Uninstalling linux/mac distribution packages raises error in B&R Physical Infrastructure menus

[hpadm]

I uninstalled the 1GB linux agent and mac agent redistributable packages from the main B&R host to reduce the install footprint, since all our hosts are windows-only.

In B&R Console - Inventory - Physical Infrastructure, if I click to edit the properties of any group, an error will pop up saying
"Cannot find the distribution store file ValPackageIndex.xml." (This is part of the linux agent package.)
I can swat the popup away and proceed as usual. It is just a minor UI nuisance and doesn't seem to affect the operation of the server.

If it's not a problem, it might be nice if the developers added an option in the B&R installer to skip these packages, and for B&R console to gracefully handle them not being present. (suggested as #05480433).

[Dima P.]

Hello hpadm,

Thank you for the feedback, I'll pass all the information to our RnD folks!

[hpadm]

It's just a minor suggestion, and I would be totally okay if they said that a full install is required and these components will not be made optional. I just see it as a possible easy storage optimization (the linux agent package is pretty big, probably needing to cater to multiple distros).

I'm also noting that despite uninstalling them, the .msi install files are still there in Backup\Packages. So it may be that they actually take up twice the space. Or it may be that uninstalling them doesn't actually do anything useful.

[Dima P.]

hpadm,

Thank you! Was wondering if you have any thoughts on how the package could be corrupted or modified?

"Cannot find the distribution store file ValPackageIndex.xml

Based on QA research this error usually represents that the original distribution package might be corrupted (thus must be renewed / re installed). Folks saw similar behavior couple of times when the msi files were 'modified' by the antivirus software.

[hpadm]

Oh that's an easy one. In this particular scenario, the package is not corrupted, it's outright uninstalled - so there are no files, but some part of B&R assumes that the files will be there.

The linux agent redistributable is kept at "C:\Program Files\Veeam\Backup and Replication\Backup\Packages\VALRedist.msi"
When this msi is installed, it just unpacks into "C:\ProgramData\Veeam\Agents\val\", and "Veeam Agent for Linux Redistributable" is added to Programs and Features. ValPackageIndex.xml is in the root of that directory and has a fairly simple structure.
If I leave VALRedist installed, there is no error popup. Also, if I put in a dummy file with just the top-level VALPackages element, indicating that there are no packages to be had, it also works with no error popup. So it does feel like a very 'soft' error.

[Dima P.]

hpadm,

Understood, thank you for the feedback!