Applications Manager: "Exec format error" when running startso

Products

• CA Automic Applications Manager (AM)

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to install the Applications Manager Agent or start the agent processes using the startso command on a Linux server, the operation fails. The following error messages appear in the output or log files:

/appworx/automic_1/c/change_awenv: cannot execute binary file
...
startso watchworx
/appworx/automic_1/bin/startso: line 10:
/appworx/automic_1/c/callscript: cannot execute binary file: Exec format error
startso done

Environment

 

• Product: CA Automic Applications Manager (AM)

• Release: 9.5.2

• OS: Linux

• Component: Automation Engine / Agent

 

Cause

This issue occurs due to a CPU architecture mismatch between the Applications Manager binaries and the host operating system.

In the case logs, the validation commands returned the following:

1. Host System Architecture: uname -m returned aarch64. This indicates the server is running on an ARM-based processor (common in newer cloud instances like AWS Graviton).

2. Binary Architecture: file gethost returned ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64.

Applications Manager binaries are currently compiled specifically for the x86-64 architecture. They cannot be executed on an aarch64 (ARM) kernel, resulting in the "Exec format error."

 

Resolution

To resolve this issue, the Applications Manager Agent must be installed on a supported architecture.

1. Verify Architecture: Run the command uname -m on your Linux server.

2. Requirement: The output must be x86_64.

3. Action: If the output is aarch64, you must provision a server using an x86-64 processor (Intel or AMD) to host the Applications Manager Agent.

Note: As confirmed by Engineering, aarch64 is not supported in the 9.5.2 release.

Additional Information

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/ca-enterprise-software/intelligent-automation/applications-manager/9-5-2/Installation_Guide/Applications_Manager_Installation_for_UNIX_and_Windows.html