Time machine failures on QNAP

(More as information for everyone and not just yourself.)

QNAP make NAS devices, that is a box with its own internal storage, processor, network interface and software. Like almost all NAS devices the QNAP box is running a variety of Linux.

Again like almost all NAS devices - especially those using Linux it runs a version of the open source Netatalk software to implement support for AFP. Where the QNAP might fall down a bit is that I believe they are not as quick at updating their version of Netatalk software as for example NetGear.

As others have mentioned in the past Apple has made subtle changes to the AFP protocol and this means the Netatalk project developers have had to discover these changes and make matching changes. Whilst I cannot guarantee it, I suspect that Apple have stopped making changes to AFP since they have dropped some not so subtle hints that they intend to discontinue AFP at some point.

Apple now want everyone to use SMB instead and have been saying so for the last few years. Initially this resulted in a potential problem since they had originally left Time Machine still only able to work over AFP and not SMB. With the aforementioned not so subtle hints that AFP was doomed this left a gapping hole. I did therefore each year a new version of OS X came out remind them of this via the beta-test program. When Sierra came out Apple finally resolved this issue. Sierra can now backup over SMB to a suitable SMB server.

A suitable SMB server does not have to be a genuine Mac server. This time Apple have actually provided official technical information allowing other software developers to make sure their SMB implementation is able to do the things Time Machine needs. See https://developer.apple.com/library/content/releasenotes/NetworkingInternetWeb/T ime_Machine_SMB_Spec/

Going back to NAS devices, just like Netatalk is the software typically used for AFP, SAMBA is the software typically used for implementing SMB in NAS devices. Whilst the current official release of SAMBA does not yet have all the changes needed for full Time Machine compatibility added - something I am surprised about, the SAMBA developers are aware of this and do appear to be working on this and a pre-release version may have already added all the needed changes. See https://bugzilla.samba.org/show_bug.cgi?id=12380

I would suggest checking for any available software updates for your QNAP and installing them, this may include Netatalk updates. At some future time a further QNAP update will hopefully also include a SAMBA update with the required changes for that as well.

For what it's worth I currently use a NetGear ReadyNAS as a Time Machine server via AFP and find it no less reliable than a genuine Apple Time Machine solution. If you want the latest, most compatible, genuine 100% Time Machine solution then using a Mac running Sierra and Server.app as a Time Machine server is the best option.

A Time Capsule would not be anywhere near the best option, not only does it only do AFP for Time Machine backups, it has already been officially discontinued and is therefore unlikely to every get Time Machine over SMB support added to it. This also ignores the fact that the hard drive inside a Time Capsule is notorious for failing.

In case you are confused by some of the replies to this Discussion, all models of the AirPort Time Capsule are still being produced, still available, and as of Saturday there were still plenty of them on the shelf at the Apple Store Union Square:

I have yet to experience a single failure to back up or restore, nor a single Time Capsule hard disk failure. This despite using many Macs, many Time Capsules, many AEBSs, in many locations, over many years, using many OS X / macOS versions, using every conceivable supported Time Machine configuration.

It has not been 99.999% reliable. It has been 100% reliable.

Best wishes with your unsupported configuration.

There are over 10 versions of AFP -- see https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/Networking/Conceptual/ AFP/AFPVersionDifferences/AFPVersionDiff… for a partial list

What version of AFP does QNAP support and what version does Sierra use??

Use Console.app to search for 'backup' in the system logs, which should contain more specific information.

If I understand correctly, you are getting the same message with both an external disk and a NAS as the TM target, which suggests to me you need to try either (a) rebuild your Spotlight index:

How to rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac - Apple Support

and/or (b) use Disk Utility 'First Aid' to check and repair the disk you are attempting to backup.

The 'problem may be temporary' suggests to me that a third-party application is interfering with the copying process. If you have installed a third-party 'antivirus' or 'cleaner' app it's probably that so uninstall it. Actually, uninstall it in any case.

C.

Don't think you read the entire thing:

Use a network-based disk

If your backup disk is on a network, the network server must use Apple File Protocol (AFP) file sharing. Both your Mac and the networked backup disk should have OS X v10.5.6 or later. The AFP disk must also be "mounted" (available to your Mac) when you set it as your backup disk in Time Machine preferences.

1. From the Finder, choose Go > Connect to Server.
2. Enter the server address, or your AirPort Extreme Base Station's LAN IP address (by default 10.0.1.1).
3. Enter the username and password required to access the network disk(s).
4. Select the desired disk(s) from the available volumes.
5. Select the volume from Time Machine.

After you select the network disk in Time Machine preferences as a backup disk, Time Machine automatically connects to it when it’s time to backup or restore your data.

Since your QNAP doesn't run OS X 10.5.6 or newer, think a reliable Time Machine backup is what you don't have. You're relying on QNAP to perfectly emulate AFP server that is built in to OS X/macOS, which is up to QNAP not Apple. Other vendors (like WD MyCloud's) have similar problems as you have, thinking that AFP emulation (or also SMB I think) is not so easy perhaps.

Good luck...

Perhaps you might have your QNAP and another Mac as test beds and do backups to both and analyze and compare the network traffic between the two and see what is different. That would be a wonderful research project and go a long way in explaining why these AFP emulator NAS devices have a problem. Look forward to seeing the results of anyone who tackles that problem.

There are lots of open source projects that have implemented it to allow people to connect and use Macs with their servers. SMB 2 and 3 are more popular and more widely available but you still need AFP if you want any kind of TM support.

Correct. Since Apple can (and does) change AFP at their whim those open-source products will never be reliable with Time Machine... as I wrote.

It has been nearly a decade after Time Machine was first implemented, yet questions such as yours continue to appear on this site with disturbing regularity. Apple has never supported anything other than the devices specified in Time Machine's support documentation. If you want to use your non-Apple NAS for backups, use something else.

Well the implementation is up to QNAP and anyone else - if they have a bug or a difference between what Apple has done to implement AFP and what they do, then guess what? Something may not work the same as what the Apple implementation does.

So still have to agree with what John Galt and others say about third-party NAS devices - they might work and them might not, and looks like you're in the latter category. What does QNAP say about what sort of issues their box has with Time Machine? Wonder if they have some sort of test bed that does comparison of what their NAS solutions do versus a real OS X/macOS computer does? Good question for them.

Wonder if you might try to use SMB instead of AFP if your results would change?

Anyway, good luck...

A non-Apple NAS is not a supported Time Machine backup device, and will not be reliable. To learn how to use Time Machine please read Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac - Apple Support.