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Data Infrastructure Insights

Configuring an Agent to Collect Data (Windows/Linux)

Contributors netapp-alavoie
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Data Infrastructure Insights uses Telegraf as its agent for collection of integration data. Telegraf is a plugin-driven server agent that can be used to collect and report metrics, events, and logs. Input plugins are used to collect the desired information into the agent by accessing the system/OS directly, by calling third-party APIs, or by listening to configured streams (i.e. Kafka, statsD, etc). Output plugins are used to send the collected metrics, events, and logs from the agent to Data Infrastructure Insights.

The current Telegraf version for Data Infrastructure Insights is 1.24.0.

For information on installing on Kubernetes, see the NetApp Kubernetes Monitoring Operator page.

Note For accurate audit and data reporting, it is strongly recommended to synchronize the time on the Agent machine using Network Time Protocol (NTP) or Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP).
Note If you want to verify the installation files before instaling the Agent, see the section below on Verifying Checksums.

Installing an Agent

If you are installing a Service data collector and have not yet configured an Agent, you are prompted to first install an Agent for the appropriate Operating System. This topic provides instructions for installing the Telegraf agent on the following Operating Systems:

To install an agent, regardless of the platform you are using, you must first do the following:

  1. Log into the host you will use for your agent.

  2. Log in to your Data Infrastructure Insights environment and navigate to Observability > Collectors.

  3. Click on +Data Collector and choose a data collector to install.

  4. Choose the appropriate platform for your host (Windows, Linux)

  5. Follow the remaining steps for each platform.

Note Once you have installed an agent on a host, you do not need to install an agent again on that host.
Tip Once you have installed an agent on a server/VM, Data Infrastructure Insights collects metrics from that system in addition to collecting from any data collectors you configure. These metrics are gathered as "Node" metrics.
Note If you are using a proxy, read the proxy instructions for your platform before installing the Telegraf agent.

Log Locations

Telegraf log messages are redirected from stdout to the following log files be default:

  • RHEL/CentOS: /var/log/telegraf/telegraf.log

  • Ubuntu/Debian: /var/log/telegraf/telegraf.log

  • Windows: C:\Program Files\telegraf\telegraf.log

Windows

Pre-requisites:

  • PowerShell must be installed

  • If you are behind a proxy, you must follow the instructions in the Configuring Proxy Support for Windows section.

Configuring Proxy Support for Windows

Note If your environment uses a proxy, read this section before you install.
Note The steps below outline the actions needed to set the http_proxy/https_proxy environment variables. For some proxy environments, users may also need to set the no_proxy environment variable.

For systems residing behind a proxy, perform the following to set the https_proxy and/or http_proxy environment variable(s) PRIOR to installing the Telegraf agent:

[System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable(“https_proxy”, “<proxy_server>:<proxy_port>”, [System.EnvironmentVariableTarget]::Machine)

Installing the agent

Windows Agent Install

Steps to install agent on Windows:

  1. Choose an Agent Access Key.

  2. Copy the command block from the agent installation dialog. You can click the clipboard icon to quickly copy the command to the clipboard.

  3. Open a PowerShell window

  4. Paste the command into the PowerShell window and press Enter.

  5. The command will download the appropriate agent installer, install it, and set a default configuration. When finished, it will restart the agent service. The command has a unique key and is valid for 24 hours.

  6. Click Finish or Continue

After the agent is installed, you can use the following commands to start/stop the service:

Start-Service telegraf
Stop-Service telegraf

Uninstalling the Agent

To uninstall the agent on Windows, do the following in a PowerShell window:

  1. Stop and delete the Telegraf service:

    Stop-Service telegraf
sc.exe delete telegraf

  2. Remove the certificate from the trustore:

    cd Cert:\CurrentUser\Root
//rm E5FB7B68C08B1CA902708584C274F8EFC7BE8ABC
rm 1A918038E8E127BB5C87A202DF173B97A05B4996

  3. Delete the C:\Program Files\telegraf folder to remove the binary, logs, and configuration files

  4. Remove the SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\Application\telegraf key from the registry

Upgrading the Agent

To upgrade the telegraf agent, do the following:

  1. Stop and delete the telegraf service:

    Stop-Service telegraf
sc.exe delete telegraf

  2. Delete the SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\Application\telegraf key from the registry

  3. Delete C:\Program Files\telegraf\telegraf.conf

  4. Delete C:\Program Files\telegraf\telegraf.exe

  5. Install the new agent.

RHEL and CentOS

Pre-requisites:

  • The following commands must be available: curl, sudo, ping, sha256sum, openssl, and dmidecode

  • If you are behind a proxy, you must follow the instructions in the Configuring Proxy Support for RHEL/CentOS section.

Configuring Proxy Support for RHEL/CentOS

Note If your environment uses a proxy, read this section before you install.
Note The steps below outline the actions needed to set the http_proxy/https_proxy environment variables. For some proxy environments, users may also need to set the no_proxy environment variable.

For systems residing behind a proxy, perform the following steps PRIOR to installing the Telegraf agent:

  1. Set the https_proxy and/or http_proxy environment variable(s) for the current user:

    export https_proxy=<proxy_server>:<proxy_port>

  2. Create /etc/default/telegraf, and insert definitions for the https_proxy and/or http_proxy variable(s):

    https_proxy=<proxy_server>:<proxy_port>

Installing the agent

Rhel/CentOS Agent Install

Steps to install agent on RHEL/CentOS:

  1. Choose an Agent Access Key.

  2. Copy the command block from the agent installation dialog. You can click the clipboard icon to quickly copy the command to the clipboard.

  3. Open a Bash window

  4. Paste the command into the Bash window and press Enter.

  5. The command will download the appropriate agent installer, install it, and set a default configuration. When finished, it will restart the agent service. The command has a unique key and is valid for 24 hours.

  6. Click Finish or Continue

After the agent is installed, you can use the following commands to start/stop the service:

If your operating system is using systemd (CentOS 7+ and RHEL 7+):

sudo systemctl start telegraf
sudo systemctl stop telegraf

If your operating system is not using systemd (CentOS 7+ and RHEL 7+):

sudo service telegraf start
sudo service telegraf stop

Uninstalling the Agent

To uninstall the agent on RHEL/CentOS, in a Bash terminal, do the following:

  1. Stop the Telegraf service:

    systemctl stop telegraf (If your operating system is using systemd (CentOS 7+ and RHEL 7+)
/etc/init.d/telegraf stop (for systems without systemd support)

  2. Remove the Telegraf agent:

    yum remove telegraf

  3. Remove any configuration or log files that may be left behind:

    rm -rf /etc/telegraf*
rm -rf /var/log/telegraf*

Upgrading the Agent

To upgrade the telegraf agent, do the following:

  1. Stop the telegraf service:

    systemctl stop telegraf (If your operating system is using systemd (CentOS 7+ and RHEL 7+)
/etc/init.d/telegraf stop (for systems without systemd support)

  2. Remove the previous telegraf agent:

    yum remove telegraf

  3. Install the new agent.

Ubuntu and Debian

Pre-requisites:

  • The following commands must be available: curl, sudo, ping, sha256sum, openssl, and dmidecode

  • If you are behind a proxy, you must follow the instructions in the Configuring Proxy Support for Ubuntu/Debian section.

Configuring Proxy Support for Ubuntu/Debian

Note If your environment uses a proxy, read this section before you install.
Note The steps below outline the actions needed to set the http_proxy/https_proxy environment variables. For some proxy environments, users may also need to set the no_proxy environment variable.

For systems residing behind a proxy, perform the following steps PRIOR to installing the Telegraf agent:

  1. Set the https_proxy and/or http_proxy environment variable(s) for the current user:

    export https_proxy=<proxy_server>:<proxy_port>

  2. Create /etc/default/telegraf, and insert definitions for the https_proxy and/or http_proxy variable(s):

    https_proxy=<proxy_server>:<proxy_port>

Installing the agent

Ubuntu/Debian Agent Install

Steps to install agent on Debian or Ubuntu:

  1. Choose an Agent Access Key.

  2. Copy the command block from the agent installation dialog. You can click the clipboard icon to quickly copy the command to the clipboard.

  3. Open a Bash window

  4. Paste the command into the Bash window and press Enter.

  5. The command will download the appropriate agent installer, install it, and set a default configuration. When finished, it will restart the agent service. The command has a unique key and is valid for 24 hours.

  6. Click Finish or Continue

After the agent is installed, you can use the following commands to start/stop the service:

If your operating system is using systemd:

sudo systemctl start telegraf
sudo systemctl stop telegraf

If your operating system is not using systemd:

sudo service telegraf start
sudo service telegraf stop

Uninstalling the Agent

To uninstall the agent on Ubuntu/Debian, in a Bash terminal, run the following:

  1. Stop the Telegraf service:

    systemctl stop telegraf (If your operating system is using systemd)
/etc/init.d/telegraf stop (for systems without systemd support)

  2. Remove the Telegraf agent:

    dpkg -r telegraf

  3. Remove any configuration or log files that may be left behind:

    rm -rf /etc/telegraf*
rm -rf /var/log/telegraf*

Upgrading the Agent

To upgrade the telegraf agent, do the following:

  1. Stop the telegraf service:

    systemctl stop telegraf (If your operating system is using systemd)
/etc/init.d/telegraf stop (for systems without systemd support)

  2. Remove the previous telegraf agent:

    dpkg -r telegraf

  3. Install the new agent.

Verifying Checksums

The Data Infrastructure Insights agent installer performs integrity checks, but some users may want to perform their own verifications before installing or applying downloaded artifacts. This can be done by downloading the installer and generating a checksum for the downloaded package, then comparing the checksum to the value shown in the install instructions.

Download the installer package without installing

To perform a download-only operation (as opposed to the default download-and-install), users can edit the agent installation command obtained from the UI and remove the trailing “install” option.

Follow these steps:

  1. Copy the Agent Installer snippet as directed.

  2. Instead of pasting the snippet into a command window, paste it into a text editor.

  3. Remove the trailing “--install” (Linux) or “-install” (Windows) from the command.

  4. Copy the entire command from the text editor.

  5. Now paste it into your command window (in a working directory) and run it.

Non-Windows (these examples are for Kubernetes; actual script names may vary):

  • Download and install (default):

    installerName=cloudinsights-kubernetes.sh … && sudo -E -H ./$installerName --download –-install

  • Download-only:

    installerName=cloudinsights-kubernetes.sh … && sudo -E -H ./$installerName --download

Windows:

  • Download and install (default):

    !$($installerName=".\cloudinsights-windows.ps1") … -and $(&$installerName -download -install)

  • Download-only:

    !$($installerName=".\cloudinsights-windows.ps1") … -and $(&$installerName -download)

The download-only command will download all required artifacts from Data Infrastructure Insights to the working directory. The artifacts include, but may not be limited to:

  • an installation script

  • an environment file

  • YAML files

  • a checksum file (ending in sha256.signed or sha256.ps1)

The installation script, environment file, and YAML files can be verified using visual inspection.

Generate checksum value

To generate the checksum value, perform the following command for your appropriate platform:

  • RHEL/Ubuntu:

    sha256sum <package_name>

  • Windows:

    Get-FileHash telegraf.zip -Algorithm SHA256 | Format-List

Verify checksum

Extract the expected checksum from the checksum file

  • Non-Windows:

    openssl smime -verify -in telegraf*.sha256.signed -CAfile netapp_cert.pem -purpose any -nosigs -noverify

  • Windows:

    (Get-Content telegraf.zip.sha256.ps1 -First 1).toUpper()

Install the downloaded package

Once all of the artifacts have been satisfactorily verified, the agent installation can be initiated by running:

Non-Windows:

sudo -E -H ./<installation_script_name> --install

Windows:

.\cloudinsights-windows.ps1 -install

Troubleshooting

Some things to try if you encounter problems setting up an agent:

Problem: Try this:

After configuring a new plugin and restarting Telegraf, Telegraf fails to start up. The logs indicate that an error resembling the following:

"[telegraf] Error running agent: Error loading config file /etc/telegraf/telegraf.d/cloudinsights-default.conf: plugin outputs.http: line <linenumber>: configuration specified the fields ["use_system_proxy"], but they weren't used"

The installed Telegraf version is outdated. Follow the steps on this page to Upgrade the Agent for your appropriate platform.

I ran the installer script on an old installation and now the agent isn’t sending data

Uninstall the telegraf agent and then re-run the installation script. Follow the Upgrade the Agent steps on this page for your appropriate platform.

I already installed an agent using Data Infrastructure Insights

If you have already installed an agent on your host/VM, you do not need to install the agent again. In this case, simply choose the appropriate Platform and Key in the Agent Installation screen, and click on Continue or Finish.

I already have an agent installed but not by using the Data Infrastructure Insights installer

Remove the previous agent and run the Data Infrastructure Insights Agent installation, to ensure proper default configuration file settings. When complete, click on Continue or Finish.

Additional information may be found from the Support page or in the Data Collector Support Matrix.