Add new SolarWinds Observability Agents

Before adding a new Agent, review the requirements:

• SolarWinds Observability SaaS System Requirements

• SolarWinds Observability Agent system requirements

See Configure proxy for SolarWinds Observability Agents.

Use the Add Agent wizard

Running the Add Agent wizard requires an active database subscription.

1. Launch the Add Agent wizard

   • In the Add Database wizard, on the Agent screen, click the Deploy a new Agent tile.

   • In SolarWinds Observability SaaS, click Settings : Agents in the left navigation, and then click Add New Agent in the top right.

2. On Deployment, choose your deployment option and click next to continue.

   If you want to install the Agent manually, select how you want to install the agent:

   • Script-based installation (recommended): select this option to run a provided script on the host where you want to install the agent.
   • Installer: select this option to download an installation file and run it using a provided command.

   If you want to use an automated deployment method, select a supported configuration management tool:

   • Ansible
   • Chef
   • Puppet
   • SaltStack

   If you want to use a Docker image with the Agent, select what you want to use:

• Docker Image: deploy the Agent as a Docker image.
• Inside Kubernetes Cluster: deploy the Agent on the Kubernetes platform.

3. Specify an Ingestion token that identifies the Agent when sending the data into SolarWinds Observability SaaS and click Next.

   • To create a new token, select Generate New Token and provide a name for the new token.

   • To use an existing token, select Use Existing Token and select a token from the list.

   Not sure? See Create a new or use an existing ingestion API token?

4. If you selected a manual installation option, complete the Configuration step and click Next.

   1. Select the operating system of your target host.

   2. For Linux, select the architecture of the target host (AMD64 or ARM).

      For Windows, AMD 64 is selected.

   3. Optional: To set up a host name, click Set up host name, and provide a name which will be used to override the default host name.

   4. Optional: To monitor the host on which you are deploying the agent, click Enable host-monitoring.

5. If you selected a manual installation option, complete the Installation step and click Next.

   • For script-based installation, copy the installation script to the clipboard. On the target host, open the command prompt or terminal as an administrator and run the copied script.

   • For Installer-based installation, download the installer to the target host and run it using the provided script.

   The scripts contain a unique ID used to track the installation status. Do not reuse this script.

   The scripts already include all relevant parameters. See SolarWinds Observability Agent installation parameters.

6. If you selected an automated deployment method, use the linked resources to deploy the Agent. Copy the provided parameters to include required attributes or variables.

   For automated deployment methods, the host you are deploying the Agent on will be monitored - host monitoring is enabled by default. If you do not want the host to be monitored, click the Enable host-monitoring toggle to disable this option.

   • Ansible: Use the Ansible role in galaxy.ansible.com to automatically install the SolarWinds Observability Agent with Ansible.

   • Chef: Use the recipe in supermarket.chef.io to automatically install the SolarWinds Observability Agent with Chef.

   • Puppet: Use the Puppet module in forge.puppet.com to deploy the Agent with Puppet.

   • SaltStack: Use the SaltStack formula in github.com/solarwinds to deploy the Agent with SaltStack.

7. If you selected Use Docker image, use the linked resources to deploy the Agent. Copy the provided parameters to include required attributes or variables. See Supported environment variables for containers.

   By default, the Agent does not include any plugins.

8. Optional for manual installation: To collect logs, click Enable log monitoring, provide details for collecting logs, and click Deploy to deploy the log monitoring plugin.

9. Optional: On Suggested Alerts, review available alerts and enable alerts you find relevant.

   You need to be Admin or Owner in your organization to manage alerts. See User roles and access levels.

10. Optional for manual installation: When the installation is complete, review the Summary. Based on the deployment option and the settings you used, some of the following options might not be available.

    • To change the Agent name and the host display name, click Edit in Basic Settings, and adjust the names. The Agent name and the host display name have the same value.

    • To find out more about the target host, click Host Details and continue to the host details page. This option is only available with enabled host-monitoring.

    • To review the list of hosts monitored in SolarWinds Observability SaaS, click Host Lists. This option is only available with enabled host-monitoring.

    • To review the Agent details, click Agent Details.

    • To view and manage all Agents and their plugins, click Agent Management to continue to the Agents page.

11. Optional for manual installation: You can continue to observe host data:

To view data collected for the newly configured entity in the Entity Explorer, click the name of the host in the confirmation dialog in the lower-left corner. It may take a few seconds for data to appear for the newly created entity. See Entity Explorer for details.

See Entities in SolarWinds Observability SaaS for an overview of host entities and how they work in SolarWinds Observability SaaS.

Install the Agent manually

rpm --import https://agent-binaries.cloud.solarwinds.com/uams/PUBLIC-GPG-KEY-solarwinds

1. Copy or create an API token (Ingestion type), found in the settings area of SolarWinds Observability SaaS. You will need it later. See API Tokens for details.

2. Download the Agent installation file for your operating system:

   • Windows - https://agent-binaries.cloud.solarwinds.com/uams/latest/uamsclient.msi

   • Linux

     • Using DPKG - https://agent-binaries.cloud.solarwinds.com/uams/latest/uamsclient.deb

     • Using DPKG and ARM architecture - https://agent-binaries.cloud.solarwinds.com/uams/latest/uamsclient-arm64.deb

     • Using a Packet Manager, such as DNF, RPM, YUM, or ZYPPER - https://agent-binaries.cloud.solarwinds.com/uams/latest/uamsclient.rpm

     • Using a Packet Manager (DNF, RPM, YUM or ZYPPER) and ARM architecture - https://agent-binaries.cloud.solarwinds.com/uams/latest/uamsclient-arm64.rpm

     • Using CentOS 6 or Red Hat 6 - https://agent-binaries.cloud.solarwinds.com/uams/latest/uamsclient-legacy.rpm

3. In the following code, provide your data and run the code according to your operating system, and distribution (for Linux).

   • Replace YourApiToken in ACCESSTOKEN with the ingestion token you prepared earlier.

   • Replace YourSwoBaseUrl in SWO_URL with the base URL for your organization's endpoints. The base URL is in the form of xx-yy.cloud.solarwinds.com, where xx-yy represents the data center your organization uses. See Find the data center and endpoints for your organization.

   Windows

   msiexec /i uamsclient.msi ACCESSTOKEN="YourApiToken" SWO_URL="YourSwoBaseUrl"

   Linux

   Run the code for the Packet Manager you use to install the Agent.

   DPKG

   env UAMS_ACCESS_TOKEN="YourApiToken" SWO_URL="YourSwoBaseUrl" dpkg -i uamsclient.deb

   DNF

   env UAMS_ACCESS_TOKEN="YourApiToken" SWO_URL="YourSwoBaseUrl" dnf install -y uamsclient.rpm

   RPM

   env UAMS_ACCESS_TOKEN="YourApiToken" SWO_URL="YourSwoBaseUrl" rpm -i uamsclient.rpm

   YUM

   env UAMS_ACCESS_TOKEN="YourApiToken" SWO_URL="YourSwoBaseUrl" yum localinstall -y uamsclient.rpm

   ZYPPER

   env UAMS_ACCESS_TOKEN="YourApiToken" SWO_URL="YourSwoBaseUrl" zypper install uamsclient.rpm