Sync, How to manage devices

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gi_jimbo
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Sync, How to manage devices

Unread post by gi_jimbo » 2015-01-21, 21:59

Occasionally I'll reformat one of the devices that is set up with sync. To set it back up again I just redo the process to add a new device to the sync. However, it just shows up as another device in the list of devices (in tabs from other devices under history). This is fine with me but I was wondering if there was a way to remove the old device? I'm guessing this would help save server space as well. I'm currently showing 6 different devices (not including the one I'm currently on) though I really only have 4.
- James

Why I love Pale Moon: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11079#p77697

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Re: Sync, How to manage devices

Unread post by New Tobin Paradigm » 2015-01-21, 22:03

Number of devices is irrelevant. If they are all using the same account.

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Re: Sync, How to manage devices

Unread post by gi_jimbo » 2015-01-21, 23:31

I don't mean to be argumentative and I apologize for my ignorance, but would you please explain this in a little more detail for me?

It's irrelevant that I've got 3 extra devices worth of saved tab data (probably 20 to 100 tabs each) that are forever tied to the sync account? I just now timed it and when I open or refresh the "tabs from other devices" tab it takes a good 22 seconds to load and appears to make PM unresponsive during the last 17 of those 22 seconds ("not responding" is added to the window title). I'm guessing most of the delay has to do with making connection with the sync server but I can't help but think that all the extra tabs and devices are adding some sort of unnecessary overhead. Under the sync options there's a manage account dropdown with the option to "view quota" which shows that I'm using 50.1 MB. While I fully understand that this amount of data is probably very small in the grand scheme of things, I wonder how much of that is from my old devices.
- James

Why I love Pale Moon: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11079#p77697

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Re: Sync, How to manage devices

Unread post by Moonchild » 2015-01-22, 09:53

If you don't want to sync the tabs from other devices, then you should disable that in your settings.
Depending on exactly how many devices and tabs you are talking about, this can indeed cause a delay.

Also, 50MB is a pretty heft chunk for Sync, so if you can reduce that amount, that would help a lot - also for the server. If you have a problem with old/stale data of devices no longer owned/used, it would be a very good idea to reset your sync and have all data removed from the server and re-synced.

EDIT: also, if deliberate, you can prevent buildup by unlinking the browser from sync before reformatting.
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Re: Sync, How to manage devices

Unread post by gi_jimbo » 2015-01-23, 04:39

Being able to see tabs from other devices is actually one of my favorite features of sync. I apologize for taking up 50 meg of server space though, it should be a lot better after the reset.
Moonchild wrote:If you have a problem with old/stale data of devices no longer owned/used, it would be a very good idea to reset your sync and have all data removed from the server and re-synced.
I just tried the 3rd reset option as it sounded like the closest to a full reset of the three. (screen shot attached)
It appeared to have worked because when I went to view the tabs on other devices, the page was blank. So far, so good.
Next I went to each of my other devices and unlinked them from the sync account.
Then I went to each device and followed the sync setup procedure. The sync codes were recognized right away for each of them and the sync appeared to begin encrypting. However, once the encryption was complete on each of the devices, an error message appeared on the bottoms of the screens saying there was a problem connecting to the server. I clicked the preferences button and it said that the password didn't match the account.
I returned to the "main" computer and went to reset the password but it didn't work. (failure message also attached)
I tried multiple times with no success.

Any thoughts?
Attachments
Selected sync reset option 3
Selected sync reset option 3
Sync password change failed
Sync password change failed
- James

Why I love Pale Moon: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11079#p77697

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Re: Sync, How to manage devices

Unread post by Moonchild » 2015-01-23, 12:33

I just checked a password change, and it worked just fine. I'll see about tweaking the nginx instance a little for slower connections over ssl.
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
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Re: Sync, How to manage devices

Unread post by gi_jimbo » 2015-01-29, 14:00

I'm still getting errors when I try to change my password.

I had a thought though. When I first installed PM, I used the FF->PM migration tool. I don't remember ever having to setup a new sync account on PM, sync just appeared to continue to operate as it always had. I just assumed that it migrated my sync account but I don't have the slightest idea how that would work. Could this potentially mean that my sync account is not a PM sync account but still using (or trying to use) ff/moz? Could that be why my password reset and sync with other devices is no longer working (since I removed and re-added them)? If this is true, it doesn't make sense to me that the 12 digit sync codes worked when I re-added my devices though.

Am I way off in this line of thinking? :|
Should I just try to setup a new PM sync account with the same email? I'd assume that if it works, my guess was right. If it doesn't, then my email is already registered as a PM sync account which means my guess was wrong.
Worth a try?

Edit: I did a search in about:config for "sync" and found the flowing among the results:
services.sync.addons.trustedSourceHostnames;addons.mozilla.org
services.sync.clusterURL;https://phx-sync539.services.mozilla.com/
services.sync.jpake.serverURL;https://setup.services.mozilla.com/
services.sync.privacyURL;http://www.palemoon.org/sync/privacy.shtml
services.sync.serverURL;https://pmsync.palemoon.net/sync/index.php/
services.sync.statusURL;https://pmsync.palemoon.net/status/
services.sync.syncKeyHelpURL;http://www.palemoon.org/sync/keyhelp.shtml
services.sync.termsURL;http://www.palemoon.org/sync/terms.shtml

All of the references to *.mozilla.* had "user set" status
All of the references to *.palemoon.* had "default" status
Could it be that when I had first run the FF->PM migration tool, it set the "user set" values?

Edit2: correction: trustedSourceHostnames has "default" status, not "user set". The other mozilla references are "user set" though.
- James

Why I love Pale Moon: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11079#p77697

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Re: Sync, How to manage devices

Unread post by Moonchild » 2015-01-29, 21:03

The "easy setup" (JPAKE) 12-character setup of synced devices are unrelated to the actual sync server.
So, it's very well possible you are using the Firefox Sync 1.1 servers if they are still up, when linking devices using that method - and it's possible that that kind of administrative function has been disabled. JPAKE will communicate everything, not just your credentials but also the server URL. It looks like it has a cluster URL saved so it will likely use that when syncing (which is a Mozilla server).

I suggest you unlink and start with a clean slate, create a new account on the Pale Moon sync server, or make sure you use an existing account and log in with your e-mail and password.
If it succeeds with your e-mail address, then it didn't exist yet on Pale Moon Sync and you should unlink all other devices and re-setup to your new account.
If it gives an error that the account already exists, try logging in with known credentials.
If that fails, I may need to do some database wrangling to find your account and wipe it.
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Re: Sync, How to manage devices

Unread post by gi_jimbo » 2015-01-29, 22:28

Moonchild wrote:I suggest you unlink and start with a clean slate, create a new account on the Pale Moon sync server...
If it succeeds with your e-mail address, then it didn't exist yet on Pale Moon Sync and you should unlink all other devices and re-setup to your new account.
Well, that did it. I'm now up and running on the PM sync server. Thanks a ton for the help Moonchild! :D
- James

Why I love Pale Moon: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11079#p77697

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Re: Sync, How to manage devices

Unread post by Moonchild » 2015-01-30, 10:38

gi_jimbo wrote:
Moonchild wrote:I suggest you unlink and start with a clean slate, create a new account on the Pale Moon sync server...
If it succeeds with your e-mail address, then it didn't exist yet on Pale Moon Sync and you should unlink all other devices and re-setup to your new account.
Well, that did it. I'm now up and running on the PM sync server. Thanks a ton for the help Moonchild! :D
Means you were still using Mozilla infrastructure :) I guess they were slapped on the wrist by corporate users who already have things set up and are slow to migrate to FxA or their internal servers ;) I would have expected it to have been yanked already (in which case Sync would have completely stopped working).
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

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