Per file server control/corrupt file retry on backup

[sharza]

Hi

I have searched high and low, and spent much time trying to figure out if what I request is achieveable in some other manner - to no avail, however I apologise beforehand if it actually is.

I've used Astra in the past, however the takedown approach from Astra has proven to be a pain. I then got a FrugalNews account to supplement Astra, as I've found it to be very stable, and usually have what Astra misses out on. I've tried various combinations of using primary/backup servers to automate the process, but apparantly Astra does not remove articles, but will invalidate a number of RAR's in the collection instead - enough to make the PAR2 set unrepairable, and in some cases the PAR's are semi-corrupted as well, I'm not sure if the last part is something Astra does, I have however noticed that redownloading those from Frugal, in many cases also provide a different result. Since Astra does not respond with a missing article, but simply supplies an invalid one, the backup server will not be used. (At least not from my understanding, forgive me if this is incorrect, but since I don't get complete/uncorrupted files, even though its possible with the newsserver combination I have, along with what I've been able to read, I've concluded this.)

So far I've resolved this by loading the NZB up again, only with FrugalNews server active, and simply downloading the corrupted files again - this has so far worked in 100% of the cases.

What would be really nice would be one of the following:

1.  (preferred)
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When a backup server is configured, and a file in a PAR2 set is corrupt after PAR2 analysis - automatically redownload the file from the backup server, and in case its corrupted as well, keep the file requiring the least recovery blocks. After all corrupted files has been redownloaded, re-attempt PAR2 check/repair/unrar.


2.
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Add a right-click context submenu option to all files in a PAR2 set on the PAR2 tab: Re-download this file from --> List of defined servers, so it is possible in an easy way to manually redownload a file from a PAR2 set from an alternate news server and re-issue a check/repair. Alternatively an right menu option: Re-download all corrupted/incomplete files from --> List of defined servers.


I'm unaware of how others resolve this in an easy way, I've not been able to find an easy solution to this - only manual labor ;-) - hence my request.

Thanks a ton for an outstanding usenet proggy!!

Regards
   - Sharza

[Rdl]

Wow, this is a new low for them. One solution is to dump them and go with other primary provider. Can you send me link to zipped detailed log when this is happening via pm?

[sharza]

I have an NZB I've been using to replicate this, I didn't capture a log, but I will redownload the file... unfortunately for me its a BD50 download :-) so it will take a few hours before its done ;-)

While traversing many forums, I found this post - which I of course didn't keep a link to, where an Astra employee detailed their process, to eliminate any rumors, and apparantly that's how they are doing it, and has been for a long time. Now forgive I didn't look into the log, I just read that and figured it made sense as to why my backup server was never utilized and I always end up with corrupted files if my download is somewhat old.

I will capture the log and see if I can see anything, and pm it to you... monitoring the activity panel I never see any missing articles messages.

Thanks for the quick reply.

[Rdl]

If you can remember corrupt files - download just them.
Words I would use to describe astra employees are not for this forum...

First they were replacing whole article with few bytes DMCA message, then they started to remove articles (which is normal way IMO to handle things), then this...

[sharza]

Now this is terrific... its about 10 days since I downloaded the collection with consistent issues with a number of files - and have been working with those since... now it downloads correctly and with no issues - should have enabled log to file at that time - hooray for geek paranoia - bites you in the butt from time to time

This is however far from the first time I've experienced this, so without doubt I'll experience it again. I will need to gather the log, so until then its a waiting game. I'll do what I can to reproduce as soon as possible.

It may be that the solution is to ditch Astra - a shame really, because thei've served me well in the past, but times change - I just like the high retention, as I tend to search for some old stuff from time to time.

Looking into the log, some articles are missing, only a few this time tho' which are then correctly grabbed from the backup server.

Will keep you posted on progress.

[sharza]

SO some time has passed now, I've downloaded a number of releases and come to a conclusion. So being a technical troubleshooter - even doing it for a living in extremely complex environments, I hate myself for jumping to conclusions without having the full picture in terms of technical background material - in other words, I was too fast - at least I assume, as I haven't been able to reproduce the exact scenario I described.

Let me summarize:
It is correct that some files will download incomplete without missing articles - in particular from Astra. However not in amounts making a repair impossible (mostly anyway).
Perusing the logs in detail - reveals that Astra in fact reports missing articles for releases (which I assume) that has been hit by DMCA takedowns.
Perusing the logs furthermore reveals that for some releases Frugal reports missing articles (but in all cases - that has been for the complete release).

I am using the EU servers of FrugalNews, so I assume what I have been so unlucky to experience is something like this:

• Release is on Astra, it has been automagically processed for DMCA takedown, a number of articles simply removed.
• These articles has been reported missing, AltBinz tries to fetch them from Frugal which is the 2nd choice.
• Using the Frugal EU server, propagation has not yet reached it - so the data simply is not there yet, so it reports missing too.
• I assume there is an issue within AltBinz or that the Articles are simply invalidated, as an Astra employee has stated they do. However not looking at the log I didn't have the full picture
• After I manually retry later on coming home after several hours, it works manually grabbing the files from Frugal EU, the content has now been propagated to the EU server
• Having the full picture now proves 4. incorrect.

Which in turn means everything works as expected, and once again it is proven that the full picture in raw data > assumptions. I rest my case, and salutes AltBinz, keep up the good work, and thank you very much for prompt response, even though it was wasted - Ill zip it now, and just enjoy using AltBinz   

- Sharza