Installing an eG Agent on Linux in the Silent Mode

To install an eG agent on Linux in the silent mode, do the following:

  1. First, manually install the eG agent on any of the target Linux hosts in your environment, by following the procedure provided in the Installing an eG Agent on Linux topic. Typically, this is achieved by executing the iAgent_linux.sh script, with the eGagent_linux.tar file located in the same directory as the script.
  2. Upon successful installation, a silent_install script and an iAgent_linux file will get automatically created in the /opt/egurkha/bin directory of the agent host.
  3. Next, copy the iAgent_linux file and silent_install script from the /opt/egurkha/bin directory to any location on the Linux host on which you want to install an eG agent in the silent mode. To the same location, copy the eGagent_linux.tar file as well.

  4. Next, login to the target host as the root user and edit the silent_install script, so that it contains the inputs required for your specific agent installation. An extract from the silent_install script is provided below:

    eGuser=john
    #eG user - please make sure that the user account exists

    eGgroup=ainstallgrp

    #eG user’s group

    serviceaccount=no

    #whether the user we are going to create is a service account or a normal account

    eGInstallDir=/opt

    #eG install directory

    autoRestart=y

    #whether the agent should auto-restart

    licenseAcceptance=y

    #licenseAcceptance the license

    eGManager=192.168.10.54

    #eG manager host

    eGManagerPort=7077

    #eG manager port

    useProxy=n

    #use Proxy?

    proxyHost=n

    #proxy server

    proxyPort=n

    #proxy port

    setAuthentication=n

    #use auhentication for proxy?

    proxyUsername=none

    #user name for proxy access - none

    proxyPassword=none

    #password for proxy access

    useSSL=n

    #use SSL for communication with the manager? y/n

    trustedCertificates=n

    #use trusted certificates for SSL communication with the manager? y/n

    setNickName=n

    #set the nickname for the agent - y/n

    nickNameToUse=‘hostname‘

    #the nick name to set for this agent

  5. The parameters that you may need to edit include the following:

    1. eGuser : Here, either provide the name of an existing user to the target host or that of a new user. If you provide the name of the new user, then the agent installer will automatically create a normal (by default) user account with that name.
    2. eGgroup : Specify the group to which the eG user belongs.
    3. serviceaccount : If the name of a new user is specified against eGuser, then the agent installer will automatically create a user account with that name. By default, the user account so created will only be a normal user account, and not a service account. Because a service account is more secure, administrators of high-security environments may prefer to use a service account for agent installation and operations, instead of a normal account. To create a service account with the eGusername specified, set this parameter to yes. To create only a normal user account, set this parameter to no. 
    4. eGInstallDir : Specify the location on the target host in which the agent is to be installed.
    5. autoRestart : Whether the agent is to be auto-restarted or not upon system reboot; enter y to restart the agent, or n to not restart.
    6. licenseAcceptance: Whether to accept the terms and conditions of the eG license or not; enter y to accept the terms, or n to reject the same.
    7. eGManager: Specify the IP address of the eG manager to which the agent should report.
    8. eGManagerPort : Specify the port at which the eG manager listens.
    9. useProxy : Indicate whether the agent communicates with the manager via a proxy server; if so, set this flag to y; if not, set this flag to n.
    10. proxyHost : This parameter is applicable only if useProxy is set to y. In this case, specify the IP address of the proxy server against proxyHost. If useProxy is set to n instead, set this parameter to n as well.
    11. proxyPort : This parameter too is applicable only if useProxy is set to y. In this case, specify the port number at which the proxy server listens against proxyPort. If useProxy is set to n instead, set this parameter to n as well.
    12. setAuthentication: This flag is applicable only if useProxy is set to y. In this case, use this flag to indicate whether the proxy server requires authentication or not. Set this flag to y if authentication is required. If authentication is not required, set this flag to n. Similarly, if useProxy is set to n, set the setAuthentication flag also to n.
    13. proxyUsername : This parameter is applicable only if setAuthentication is set to y. In this case, against proxyUsername, provide the user name for authenticating communication via the proxy server. If setAuthentication is set to n, then set proxyUsername to none.
    14. ProxyPassword:  This parameter is applicable only if setAuthentication is set to y. In this case, against proxyPassword, provide the password that corresponding to the specified proxyUsername. If setAuthentication is set to n, then set proxyUsername to none.
    15. useSSL: Set this flag to y, if you want the eG agent to communicate with the manager via SSL. If not, set this flag to n.
    16. trustedCertificates: This flag is applicable only if useSSL is set to y. To allow trusted certificates only, set this flag to y. To enable the agent to accept any certificate, set this flag to n. If useSSL is set to n instead, the trustedCertificates flag should be set to n as well.
    17. setNickName: If you want to set a nick name for the agent, set this flag to y. If not, set this flag to n.
    18. nickNameToUse: This flag is applicable only if setNickName is set to y. In such a case, specify the nick name to be assigned to the agent. By default, the host name of the agent host will be set as the nick name. You can change this nick name, if need be.

    Note:

    You cannot configure specific applications (such as ColdFusion/Sybase) for monitoring in the silent mode. For this purpose, you will have to follow the separate configuration instructions provided for these applications in the this document.

  6. Once all the aforesaid parameters are configured with the values relevant to your agent installation, save the file.

    Note:

    Make sure that the eGuser account exists on the target system before you run the silent_install script.

  7. Provide execute permissions for the silent_install script and run the script on the target host. To grant execute permissions, issue the following command from the directory that holds the silent_install script (say, \tmp): chmod +x silent_install
  8. Upon successful execution of the script, the eG agent will be automatically installed and started on the host.

Note:

  • Follow the same procedure discussed above to install the eG agent on Tru64, FreeBSD, CentOS, and openSUSE hosts, in the silent mode.

  • If you are installing the eG agent on an imaging system (e.g. for Citrix Provisioning services), or on a snapshot (for Citrix Machine Creation Services), or on a VM template for virtual servers, you will need to make sure that the nick name is NOT set for the agent on the imaging system/snapshot/VM template. In such environments, when installing the eG agent, make sure that you do not provide a nick name for that agent when prompted. If you are downloading the agent from the eG manager in a SaaS environment, the installation will automatically start the agent and assign the hostname of the system as the nick name automatically. In such a case, you need to:

    • On the snapshot / golden image / master VM, open the eg_nick.ini file in the <EG_AGENT_INSTALL_DIR>\agent\config directory.
    • Check to see if the Nick parameter in that file is set to any value. If this parameter has no value, it implies that no nick name was set for the eG agent on that snapshot / golden image / master VM. On the other hand, if the Nick parameter has a value, it indicates that a nick name was set for the eG agent. In this case, make sure that you delete the eg_nick.ini file on the snapshot / golden image / master VM before you proceed further.
  • If the silent installation script finds that the SELinux security module is in the 'Enforcing mode' on the target Linux host, then it will automatically attempt to run the eG agent as a 'confined process' after installation. However, this attempt will succeed only if the sepolicy and rpmbuild packages pre-exist on the target host. If either one or both of these packages are unavailable for any reason, then the installation script will automatically run the eG agent as an 'unconfined' process only, even if the SELinux security module is in the 'Enforcing mode' on that host.