GUI or not to GUI installing Spectrum 10 on Linux?

[Christopher Duryea]

I am planning a migration of Spectrum to Linux and will install version 10.  I currently have a one landscape  4 node setup consisting of 2 Spectro servers as a Primary and a Secondary, along with 2 OneClick servers of which one is a back up and runs reporting.  I will continue with the same configuration on Linux.

 

Now that you know what I have and what I am doing, my question is in regards to installation on Linux.  The system requirements mentions that X-based desktop environment (such as KDE or GNOME) is required.  What is the purpose of the GUI?  Can the installation be performed using the CLI only without GUI?  Also can Spectrum 10 on Linux run and be maintained without a GUI desktop installed?

 

We do not run GUI desktop on any of our Linux servers and I would prefer to keep it that way.  Doing so minimizes security concerns and minimizes the patching burden.

 

Thank you,

Chris

[Robert Kettles]

The GUI is there for the installer and the Spectrum Control Panel.  Having said that, you don't need GUI on a Spectrum Linux server to install or maintain it.  In fact, on the first version of Spectrum that supported Linux, no GUI was available.  To install Spectrum without a GUI, use the distributed installer instead of the regular installer.  It's a separate executable that uses a response file to configure.  With the distributed installer, you could even use it to install your new Linux environment all at once.  The Install Guide covers how to use the distributed installer.

 

As far as maintaining the server, there are two Perl scripts:  startSS.pl and stopSS.pl in the $SPECROOT/bin directory as I recall.  You can use those to start and stop the server instead of using the GUI control panel.

 

-Rob

[Christopher Duryea]

Awesome!  That's what I like to hear, CLI all the way.  Sweet on the distributed installer script installing all at once.

 

Thanks

Chris

[ackjo04]

Command line install is the way to go. Reference the "Installing CA Spectrum in a Distributed Environment" section of the Spectrum 10.0 documentation. I use it all the time and is a great time saver.

 

Joe

[Justin_Kulikowski]

You don't need to (and I agree, shouldn't) install a full Desktop Environment such as KDE or GNOME to administer/install Spectrum via the GUI.  You only need to install the bare minimum to facilitate x11-forwarding, which is just a cocktail of system libraries all outlined in the documentation.