Not tested. To compile and maintain the client code is a relatively
simple process; to compile / test / qualify all of the media and master
server functionality is a huge undertaking. 

 

It's not just a matter of "compile it and see if it runs". You have to
test all of the supported peripherals such as robots, tape drives,
storage arrays, etc. and then try to maintain this on a platform that is
built by a group of volunteers around the world making who know's what
changes?

 

People such as Redhat and SusE have very well defined hardware
qualification plans and detailed release cycles; this is just not the
case with CentOS.

 

Add to this that there are relatively few people who use CentOS in a
datacentre environment (compared to Redhat or SuSE that is) and it
quickly becomes commercially unviable.

 

 

 

From: veritas-bu-boun...@mailman.eng.auburn.edu
[mailto:veritas-bu-boun...@mailman.eng.auburn.edu] On Behalf Of Ed Wilts
Sent: 14 July 2010 20:15
To: Lightner, Jeff
Cc: VERITAS-BU@mailman.eng.auburn.edu
Subject: Re: [Veritas-bu] Nbu 7.0

 

On Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 1:15 PM, Lightner, Jeff <jlight...@water.com>
wrote:

CentOS is compiled from RHEL source and is intended to have full binary
compatibility with RHEL.


Intended - yes
In practice - mostly

There are cases out there where applications intended to run on a RHEL
distro will not install without modifications.  The distributions,
although based on the same sources, are not the same.  There are
applications out there TODAY that won't install or run correctly on
CentOS but will install and run correctly on RHEL.

RHEL is not self-hosting - in other words, it's possible that the
binaries you get can not be built with the sources you get.  That's
happened in the past due to compiler bugs but I haven't heard of it
happening lately.  

CentOS, as a client, is supported by Symantec according to the current
compatibility list at
ftp://exftpp.symantec.com/pub/support/products/NetBackup_Enterprise_Serv
er/337048.pdf.  It's not supported as a master or media server.  We
don't know if it's because they tested it and it failed, or if they
tested it, it worked but they don't want to support it, or they simply
didn't test it.

In general, I would expect that you could make a NBU 7 master install on
CentOS and it would likely work. It will not be supported by anybody.  

Depending on the tier of the hardware that you're running the master
server on, the list price for the x86-based Linux master/media runs from
$5K to $12K and that doesn't cover any clients or options nor the backup
hardware or media.  A RHEL subscription can be had for $349 per year. 

My personal opinion is that the $349 per year should not break the
business case.

   .../Ed

Disclaimer: I'm a Red Hat Certified Engineer so I obviously have some
bias to go along with my experience.

Ed Wilts, RHCE, BCFP, BCSD, SCSP, SCSE 
ewi...@ewilts.org

Linkedin <http://www.linkedin.com/in/ewilts> 

 

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