Running SP8 on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

I do know Ubuntu 18.04 LTS is still not supported by IBM for any Version of SP even after 1.5 years on market.

BUT Do I really install an almost obsolete OS like Ubuntu 16.04 for a brand new server? An OS that maybe do not support the newest hardware I've bought? – I don't think so.

• a nearly pure Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS
• updated and upgraded to 18.04.3 LTS, just by apt-get update && apt-get -y upgrade && apt-get -y dist-upgrade
• no additional repositories
• few additional packages:
  • cifs-utils
  • gedit
  • ksh
  • libgtk2.0-0 (for using the SP-Installation GUI)
  • locate
  • lssci
  • nmon
• SP mountpoints and folders:
  • /db for the database, ext4, 490 GB
    • contains /db/sm215 as instance db folder
  • /actlog for the actlog, ext4, 196 GB
    • contains /actlog/sm215 as instance actlog folder
  • /archlog for the achlog, ext4, 196 GB
    • contains /archlog/sm215 as instance archlog folder, I will use ARCHOVER if not sufficient space left
  • /sm215, $HOME folder for the instance user, ext4, 5 GB
    • contains /sm215/config as instance config folder

Well, this step just works as expected:

• get the Installation file
• run and unpack it
• run the install.sh script

DONE!

runnning the dsmicfgx configuration wizard, all required information can be given, then the db formattings starts and failes with an output like this:

Creating the database manager instance...
The database manager instance was created successfully.

Formatting the server database...

ANR7800I DSMSERV generated at 15:47:28 on Nov  4 2019.

IBM Spectrum Protect for Linux/x86_64
Version 8, Release 1, Level 8.200

Licensed Materials - Property of IBM

(C) Copyright IBM Corporation 1990, 2019.
All rights reserved.
U.S. Government Users Restricted Rights - Use, duplication or disclosure
restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corporation.

ANR7801I Subsystem process ID is 37393.
ANR0900I Processing options file /sm215/config/dsmserv.opt.
ANR0011W Unable to set locale to en_US. Using locale C for message formatting.
ANR7814I Using instance directory /sm215/config.
ANR3339I Default Label in key data base is TSM Server SelfSigned SHA Key. 
ANR4726I The ICC support module has been loaded.
ANR0236E Fail to start the database manager due to an I/0 error. Check for
filesystem full conditions, file permissions, and operating system errors.
ANR0171I dbiconn.c(1936): Error detected on 0:1, database in evaluation mode.
ANR0169E An unexpected error has occurred and the IBM Spectrum Protect server
is stopping.
ANR0162W Supplemental database diagnostic information:  -1:58031:-1031
([IBM][CLI Driver] SQL1031N  The database directory cannot be found on the
indicated file system.  SQLSTATE=58031
).

Transaction hash table contents (slots=256):
  *** no transactions found ***

Lock hash table contents (slots=3002):
Note: Enabling trace class TMTIMER will provide additional timing info on the
following locks
  *** no locks found ***
ANR2678E Server database format failed.

Format completed with return code 499

Looking at the first real error number, “ANR0236E” the IBM explanation gives no helpful hint as it says:

ANR0236E Fail to start the database manager due to an I/0 error. 
Check for filesystem full conditions, file permissions, and operating system errors.

Checking the filesystems for db, actlog shows there's as well enough space …

Filesystem                  Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/rootVG-rootLV    30G  4.8G   24G  18% /
/dev/mapper/rootVG-varLV    4.9G  658M  4.0G  14% /var
/dev/mapper/rootVG-tmpLV    4.9G  492M  4.2G  11% /tmp
/dev/mapper/rootVG-actLV    196G   61M  186G   1% /actlog
/dev/mapper/rootVG-sm215LV  4.9G   53M  4.6G   2% /sm215
/dev/mapper/archVG-archLV   196G   61M  186G   1% /archlog
/dev/mapper/dbVG-dbLV       492G   73M  467G   1% /db

… and the access rights are given, too:

# id sm215
uid=1215(sm215) gid=1000(tsmsrvs) groups=1000(tsmsrvs)

# ls -l /db/
total 20
drwx------ 2 root  root    16384 Dec  9 13:32 lost+found
drwxr-xr-x 2 sm215 tsmsrvs  4096 Dec  9 13:52 sm215

# ls -l /actlog/
total 20
drwx------ 2 root  root    16384 Nov 19 13:40 lost+found
drwxr-xr-x 2 sm215 tsmsrvs  4096 Dec  9 13:52 sm215

# ls -l /archlog/
total 20
drwx------ 2 root  root    16384 Nov 19 13:40 lost+found
drwxr-xr-x 2 sm215 tsmsrvs  4096 Dec  9 13:52 sm215

# ls -l /
# ls -l /
total 108
drwxrwxr-x   4 sm215 tsmsrvs  4096 Dec  9 10:10 actlog
drwxrwxr-x   4 sm215 tsmsrvs  4096 Dec  9 10:10 archlog
drwxrwxr-x   4 root  tsmsrvs  4096 Dec  9 13:51 db

as the db2 was successfull created, but not formatted, the default approach using the dsmserv removedb tsmdb1 command does not work. So I removed the db2 by dropping it:

# locate db2ilist
/opt/tivoli/tsm/db2/bin/db2ilist
/opt/tivoli/tsm/db2/instance/db2ilist
# /opt/tivoli/tsm/db2/bin/db2ilist
sm215

# /opt/tivoli/tsm/db2/instance/db2idrop sm215
DBI1446I  The db2idrop command is running.


DB2 installation is being initialized.

 Total number of tasks to be performed: 2 
Total estimated time for all tasks to be performed: 305 second(s) 

Task #1 start
Description: Initializing instance list 
Estimated time 5 second(s) 
Task #1 end 

Task #2 start
Description: Configuring DB2 instances 
Estimated time 300 second(s) 
Task #2 end 

The execution completed successfully.

For more information see the DB2 installation log at "/tmp/db2idrop.log.37573".
DBI1070I  Program db2idrop completed successfully.

after dropping the db2 i checked again with db2ilist

# /opt/tivoli/tsm/db2/bin/db2ilist
# 

due to the IBM manual i tried:

• create Database:

# /opt/tivoli/tsm/db2/instance/db2icrt -a server -u sm215 sm215
DBI1446I  The db2icrt command is running.


DB2 installation is being initialized.

 Total number of tasks to be performed: 4 
Total estimated time for all tasks to be performed: 309 second(s) 

Task #1 start
Description: Setting default global profile registry variables 
Estimated time 1 second(s) 
Task #1 end 

Task #2 start
Description: Initializing instance list 
Estimated time 5 second(s) 
Task #2 end 

Task #3 start
Description: Configuring DB2 instances 
Estimated time 300 second(s) 
Task #3 end 

Task #4 start
Description: Updating global profile registry 
Estimated time 3 second(s) 
Task #4 end 

The execution completed successfully.

For more information see the DB2 installation log at "/tmp/db2icrt.log.1222".
DBI1070I  Program db2icrt completed successfully.

• update dftdbpath (as user sm215)

# su - sm215
sm215@gwdu323:~$ cd config/
sm215@gwdu323:~/config$ db2 update dbm cfg using dftdbpath /sm215/config
DB20000I  The UPDATE DATABASE MANAGER CONFIGURATION command completed 
successfully.

• set DB2NOEXITLIST=ON

sm215@gwdu323:~/config$ db2set -i sm215 DB2NOEXITLIST=ON
sm215@gwdu323:~/config$

• format database and get the same error as before:

sm215@gwdu323:~/config$ dsmserv format dbdir=/db/sm215 activelogsize=32768 activelogdirectory=/actlog/sm215 archlogdirectory=/archlog/sm215
ANR7800I DSMSERV generated at 15:47:28 on Nov  4 2019.

IBM Spectrum Protect for Linux/x86_64
Version 8, Release 1, Level 8.200

Licensed Materials - Property of IBM

(C) Copyright IBM Corporation 1990, 2019.
All rights reserved.
U.S. Government Users Restricted Rights - Use, duplication or disclosure
restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corporation.

ANR7801I Subsystem process ID is 11761.
ANR0900I Processing options file /sm215/config/dsmserv.opt.
ANR0011W Unable to set locale to en_US. Using locale C for message formatting.
ANR7814I Using instance directory /sm215/config.
ANR3339I Default Label in key data base is TSM Server SelfSigned SHA Key. 
ANR4726I The ICC support module has been loaded.
ANR0236E Fail to start the database manager due to an I/0 error. Check for filesystem full conditions, file permissions, and operating system errors.
ANR0171I dbiconn.c(1936): Error detected on 0:1, database in evaluation mode.
ANR0169E An unexpected error has occurred and the IBM Spectrum Protect server is stopping.
ANR0162W Supplemental database diagnostic information:  -1:58031:-1031 ([IBM][CLI Driver] SQL1031N  The database directory cannot be found on the indicated file system.  SQLSTATE=58031
).

Transaction hash table contents (slots=256):
  *** no transactions found ***

Lock hash table contents (slots=3002):
Note: Enabling trace class TMTIMER will provide additional timing info on the following locks
  *** no locks found ***
ANR2678E Server database format failed.

The dsmserv command write a tracefile at /var/tivoli/tsm/:

sm215@gwdu323:~/config$ locate ".trc"
/var/tivoli/tsm/dsmicfgx.trc

… but it contains no more helpful information, nothing points to the cause of the problem

The hint leading to the solution i found at a Support page for "ANR0236E I/O error when attempting to start the database manager". In that case the db2 must be stopped, using a db2stop force command, which fails on my server:

sm215@gwdu323:~/config$ db2stop force
db2stop: error while loading shared libraries: libaio.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

whoa, there's a library missing to run the db2 properly!

Well, just install the libaio.so.1:

# apt install libaio1
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libaio1
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

… and run the dsmserv format again

sm215@gwdu323:~/config$ dsmserv format dbdir=/db/sm215 activelogsize=32768 activelogdirectory=/actlog/sm215 archlogdirectory=/archlog/sm215
ANR7800I DSMSERV generated at 15:47:28 on Nov  4 2019.

IBM Spectrum Protect for Linux/x86_64
Version 8, Release 1, Level 8.200

Licensed Materials - Property of IBM

(C) Copyright IBM Corporation 1990, 2019.
All rights reserved.
U.S. Government Users Restricted Rights - Use, duplication or disclosure
restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corporation.

ANR7801I Subsystem process ID is 12044.
ANR0900I Processing options file /sm215/config/dsmserv.opt.
ANR0011W Unable to set locale to en_US. Using locale C for message formatting.
ANR7814I Using instance directory /sm215/config.
ANR3339I Default Label in key data base is TSM Server SelfSigned SHA Key. 
ANR4726I The ICC support module has been loaded.
ANR0152I Database manager successfully started.
ANR2976I Offline DB backup for database TSMDB1 started.
ANR2974I Offline DB backup for database TSMDB1 completed successfully.
ANR0992I Server's database formatting complete.
ANR0369I Stopping the database manager because of a server shutdown.

… or remove the whole stuff and start again with the wizard.