NetWorker: client service does not start on Linux client

Summary: The NetWorker client service fails to start on a Linux system.

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.

Symptoms

NetWorker service does not start on the NetWorker client.

# service networker start
Redirecting to /bin/systemctl start networker.service
Job for networker.service failed because the control process exited with an error code. See "systemctl status networker.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.

# systemctl status networker.service
networker.service - EMC NetWorker. A backup and restoration software package.
Loaded: loaded (/opt/nsr/admin/networker.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) 
ExecStart=/opt/nsr/admin/networker.sh start (code=exited, status=203/EXEC)
Main PID: xxxxx (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

systemd[1]: Starting EMC NetWorker. A backup and restoration software package....
systemd[1]: networker.service: control process exited, code=exited status=203
systemd[1]: Failed to start EMC NetWorker. A backup and restoration software package..
systemd[1]: Unit networker.service entered failed state.
systemd[1]: networker.service failed.

Cause

The exit status 203 is generic; it only means that the systemd could not run the command before service logic even started.

In this scenario, it was also found that system security tools were installed. In the specific scenario Trend Micro Deep Security; however, other security software may result in similar symptoms.

Resolution

Consult with the Operating System and security administrators regarding security software installed on the client.
Depending on the security software installed, review the security tools logs to see if any actions were performed on NetWorker service files or binaries. For NetWorker clients:

  • /opt/nsr/admin/networker.service (client service file)
  • /opt/nsr/admin/networker.sh (client service startup script)
  • /usr/sbin/nsrexecd (client service binary)
  • /nsr (default install path)

NetWorker must be excluded from Antivirus and security software that may negatively impact service files or databases: NetWorker: Antivirus Exclusion Considerations for NetWorker Server, Storage Node, or Client software

Additional Information

Default ownership and permissions of the service file, startup script, and client binary file:

[root@rhel-client03 ~]# ls -l /opt/nsr/admin/networker.service
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1013 Jan 19 17:28 /opt/nsr/admin/networker.service
[root@rhel-client03 ~]#
[root@rhel-client03 ~]# ls -l /opt/nsr/admin/networker.sh
-rwxr--r--. 1 root root 4399 Nov 10 12:43 /opt/nsr/admin/networker.sh
[root@rhel-client03 ~]#
[root@rhel-client03 ~]# ls -l /usr/sbin/nsrexecd
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 4952000 Nov 10 12:43 /usr/sbin/nsrexecd

Affected Products

NetWorker

Products

NetWorker Family
Article Properties
Article Number: 000183653
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 22 أبريل 2026
Version:  7
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