Installing the DROPS Agent

The DROPS Agent is a module that must be installed on every target system to which you intend to deploy that is incompatible with the agentless solution. It contains and relies on the Ant engine which actively contributes to the mechanical orchestration of the DROPS solution. It includes a library with over 300 built-in scripts which can be expanded with your own personalized scripts. The DROPS Agent is the remote administration engine used by the DROPS Server and from where all the deployment actions are started. In other words the DROPS Server orchestrates all deployment actions through the DROPS Agent and by using the capabilities of the agent on the target system, it also means that the server's action field on the target system depends the agent's process owner on this target system.

The DROPS Agent runs as a service. Although multiple services can run on the same target system, and therefore multiple infrastructure items can point to the same system, only one DROPS Agent needs to be installed on each system.

The DROPS Agent uses a local repository to temporarily store the files to be installed on the target system.

Unless they are compatible with the agentless solution from DROPS Software, is important to install the DROPS Agent on all of your target systems (which are directly related to the infrastructure items you create) because it creates the connection required to communicate with the DROPS Server. The agent can be installed on Windows, IBM i or any Unix-like OS (Linux, Aix).

Note

It is recommended to install and manage the DROPS Agent remotely, which is done via the DROPS Studio. The remote process is less complex and does not require you to physically be with the target system to install. Also, the remote agent manager enables you to install and update multiple agents on multiple target systems at the same time.

Managing the DROPS Agent remotely from the DROPS Studio

The DROPS Agent can be installed, updated and uninstalled remotely on IBM i and Linux via the DROPS Studio.

The DROPS Agent and any other module is managed remotely from the Modules view. To open it, select Modules from the Updater node in Configuration Explorer.

Reference

For more information about DROPS modules and how to access and/or configure them, refer to Configuring the DROPS modules.

Below are the steps taken by the remote installer:

Agent module .jar archives are transferred on the remote host, in a directory named as follows: <agent_installation_path>_AGT_trf_<module_version>
The content of the .jar is restored in the agent’s installation directory's path.
The following values, set in the remote installation wizard, are replaced in the agent's configuration file:
- Storage path
- Agent's version
- Port number
- Artifacts' retention days
Once these steps are done, the specific process for each target platform is executed. These are the same processes followed during the agent's manual installation.

Prerequisites

The DROPS user must have Module Updater and Remote Installation rights to manage DROPS modules.
In order to install or update a DROPS Agent remotely, it is required to first create the infrastructure item that connects to the target system successfully. The following fields are required in an infrastructure item.
- The item's Protocol, Host name & Port and (sometimes) the Host name & Port, Login & Password and Login & Password fields must be filled in accurately and give access to the target system and the port the agent will listen to.
- The item's *Remote Agent Type must be the same type as the agent being installed. This ensures that the type of agent that the item will use to communicate with the DROPS Server corresponds to the agent being installed.
- The item's Technical Platform must correspond to the type of target system. This ensures the item's technical platform corresponds to the target system's OS, which permits the installer to use the correct installation method.
- The item’s Installation Properties must define the Installation Path and Local Storage Area as well as the user profiles that will install and run the agent.
The DROPS Server must have access to an update server. An update server is simply a web server which hosts the new files required to update. It can be any web server as long as the DROPS Server can download files from it through an HTTP request.

Configuring access to the update server allows you to define from where the files are retrieved and how often the DROPS Server checks for new updates for each module.

Today, you must host your own update server.

Reference
For more information about configuring the remote install/update processes refer to DROPS modules repository settings.

Install and Update

Follow the subsequent steps to install a DROPS Agent remotely from the DROPS Studio or update an existing DROPS Agent on one or multiple target system(s).

Note

The installation process described here also updates any existing DROPS Agent. It is recommended to verify the version currently installed on the target system before taking action to ensure that the correct evolutions are being applied. To see the list of infrastructure items that each version of an agent is installed on, select it, then click the edit icon.

Step 1 Select the agent to install.

The Modules view displays all of the agents available on the current DROPS Server. These are the agents that you can install on your target machine. Selecting an agent will install it on all of the target systems selected later. To install different agents on one or more systems, repeat these instructions for each type of agent.

Important!

You must select the agent that corresponds to the Remote Agent Type selected in the target systems' corresponding infrastructure item(s). If you are installing the agent on multiple systems, all of the items that point to it must have the same Remote Agent Type defined.

The Name column displays the module's name.

The Last Release Number column displays the module's most recent version number.

The Date column displays the date the version was downloaded from DROPS to the local repository.

Step 2 Click the install icon, or right-click on the agent and select Install Module Release to launch the installation of the selected agent.

Result The Install wizard opens.

Step 3 Select the version of the agent to install. Ctrl+click to select multiple versions.

Click Next > to continue.

Step 4 If you are in multi-client mode, select the client(s) for which the infrastructure item(s) that correspond to the target system are created.Ctrl+click to select multiple clients.

Click Next > to continue.

Step 5 Select the infrastructure item(s) that correspond to the target system(s) on which you want to install the DROPS Agent. Ctrl+click to select multiple items.

Note

If you select multiple items that each point to the same target system, DROPS will filter the doubled addresses to assure that only one instance of the agent is installed on each target system.

Step 6 Click Finish to launch the installation.

Result After the agent is installed, it is available on the target system and deployments can be made.

Viewing the remote management logs

Double-click on a remote installation instance to open the log. Each instance’s log lists the module that’s been installed, its corresponding infrastructure item and the date on which is was installed.

Filter the logs by severity (error, warning, information and debug) and use the text field next to the severity filter to show only the lines containing the text of the text field.

To export the content of one or more entries in the log, select the line(s) then right-click. Copy the content of the entry to the clipboard to paste it into an external text editor.

By default, the content will follow this pattern: [Timestamp] [Severity] Text

Example

[2017/02/09 02:49:28][INFO]test -d /usr/lib/systemd/system
[2017/02/09 02:49:28][INFO]Run command test -d /usr/lib/systemd/system
[2017/02/09 02:49:28][DEBUG]Exit code 0
[2017/02/09 02:49:28][INFO]Command successful
[2017/02/09 02:49:28][DEBUG]Init system is systemd.
[2017/02/09 02:49:28][INFO]Checking connection to remote host 192.168.1.203 on port 22 using profile drops

If you copy the content in JSON format, it will follow this pattern: {"time":timestamp,"level":severity,"text":"text"}

Example

{"time":1486648168892,"level":2,"text":"test -d \/usr\/lib\/systemd\/system"}
{"time":1486648168892,"level":2,"text":"Run command test -d \/usr\/lib\/systemd\/system"}
{"time":1486648168994,"level":3,"text":"Exit code 0"}
{"time":1486648168994,"level":2,"text":"Command successful"}
{"time":1486648168994,"level":3,"text":"Init system is systemd."}
{"time":1486648168994,"level":2,"text":"Checking connection to remote host 192.168.1.203 on port 22 using profile drops"}

Uninstall

The uninstallation process completely removes any existing DROPS Agent from the infrastructure item(s) on which it is currently installed.

Uninstalling from multiple target systems

Follow the subsequent steps to remotely uninstall a DROPS Agent from multiple target systems.

Step 1 Select the agent(s) to uninstall. Ctrl+click to select multiple agents.

The Modules view displays all of the agents available on the current DROPS Server. These are the agents that available to install on the target machine.

Step 2 Click the uninstall icon, or right-click on the agent and select Uninstall Module Release.

Result The Uninstall wizard opens.

Step 3 Select the version of the agent to uninstall. Ctrl+click to select multiple versions.

Click Next > to continue.

Step 4 If you are in multi-client mode, select the client(s) for which the infrastructure item(s) that correspond to the target system are created.Ctrl+click to select multiple clients.

Click Next > to continue.

Step 5 Select the infrastructure item(s) that correspond to the target system(s) from which you want to uninstall the DROPS Agent. Ctrl+click to select multiple items.

Step 6 Click Finish.

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