Paul's Techie Tips

At work I use Symantec Backup Exec 10d to backup our servers. We've one Linux server running Debian Sarge that runs our Intranet; I used Linux because our Intranet administrator wanted to use Mambo.

I was keen to include the Debian box in my backup schedule so I purchased the Backup Exec Remote Agent for Linux and Unix (RALUS) . It was only when I read a bit further that I discovered it was officially supported only on Sun and Red Hat. Whoops.

Anyhow, I did the usual Google searches, logged a call with Symantec and eventually got it working. It took me several hours so I thought I'd share the knowledge I picked up.

It's worth pointing out that I found the admin guide was totally useless, as were most of the instructions I found on the Veritas knowledge base. For instance, the CD contained different files to those described in the admin guide, so you have to download the latest files from the web.

Here's the How-To:

1. Logon to the Debian box as root.
   
2. Make a suitable directory, eg, ralus
   
3. Download the Q180968.BE.RALUS.10.1.5629.3.tar_279329.gz file from the link at the bottom of this page into the directory.
   
4. Extract the .gz file:
   tar -xvzf Q180968.BE.RALUS.10.1.5629.3.tar_279329.gz
   The directories linux and sun will be created.
   
5. cd to linux/pkgs/linux
   The install files are in .rpm format so you’ll need to use alien to convert them to .deb format. You can use apt-get alien to install alien. To convert, just run the commands:
   alien VRTSralus-10.00.5629-0.i386.rpm VRTSralus-10.00.5629-0.i386.deb
   alien vrtsralus_10.00.5629-1_i386.rpm vrtsralus_10.00.5629-1_i386.deb
   
6. Install the files using dpkg:
   dpkg -i vrtsvxmsa_4.2.1-212_i386.deb
   dpkg -i vrtsralus_10.00.5629-1_i386.deb
   
7. Create a group called beoper:
   addgroup beoper
   
8. Add the root user to the group:
   adduser root beoper
   
9. Install the libstdc++2.10-glibc2.2 package:
   apt-get install libstdc++2.10-glibc2.2
   
10. Edit the file /etc/VRTSralus/ralus.cfg and add a line like this for each Backup Exec server that will back up the Linux machine. So, assuming your Backup Exec server has an IP of 10.0.0.11 the line would be:
    Software\VERITAS\Backup Exec\Engine\Agents\Agent Directory List A=10.0.0.11
    To add a Backup Exec server with an IP of 10.0.0.12 you’d add a line like this:
    Software\VERITAS\Backup Exec\Engine\Agents\Agent Directory List B=10.0.0.12
    
11. Start the agent by entering the following command:
    /opt/VRTSralus/bin/VRTSralus.init start
    
12. Your Backup Exec server should now be able to backup the server, ie, in a selection list you will see Unix Agents under Remote Selections and you'll be able to select your Debian server and its directories. As soon as you click on it, you'll have to enter some new credentials, eg, the root login.
    
13. If you reboot the Backup Exec server, it's worth checking that you can still browse to the Linux server via a selection list. If not, you will need to enter the following command on the Linux box:
    /opt/VRTSralus/bin/VRTSralus.init restart