What the Hell, Symantec?
This is a the text of a support case I have just raised with Symantec regarding administration of NetBackup Server 7.0:
Support has been dropped for 32-bit Linux clients. I appreciate that NetBackup Server will still work with v6.5 on 32-bit Linux hosts.
However, the java client for administering the NetBackup Server installation is not a 64-bit application, it works regardless of the environment so long as a valid JRE is available. However, the way it is distributed is such that it cannot be installed on a 32-bit Linux machine and I do not see why.
I do my daily work from a 32-bit Linux machine. This machine is not a backup client nor does it need to be. All I need is to be able to administer the NetBackup server. Up to now I have been having to remotely access the NetBackup server and send the display back to the X server on my 32-bit machine in order to administer the server. This isn’t really an acceptable solution.
Obviously, the first thing I did was to try the java administration client that comes with NetBackup v6.5, however much to my amusement, the 6.5 client refuses to speak to the 7.0 server.
This leaves me only with the option to use the 7.0 Java client on a 32-bit Linux machine.
I cannot use the cp_to_client script as it detects the lack of an x86_64 environment and dies. I cannot use the extract_java script because it lacks a client environment to install into. I could screw around with these scripts to bypass the checks but it’s a waste of time considering how little the java client actually is and would leave me with 64-bit client software I neither want nor need and a 64-bit JRE.
Bottom line:
I installed the 6.5 client software, removed /usr/openv/java and manually extracted NB-Java.tar.gz over the top. To provide a JRE I successfully tested both the JRE that comes with 6.5 (1.4.2_13) and my own installed JRE (1.6.0_18) and both work flawlessly.
HOWEVER.. I first had to modify jnbSA (and jbpSA not that I use it) to remove the setting of the PLAT64FLAG=”-d64″ variable.
Having done so, the client works absolutley perfectly on my 32-Bit Linux machine just as I would expect it to, being a java application.
So, the question is.. why have you done this? I can understand, if not condone, your wish to kill multiple architecture support for the Server and Client software, but regardless of the platform the backups run on, the System Administrator needs to be able to administer the system from wherever he/she works.
Since you already have a working java admin client that works perfectly on pretty much anything with a JVM installed, why are you going to such lengths to prevent it from running on a 32-bit Linux machine?
In order to provide this ability all you need to do is ship a 32-bit JRE as well as the 64-bit JRE (or even just allow a user to specify the location of his own JRE if he has a 32-bit client) and provide an installer that will install it regardless of the platform or whether the backup client software is also installed.
I could personally knock such a thing up in about 10 minutes, would you be prepared to?
The response from Symantec support:
As you know, the Java GUI is provided as a bundle for Linux and is not separated out into its own install. Because of the limitation of x86_64 Linux servers only that they decided to place on the product, the install script includes a check for x64.
At this time, Symantec does not plan to release an x86 installer version of the Java GUI for Linux. As you know, this isn’t due to any limitation, but it’s due to a decision made by the developers. At this time, I do not believe any plans are in place to create an x86 installer package for the Java GUI on Linux, however we can help speed up the process. We have a community enhancement request page http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/318008.htm where enhancements can be voted on and pushed into the product faster. This site is monitored by the Product Managers. The more votes an enhancement gets, the faster it gets implemented.
Since the only way this little mess can get sorted out is to have customer support for it demonstrated through the Ideas portal, I have again created an Idea on the portal and would appreciate any interested parties voting up the idea to bring it to the attention of the product managers.
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