Overview
This release focuses on the 5.4 backup/archive client for Linux. This is an update to version 5.2 which did not undergo a formal release process. The main focus of the release is to test and document the installer for the client, create scripts to start and shut down the scheduled backup client manually and on reboot, test manual backup and restore of the command-line and GUI clients and document supported usage and features of TSM at MIT. Other than developing start and shutdown scripts as noted and making some suggested edits to TSM's standard configuration files, we plan to make minimal if any modifications to the vendor's installer. We hope to "fast track" this release and deliver it within about 2 months.
We have a draft of our working "installation and usage" instructions; this page will replace the existing "TSM 5.2 for Linux: Install..." page when we switch over to 5.4; we also have a copy of IBM's TSM 5.4.1 release notes; this also links to IBM's client installation and user manual.
The current project snapshot is here.
Notebook Last updated
October 18, 2007
.
Timeline
- DONE Send out Release Under Way announcement.
- DONE Obtain vendor's installer and documentation.
- DONE Initial team meeting (6/14/07)
- DONE Craft test plan, discuss scheduled backup client start, stop script issues, other potential issues: additional required libs, Java support.
- DONE Apply test plan to RHEL 4, x86-32 and x86-64 clients.
- DONE Apply test plan to RHEL 5 x86-32, x86-64 clients.
- DONE Write any additional needed new local documentation (start, stop scripts, configuration file customizations..).
- DONE Add 5.4 entry to Supported Software: Linux, Linux TSM, Other TSM Clients pages, create TSM 5.4 for Linux, TSM 5.4 for Linux: Install, Configure ... pages.
- DONE Test on non-officially supported distributions where possible (Ubuntu? Fedora? SuSE? yes- works on all).
- DONE Review Stock Answers for any needed editing.
- DONE Review/Approve Docs.
- DONE Set go-live date and give web team and IS&T
leadership and staff heads-up.
- DONE Final check-in and sign-off of go-live.
- DONE Email web team with go-live request.
- DONE Install software in appropriate distribution locker, and update linux.html Software Download page.
- DONE Send out TSM 5.4 for Linux release announcement.
- DONE Mark 5.2 as "Being Phased Out".
- DONE Confirm updates.
- Celebrate.
- Software Release follow-up 30 days later.
News
Testing is underway and we have so far only encountered a few minor problems. (6/25/07)
A potential problem has been identified when installing this release on a machine that has existing dsm.opt and dsm.sys files. This is under investigation (6/29/07)
We've tested on Fedora Core 6, Ubuntu 7.04 and OpenSUSE 10.2 and found that everything works, with some minor tweaking in some cases (7/2/07)
The potential problem referred to above has been investigated, we decide it is a non-issue (7/13/07)
All significant known issues have been adressed, and we have completed most of our testing; we are finishing up edits to the local installation instructions (7/13/07)
We review/finalize all Web pages, set a target release date of 8/15/07 and plan to phase out 5.2 over a period of about 5 months to IAP 2008, subject to SWRT approval (7/24/07)
We decide to supply a local copy of Sun's JRE installer to facilitate access to a suitable Java runtime needed by dsmj (8/9/07)
Release completed (8/16/07)
60 day follow-up (10/15/07)
Announcements
TSM 5.4 for Linux Release Effort Underway
13 June 2007
TSM 5.4 for Linux Release
16 August 2007
Key Decisions
- switch to 5.4.1 client which became available early in the testing process.
- we are considering whether or not to only support the 32 bit version of the TSM client, even on 64 bit machines. In principle, the 32 bit client should be able to run on a 64 bit architecture.
- we decide that it will not be necessary for 64 bit OS users to install the 64 bit API client, after determining that no advantage is obtained from doing so.
- we decide to allow for a simple upgrade path for existing users. They will be able to use their existing configuration files (with a single, one-line edit to the dsm.sys file), and existing TSM rpms can be updated "in place" with rpm -Uvh (Note added 7/24/07: rpm -Uvh does not work as expected because pre- and post- install scripts do not work correctly. Users need to uninstall with rpm -e, followed by a fresh install with rpm -i. We modify installation instructions accordingly).
- we decide to stay as close to IBM's instructions as possible, and not to modify IBM's installer. Related to this, we devise a way to follow IBM's instructions for starting the scheduled backup daemon at boot time exactly (we previously were using a script that performed a single 'cd' command before launching the scheduled backup daemon. A minor change to the dsm.sys configuration file makes this no longer necessary).
- We write brief outline instructions for running the client on Fedora, Open SUSE and Ubuntu after verifying that we can make it work. We include caveats that this is unsupported and that users can't expect help if they run into problems on these distributions.
- We decide to supply a local copy of Sun's JRE installer as the dsmj GUI requires this and Java versions supplied with RHEL 4 and RHEL 5 are unsuitable, after verifying that license terms allow this.
Notable Features
Support for Red Hat Enterprise 5 as well as Red Hat Enterprise 4.
Significant bug fixes and enhancements to reliability,
stability, and performance.
System
Requirements
- Computer/Processor: x86 or AMD64/EMT64T architecture CPU
- Operating System: Red Hat Enterprise 4 or 5 (SLES 9, 10, 10.1, Asianux 2.0 also supported by vendor)
- Memory: 128 M
- Disk: 40 meg
- Additional requirements:
- JRE 1.4.x (1.5.x, 1.6.x should work also but generate warnings)
- ACL support in ext2, ext3, XFS file systems requires libacl.so (from libacl package)
- Mozilla 1.4 or higher browser for Java GUI to access docs, online help
- RHEL 4 systems may require installation of compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3.47.3.i386.rpm
Testing
TSM 5.4 on Linux Test Plan Accepted 6/29/07
Known
Issues
- scripts that launch the scheduled backup daemon need to cd to the local TSM home directory (/opt/tivoli/tsm/client/ba/bin) first or the daemon will fail to launch [no longer an issue due to simple workaround- see Key Decisions above]
- jre versions later than 1.4.x generate warning messages but for the most part appear to work (if "official" jre versions as supplied by Sun or IBM- see below).
- "Java compatible" jre versions that only use Open Source components as supplied by RHEL 4, RHEL 5, Fedora Linux and others for the most part do not work properly. It is best to stick with "official" jre versions supplied by Sun or IBM.
- the backup client works on Ubuntu but Ubuntu has no /etc/inittab. We were able to start the scheduled backup daemon at boot with a SysV init script but would like to be able to simplify this if we can.
- it seems that updating an existing installation with "rpm -Uvh" does not work cleanly; instead, we need to uninstall the old version (with "rpm -e") and install the new one (with "rpm -i") as per IBM documentation.
Documentation
We have identified and numbered a full list of documents we need to check and update or replace. The status of major ones is listed below.
| Documentation Name |
Exists |
Reviewed |
Revised |
Published |
Assigned To |
| TSM |
|
Yes |
Yes |
|
eyanow |
| TSM 5.4 for Linux |
|
Yes |
Yes |
|
eyanow, pwhitney |
| TSM 5.4 for Linux: Install, Configure, Set Up... |
|
Yes |
Yes |
|
eyanow, team |
| TSM: Private Non-Athena Unix Workstations |
|
Yes |
Yes |
|
eyanow |
| Other TSM Clients |
|
Yes |
Yes |
|
eyanow |
| Supported Software: Linux |
|
Yes |
Yes |
|
eyanow |
| Index of /tsmsystems/optfiles/Unix |
|
Yes |
Yes |
|
pwhitney |
|
Stock Answer Topics TSM |
|
Yes |
Yes |
|
eyanow, lang |
|
MIT Software: Linux |
|
Yes |
Yes |
|
alexp |
| SWRT: Releases |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
alexp |
Release Team
 |
Alex Prengel - SWRT |
| |
Product Release Coordinator |
|
Patrick Whitney - TSM Systems |
| |
TSM Expert, Testing |
|
Esther Yanow - Pubs |
| |
Documentation Coordinator |
|
Bob Lang -TH |
| |
Tech Help Representative, Testing |
|
Jonathan Reed - CSS |
| |
Testing, Script Developer |
If you would like to contact the team, please send email to linux-tsm-release@mit.edu.
Meeting Agendas and Minutes
6/14/07 agenda, minutes
6/29/07 agenda, minutes
7/13/07 agenda, minutes
7/24/07 agenda, minutes
8/9/07 agenda, minutes
10/15/07 minutes
Support
Contact the IS&T Computing Help Desk.
