27 replies to this topic

[Greg Welch]

CrashPlan support fixed the problen first try


Gregwelch, May 09 07:41 pm (CDT):

Hi, I have CrashPlan Pro installed on my WHS 2011. What happens is that the
tray icon closes and from what I can tell service stops working.

The first time it runs it will last for about an hour or longer then say the next day I go to see
progress and its closed and tray icon is gone, then when I try and start the
program it only stays open say 30 seconds and closes.

Please help


Their responce



Michael W., May 11 04:02 pm (CDT):

Good day Greg,

It appears that the CrashPlan backup engine is running out of memory. Could you follow the instructions below to allocate more memory to the CrashPlan backup engine?
Running Notepad or any other text-editor as an Admin, edit the CrashPlan engine's CrashPlanService.ini file to allow it to use more java memory:

1. Stop the backup engine: http://support.crash...nd_start_engine
2. Locate the Notepad program, right-click and Launch as Administrator
3. Go to File > Open, and navigate to C:\Program Files\CrashPlan\CrashPlanService.ini
4. Find the following line in the file:
-Xmx512m
5. Edit to something larger such as 640, 768, 896, or 1024. E.g.:
-Xmx1024m
This sets the maximum amount of memory that CrashPlan can use. CrashPlan will not use that much until it needs it. I would recommend starting out setting it to 768, and go higher only if you continue experiencing problems. You can set it as high as 2048 on 32-bit systems, or even higher on 64-bit systems.
6. Start the backup engine.
Please let me know if you have any questions.


Regards,
~Michael

This worked perfectly, Thank you

[pcdoc]

Thanks Greg, will keep this as reference. Not having an issue with 2008R2 but just in case I install it on 2011this is good to know.

[tojoski]

Interesting. I had an issue with the free version of Crashplan on my 2011 box where the service kept crashing and wound I up removing it.

Thanks for the tip, I'm going to try reloading it and allocating more memory to it.

[Greg Welch]

Interesting. I had an issue with the free version of Crashplan on my 2011 box where the service kept crashing and wound I up removing it.

Thanks for the tip, I'm going to try reloading it and allocating more memory to it.

Thanks for letting me know, ill bet they automate this in later updates

[ImTheTypeOfGuy]

So instead of fixing the reason it is requiring more memory they tell you to just feed it more. Eventually, will it run out of memory and not work?

[ikon]

So instead of fixing the reason it is requiring more memory they tell you to just feed it more. Eventually, will it run out of memory and not work?

That's assuming there is something to fix - there may not be. It may simply be a case that he has so many files that CrashPlan doesn't have enough room to index them all for backup. That's just one example; there could be many other legitimate reasons.

[Greg Welch]

Well here is what i can tell ya,

1) I set CrashPlan to 4096 of Ram

2) Backing up total of 1.1 TB

3) WHS 2011 was a VM with static 4GB of Ram alocated so i set it to Dynamic with Min-4GB max-16GB

4)CrashPlan Network Settings 2MB sending rate 2048KB Buffer size and TCP packets set to throughput

5) at the moment system is using 2.3GB of ram, not alot going on


seams to be working great , may increase setting later

[ImTheTypeOfGuy]

Guess what problem I just ran into? So now I am contacting them to see what happens when 1024 for my 32 bit WHS v1 is consumed.

[Greg Welch]

Guess what problem I just ran into? So now I am contacting them to see what happens when 1024 for my 32 bit WHS v1 is consumed.

I set mine to 4096 and havent had a problem since, it only uses what it needs of the amount you set

[ImTheTypeOfGuy]

I set mine to 4096 and havent had a problem since, it only uses what it needs of the amount you set

I fear that isn't the case though because if it were, we wouldn't of had to increase it in the first place. I look forward to seeing how hey respond to my email.

[geek-accountant]

Thanks for posting this Greg. I was having issues also and this solution has fixed them. I am backing up 1.5TB to Crashplan and it would only run for about 2 minutes before crashing. Been running for 30 minutes now without a problem. I also set mine to 4096.

[ikon]

I fear that isn't the case though because if it were, we wouldn't of had to increase it in the first place. I look forward to seeing how hey respond to my email.

The way I read it, CP will only use what it needs, up to the limit specified in the INI file. However, if the limit is too low to start with, then it will use up to that amount, but isn't allowed to exceed it, so it crashes.

So, if the limit is set to 512 MB, and CP needs 1.7 MB, it will crash because it's not allowed to use more than 512 MB.

However, if the limit is set to 4096 MB, and CP needs 1.7 MB, it will not crash, and it will still only use 1.7 MB, cause that's all it needs.

Personally, I think this kind of programming is a bit antiquated, but it is what it is.

[ImTheTypeOfGuy]

The way I read it, CP will only use what it needs, up to the limit specified in the INI file. However, if the limit is too low to start with, then it will use up to that amount, but isn't allowed to exceed it, so it crashes.

So, if the limit is set to 512 MB, and CP needs 1.7 MB, it will crash because it's not allowed to use more than 512 MB.

However, if the limit is set to 4096 MB, and CP needs 1.7 MB, it will not crash, and it will still only use 1.7 MB, cause that's all it needs.

Personally, I think this kind of programming is a bit antiquated, but it is what it is.

What you state is correct but why would it work for a year, or longer with the max set at 512 and now it all of a sudden needs more? Why is the requirement building is my question?

[ikon]

The obvious answer is that there are more files, or perhaps something else has changed, and CP has to keep track of more info, so it needs more RAM. It's also possible that updates to CP have made it need more RAM. Or, possibly, updates to Java have made it necessary for CP to use more.

I think the first option is most likely, since we all tend to accumulate more & more files, but the last one also seems pretty plausible since there are very frequent updates to Java.

That's all speculation of course; we may never know the exact reason.

[ImTheTypeOfGuy]

I think you pretty much nailed it. Below is their response. The problem with this is at some point, even if you have the space available, CrashPlan will max out on memory and you will not be able to use it as a backup service any longer. That seems like a poor design to me.



The amount of memory consumed is based on the size of your backup selection and your frequency of backups. If your file selection does not grow too much, the memory requirements should remain rather static.

[ikon]

It's possible but, if you put in 16GB or RAM (or more), you could allocate 8GB to CP. That would allow for an pretty huge collection of files. If you're not running CP constantly, then it shouldn't be too much of a problem. 'Course, with the advent of Win8, if they update CP to Metro, you could allocate a ton of RAM and it wouldn't matter much cause the OS would reclaim the RAM when CP is not actually running (at least I think that's how Win8 is going to do it).

[dvn]

Well isn't this just great. I am getting ready to implement CrashPlan on my daughter's server to back up her photo collection to my server. I don't think it's much more than 10 GB at this point. Am I going to run into this problem? Or is 10 GB such a low number that I'm safe?

I ask because I believe her WHS v1 server only has 2GB (maybe 4) RAM. What do you guys know?

[geek-accountant]

I don't think so Rich. That small of photo collection should not cause issues with the base settings. I am backing up 1.6TB of data and only recently had the issue. If you want to be safe, just change the setting to something like 1024 for her.

BTW, is 10GB of photos a "collection" or just part of one memory card from an afternoon shoot?

[ikon]

My suspicion is that it has more to do with the number of files than the amount of data per se.

[dvn]

I don't think so Rich. That small of photo collection should not cause issues with the base settings. I am backing up 1.6TB of data and only recently had the issue. If you want to be safe, just change the setting to something like 1024 for her.

Thanks Mike. I'll try that.

BTW, is 10GB of photos a "collection" or just part of one memory card from an afternoon shoot?

Haha. JPEG only. She shoots everything from her iPhone 4.


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