sync stalled

[tsolignani]

Yesterday I setup the client in a couple of mac of mine (one at work and another one at home) and configured some folders to sync, for backup and file's availability purposes.

The syncing started good and some datas were copied to and from.

Today, though, both apps are stalled, event if the folders are not synced.

There is even a file with the .sync extension in one of them.

I tried restarting the clients in both machines, but no joy.

Any idea?

Thank you.

–
cordialmente,

tiziano solignani, da  Mac

http://blog.solignani.it

[tsolignani]

PS into the device section of one of the machine, you cannot see the other one.

[Automatic Coding]

First of all, can we have a debug log? P.S. I'm not sure if this log contains personal information/secrets, so, I'd skim through it first.

Second, is it just one machine that can't see the other? Or both that can't see either? I had an issue where one device could see the other, but, the other couldn't see the first, I fixed it by port forwarding the other (even though the other was port forwarded).

[rdebath]

For the debug log http://forum.bittorrent.com/topic/12658-if-you-have-syncapp-issue/

Note: If the "Devices" tab has IP address and port number then that host has attempted to contact this host BUT we haven't heard anything more. If there a name there it means that two way communication has been established.

If you only see an IP address I'd start looking at the firewalls for something asymmetric (and odd). Perhaps change the port numbers because you've got a bad NAT connection that's being kept alive. Perhaps turn BOTH sides off for 10 minutes before you restart them.

Of course it's always possible that the admins at work noticed some weird traffic and blocked it ...

[tsolignani]

First of all, can we have a debug log? P.S. I'm not sure if this log contains personal information/secrets, so, I'd skim through it first.

Second, is it just one machine that can't see the other? Or both that can't see either? I had an issue where one device could see the other, but, the other couldn't see the first, I fixed it by port forwarding the other (even though the other was port forwarded).

Both can't see either. If it was a port forwarding, I guess it would not have worked from the start, instead it worked for several hours and data then stopped.

I will see for the log.

Thank you.

[tsolignani]

For the debug log http://forum.bittorr...-syncapp-issue/

Note: If the "Devices" tab has IP address and port number then that host has attempted to contact this host BUT we haven't heard anything more. If there a name there it means that two way communication has been established.

If you only see an IP address I'd start looking at the firewalls for something asymmetric (and odd). Perhaps change the port numbers because you've got a bad NAT connection that's being kept alive. Perhaps turn BOTH sides off for 10 minutes before you restart them.

Of course it's always possible that the admins at work noticed some weird traffic and blocked it ...

I am the admin at work (sort of) and did not block anything on purpose. If it's a NAT problem, how come it worked for some hours? I just cannot get that. I will try to shut them down for 10 minutes, though.

Thank you.

–
cordialmente,

tiziano solignani, da  Mac

http://blog.solignani.it

[Automatic Coding]

I am the admin at work (sort of) and did not block anything on purpose. If it's a NAT problem, how come it worked for some hours? I just cannot get that. I will try to shut them down for 10 minutes, though.

Thank you.

–
cordialmente,

tiziano solignani, da  Mac

http://blog.solignani.it

Maybe an issue with UPNP being revoked due to a DHCP lease changing or something along those lines. To be honest, although it's unlikely, it's still worth checking out.

[tsolignani]

Maybe an issue with UPNP being revoked due to a DHCP lease changing or something along those lines. To be honest, although it's unlikely, it's still worth checking out.

Understood. I am trying to let pass 10 minutes and then restart. Should I try restarting the machines too?

Thank you.

–
cordialmente,

tiziano solignani, da  Mac

http://blog.solignani.it

[Automatic Coding]

Understood. I am trying to let pass 10 minutes and then restart. Should I try restarting the machines too?

Thank you.

–
cordialmente,

tiziano solignani, da  Mac

http://blog.solignani.it

Well, might be worth a shot, although, what you'll really want to do is to:-

A. Check the log

B. Check any incoming/outgoing connections that BTSync does (Wireshark, log, netstat)

C. Check if the two computers can in fact communicate over UDP on said port (Shut down BTSync and load up something like netcat to listen & send data)

I believe the syntax for a UDP test on netcat would be (Both computers should be tested as both client and server to test bi-directional connection establishment):-

Server:-

nc -ul 1234

Client:-

echo "The quick fat fox jumps over the lazy dog or something like that" | nc -u 127.0.0.1 1234

Obviously changed the IP & port for the IP of the opposite computer and the port that BTSync is using. If it works the server should output:-

nc -ul 1234
The quick fat fox jumps over the lazy dog or something like that

[tsolignani]

It did restart syncing. Now I have no idea, but after keeping both app closed for some mins and then reopen the both of them syncing started again. Now I'll keep debug logging enabled and see wether something funny happens again. Thanks again to everyone.

–
cordialmente,

tiziano solignani, da  Mac

http://blog.solignani.it

[kos13]

Thank you. We will need debug logs to find issue. This is odd.

[rdebath]

I am the admin at work (sort of) and did not block anything on purpose. If it's a NAT problem, how come it worked for some hours? I just cannot get that. I will try to shut them down for 10 minutes, though.

It could be an awful lot of things, a uPNP thing or DHCP lease thing like "AC" said; I've had firewalls stop DHCP renewals but allow the lease to be recreated once it's expired. I've had openvpn (which uses UDP in a similar manner, no STUN though) connections just stop for no visible reason; one end just stops seeing the other end's packets. One time I was able to get onto the remote firewall and see the packets going out, they just never arrived.

My workaround with OpenVPN is simply to have two configurations; if one stops working I turn if off and switch to the other; I'm not sure how that translates to a BTSync environment though. Perhaps the 10 minute "sulk" could become standard by doing some sort of backoff when things don't connect (but what about penetrating head to head NATs ?). Perhaps BTSync could present two port numbers and switch between them as needed. I suspect reducing the ping rate when the connection is working would help to mitigate the problem if (for example) it's some sort of ISP traffic throttling.

I could continue, but, maybe it's just a little .