Arq backup comes with error of "missing SMTP hostname"

Tech Support
1

Hi,

So I’ve been running Arq Backup the last couple weeks as suggested by some very helpful people here. Everything has gone pretty smoothly but now I have a problem, I added my Photos HD to backup as an external. It scans it and comes up with the following error “missing SMTP hostname”. I’m connected to the internet fine and not sure quite what the error means. Any help or fix?

2

A guess: check Arq preferences to see if you have it set up to send an email on task completion, and if so, is it set to only send email when an error occurs.

If this guess is correct, you have two issues. First, you have to configure your email settings with a proper SMTP Host for sending the email.

Secondly, there is an error in doing the backup on the external, source you just added. Looking at the Arq log or fixing the email so you get the error email will help troubleshoot that.

If I am wrong about the email settings and setup, then I am not sure of another suggestion, but if you post content from the the log that might help troubleshoot. Once you set up the email on job completion you can also set the logging level for more detail if needed.

3

Thanks for the quick response @nlippman. Here is a screenshot from a log with the error. 41

I disabled for the time being sending an email about the backup to see if that helps. Also running a validation of the backup record while I’m at it. I’ll also check the disk health on my external to ensure everything is ok there too.

4

What happened when you disabled sending the email?

5

Seems to be working fine. Doesn’t show having an error.

6

Then I will surmise that the problem was in the email sending, and presumably you did not have a valid SMTP server specified. Why you did not see this error previously I don’t know.

It would be interesting to reenable email and ensure you are using the correct outgoing mail server and see what happens.

I have email enabled to notify my for all backups whether successful or errored. I do the same for my daily CCC clones. It gives me a quick visual check that my backups are in fact happening.

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