The agent is supported on the following systems:
On AIX the agent cannot be installed in an alternate directory (e.g. by using the --prefix parameter during installation). The agent must be installed in the default /opt/abilisoft.com/ location.
When using the Oracle monitor on AIX there are some extra requirements on the platform:
Windows installation is generally very easy and performed using an MSI installer, however the user performing the installation must have full administration rights. In complex, heavily controlled and administered environments the following points should be noted:
The UNIX installation archive is named:
asagent_<VERSION>_<ARCH>.tar.gz
Make sure you have an archive that matches the platform you want to install to (although the installer will detect a mismatch and tell you).
Unpack the archive as follows:
$ tar -xzof asagent_<VERSION>_<ARCH>.tar.gz
Navigate to the directory extracted and invoke the installer:
$ cd asagent_<VERSION>_<ARCH>
$ ./install.sh
You will see output similar to this:
I: Host platform: x86-ubuntu14.04 (use --platform if incorrect)
I: Installing asagent
I: done!
Obviously the reported platform may differ. Running install.sh with the --help argument will display details on available command line options. The installer will automate the installation of MA onto a UNIX system into its default location of /opt/abilisoft.com/, unless --prefix is used which will cause MA to be installed into the location specified by the --prefix option parameter. For example:
$ ./install.sh --prefix=/home/fred/myagent
will install MA into the /home/fred/myagent directory. If the directory path specified does not exist then it will be created as long as the installer has the necessary write access to the file-system. For simplicity you can also install MA in the same directory as the installer by using the --inplace or -i option; this is equivalent to specifying --prefix=..
When executing install.sh you should do so as the user who will run the agent, as some files are given more secure access permissions (0600) in order to protect sensitive data.
When installing multiple Abilisoft products you can use the --notp option to skip installation of the thirdparty bundle, however be sure that a compatible thirdparty bundle is installed in the same prefix. For example, if you have installed Abilisoft UP or Abilisoft Reef then you may install MA with the --notp option as the thirdparty bundle provided by those products is compatible.
Specifying --profile option will update the /etc/profile file so that PATH and MANPATH variables are updated simplifying access to MA binaries and manual pages. When this option is used, make sure you source /etc/profile or log out and in again to activate the changes. Alternatively you can source the tools/env.sh file in the current shell which will have the same effect:
$ . /opt/abilisoft.com/asagent/tools/env.sh
Nothing particularly special is happening here. As with the --profile option, the PATH and MANPATH environment variables are updated so that MA binaries and manual pages can be easily accessed, for example:
$ asagent
will start the agent and:
$ man asagent
will display the asagent manual page. When these environment variables are not updated in the current shell you can still invoke installed applications by using the full pathname to their installed binaries, for example:
$ /opt/abilisoft.com/asagent/bin/asagent
Manual pages can still be accessed by specifying the full man page path, for example:
$ man /opt/abilisoft.com/asagent/share/man/man8/asagent.8
The installer detects the platform automatically to ensure the package being installed is suitable. However, specifying the --platform option with a suitable ARCH-OS argument will tell the installer not to detect the platform and to use the one specified in ARCH-OS instead.
The installer detects if an existing MA installation exists and will abort installation if this is the case. To force the removal of an old instance of MA (in the same prefix) before installation, use the --force option.
Traditionally an init script is used to automatically start a program at system boot time and to stop it at system shutdown. MA is shipped with such a script and it can be automatically installed to /etc/init.d/ using the --initd parameter. The appropriate symbolic links will also be created. This will start MA in run-levels 3, 4 and 5 and stop it in all other run-levels. If you prefer you can install the init script manually, after installation it can be found here:
/opt/abilisoft.com/asagent/etc/init.d/abilisoft.com-asagent
Refer to the asagent section for full details on running the agent.
Under Unix the extra database thirdparty software for monitoring all the various database flavours are not installed by default and are available as separate archives. For DB2 and Oracle there are dedicated packages with their own installers. For PostgreSQL the thirdparty bundle which comes with the agent can be swapped out for an entirely seperate bundle. Both of these methods are described below.
The database installation archives are named:
<PKGNAME>_<VERSION>_<PLATFORM>.tar.gz
There are currently three packages available: cxoracle10, cxoracle11 and pydb2 which incorporate the database client libraries for Oracle 10g, 11g and DB2 v9.5 for asagent respectively. It should be noted that the cxoracle10 package can be used to connect to Oracle servers 9i, 10g and 11g while the cxoracle11 package can be used to connect to Oracle servers 10g and 11g.
Make sure you have an archive that matches the platform you want to install to (although the installer will detect any mismatch and tell you).
Unpack the archive as follows:
$ tar -xzof <PKGNAME>_<VERSION>_<PLATFORM>.tar.gz
Navigate to the directory extracted and invoke the installer:
$ cd <PKGNAME>
$ ./install.sh
Run install.sh with the --help argument to get details on all the command line options.
Note that on AIX the cxoracle11 and pydb2 packages must have asynchronous I/O (AIO) enabled on the server. You can check the AOI enabled state using the smitty aio command and selecting the Change / Show Characteristics of Asynchronous I/O menu item. If the STATE to be configured at system restart is listed as defined AIO is not enabled, it must be set to available to be enabled.
Note
After changing the state the system must be restarted.
This procedure is not required for the cxoracle10 package.
For the PostgreSQL extension the thirdparty bundle for the agent must be replaced with the “full thirdparty bundle” or “fulltp” for short. The following instructions on how to replace the thirdparty bundle assume the agent is installed into the default prefix of /opt/abilisoft.com/.
The full thirdparty bundle is named:
fulltp_<VERSION>_<PLATFORM>.tar.gz
Unpack the archive as follows:
$ tar -xzof fulltp_<VERSION>_<PLATFORM>.tar.gz
This will unpack the thirdparty bundle into a directory called:
fulltp_<VERSION>_<PLATFORM>/
Remove the existing thirdparty bundle from the agent:
$ rm -rf /opt/abilisoft.com/thirdparty/
Finally, move the unpacked bundle into the installation prefix:
$ mv fulltp_<VERSION>_<PLATFORM>/ /opt/abilisoft.com/thirdparty/
The Windows installer is delivered as an MSI package named:
asagent_<VERSION>_x86-win32.msi
The MSI can be executed by double-clicking the MSI installer icon, via a management service like SMS or running it from the command line as follows:
c:\> msiexec /i asagent_<VERSION>_x86-win32.msi
Note
You can use the /quiet option for an unattended installation
There are many command line installation options, any of the agent’s runtime configuration settings can be defined during the installation procedure. Refer to MSI Command Line Options for details of MSI command line options.
Follow the installation prompts, using the defaults are recommended. The agent will be installed as a Windows service and in general a reboot will not be required.
Once installed you will need to run the agent; refer to the asagent section for details on running the agent.
Note that for installations on 64 bit Windows platforms the default agent installation directory is C:\Program Files (x86)\Abilisoft.com.
Make sure the agent is not running, i.e. execute the command:
$ asagent --stop
If the agent has been using monitoring and runtime configuration in the default location of $AS_HOME/etc then take a backup copy.
Note
It is possible to configure your agent to get runtime and monitoring configuration from a source outside the installation directory. Refer to Using Configuration Outside the Installation Directory for details.
Simply delete the directory /opt/abilisoft.com using the command:
$ rm -rf /opt/abilisoft.com
To upgrade asagent, perform the un-installation procedure followed by the installation procedure. Take care to back up any configurations before upgrading.
Open the Windows Control Panel navigate to the ‘Add/Remove Programs’ screen. Right-click Abilisoft asagent and select Un-install. The asagent service will be stopped (if running) and the software un-installed.
To upgrade asagent, perform the un-installation procedure followed by the installation procedure. Take care to back up any configurations before upgrading.
There are two key environment variables that are essential to the operation of the Agent:
This specifies the installed directory of the Agent, by default it is /opt/abilisoft.com/asagent.
On Windows it is not required to have this environment variable set since the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\abilisoft\mtm\as_home will be used if present. This key is automatically created during the windows installation by the MSI. The usual value for this variable on windows is C:\Program Files\Abilisoft.com\asagent.
Most UNIX systems will have an sh compatible shell available. As a quick refresher there are several ways in which you can set environment variables using an interactive shell:
$ VAR=value
Will set the variable in the current shell only, which means any process started from the shell will not have this environment variable. To make the variable available to the children of the shell it must be exported:
$ VAR=value
$ export VAR
Lastly it is also possible to set an environment variable for just one child process created by the shell, e.g. using the echo command:
$ VAR=value echo The value is: $VAR
This manual may use any of these techniques in examples, but in each case any technique which sets a variable in the environment of the agent is appropriate.
This directory contains the Agent runtime configuration file asagent.conf. This is a standard INI file format; sections are used for various groups of settings. An example is shown below:
[settings]
loglevel = DEBUG
manifest_uri = http://example.com/asagent/manifests/default.xml
This configuration mode can also be used on Windows if preferred, however configuration settings are stored in the Registry by default.
Agent log files are written here by default (although one can configure them to be written elsewhere). The current log file has a *.log extension, rolled log files have a *.log.1, *.log.2 etc extensions. The number of rolled logs can be configured.
UNIX man pages are available as well:
maql (1) command line remote asagent client
asagent.conf (5) asagent runtime configuration file
asagent (8) Abilisoft Monitoring Agent