© Copyright Robert Vasvari, 2005-2008.
RELEASE NOTES for AASync for Windows version 2.1.3
If you had AASync for Windows 1.1.0 or any other previous version, you must uninstall first, before installing this version. AASync 2 uses a different format for its documents, but no worries, it will automatically convert your sync definitions into the new format. On Vista, AASync documents are stored under $BOOTDRIVE\ProgramData\AASync. On XP/2000x it is under $BOOTDRIVE\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AASync. it is under all users because the scheduled syncs are executed by the AASyncService which is run as a different user. This ensures the success of the unattended operation of AASync, since it is not required for any user to be logged in, still, all scheduled syncs are executed.
Power management features, such as putting the host to sleep/hibernate after the sync requires that the host computer is able to stay in standby or hibernate mode. That means these states must be able to be achieved by hand and must be working correctly. Many times BIOS/network or other powermanagement setting can prevent computers from gettting into or staying in suspend or hibernate mode.
Scheduled syncs will try to wake the host computer from standby or hibernate mode 20 seconds before the sync time to perform the sync!
TROUBLE SHOOTING
What to do when things do not work, or something you expect does not happen? Well, AAsync has
many built-in diagnostics one can look at to see where things go wrong. First the logs. AASync has
different logs which chronicle the workings of various parts of the program. AASync stores all of
its configurations in its data folder, which is under
BOOTDRIVE:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AASync. The Options/Open AASync Data Folder menu
will open this folder as a convenience. Under that folder the Logs folder
contains the the sync logs in a time based hierachial format. This makes it easy to find the log of a sync run
based on what day it ran. For each sync run one log is produced, except in the case when logging
is turned off on the Preferences Panel's General tab. The log is in the format
IMPORTANT: if you have any problem with a sync, set its log level to "Sync Events + Commands". This is the most verbose (debug) format, which, if analyzed, usually gives you the answer to whatever problem you are having. AASyncService.log contains important messages about AASync service registering/rereading/executing syncs. Check this log if there are any problems with executing scheduled syncs in the background. This log is generated every day, so be sure to look at the correct one!
Here are the most common problems and what to do about them:
During browsing a remote host to set the target folder, the browser window just hangs or returns some error message.
This is usually due to network problems preventing access to the remote host, maybe the host is down, or for whatever reason it does not accept incoming connections. Also, it is possible that your own firewall is preventing you from reaching other hosts on the outside. In that case ask you sysadmin about what to do. AASync supports the common forms of access through firewalls, like SOCKS and the FTP Firewall Toolkit. It is also common that users mistype the hostname/username/password which can produce various errors during browsing.
A sync that has worked before is hanging now nothing happens, eventually it times out.
Network/server problems can happen any time, just because the server worked one day, does not mean that it will always work. Also, your login privileges may have been changed/revoked, etc.. In whatever case, LOOK AT THE DEBUG LOG, it usually tells you what the error is. It sometimes happens that the remote machine's setup changes, and suddenly things do not work anymore, even though you still have access to the host. In this case edit this sync and try to reset the remote source or destination folder. The browsing process clears the cached setting for the remote host, so if anything changed, it will work fine after browsing the host and resetting the remote folder. In an extreme case, you can try to set up another sync with the same endpoints. If it works, delete the troubled one.. We must tell you though that this is very rare...
Scheduled sync did not execute
Once you set the schedule on a sync, it takes couple of minutes for the AASync service to pick up either the new sync or the changes (like setting of a schedule) of an existing sync. So do not set a schedule two minutes ahead, that will not work. Once the new schedule is picked up, the sync will be executed by the AASync app if it is running, or the service if AASync is not running.
I launched AASync, it shows that one of my syncs is runnning, but I can't see the log messages.
If a sync was started by the service in the background, AASync will show that it is running, it will also show the result status after the sync completes. However, it cannot show the log messages real time, since the sync is running in the service. After completion, the Show Log button in AASync will open the last log generated by the service run. So, if the sync is set to execute in the middle of the night in the background, you can see the results in the morning by launching AASync.
The sync executes, but there are many messages in the log about files missing, bad characters, etc..
There can be many problems during a sync, unreadable files in the source, other premissions settings preventing from AASync from reading the files, file name incompatibilities between your Windows box and the remote system you connect to, etc.. they are just too manu to list. You must read these messages and decide what, if any, you want to do about them. Permissions can be changed, files can be removed, etc. Only you can decide how many and what kind of errors are acceeptable to you. It pays to think through how much of the backed up data you REALLY need and structure your folders accordingly, backing up only the ones you really need.
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