SMS_SITE_SQL_BACKUP component fails to install

I posted this on the Technet forums...wanted to also run it by the braintrust here as well.

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I'm hoping someone can give me insight into why the SMS_SITE_SQL_BACKUP component refuses to install on my SQL server. Everything else appears to be normal, but this component fails to install. My setup is:

A single SCCM server running 32 bit Server 2008 with SCCM SP1 (eval download). It has the following roles...
- MP, DP, SUP, PXESP, RP and SMP.
SQL is off-box on our clustered Itanium server. I was using this successfully with Server 2003/SCCM RTM. I confirmed a long time ago with Stan that this is a supported setup. (http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2229239&SiteID=17)

The SCCM server is trying to install the SMS_SITE_SQL_BACKUP component on the cluster nodes, but never succeeds. Every 60 minutes the SMS_SITE_SQL_BACKUP component cycles through these three messages

SMS_SITE_SQL_BACKUP_SCCMserver 1014 SMS Site Component Manager is installing this component on this site system.
SMS_SITE_SQL_BACKUP_SCCMserver 1075 SMS Site Component Manager detected that 0 bytes are required by this component on the drive containing the "\\SQLclusternode\c$\SMS_SCCMserver" directory, and that 62002118656 bytes are available. SMS Site Component Manager will proceed with the installation of this component.
SMS_SITE_SQL_BACKUP_SCCMserver 1016 SMS Site Component Manager failed to install this component on this site system. Solution: Review the previous status messages to determine the exact reason for the failure. SMS Site Component Manager will automatically retry the installation in 60 minutes. To force SMS Site Component Manager to immediately retry the installation, stop and restart SMS Site Component Manager using the SMS Service Manager.

While that is going on, the following messages appear in the sitecomp.log. One of my concerns is the line in RED below...it appears to see the SQL as x86...not IA64.

Thread "SiteComp server polling Thread #2" id:3924 started
Polling server SQLnode...
Beginning Multisite Component Server poll ...
Installing server...
    Attempting to obtain an IAbstractNetwork interface from NAL...
    Successfully obtained the IAbstractNetwork interface.
    Attempting to call IAbstractNetwork::CreatePath() with NAL path "MSWNET:\\SQLnode\admin$\"...
    Successfully called IAbstractNetwork::CreatePath() with NAL path "MSWNET:\\SQLnode\admin$\".
    Attempting to obtain an INetworkObject interface from NAL for this server...
    Successfully obtained the INetworkObject interface.
    Testing connectivity to this server using NAL INetworkObject::IsAccessible()...
Registering NT Event Source for Server SQLnode...
Successfully registered Event Source on SQLnode
    NAL INetworkObject::IsAccessible() succeeded. The server is accessible.
    Server's platform type is X86.
      Server is running Microsoft Windows NT Server 5.2 Service Pack 2.
*** Beginning Multisite Component Server check for installation directory ...
*** Beginning Multisite Component Server creation of installation directory ...
    Attempting to find the best drive for the SMS installation directory on server 'SQLnode'.
    Enumerating drives A through Z for the NTFS drive with the most free space.
...
Drive 'C:\' is the best drive for the SMS installation directory.
    Created SMS installation directory C:\SMS_SCCMserver.
    Wrote HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SMS\Tracing key to server's registry.
Installation complete.
STATMSG: ID=1026 SEV=I LEV=M SOURCE="SMS Server" COMP="SMS_SITE_COMPONENT_MANAGER" SYS=SCCMserver SITE=SCCMsite PID=388 TID=3924 GMTDATE=Thu Jun 05 20:24:02.281 2008 ISTR0="\\SQLnode" ISTR1="" ISTR2="" ISTR3="" ISTR4="" ISTR5="" ISTR6="" ISTR7="" ISTR8="" ISTR9="" NUMATTRS=0
STATMSG: ID=1040 SEV=I LEV=D SOURCE="SMS Server" COMP="SMS_SITE_COMPONENT_MANAGER" SYS=SCCMserver SITE=SCCMsite PID=388 TID=3924 GMTDATE=Thu Jun 05 20:24:02.578 2008 ISTR0="\\SQLnode" ISTR1="" ISTR2="" ISTR3="" ISTR4="" ISTR5="" ISTR6="" ISTR7="" ISTR8="" ISTR9="" NUMATTRS=0
STATMSG: ID=1047 SEV=I LEV=D SOURCE="SMS Server" COMP="SMS_SITE_COMPONENT_MANAGER" SYS=SCCMserver SITE=SCCMsite PID=388 TID=3924 GMTDATE=Thu Jun 05 20:24:02.593 2008 ISTR0="\\SQLnode" ISTR1="5.2" ISTR2="2" ISTR3="" ISTR4="" ISTR5="" ISTR6="" ISTR7="" ISTR8="" ISTR9="" NUMATTRS=0
STATMSG: ID=1051 SEV=I LEV=D SOURCE="SMS Server" COMP="SMS_SITE_COMPONENT_MANAGER" SYS=SCCMserver SITE=SCCMsite PID=388 TID=3924 GMTDATE=Thu Jun 05 20:24:04.858 2008 ISTR0="\\SQLnode" ISTR1="C:\SMS_SCCMserver" ISTR2="" ISTR3="" ISTR4="" ISTR5="" ISTR6="" ISTR7="" ISTR8="" ISTR9="" NUMATTRS=0
STATMSG: ID=554 SEV=I LEV=D SOURCE="SMS Server" COMP="SMS_SITE_COMPONENT_MANAGER" SYS=SCCMserver SITE=SCCMsite PID=388 TID=3924 GMTDATE=Thu Jun 05 20:24:05.233 2008 ISTR0="HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SMS\Tracing" ISTR1="SQLnode" ISTR2="" ISTR3="" ISTR4="" ISTR5="" ISTR6="" ISTR7="" ISTR8="" ISTR9="" NUMATTRS=0
STATMSG: ID=1027 SEV=I LEV=M SOURCE="SMS Server" COMP="SMS_SITE_COMPONENT_MANAGER" SYS=SCCMserver SITE=SCCMsite PID=388 TID=3924 GMTDATE=Thu Jun 05 20:24:05.530 2008 ISTR0="\\SQLnode" ISTR1="" ISTR2="" ISTR3="" ISTR4="" ISTR5="" ISTR6="" ISTR7="" ISTR8="" ISTR9="" NUMATTRS=0
    Testing connectivity to this server using NAL INetworkObject::IsAccessible()...
    NAL INetworkObject::IsAccessible() succeeded. The server is accessible.
Installing component SMS_SITE_SQL_BACKUP...
LogEvent(): Successfully logged Event to NT Event Log (4, 77, 1073742838, (null)).
STATMSG: ID=1014 SEV=I LEV=M SOURCE="SMS Server" COMP="SMS_SITE_SQL_BACKUP_SCCMserver" SYS=SQLnode SITE=SCCMsite PID=388 TID=3924 GMTDATE=Thu Jun 05 20:24:05.827 2008 ISTR0="" ISTR1="" ISTR2="" ISTR3="" ISTR4="" ISTR5="" ISTR6="" ISTR7="" ISTR8="" ISTR9="" NUMATTRS=0
    The "\\SQLnode\C$\SMS_SCCMserver" directory has 53438341120 bytes free out of 72538742784 total bytes.
    0 bytes are required in the "\\SQLnode\C$\SMS_SCCMserver" directory for this component's files.
    All files installed.
    Could not get entry point file name from SMS installation map.
Installation failed and will be retried in the next polling cycle.
LogEvent(): Successfully logged Event to NT Event Log (1, 77, -1073740808, (null)).
STATMSG: ID=1075 SEV=I LEV=D SOURCE="SMS Server" COMP="SMS_SITE_SQL_BACKUP_SCCMserver" SYS=SQLnode SITE=SCCMsite PID=388 TID=3924 GMTDATE=Thu Jun 05 20:24:05.983 2008 ISTR0="0" ISTR1="\\SQLnode\C$\SMS_SCCMserver" ISTR2="53438341120" ISTR3="" ISTR4="" ISTR5="" ISTR6="" ISTR7="" ISTR8="" ISTR9="" NUMATTRS=0
STATMSG: ID=1016 SEV=E LEV=M SOURCE="SMS Server" COMP="SMS_SITE_SQL_BACKUP_SCCMserver" SYS=SQLnode SITE=SCCMsite PID=388 TID=3924 GMTDATE=Thu Jun 05 20:24:06.217 2008 ISTR0="60" ISTR1="" ISTR2="" ISTR3="" ISTR4="" ISTR5="" ISTR6="" ISTR7="" ISTR8="" ISTR9="" NUMATTRS=0
Installing component SMS_SITE_SQL_BACKUP...
LogEvent(): Successfully logged Event to NT Event Log (4, 77, 1073742838, (null)).
STATMSG: ID=1014 SEV=I LEV=M SOURCE="SMS Server" COMP="SMS_SITE_SQL_BACKUP_SCCMserver" SYS=SQLnode SITE=SCCMsite PID=388 TID=3924 GMTDATE=Thu Jun 05 20:24:06.358 2008 ISTR0="" ISTR1="" ISTR2="" ISTR3="" ISTR4="" ISTR5="" ISTR6="" ISTR7="" ISTR8="" ISTR9="" NUMATTRS=0
    The "\\SQLnode\C$\SMS_SCCMserver" directory has 53438341120 bytes free out of 72538742784 total bytes.
    0 bytes are required in the "\\SQLnode\C$\SMS_SCCMserver" directory for this component's files.
    All files installed.
      Could not get entry point file name from SMS installation map.
Installation failed and will be retried in the next polling cycle.
LogEvent(): Successfully logged Event to NT Event Log (1, 77, -1073740808, (null)).
STATMSG: ID=1075 SEV=I LEV=D SOURCE="SMS Server" COMP="SMS_SITE_SQL_BACKUP_SCCMserver" SYS=SQLnode SITE=SCCMsite PID=388 TID=3924 GMTDATE=Thu Jun 05 20:24:06.530 2008 ISTR0="0" ISTR1="\\SQLnode\C$\SMS_SCCMserver" ISTR2="53438341120" ISTR3="" ISTR4="" ISTR5="" ISTR6="" ISTR7="" ISTR8="" ISTR9="" NUMATTRS=0
STATMSG: ID=1016 SEV=E LEV=M SOURCE="SMS Server" COMP="SMS_SITE_SQL_BACKUP_SCCMserver" SYS=SQLnode SITE=SCCMsite PID=388 TID=3924 GMTDATE=Thu Jun 05 20:24:06.827 2008 ISTR0="60" ISTR1="" ISTR2="" ISTR3="" ISTR4="" ISTR5="" ISTR6="" ISTR7="" ISTR8="" ISTR9="" NUMATTRS=0
    Releasing current connection to server.
    Releasing Abstract Network object.
Finished polling server SQLnode...
Thread "SiteComp server polling Thread #2" id:3924 terminated normally

Anyone got any ideas?