Arellia X64 7.1 Agents

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Last updated: Jun 02, 2011 by AnonymousVersion comment
2 min read

Background - Symantec Management Platform

With the release of the Symantec Management Platform 7.1, native X64 SMP Agent support was introduced.

However there is no requirement for X64 systems to have the native X64 SMP Agent, and could continue to run just a plain X86 agent.  The X64 SMP Agent has compatibility mechanisms to support X86 SMP Agent plugins.  At any time X86 SMP Agents on X64 systems could be upgraded to the native X64 agent.

Background - Arellia

The Arellia Application Control Agent since release has had native X64 components, with separate installables for both X64 and X86 systems.  The ACS SMP Agent plugin for both variants was X86.

The Local Security Agent SMP Agent Plugin, whilst supported on X64 systems, has always been deployed as an X86 component.

Arellia 7.1 Agents

In evaluating agent deployment models for the SMP 7.1 infrastructure, Arellia decided that due to multiple configuration models for the SMP 7.1 Agent on X64 systems that the most prudent mechanism was to continue with the existing Arellia model outlined above so as to minimize potential installation/upgrade scenarios.  i.e. Continue to deploy native X64 components where necessary but deploy X86 SMP Agent plugins.

However in testing this scenario with native X64 SMP Agents various issues were discovered in the interaction between X86 SMP Agent plugins and the X64 Agent compatibility layer.  To mitigate these issues native X64 agents for Local Security Solution and Application Control were developed.  In testing simultaneous installation of both X64 and X86 Arellia agents on X64 SMP Agents to cater for the potential multiple X64 system scenarios, inconsistent results were seen as to which version of Arellia Agent would be used (X64 vs X86).

As such Arellia shipped X64 versions of the ACS and LSS Agents which only contained native X64 agents as part of the Arellia 7.1 release.  This introduced the restriction that Arellia agents would only be supported with native SMP X64 Agents on X64 systems.

Arellia 7.1 MP1 Agents

In further investigating the above issues, workarounds were identified post the 7.1 release to allow the simultaneous deployment of X64/X86 SMP Agent plugins on X64 systems.  This allows for the multiple configuration scenarios of the SMP Agent on X64 systems.

The Arellia 7.1 MP1 Agents contain and install both X86 and X86 SMP Agent addins.