desktop with the GUI and the server are both behind a firewall anyway and the SSH tunnel really isn't needed (plus I never could get it to work).

Incase you want to connect directly, these are the steps I used last time to setup crash plan.

Code:
Step 1 - Stop Crashplan on Windows Machine close any open windows and all services (Ctrl+Alt+Delete) close all services relating to crashplan.
Step 2 - Logon to FreeNas server, click on jails, select CrashPlan select Shell then Stop the crashplan service by typing service crashplan stop (followed by enter)
Step 3 - ee /var/lib/crashplan/.ui_info (hit enter) (copy key it should look something like :4243,[random characters],127.0.0.1)
Step 4 - On the windows side go to the C:\ProgramData\CrashPlan\ and open the ".ui_info" file.  paste info from Step 3, but change the 127.0.0.1 to the ip address for your Crashplan jail, mine for example is 192.168.1.2 save and close (I also made this file read only so the system can't change it - but not necessary, you would however have to edit this file from time to time when you don't connect as it for some reason gets changed).
Step 5 - Back in the shell on the freenas side type "service crashplan start"
Step 6 - Still in the shell type "sockstat -l" and verify to be sure you have port 4243 listening.
Step 7 - Verify my.service.xml is setup correct.
Step 8 - Launch CrashPlan in windows - it should connect now.
 

Joe Gorse

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Joined
Aug 22, 2016
Messages
7
Some notes for those who installed CrashPlan into ~/Applications and updated behavior of 4.7.0 in ui.properties (instead of ui_username.properties).

Code:
# quit any running instance of crashplan the java gui
cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/CrashPlan
mv .ui_info .ui_info.local
# insert your gid into next line (cb8b1...)
echo "4200,c8b1d4c8-4e23-4ef8-a43c-253b011fc405,127.0.0.1" > .ui_info
echo "port=4200" >> ui.properties
# in another terminal
ssh -L 4200:127.0.0.1:4243 crashplan@crashplan_1 -N -v -v
# 
open ~/Applications/CrashPlan.app


I set up some aliases to switch between .remote and .local copies of .ui_info and ui.properties since I have both machines talking to the mothership.

Cheers,
Joe
 

S1RC

Dabbler
Joined
Jul 28, 2016
Messages
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So, I just checked my error log and that is still in there. However everything is working just fine (as far as I can tell anyway, the GUI connects and I am 100% backed up with no error or other events in the history tab).

You state that you are using the SSH tunnel above - I don't think anyone (or very few people anyway) are using that. Most modify the .ui_info file on the host maching and change the port to match the port in the .ui_info file on the server machine so that it connects directly. I do anyway, and my reasoning is that my desktop with the GUI and the server are both behind a firewall anyway and the SSH tunnel really isn't needed (plus I never could get it to work).

Incase you want to connect directly, these are the steps I used last time to setup crash plan.

Code:
Step 1 - Stop Crashplan on Windows Machine close any open windows and all services (Ctrl+Alt+Delete) close all services relating to crashplan.
Step 2 - Logon to FreeNas server, click on jails, select CrashPlan select Shell then Stop the crashplan service by typing service crashplan stop (followed by enter)
Step 3 - ee /var/lib/crashplan/.ui_info (hit enter) (copy key it should look something like :4243,[random characters],127.0.0.1)
Step 4 - On the windows side go to the C:\ProgramData\CrashPlan\ and open the ".ui_info" file.  paste info from Step 3, but change the 127.0.0.1 to the ip address for your Crashplan jail, mine for example is 192.168.1.2 save and close (I also made this file read only so the system can't change it - but not necessary, you would however have to edit this file from time to time when you don't connect as it for some reason gets changed).
Step 5 - Back in the shell on the freenas side type "service crashplan start"
Step 6 - Still in the shell type "sockstat -l" and verify to be sure you have port 4243 listening.
Step 7 - Verify my.service.xml is setup correct.
Step 8 - Launch CrashPlan in windows - it should connect now.

Tried these steps on a fresh jail after updating CrashPlan to 4.7. I get "Unable to connect to the backup engine, retry?" on both MacOS and Windows clients when connecting to the Jail.

sockstat -l shows the ports are open.
Code:
root     java       92184 98 tcp4   *:4242                *:*
root     java       92184 99 tcp4   127.0.0.1:4243        *:*


I might have to go the route of installing Linux in a VirtualBox VM.
 

Joe Gorse

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Joined
Aug 22, 2016
Messages
7
@S1RC, what is the output of the ssh (-v -v) tunnel that port forwards from OSX/Windows client to the :4242 FreeNAS server?
 

S1RC

Dabbler
Joined
Jul 28, 2016
Messages
28
Well now it's working with the tunnel. I had started from scratch trying Andrew076's method without the tunnel, which wouldn't connect to the jail.

Tried again with the SSH tunnel and it's working and backing up now. Does anyone know of any way to create a script to automatically check the .ui_info file for the proper GID and start the SSH tunnel before launching the CrashPlan desktop app?
 
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