NetBackup-Java Administration Console Architecture Overview

The NetBackup-Java Administration Console is a distributed application consisting of two major (and separate) system processes:

• The NetBackup Administration Console graphical user interface (jnbSA)
• The application server (bpjava processes).

These processes may be running on two physically different NetBackup server hosts. This distributed application architecture holds true for the client graphical user interface (jbpSA) as well.

After the NetBackup Administration Console interface is started using the jnbSA command, the user is required to log in to the application server on the host specified in the login dialog.

The login credentials of the user are authenticated by the application server on the host specified in the NetBackup Administration Console login dialog using standard UNIX system user account data and associated APIs. This means that the provided login credentials must be valid on the host specified in the login dialog.

The server that is usually the object of all administrative tasks is the one specified in the NetBackup Administration Console login dialog.

The exception to this is the use of the File > Change Server capability in the NetBackup Administration Console. The Change Server capability allows administration of a remote server (a server other than the one specified in the NetBackup Administration Console login dialog).

Regardless of which server is being administered (a remote server or the server specified on the login dialog), all administrative tasks performed in the NetBackup Administration Console make requests of the application server and are run on the application server host.

For successful administration of a remote server, the application server host must be included in the server list of the remote server.

This context (switching to a remote server from the application server) also applies to the Enhanced Authentication and Authorization capabilities (see Chapter 9). For instance, the host where the NetBackup Administration Console is running is not the host requiring access to any server host unless both the NetBackup Administration Console and its application server are running on the same host.

In addition, this context (switching to a remote server from the application server) applies to configuration scenarios for administration in firewall environments with one exception: The host where the NetBackup Administration Console is running must be able to access the vnetd daemon on either the remote host or the host specified in the login dialog for activity monitoring tasks. For additional configuration information concerning this, see the information pertaining to NetBackup-Java console connections in Multiplexing.