Error 'Required capabilities' prevents SpectroSERVER startup in Spectrum

Products

• Network Observability
• Spectrum

Issue/Introduction

SETCAP errors show when starting the SpectroSERVER

After installing Spectrum and starting the SpectroSERVER the following shows in the VNM.OUT and the SpectroSERVER will not start:

SPC-SHD-29021:
**************************************************************************
The following output is intended to facilitate debugging, please forward
to CA technical support.  The files listed are not part of the customer
installation of SPECTRUM.
**************************************************************************
Dec 30 13:19:02 ERROR TRACE at VNM.cc(446): Required capabilities cap_net_raw and cap_net_bind_service are not set properly.
Dec 30 13:19:02 ERROR TRACE at VNM.cc(447): If installed Spectrum as non-root,Please run the $SPECROOT/Install-Tools/spectrum_nonroot_prepost_install.sh as root to properly set capabilities if not run earlier
Dec 30 13:19:02 ERROR TRACE at VNM.cc(448): If replaced SpectroSERVER file, then once start SS using startSS.pl with install owner

The SpectroSERVER OS was recently patched before Spectrum was also upgraded.

Environment

Network Observability DX NetOps Spectrum

• OS: Linux

• App Server: SpectroSERVER

Cause

Seen with multiple causes and solutions.

• Dec 30 13:19:02 ERROR TRACE at VNM.cc(446):
  
  • The SpectroSERVER binary lacks the necessary Linux capabilities to bind to restricted ports and perform raw network operations, often due to permission resets during installation or file replacement.
  • See the below Resolution statement for solution steps.
• Dec 30 13:19:02 ERROR TRACE at VNM.cc(447):
  • The post upgrade script spectrum_nonroot_prepost_install.sh was not run in a sudo user owned installation.
  • See Additional Information below for additional details.
• Dec 30 13:19:02 ERROR TRACE at VNM.cc(448):
  • Using non-standard SpectroSERVER start up process.
  • See Additional Information below for additional details.

If none of the standard solutions resolve this, it can also be due to the use of 3rd party tools like dzdo on the server. These are known to interfere with the SpectroSERVERs normal operations.

Resolution

To resolve the misconfigured OS error (VNM.cc(446)) follow these steps.

1. Stop the processd service using the following command as the install owner.

   • systemctl stop processd

2. Manually assign system capabilities with the following commands.

   • Command 1:

     • /usr/sbin/setcap cap_net_raw,cap_net_bind_service+ep $SPECROOT/SS/SpectroSERVER

   • Command 2:

     • /usr/sbin/setcap cap_setuid+ep $SPECROOT/bin/launchinstdbapp

   • Command 3:

     • /usr/sbin/setcap cap_sys_ptrace+ep $SPECROOT/bin/gdb

   • Run them as root.

   • Replace the $SPECROOT reference with your installation path.

3. Start the processd service using the following command as the install owner.

   • systemctl start processd

4. Start the SpectroSERVER using $SPECROOT/bin/startSS.pl if not already running.

 

Verify Success:

• Check the $SPECROOT/SS/VNM.OUT log file for successful startup messages.

• Confirm SpectroSERVER process is running using "ps -ef | grep SpectroSERVER"

Additional Information

OS changes above didn't resolve the problem?

VNM.cc(447): Using a sudo user install environment while seeing these errors? Follow these steps.

• See the Perform Post-Installation Steps for Spectrum documentation topic for the script to resolve this error.
• See the Perform Pre-Installation/Pre-Upgrade Steps for Spectrum documentation topic for an example of the script being run.

VNM.cc(448). Ensure the $SPECROOT/bin/startSS.pl script is run, using the correct install owner, to start the SpectroSERVER.