After updating to Sierra, Mac won't connect to ReadyNAS device

I have a slightly different issue but Synology tech support have just passed the buck straight back without making much effort at all.

Briefly, I have an iMac connected to a Synology NAS by ethernet, it sees the Synology NAS AND Time Machine works. I have a MacBook Pro that connects to the Synology NAS by WIFI - this works fine for read/write ing files BUT and its a very annoying BUT, Time Machine does not detect the NAS either by SMB or AFP.

If Time Machine stops working with AFP mounts, does it mean that Time Machine won't be able to backup my iMac to a Apple Time Capsule ? (I'm afraid that Time Capsule isn't SMB compatible)

Can we expect a firmware update that enables SMB on Time Capsule ?

Time Machine does still work with AFP mounts as long as the AFP server is compatible, therefore it does work with both the Time Capsule via AFP and a Mac Server.app server. It is likely that at some point in the future a new version of Server.app might completely stop providing AFP support but I do not expect this to happen soon. Similarly a new future version of macOS nee OS X might stop supporting AFP. Apple's Server.app already supports acting as a Time Machine server via SMB.

What has been a problem is various NAS devices running Netatalk which is the AFP software used by these NAS dvices and where the Netatalk version may be either out-of-date or if even it is the latest Netatalk version might not yet be compatible with whatever changes Apple have made.

I would not expect the Time Capsule to ever get SMB support for Time Machine backups. Rumours are that the Time Capsule is going to be discontinued.

NAS devices use SAMBA to provide SMB support and the SAMBA programmers are as I previously mentioned supposedly working on adding Time Machine support.

AFP isn't used by Sierra. Try using SMB instead if your NAS supports it. Or contact the manufacturer's tech support for assistance.

Do you have anything to back that statement up?

I know it looked like apple was going to move to smbx from afp starting with Mavericks, but after the dns resolver problems, in el capitan it looked like nfs, smb/cifs and afp were all living happily together.

Is the removal of afp in Sierra documented anywhere from Apple?

Really curious about this.

I only know what was stated by Apple. I do find this in the Sharing preferences:

I don't know what the status is with Time Machine. I don't use it for my backups. I cannot state whether this is or isn't a Sierra issue. I recommend you contact tech support for your NAS device.

Maybe the info in this Apple document will help:

Backup disks you can use with Time Machine - Apple Support

Perhaps Apple's original wording was confusing. AFP is still supported for Time Machine and external servers like your NAS: macOS Sierra- Connect to shared computers and file servers on a network.

Got always the same problems on 3 Machines with 2 totally different Backup targets.

So I have NO more a backup since I updated to Sierra.... *** 😟

targets

a) Linux /Netatalk based TimeMachine Server (over AFP)

b) Apple AirPort Extreme (of course AFP)

in both cases I found tons of such messages in the console log

AFP_VFS afpfs_vnop_ioctl: afpfs_FindForkRef failed -1

and a huge load of backupd (99%) and logd (40%)

Backup hangs always with the state "Preparing Backup ..."

@Kappy

> AFP isn't used by Sierra.

Sorry but this is bs!
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