Source:Troubleshooting Installation and Configuration

From SEPsesam

Installation and configuration problems

Installation problems

SEP sesam Server installation on Windows failed

Problem

  • The SEP sesam Server installation on Windows failed with an error.

Cause

  • For SEP sesam Server installation a domain administrator account has been used.

Solution

  • Before starting the SEP sesam installation on Windows, make sure that you are logged in as a local administrator (not domain administrator).

SEP sesam database problems

PostgreSQL startup failure after changing SEP sesam service user (Windows only)

Problem

By default, the SEP sesam service starts under the SYSTEM user account. At installation, postgreSQL database is set to start under this account. However, if the user name of the SEP sesam service is changed from SYSTEM (for example, to Administrator) after installation, PostgreSQL encounters startup issues and fails to start.

Cause

Changing the user name of the SEP sesam service affects the ownership and permissions of the PostgreSQL data directory, typically the db_pg folder. As a result, PostgreSQL is unable to access the necessary files and resources, causing failure to start up.

Solution

You can revert to the previous SEP sesam service account (SYSTEM), or change the ownership and permissions of the PostgreSQL data directory (db_pg folder) to the used SEP sesam service account user. In this case make sure you change ownership and permissions for subfolders and files as well (use Windows Explorer option Replace owner on subcontainers and objects). PostgreSQL regains the necessary access rights, enabling it to start successfully. Note that this workaround modifies the folder's ownership and permissions, so make sure that the used user account has appropriate privileges for managing the SEP sesam database.

Incorrect timezone setting in PostgreSQL

Problem

Exporting the system-wide environment variable TZ in the system-wide /etc/profile file can override the default system locales, leading to an incorrect timezone setting in the postgresql.conf file. As a result, the time values in the GUI may be incorrect. Mismatch between the system's default timezone and the TZ variable leads to inconsistent time values displayed in the GUI.

Solution

In the /etc/profile file update the TZ environment variable and set the timezone that matches the desired system default timezone. This will ensure that the timezone setting in the postgresql.conf file is aligned with the system default timezone.

License problems

SEP sesam Server license import fails

Problem

License problems after importing a newly created license

Cause

The license is not correctly imported

Solution

If you encounter problems after importing a newly created license (strange error messages; expiry message of the license, although the license file actually shows valid values; 'Valid until' shows a different value in the license info than in the license, etc.), switch to demo license and then reimport your new license. Try the following steps:

  1. From the SEP sesam GUI menu bar, select Help -> License information, and then click Import New License.
  2. Click File Manager, select the demo LIC file (sm_lic.ini) from <SEPsesam>/skel, and then click Apply.
  3. In the License info dialog, click Import New License again.
  4. Use the File Manager to locate and import your newly issued license.

-> A final check (SEP sesam GUI menu bar -> Help -> License information) should show that the newly created license has been imported correctly and that all errors have disappeared.

License violation caused by exceeding the licensed volume

Problem

Exceeding the licensed volume of backups results in license violation.

Cause

The license violation occurs when there is too much data being considered for licensing purposes, often due to accumulated data that is no longer required.

Solution

If you encounter a license violation due to exceeding the volume, several steps can be taken:

  • Check and expire the EOL of old backups that are no longer required, so they are purged and no longer count towards the license volume.
  • Purge and clean up the datastore to remove any backups that should have been deleted but are still present.
  • If backups are stored on tapes, they are no longer counted when the tape is reinitialized. In newer SEP sesam versions (≥5.0 Jaglion), backups are no longer counted even if the tape is deleted (including metadata deletion).

Perform a final check in the GUI under HELP - LICENSE INFO to ensure that the license error has been resolved.

Update problems

Client/RDS update does not start or does not work via GUI

Problem

  • The direct update of Client/RDS via the GUI does not start.

Cause

  • There is still old/wrong client information in the database, which hinders the update process.

Solution

  1. In the GUI, under Clients, right-click the client for which the update is not working, and then click the context menu option Reset Version Information.
  2. Then double-click the client to open its properties and click the trash icon next to the Last SEP sesam message field.

Now the update should start and run without any problems.

SEP sesam Server update failed

Problem

  • The SEP sesam Server update failed with an error.

Cause

  • SEP sesam services on the system that is being updated could not be started, causing SEP sesam Server update to fail.

Solution

  • Check if SEP sesam Server services are running. If not, start the SEP sesam services manually and then use the same update for the repair installation. For details, see How to Start and Stop SEP sesam.

SEP sesam Windows Client update from v. 4.4.3.64 fails with error

Problem

  • The SEP sesam Windows Client update from SEP sesam v. 4.4.3.64 Grolar to a newer version might fail with the following MSI installer error:
Unable to create a temp copy of transform


Cause

  • This issue occurs if the transform path specified in the registry points to the wrong folder.

Solution

  • To resolve this issue, you must rename the transform key in the Registry Editor.
Note
This procedure modifies the Windows registry; modifying Windows Registry incorrectly might crash your operating system and cause data loss. Ensure that you have a valid SEP sesam and operating system backup before proceeding!

Proceed as follows:

  1. Open Registry Editor: use Start and type regedit.
  2. Navigate to the Products folder:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products
  3. Depending on the installed SEP sesam Version find one of the following folders and click it:
    SEP sesam Version 5.0.0.X:
    7737007073521AA4885C03C7AEE4954D
    SEP sesam Version 5.1.0.X:
    7737007073521AA48A24533ED8EBE04E
  4. In the right pane with registry keys, right-click the Transforms key and rename it to Transforms_.


Automatic remote update from GUI fails with errors

Problem

  • On Windows, automatic remote update failed with the following error:
Windows error: (0x800703FA) Illegal operation attempted on a registry key that has been marked for deletion
  • The sm_msi.log log file on the client system shows the following:
InstallShield 11:08:04: Initializing Engine
InstallShield 11:08:04: Marshalling the , error = 0x800703fa
InstallShield 11:08:04: Open Script operation failed, error is 0x800703fa
InstallShield 11:08:04: Failed to invoke __ISWIUnInit, error is 0x80070057
InstallShield 11:08:04: Failed to shutdown script engine for script C:\Users\sepshare\AppData\Local\Temp\{A2C12F7B-F8D3-4D99-8E34-61600D67DBCC}\setup.inx, error is 0x80070057
InstallShield 11:08:04: Initialize() Failure, Failed to Initialize script support, Error = 0x800703fa

Cause

  • Typically, this error occurs when the sesam service is running under a specific user account instead of the default system account. An administrator uses this service user account to log on to the server (SEP sesam RDS or client) for the session and then logs off. This forcibly unloads the registry keys in the account profile and makes the keys unavailable for future use.

Solution

You have to enable the Windows User Profile Service which does not unload the registry keys after logging off:

  1. Open the Group Policy editor (Gpedit.msc) on the respective server.
  2. Open the UserProfiles folder: go to Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> UserProfiles.
  3. Look for the Do not forcefully unload the user registry at user logoff setting and select the option Enabled. For details, see Microsoft support article "800703fa Illegal operation attempted on a registry key" error .

Problems with interfaces

Alarm interface fails to send emails

The Alarm interface is designed to send backup logs, stored in the LIS file directory, to specified email recipients. In Apollon, changes have been made to the directory structure for LIS files to improve file management and optimize file system operations. LIS files are now stored in the <SESAM_ROOT>/var/lis directory, with a new sub-directory created for each Sesam day, which prevents accumulation of files in a single directory.

This change has inadvertently caused the Alarm interface to lose track of the required log files. The sm_alarm script is unable to locate the .not file, which leads to the NullPointerException error, and the Alarm interface cannot send emails.

Solution

To resolve this issue, you have to manually modify the sm_alarm script. This will ensure the correct variables are used and the script can locate the required files. Note that the procedure for modifying the sm_alarm script differs slightly between Linux and Windows. For detailed instructions, refer to the sections below.

On Linux

Open the sm_alarm.sh script and find the following line:

sm_smtp -A "sesam" -s "$mail_subject" -M "$( ls -tr ${gv_rw_lis}/$f*not|tail -1 )" ""

Replace that line with:

sm_smtp -A "sesam" -s "$mail_subject" -M "$3" ""
On Windows
  1. Open the sm_alarm.ps1 script in a text editor and find the function send_backup_mail:
     function send_backup_mail($type,$msg,$task)
     {
       ## Set mail subject
       $mail_subject = (write "Sesam ALARM: $type $task failed")
       ## Send Sesam not file as mail body
       $filename = ((Get-ChildItem  "$env:lis\*$task*.not" | sort-object -property LastWriteTime | select-object -last 1).FullName)
       sm_smtp -A "sesam" -s "$mail_subject" -m "$msg" -a "$filename"
     }

    Replace the function with:

     function send_backup_mail($type,$message,$filename)
     {
       $task = ($message -replace ":.*","")
       ## Set mail subject
       $mail_subject = (write "Sesam ALARM: $type $task failed")
       ## Send Sesam not file as mail body
       sm_smtp -A "sesam" -s "$mail_subject" -m "$message" -a "$filename"
     }
  2. Find the following line:
     {send_backup_mail $args[0] $args[1] $task

    Replace that line with:

     {send_backup_mail $args[0] $args[1] $args[2]

Alarm interface does not function as expected

The script that defines the functions of the Alarm interface can be modifed to customize the behaviour of the Alarm interface. In release 5.1.0.7, the script was rewritten to address an issue (see Alarm interface fails to send emails). As a result, any modifications made to the script prior to this release have been overwritten and the default behaviour of the interface is reestablished.

Solution

To resolve this issue and restore the desired behavior of the Alarm interface, it is necessary to redo the customizations in the script that modified its behavior. Users should carefully review their previous modifications and apply them again to the updated script.

Uninstallation problems

For uninstallation problems, see Uninstalling SEP sesam.

System limits adjustment problem

Problem

  • SEP sesam limits on the system have to be adjusted, however, the settings should not be overwritten by update.

Solution

The best way to adjust SEP sesam limits on the system is to create the Systemd override file. By using this file the settings are not overwritten during the update.

To adjust limits on the system, proceed as follows:

Example

>
> root@cefix:~# systemctl show sepsesam.service | grep ^LimitCORE=
> LimitCORE=2147483648
  1. Create the override file and adjust the value:
  2.  > mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system/sepsesam.service.d/
     > echo "[Service]" >
     > /etc/systemd/system/sepsesam.service.d/override.conf echo 
     > "LimitCORE=infinity" >> 
     > /etc/systemd/system/sepsesam.service.d/override.conf
  3. Reload the system by using the command:
  4.  > root@cefix:~# systemctl daemon-reload
  5. Then specify:
  6.  > root@cefix:~# systemctl show sepsesam.service | grep ^LimitCORE= 
     > LimitCORE=infinity

Windows installer (MSI) installation error

Problem 1

  • You receive the following warning: "An error occurred during the installation of assembly component... HRESULT: 0x80070bc9."

Possible causes

  • MSI locks the database to install new software after Windows updates were installed.

Solution

  • Reboot the host to unlock the database.
Note
The msi log file contains the line 'Transforming table Error' very often. This does not mean that an error occurred. It rather means that the table which is called Error has been transformed. Hence it is only an information not an error message.

Problem 2

  • Installation failed after uninstallation - you receive the following Popup:
    • English: "The SEP sesam server was installed using a server installation package. Please retry the update using a server installation package instead of the server package you are using. Update will be aborted."
    • German: "Der SEP sesam server wurde mit einem server Installationspaket installiert. Bitte wiederholen Sie den Update mit einem server Installationspaket statt des verwendeten server Pakets. Das Update wurde abgebrochen."

Possible causes

  • The uninstallation did not remove HKLM\SOFTWARE\SEP Elektronik GmbH registry key.

Solution

  • Open the MS Windows registry (e.g. call regedit) and remove HKLM\SOFTWARE\SEP Elektronik GmbH.

SLES

Problem

After upgrading the OS from SLES 11 to a newer version, SEP sesam server cannot read files in an XFS V4 datastore, whether connected directly or over iSCSI.

Cause

Starting from SLES 12, XFS no longer supports file systems in the V4 format. Newer versions, specifically SLES 12 or later, are incompatible with XFS V4, preventing SEP sesam from accessing the datastore. Note that this issue is caused by upgrading the operating system, and not by updates to the SEP sesam Server/RDS.

This may also affect other Linux distributions.

Solution

To solve this issue, create the file system XFS V5 on the partition containing the datastore:

  1. Migrate or back up your data from the affected datastore to another location. Make sure to retain the original file structure.
  2. Reformat the partition with the XFS V5 format, effectively deleting all data on that partition.
  3. Once the partition has been successfully reformatted with XFS V5, migrate or restore the previously backed-up data back to the datastore.

For more information, see SUSE Storage Administration Guide.


Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Problem

  • The following warning occurs on a Windows operating system: "ERROR: SMS0004: The specified device does not exist."

Solution

  • Reinstall the CBMR x.x SEP Sesam Version software package.

Powershell script not executed on a target machine

Problem

  • Why is the Powershell script not executed on a target machine?

Possible causes

  • By default, Microsoft installs Windows Powershell with the permission set to Restricted. This setting only allows the execution of commands in Powershell but no scripts.

Solution

  • This can be changed with following command in Powershell:
Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

For more information, see About Execution Policies.

IBM DB2

Problem

  • There are problems with SEP sesam operations.

Solution

  • Check contents of db user's $HOME/sqllib/db2dump/db2diag.log log file.
  • Check the messages on SEP sesam Server.
  • Find more information in the sdb2 log. Log filename is set by XBSA LOGFILE=<Full pathname of sdb2.log> and log level by XBSA TRACE=1.
Note
All sesam XBSA messages have the prefix XBSA. You can set XBSA TRACE to 2 to show more details, but then the log files can become quite large.

MacOS

Problem

  • There are problems with SEP sesam operations.

Solution

The Mac installer has its own log messaging system. To view the log files, proceed as follows:

  1. Execute the installation/update of the client or GUI package step-by-step until you get to the last installer step Summary.
  2. Go to the Installer Menu and click Window -> Installer Log.
  3. Select among the following options: Show Errors Only, Show Errors and Progress or Show All Logs.

AIX

Problem

  • After SEP sesam installation, an error occurs: STATUS=ERROR MSG=Some daemons offline

Solution

By default the sesam sshd daemon is not included in the AIX package. Therefore the command:

/opt/sesam/bin/sesam/sm_main status

will report the sshd as offline:

2016-08-27 16:20:05: sshd               : offline
  • Currently, this error can be ignored as only the CTRL access mode is supported for the AIX systems.
  • To disable the sshd daemon, edit the file:
/opt/sesam/var/ini/sm.ini

and change the option:

sshd=on

to

sshd=off

Debian repository

Problem 1

  • After running apt-get update, the following GPG error is shown:
W: GPG error: SEP Download Center jessie InRelease: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 68111EBBD273917B

Cause

  • The SEP GPG key is missing in the system keyring.

Solution


Problem 2

  • During package installation the following warning (verification error) occurs:
 WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated!
 sesam-<package>
Install these packages without verification? [y/N]

Cause

  • The SEP GPG key is missing in the system keyring.

Solution

Problem 3

  • While running apt-get update, the following message appears:
N: Loading the configured file »main/binary-i386/Packages« is skipped because the [...] depot does not support the »i386« architecture.

Solution

  • Insert [arch=amd64] between the word deb and the URL of the repository, as follows:
deb [arch=amd64] https://download.sep.de/linux/repositories/debian/ stretch main

Problem 4

  • While running the command apt-key add, the following message appears:
E: gnupg, gnupg2 and gnupg1 do not seem to be installed, but one of them is required for this operation

Solution

  • Install the package gnupg to fulfill the dependency via package manger:
apt-get install gnupg

Problem 5

  • SEP sesam provides signed Debian repositories for easier package installation, verification and updating of SEP sesam software. When installing SEP sesam Server via the Debian repository, the following message appears:
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
sesam-srv : Depends: postgresql-9.5 but it is not installable or
                     postgresql-9.6 but it is not installable or
                     postgresql-10 but it is not installable
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

Cause

  • This problem typically occurs if you have used the wrong version of the Debian distribution in /etc/apt/sources.list.

Solution

  • Correct the version of your Debian distribution, e.g., from stretch to buster, and then run apt-get update to refresh the repository information. For more details on the installation, see Debian Repository.
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