Home Forums Discussions Problems V4 Offsite Backup issue

I wonder if anyone has a suggestion for fixing this on my own.

A few days after AC4 was successfully installed, I started getting an error message with the offsite backup upload. Since I backup daily, it was odd that it worked great for the first few days. Now I get "The Amazing Charts Backup Utility found & connected to our server but was unable to open a secure tunnel through which to transfer your encrypted data....Thus your Offsite Backup data file was not uploaded." The error message continues to suggest that the "router's firewall settings are probably blocking access to port 21 for Auth Tls protocol initiation." How do I find this setting and fix it? I also have an external disk backup, but I'd like to keep using OSBU. Thanks!

drwolfe,

Well, you certainly can talk to support, but if it is only an ftp issue, then it shouldn't be too difficult to figure out. FTP usually listens on port 21. This is generally on by default as ftp is something a lot of people use all the time as in above.

I would check two places. The Windows Firewall is the easiest since it is software and easy to open. Rather than looking at all the settings, just turn it off and see if you can upload your backup. If you can, then there is your problem. You can add Port 21 to the exceptions. You could also add a program and browse to AC, but that may not work.

If this does not work, you will need to look at your router, You should be able to access it using your browser. Open your browser and type its IP address (usually the default gateway, i.e. 192.168.1.1 or something like that -- whatever your default gateway is on your connections of your NIC). It will then ask for a username and password. If you do not have this, Google the actual router and model. It usually is on the Internet somewhere. Once in the router, if you look at security settings or maybe it is under port settings, just check it to see if it is open. There are ways to check from a command prompt such as running netstat from the prompt and hitting enter.

If you aren't able to see if it is open or not, bypass the router with one computer and see if you can upload. If you can, then at least you have found your problem. Again, if you reset the default settings, you should be OK, as the default settings should be set with port 21 open. If none of this works, then call support. Also, try uploading from a different computer.

Wow, Bert. I am way impressed! Your deductive method was brilliant and it worked perfectly.

I disabled the firewall--and the upload worked fine.
I enabled port 21 Auth Tls for both UDP and TCP [mind you, I have no idea what that means] and then activated the firewall. And the upload worked!
So now I have a firewall and OSBU that works. And the new V4 interface is indeed easier than the old one.

I'm very grateful. I didn't know if I needed both UDP and TCP for the port, but I wasn't going to try to tweak the thing now that it's running. Please let me know if you feel otherwise.

Bert, you're a genius.

Gee Bert, any experience w/ Zone Alarm Firewall? Seems when the Program Control is on, V4 wont work. Cant talk to SQL. But I've given V4 all the rights that I can see to give.

For now, I wouldn't mess with a good think. Nice trouble shooting. Not sure about being a genius. If I were, I would have gone into radiology, lol. But, then I wouldn't have AC to play with.

Wayne, Zone Alarm is a far more intricate software firewall than Windows. Not saying Windows is bad. Giving V4 full rights should help. Are you having trouble with a clients' V4 connecting to the database? Is SQL blocked? Personally, if you have a hardware firewall, I would turn off ZA Pro and run it without it. Then you could add it back one permission at a time. Do you have two software firewalls on as in Windows Firewall and ZA? Just some ideas. If it works with ZA off, then it is something in the config that I am sure you can change. What OS are you running?

OK guys, the story isn't over yet. Yesterday I had to update my antivirus (Avast antivirus). That wasn't an issue. Then I rebooted and--no upload. This time with a subtly different message last night and this morning:

"Amazing Charts Backup Utility could not connect securely with the Amazing Charts servers. Your file can not be uploaded at this time. Please try again later and if the problem persists tomorrow, please contact us at www.amazingcharts.com/help.

error: 0"

So I disabled the firewall, which showed the 2 port 21 I had opened yesterday still intact, but still no upload.

Next I bypassed the router for my wired network, plugging in directly to the DSL. But I get the same error message, no upload.

I'm really lost at the moment. Thanks in advance for your ideas.

Could it be an XP Pro issue (my OS)?

No, it's not an XP issue. First go to the Offsite Manager window. You will see a button called "Verify Secure Connection."

Please click that and see what message you get and then let me know.

Also, what browser are you using and which version? And what version of AC?

Thanks.

I'm sorry, I don't know what the Offsite Manager window is. I can't seem to find a Verify Secure Connection button on any of the offsite backup windows.

Addendum: I'm using Firefox 3.0.7 and AC4.0.58

Bert is reffering to the backup program that comes with amazing charts. One of the options when configuring your backup is to check if you can make a secure connection.

I'm sorry, I've searched in the AC program files folder but can't find a program called Offsite Manager. I looked on the Administrative Options window, and didn't find it there either.

Sorry about that Dr. Wolffe. Benjamin and I were both referring to V3. I went to my test version and tried it there. Nothing I referred to would make sense there.

I tried a backup, and I got the same error message. More than likely it is on their end. I was thinking that maybe you had another firewall issue because Port 443 for SSL (https vs http) would need to be open. But, that is usually open.

I did notice that when I closed the message, behind it there was another message that stated it was successful. You will need to contact support to be sure if it is going or not.

By the way, the actual file that you send is also saved to your "Backup" folder in the AC chart. So, you can continue to do your OSBUs and at least have the file.

See next post for workaround from hell. LOL

I decided I wanted to upload my backup from V4 even though it said I couldn't. It seems to be a problem with SSL. I certainly cannot guarantee this method and certainly one wouldn't want to do this. Much easier to call support. Just thought it would be fun to try, and it worked.

I have Vista Business, Vista Ultimate, XP Pro, Win7 Beta and SBS 2003 Standard and Premium on my virtual machine. I have V4 installed on Vista and have V3 on XP Pro. So, I went ahead and did a backup of V4 until I got the error. I then went to the Backup folder in the AC folder. V4 names it differently. So, I changed the four digit number in the name to OSBU basically renaming it to "PRACTICENAME_OSBU_031009.enc I then started the backup in V3 until I got to the browser window with the V3 backup file. I deleted that file, then browsed to the renamed V4 file and uploaded it. Worked like a charm.

DISCLAIMER: I wouldn't recommend this for a failsafe backup as I can't be sure it was successful.

"I use Firefox"

Nice thing about Firefox is it does an as you go spell check on these boards. Wish I.E. did that.

When I installed v4, v3 is now gone. So do I just go into the BACKUP file and change the filename from the new style [eg __022609_114246.enc] to the old style [v3 style] PRACTICENAME_OSBU_031009.enc and then use the upload utility wizard? I'll try it later today.

PS I can't thank you enough for your continued help.

You could only use the changed name with the OSBU in the V3 upload. This I can only say is a workaround that I wouldn't recommend. It's interesting that it worked, and it probably does.

But, all in all, I would call or chat with support and ask them why they are getting that error message. Try and backup today and see if you get the message. It very well could be their end. If their servers weren't accepting the new file from V4.

You shouldn't have to do all that work to upload a file.

Nope, no uploading. Keep getting Error 0. Don't really know what to do now.

Thanks for all your effort, though.

I have some ideas. Hold on while I see a couple of more patients.

I'm open to any ideas you might have.

Here is what I tried, and I think it actually works better and ends up being cheaper. I tried about five online storage programs and ended up using Box.net. Microsoft Live is free and can be used as well.

1. Make a folder on your desktop called AC OSBU.
2. Go to the Amazing Charts folder on the computer you back up from and open it. Copy and paste the Amazing Backup.exe and Backup Restore Utility.exe into that folder. Then copy and paste a SHORTCUT of the Backup folder in the AC folder into your new desktop folder.
3. You should then have the Backup program, Restore program and a shortcut to the Backup folder all in one easy to find and use folder.
4. As an FYI, anytime you do an OSBU (which hasn't been working well), a copy of the encrypted file which is uploaded is also stored in the Backup folder in the AC folder.
5. Open Amazing Backup, uncheck the Upload Securely to Amazing Charts Servers in Step 3.
6. Click on Advanced Settings at bottom left and in the Location 1 browse to the Backup folder C:\Program Files\Amazing Charts\BACKUP. Note: You could backup to any folder, but this keeps it consistent.
7. Each night click on Backup Now. The Amazing Backup will then back up and encrypt your Amazing Charts.data to the Backup folder.
8. Here you will need some type of online offsite web program. In Google, there are literally tons of them. Some of them will work for storage and automatic HIPAA compliant backups if you want. Again, I chose Box.net, because it allowed drag and drop and has a cool way of sharing files.
9. I open Box.net, sign in, and click on Upload, then drag and drop the backed up file and it is immediately uploaded to www.box.net by SSL. I think Box.net was around $6.00 per month.
10. You can make unlimited folders, so I made one called OSBU.

The nice thing about doing it this way is that YOU have control of the backups. You can keep MORE than one month's worth. Even though you should back up your data multiple places, it is scary to know that if you lose your data or whatever, you can't even restore it without calling AC Support. This way you have the Restore Utility in the folder and you can restore it immediately.

There are other offsite storage programs that allow you to map the drive so that the offsite storage basically appears to be on your computer as another drive letter.

Now this could be really cool. As you will see in advanced settings, you can set the backup to place the compressed and encrypted file in three places at once. That is rather nice. By the way, you could still do the AC OSBU as well it it worked as it should. NOW....I didn't try one of the offsite storage programs where you could map the drive. BUT I DID...try setting C:\ as a backup path, and it worked perfectly. So what this MAY mean is you could use one of the offsite websites that allows you to do a map drive, set that drive as your path and then with just one click of the Amazing Backup, the file would be put on the mapped drive and then immediately uploaded to your offsite location. That would be too cool.

Hope this helps. It's much easier than it sounds. Let me know what you think.

Curiously, the day you posted your inspired work-around for a non-AC offsite backup, mine started to work again, just fine. I've tried it for a few days and it seems to upload without a problem.

If I were a suspicious type of person, I'd think somebody over there fixed something at their end which was blocking the upload.

Thanks again, sincerely, for you generous help.

I would guess that their servers are now working again.

Yes, exactly.

Because we are now allowing any size files to upload, we had to change servers to allow for the significant increase in total size of the uploads. It should be working correctly now.

Jon