Managed Backup Service - Agent for Linux 6.00.2415- Release Notes

Managed Backup Service - Agent for Linux 6.00.2415- Release Notes

1 Managed Backup Service Agent for Linux Version 6.00.2415 Release Notes, 9 th June 2008 1 OVERVIEW This document contains release notes for the latest release of the Agent for Linux, for use with Remote Agent Console 6.10 or Windows Agent Console version 6.10. VVAgent is the Agent program for Windows Agent Console. BUAgent is the Agent program for Remote Agent Console. VV is a command line program used to perform such tasks as backup, restore, re-synch and other requests. 2 FEATURES Features in the 6.00.2415 release: Support for multi CPU awareness, Delta re-creation, and authenticated SMTP. User configurable backups and restore process priority with 10 levels of granularity. The Agent supports Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 and 5, both Enterprise Server and Advanced Server/Platform editions. The Agent supports Novell SUSE Enterprise Desktop 10, and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 9 and 10. Note: SUSE 9.4 must have the libstdc++-41-4.1.2_20070115-0.4 rpm package installed. Support for the 32-bit Agent on x86, x64 compatible processors. 3 FIXES Fixes in the 6.0 release DTS#9330 - If a file or directory had a " (double quote) in it, the VVAgent and BUAgent would fail. DTS#11397 - Although Linux VVagent is running on a non-default port, VV will still try to communicate on port 808. You would see an error message ("error connecting to service") when a backup or restore was started. 4 KNOWN ISSUES 4.1 For a backup or restore task on an NFS system to succeed you need to have proper permissions to read, write, and createfiles and directories on the mounted Network File System. This includes the remote system allowing operations for an anonymous user. A good test is to try it from the command line first. If you cannot read/write/create files and directories on NFS manually, then the Agent backup and restore will also not work. This issue applies to all Linux platforms.

2 4.2 Linux systems may be configured with strong firewall (iptables) settings that by default block communication between the Agent and the Agent console. By default, the Agent runs on port 808, so IP tables would need to be opened with a rule similar to: iptables --append <chain-name> -p tcp -m tcp \ --dport 808 --syn -j --ACCEPT This can be made permanent by editing /etc/sysconfig/iptables. 4.3 Certain filesystems and directories cannot be restored to their original locations. These include the /dev (device) directory (including the devpts filesystem at /dev/pts), /boot directory, /var/run directory, and the proc filesystem (usually at /proc). In Linux kernel version 2.6, there is now the sysfs filesystem to represent the system hardware devices and drivers (usually at /sys). This cannot be restored to its original location, either. The Linux Agent only protects these locations under their default names. These files must be restored to an alternative location and replaced manually if necessary, as automatic replacement may leave the operating system in an unusable state. 4.4 Agent console access to systems using SuSE Linux 10/9 may experience noticeable (approximately 2 minute) delays for task-related operations, including ad hoc backups, restores, and task editing. These delays occur under the following conditions: A tape drive is attached to the SuSE Linux 10/9 system. The tape drive has no media loaded. A task-related operation is initiated from the Agent Console. During the delay, the Agent attempts to enumerate tape devices. SuSE Linux 10/9 does not properly respond to the request if the tape device is unloaded. This delay is independent of the type of restore or backup desired. As no media can be found in the device, the Agent console will not be able to display the tape drives for restore or backup purposes. To avoid this delay, ensure that media is loaded into the drive before initiating a restore or ad hoc backup. This delay does not affect anything except the display of task-related operations; backups and restores will continue normally after this delay. In addition to the delay, an error message will be reported to the VVAgent.LOG multiple times: TAPE-E-0006 Error opening handle to tape. It may be in use by another process. 4.5 When restoring Linux system files, the boot loader should be reconfigured to find the restored operating system files in their current positions on the hard drive. When using GNU GRUB (http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/), follow the instructions from the GRUB user manual for installing GRUB natively: http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub.html#installation For other boot loaders, refer to the manual provided by the vendor. 4.6 DTS#4089 Restoring to an alternate location will fail where the alternate location pathname and(+) the original pathname results in a very long pathname (greater than 512 characters). Recommendation: Restore to original location. 4.7 Note: On a complete system backup, /dev and /proc directories are NOT backed up. 4.8 DTS#8226 Unable to browse an NFS mount when attempting to restore an NFS backup to an alternate location.

3 4.9 DTS#8262 You may see a restore fail on a large file. The backup was successful, but the restore to the same location fails. As a workaround, you can change the file system related user limits. 4.10 On a Restore, you may see errors like these: UTIL-E-8242 Thread synchronization error. Failed to set the semaphore to the signaled state. UTIL-E-8235 O/S error 34, message: Numerical result out of range. REST-F-4110 job failed to complete. The semaphore limit on the Linux system may be set too low. You can increase the "max ops per semop call" value from the default of 32 to 100. To modify this kernel parameter, edit the /etc/sysctl.conf file. If it does not exist, create it, and add the value: kernel.sem=250 32000 100 128 You will need to reboot the machine. 4.11 DTS#11203 Linux Agent is deleting a semaphore key used by another application, causing it to crash. 4.12 DTS#10965 A folder is restored as a symlink rather than a regular folder. Backups fail when attempting to write files into symlink folder. 5 INSTALLATION NOTES 5.1 Installation Requirements The installation requirements for the Agent program are as follows: Hardware CPU - 32-bit x86, x64, or compatible processor. o Note: Meet or exceed the hardware requirements of your operating system. Disk space - The Agent install requires at least 100MB of free space for a new (fresh) install. An upgrade may require more. If there is not enough disk space, the install will display a message. Software Director version 5.53 or greater Network - A TCP/IP stack (to communicate with Agent systems) Windows Agent Console version 6.10 or Remote Agent Console version 6.10 x86 and x64* distributions of: Red Hat Linux Enterprise / Advanced Server 4 Update 5* Red Hat Linux Enterprise / Advanced Platform 5* SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 Update 4* SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Update 1* SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 Update 1* * Note: requires /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6 (libstdc++ 3.2.2 or greater). Additionally, the Agent requires libacl.so.1 when managed through Remote Agent Console. You must ensure that the package libstdc++-41-4.1.2_20070115-0.4 (or newer) is installed on a SUSE 9.4 system. This package may or may not be installed by default, but it is included as part of the Update 4 patch release (i.e. SUSE 9.4). Backups and restores will not function properly without this package.

4 Note: You may see core dumps that are related to the limit of semaphores on the system. Semaphore limits can be increased in the kernel configuration parameters. Recommended limits: semaem 16384 semmap 1026 semmni 1024 semmns 2048 semmnu 1020 semmsl 2048 semume 512 semvmx 32767 5.2 Configuration Each machine to be backed up must have the Agent software installed and subsequently configured with: * Agent Console version 6.10 or * Remote Agent Console version 6.10 See the Agent Console User's Guide for detailed information.