Troubleshoot SolarWinds Observability Agent installation issues

When you experience issues with a SolarWinds Observability Agent (Agent), consider reinstalling it.

Errors during and after installation

If your operating system or distribution is supported and the following solutions do not address your problem, Reinstall the Agent.

Error: Agent failed to register to the cluster. Access Token is invalid.

Full error message:

The SWO Agent has failed to register to the cluster at xx-yy.cloud.solarwinds.com. Access Token is invalid.

If you encounter this error when installing the Agent using the bash installation script, check the API token in the script. Make sure the API token is the same as the -AccessToken used in Add Host wizard. If it is different, copy the token from the wizard and use it in the script. See Add a self-managed host.

Error: Agent failed to register to the cluster. Connection problem. Verify SWO_URL.

Full error message:

The SWO Agent has failed to register to the cluster at na-01.cloud.solarwinds.com. Connection problem. Please verify SWO_URL.

If you encounter this error when installing the Agent using the bash installation script, verify the following:

Make sure the SWO_URL used in the script is the same as the SWO_URL used in the Add Host wizard.
Check the operation status of SolarWinds Observability and its services at https://status.cloud.solarwinds.com/
Make sure you are connected to the internet and that the traffic and ports are not blocked. SolarWinds Observability Agent use port 443 for communication.

Error: SWO Agent already installed

Full Linux messages:

Warning: The SWO Agent is already installed on this machine. The installation might not succeed. It is recommended to uninstall the SWO Agent before performing a new installation.
Error: SWO Agent is already installed and deactivated. Please uninstall the SWO Agent before performing a new installation.

Full Windows message:

Warning: Client is deactivated. Please uninstall client and run script again.

If you encounter this issue when installing the Agent using the bash or PowerShell installation script, the SWO Agent was already installed on this host and removed from the Agents page in SolarWinds Observability. The Agent is thus deactivated and cannot be installed.

To address the issue, uninstall the Agent and then re-install it. See Reinstall the Agent.

Warning: Agent already installed. The installation might not succeed.

Full warning message:

SWO Agent is already installed on this machine. The installation might not succeed. It is recommended to uninstall the SWO Agent before performing a new installation.

If you encounter this warning when installing the Agent using the bash or PowerShell installation script, the Agent is installed on this host.

To address the issue, uninstall the Agent and then re-install it. See Reinstall the Agent.

Error: rpmdb open failed

If you encounter the rpmdb open failed error when installing the Agent on a private EC2 instance, rebuild the RPM database.

Error message:

Error: rpmdb open failed

To address the issue, run the following script to rebuild the RPM database:

mkdir /var/lib/rpm/backup
cp -a /var/lib/rpm/__db* /var/lib/rpm/backup/
rm -f /var/lib/rpm/__db.[0-9][0-9]*
rpm --quiet -qa
rpm --rebuilddb
yum clean all

Issues with the Agent service startup after the target host restart

When you have deployed the SolarWinds Observability Agent on a Windows computer and you stop receiving data after the computer restarts, complete the following steps.

In SolarWinds Observability, click Settings > Agents.
Locate the computer hosting the Agent and review the Agent status. If it is disconnected, the service was not restarted correctly.
On the computer hosting the Agent, open Services.
In Services, locate the SolarWinds UAMS Client service and check its status.
If the service is not running, restart it.
If restarting the service doesn't resolve the issue, right-click the service and set the Startup type to Automatic (Delayed Start).

The automatic startup type will resolve the issue, the Agent in SolarWinds Observability will be connected, and you should be receiving data.

The Agent fails to install because enabled cipher suites do not match supported ciphers

Enable the supported cipher suites on your servers. See Cipher suites supported by SolarWinds Observability Agent.

Reinstall the Agent

Reinstall the Agent used for adding hosts via a ready-made script

On the server hosting the SolarWinds Observability Agent, uninstall the Agent. See Uninstall the Agent.
- On Windows computers, run the uamsclient.msi, select Remove, and complete the wizard.
- On .deb-based Linux, run the following code.
```
sudo dpkg --purge uamsclient
```
- On .rpm-based Linux, run the following code.
```
sudo rpm -e uamsclient
```
Remove the SolarWinds Observability Agent from SolarWinds Observability.
1. In SolarWinds Observability, click Settings > Agents.
2. In Agents, locate the entity hosting the Agent.
3. Click the vertical ellipsis at the end of the row, and then click Delete.
  
  See Remove the Agent from SolarWinds Observability.
Install Agent. See Add a self-managed host.

Reinstall the Agent used by the Network Collector via a ready-made PowerShell script

On the server hosting the SolarWinds Observability Agent, uninstall the Agent. See Uninstall the Agent.
Remove the SolarWinds Observability Agent from SolarWinds Observability.
1. In SolarWinds Observability, click Settings > Agents.
2. In Agents, locate the entity hosting the Agent.
3. Click the vertical ellipsis at the end of the row, and then click Delete.
  
  See Remove the Agent from SolarWinds Observability.
Install the Agent:
1. In SolarWinds Observability, click Add Data in the upper-right corner.
2. Click Network Device.
3. On Add Network Device, copy the PowerShell script.
4. Run the script on the server hosting the Agent. Use PowerShell with administrator permissions.

Reinstall the Agent used by a host via the MSI file with parameters

If you prefer using the MSI file, add the additional parameter METADATA="role:host-monitoring".

On the server hosting the SolarWinds Observability Agent, uninstall the Agent. See Uninstall the Agent.
Remove the SolarWinds Observability Agent from SolarWinds Observability.
1. In SolarWinds Observability, click Settings > Agents.
2. In Agents, locate the entity hosting the Agent.
3. Click the vertical ellipsis at the end of the row, and then click Delete.
  
  See Remove the Agent from SolarWinds Observability.
Copy or create an API token (Ingestion type), found in the settings area of SolarWinds Observability. You will need it later. See API Tokens for details.
Start PowerShell with administrator privileges.
In the PowerShell console, go to the folder with uamsclient.msi.
In the following command, replace ....... with the token copied previously, and then run the command.
```
msiexec /i uamsclient.msi ACCESSTOKEN="........." METADATA="role:host-monitoring"
```

Reinstall the Agent used by Network Collector via the MSI file with parameters

If you prefer using the MSI file, add the additional parameter METADATA="role:SiteCollector".

On the server hosting the SolarWinds Observability Agent, uninstall the Agent. See Uninstall the Agent.
Remove the SolarWinds Observability Agent from SolarWinds Observability.
1. In SolarWinds Observability, click Settings > Agents.
2. In Agents, locate the entity hosting the Agent.
3. Click the vertical ellipsis at the end of the row, and then click Delete.
  
  See Remove the Agent from SolarWinds Observability.
Copy or create an API token (Ingestion type), found in the settings area of SolarWinds Observability. You will need it later. See API Tokens for details.
Start PowerShell with administrator privileges.
In the PowerShell console, go to the folder with uamsclient.msi.
In the following command, replace ....... with the token copied previously, and then run the command.
```
msiexec /i uamsclient.msi ACCESSTOKEN="........." METADATA="role:SiteCollector"
```

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