New DX UIM Release: Start Monitoring New Linux Distributions on Day 1

Abstract

From DX UIM 20.4 CU4 onward (that is, releases that have robot version 9.36 or above), robots automatically support Linux versions with newer GNU C Library (commonly known as “glibc”) versions. Prior to CU4, DX UIM robots needed certification and a release to provide support or compatibility with newer Linux operating systems that have a higher glibc version.

What is glibc

glibc is a fundamental software library in the Linux operating system that provides essential functions and services for running programs written in the C and C++ programming languages. glibc serves as a bridge between the hardware and software, enabling applications to interact with the operating system and perform tasks like file operations, memory management, and more. It's a critical component for the functioning of Linux and Unix-like systems.

Linux operating systems generally upgrade to a higher glibc based on the distribution's release cycle, the severity of security vulnerabilities, new features, and defect fixes.

DX UIM robots for Linux distributions

Robots are one of the fundamental infrastructure components of DX UIM. Robots manage DX UIM probes.

A robot starts and stops its probes at the required times and collects, queues, and forwards the monitoring data. Robots can be deployed to support either local (agent-based) or remote (agent-less) monitoring.

Each robot has three dedicated tasks:

1. Control the probes attached to the robot, which includes starting and stopping them at the required times. This is accomplished with the controller probe.
2. Collect, queue, and forward probe messages, which is achieved with the spooler probe.
3. Provide a simple database service for its probes to store data for threshold monitoring and data trending and ensure that collected data survives power outages. This is accomplished with the hdb probe.

The three probes that are mentioned here are service probes that are present on every robot.

All robots are identical; it is the collections of probes they manage that distinguish them. Probes can be grouped together into “super packages” so that you can appropriately deploy them to various types of servers.

DX UIM robots and Linux platform support

DX UIM 20.4 CU3 or before (that is, robot version 9.35 and below)

Older robots (version 9.35 or below) supported explicit versions of glibc. This meant that when a new version of Linux was released with a higher glibc version, a new version of the robot had to be released to support it. This introduced administrative overhead for both Broadcom and its customers, and it created delays in platform support.

DX UIM 20.4 CU4 or later (that is, robot version 9.36 and above)

Starting with robot version 9.36 and above, DX UIM automatically supports future Linux versions. This allows customers to start monitoring newer releases of Linux without having to wait for new robot releases. The latest robot can be used with older CUs of DX UIM (such as 20.4 CU3 or earlier).

Minimum glibc version needed

Official certification and updates

DX UIM robots are explicitly certified on the following distributions:

• Debian
• RedHat Enterprise Linux
• SUSE Linux Enterprise
• Ubuntu

As newer versions of DX UIM robots are released, we will update the compatibility document with the latest versions of these Linux distributions. Generally, other Linux distributions compatible with these releases should work.

How to check glibc version

Generic

Method 1: Using ldd

# ldd - version

ldd (Ubuntu GLIBC 2.31-0ubuntu9.2) 2.31

Copyright (C) 2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Written by Roland McGrath and Ulrich Drepper.

Method 2: Executing the libc.so

Generally, the latest libc.so files are provided to an entry point to make it possible to run directly. So, if you know the location of the file (for example, /lib64/libc.so.6), running it will reveal its version. An example is provided below:

# /lib64/libc.so.6

GNU C Library (GNU libc) stable release version 2.28.

Copyright (C) 2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Compiled by GNU CC version 8.5.0 20210514 (Red Hat 8.5.0-10).

libc ABIs: UNIQUE IFUNC ABSOLUTE

For bug reporting instructions, please see: <http://www.gnu.org/software/libc/bugs.html>.

On Ubuntu/Debian

Method: Using dpkg

# dpkg -l libc6

Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold

| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend

|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)

||/ Name           Version         Architecture Description

+++-==============-===============-============-=================================

ii  libc6:amd64    2.31-0ubuntu9.2 amd64        GNU C Library: Shared libraries

On RHEL/SLES

Method: Using rpm

# rpm -q glibc

Glibc-2.28-189.5.el8_6.x86_64

Fresh robot installation

Fresh installation can be done in two ways:

Nimldr method

The following DX UIM packages are provided to do a fresh installation of a robot on Linux systems using the nimldr method:

1. Install_LINUX_23 (package for Linux x86)

2. Install_LINUX_23_64 (package for Linux x86_64)

3. Install_LINUX_23_ppc64le (package for Linux PPC64LE)

The nimldr.tar.Z file is also provided with the DX UIM server installation. The file is also posted in the webarchive that contains the nimldr utility for each platform that utilizes the above DX UIM packages for installation.

Refer to the documentation for more details.

Native package method

The following packages are provided to do a fresh installation of a robot on Linux systems using the native package method:

1. robot_rpm
   1. nimsoft-robot.i386.rpm (for Linux x86)
   2. nimsoft-robot.x86_64.rpm (for Linux x86_64)
   3. nimsoft-robot.s390x.rpm (for Linux on Z)
2. robot_deb 

1. nimsoft-robot+debian_amd64.deb (for Debian x86_64)
2. nimsoft-robot+ubuntu_amd64.deb (for Ubuntu x86_64)

Refer to the documentation for more details.

Note: For RedHat Enterprise Linux, robot installation has a dependency on these OS packages: chkconfig and initscripts. These packages may not be bundled by default in newer versions. Ensure that you install these packages before installing the robot.

Robot upgrade installation

We have a consistent method for upgrading the robot to the latest version, irrespective of how the robot was installed. We provide the robot_update package. This package can be deployed on to the system in which the robot is already running, which will upgrade it to the latest version.

Conclusion

With the latest robots released with DX UIM, newer Linux versions can be used without delays in newer robot releases. This small innovation reduces the Linux certification cycle from 3-6 months previously to literally “zero.” Now users can confidently upgrade to newer Linux versions for monitoring by DX UIM on day one.