Documentation forSolarWinds Observability SaaS

Manage SolarWinds Observability Agents

Most Agent management activities are performed on the Agents settings page.

The following Agent management activities require accessing the machine where the Agent is deployed.

Start, stop, restart, or check the status of Agents on the machine

On a Windows machine, go to Services, select the SolarWinds UAMS Client and execute start, stop, or restart.

You can also use the following commands, based on the operating system of the machine:

Windows

Run the following PowerShell scripts to start, stop, restart, or get information on the client status

Start-Service swiuamsclientd
Stop-Service swiuamsclientd
Restart-Service swiuamsclientd
Get-Service swiuamsclientd

Linux

sudo systemctl start uamsclient.service
sudo systemctl stop uamsclient.service
sudo systemctl restart uamsclient.service
sudo systemctl status uamsclient.service

CentOS 6

sudo service uamsclient start
sudo service uamsclient stop
sudo service uamsclient restart
sudo service uamsclient status

Configure proxy for SolarWinds Observability Agents

You can set up proxy for the Agent by using the global environment variable HTTPS_PROXY. The variable is natively supported by the gprc library. For details, see Proxy in the grpc repository in GitHub.

Environment variable

HTTPS_PROXY

Description

Optional configuration. This option can be used to connect through a proxy. It can be set through the environment variable HTTPS_PROXY. See Windows-based Agents or Linux-based Agents.

Valid values

IP Address:Port

Windows-based Agents

To set up the proxy on Windows, add a new system environment variable in System Properties. The Variable name should be HTTPS_PROXY and the variable value should be the proxy's IP address and port, with the format of http://IP Address:Port.

The proxy value must include the used protocol for the proxy, such as http:// or https://.

Configure the proxy only for a Windows Agent

To set up the proxy only for the Agent, run the following commands:

  1. Set up the proxy.

    C:\'Program Files'\SolarWinds\UAMSClient\uamsclient-ctl.exe set-proxy -proxy "http://IP Address:Port" -work-dir $env:programData\SolarWinds\UAMSClient -log-dir $env:programData\SolarWinds\UAMSClient\log

  2. Restart the Agent service:

    Restart-Service swiuamsclientd

Linux-based Agents

To set up the proxy on Linux, define the HTTPS_PROXY="http://IP Address:port" environmental variable in the /etc/environment file. When the variable is set, restart the Agent service.

The proxy value must include the used protocol for the proxy, such as http:// or https://.

Configure the proxy only for a Linux Agent

To set up the proxy only for the Agent, run the following commands:

  1. Set up the proxy.

    sudo -u swagent /opt/solarwinds/uamsclient/sbin/uamsclient-ctl set-proxy -proxy "http://IP Address:port" -work-dir /opt/solarwinds/uamsclient/etc -log-dir /var/log/solarwinds/uamsclient

  2. Restart the Agent service:

    sudo systemctl restart uamsclient.service

Update the API token for an Agent already installed on a host

To change the token used for installing an Agent on a host, you can either re-install the Agent using the new token, or manually execute a command on the target host.

Use the command for the operating system on the host.

Replace <YOUR_TOKEN> with the new token from SolarWinds Observability SaaS.

Windows

  1. Set up the access token: 

    C:\'Program Files'\SolarWinds\UAMSClient\uamsclient-ctl.exe set-access-token -token <YOUR_TOKEN> -work-dir $env:programData\SolarWinds\UAMSClient -log-dir $env:programData\SolarWinds\UAMSClient\log

  2. Restart the Agent service:

    Restart-Service swiuamsclientd

Linux

  1. Set up the access token: 

    sudo -u swagent /opt/solarwinds/uamsclient/sbin/uamsclient-ctl set-access-token -token <YOUR_TOKEN> -work-dir /opt/solarwinds/uamsclient/etc -log-dir /var/log/solarwinds/uamsclient

  2. Restart the Agent service:

    sudo systemctl restart uamsclient.service

Update the SWO_URL

To change the SWO_URL parameter, you can either re-install the Agent using SWO_URL with a new value, or manually execute a command on the target host.

Use the command for the operating system on the host.

Replace <SWO_URL> with the proper SWO_URL name (SolarWinds Observability Agent endpoint).

Windows-based Agents

  1. Set SWO_URL: 

    C:\'Program Files'\SolarWinds\UAMSClient\uamsclient-ctl.exe set-swo-url -url <SWO_URL> -work-dir $env:programData\SolarWinds\UAMSClient -log-dir $env:programData\SolarWinds\UAMSClient\log

  2. Restart the Agent service:

    Restart-Service swiuamsclientd

Linux-based Agents

  1. Set up SWO_URL: 

    sudo -u swagent /opt/solarwinds/uamsclient/sbin/uamsclient-ctl set-swo-url -url <SWO_URL> -work-dir /opt/solarwinds/uamsclient/etc -log-dir /var/log/solarwinds/uamsclient

  2. Restart the Agent service:

    sudo systemctl restart uamsclient.service

Persist the given UUID identity as an Agent ID

Use this action with caution. Overriding an Agent ID may result in receiving an empty configuration for an existing Agent in SolarWinds Observability. It may be useful for moving an Agent to another server/virtual machine if you want to run the Agent with the same configuration.

To set up the SWO Agent ID, run the following commands:

Windows-based Agents

  1. Set up the Agent ID: 

    C:\'Program Files'\SolarWinds\UAMSClient\uamsclient-ctl.exe bind-identity -id <SWO_AGENT_UUID> -work-dir $env:programData\SolarWinds\UAMSClient -log-dir $env:programData\SolarWinds\UAMSClient\log

  2. Restart the Agent service:

    Restart-Service swiuamsclientd

Linux-based Agents

  1. Set up the Agent ID: 

    sudo -u swagent /opt/solarwinds/uamsclient/sbin/uamsclient-ctl bind-identity -id <SWO_AGENT_UUID> -work-dir /opt/solarwinds/uamsclient/etc -log-dir /var/log/solarwinds/uamsclient

  2. Restart the Agent service:

    sudo systemctl restart uamsclient.service

Persist a new, randomly generated UUID identity as the Agent ID

Use this action with caution. Overriding an Agent ID with a new, randomly generated UUID may result in receiving an empty configuration for an existing Agent on the machine. It may be useful when you want to end work with the existing configuration and start with a new, empty configuration.

To set up the SWO Agent ID with a new, randomly-generated UUID, run the following commands:

Windows-based Agents

  1. Set up the Agent ID: 

    C:\'Program Files'\SolarWinds\UAMSClient\uamsclient-ctl.exe bind-new-identity -work-dir $env:programData\SolarWinds\UAMSClient -log-dir $env:programData\SolarWinds\UAMSClient\log

  2. Restart the Agent service:

    Restart-Service swiuamsclientd

Linux-based Agents

  1. Set up the Agent ID: 

    sudo -u swagent /opt/solarwinds/uamsclient/sbin/uamsclient-ctl bind-new-identity -work-dir /opt/solarwinds/uamsclient/etc -log-dir /var/log/solarwinds/uamsclient

  2. Restart the Agent service:

    sudo systemctl restart uamsclient.service

Check the Agent ID override

To check the Agent ID override, run the following command:

Windows-based Agents

C:\'Program Files'\SolarWinds\UAMSClient\uamsclient-ctl.exe show-identity -work-dir $env:programData\SolarWinds\UAMSClient -log-dir $env:programData\SolarWinds\UAMSClient\log

Linux-based Agents

sudo -u swagent /opt/solarwinds/uamsclient/sbin/uamsclient-ctl show-identity -work-dir /opt/solarwinds/uamsclient/etc -log-dir /var/log/solarwinds/uamsclient

Manage Agent on virtual machines

When managing virtual machines running SolarWinds Observability Agent, it is essential to ensure that each machine in your organization has a unique Agent ID. The Agent ID is used to associate metrics with the correct machine. Duplication of the same Agent ID on two or more machines could potentially result in incorrect metrics being associated with your machine. The Agent ID is generated only once during the installation of the Agent. Therefore, specific steps must be followed when moving or cloning a virtual machine that already has the SolarWinds Observability Agent installed. See Potentially duplicated Agents for more information on solving the duplicated Agent warning.

Moving the Agent to another virtual machine while retaining the same configuration

  1. Uninstall or stop the Agent on the original machine to prevent Agent ID duplication.

  2. Move the Agent to another virtual machine.

  3. After moving the machine:

Cloning a virtual machine with the Agent installed

To avoid the duplication of the Agent ID when cloning a virtual machine, generate a new Agent ID to ensure the cloned Agent operates with a unique configuration.

  1. Run the cloned virtual machine image.

  2. Before starting the SolarWinds Observability Agent on the new machine: