This page describes how to install the Machine Agent and Network Agents in a Kubernetes cluster where the Cluster Agent Operator is installed.

The Cluster Agent Operator provides a custom resource definition called InfraViz. You can use InfraViz to simplify deploying the Machine and Network Agents as a daemonset in a Kubernetes cluster. Additionally, you can deploy these agents by creating a daemonset YAML which does not require the Cluster Agent Operator. For more information, see these examples

To deploy the Analytics Agent as a daemonset in a Kubernetes cluster, see Install Agent-Side Components in Kubernetes.

Windows Containers are not supported for this deployment.

Requirements

Before you begin, verify that you have:

  • Installed kubectl >= 1.16
  • Cluster Agent >= 21.3.1
  • Met these requirements: Cluster Agent Requirements and Supported Environments.
  • If Server Visibility is required, sufficient Server Visibility licenses based on the number of worker nodes in your cluster. 
  • Permissions to view servers in the Cisco AppDynamics Controller.

Installation Procedure

  1. Install the Cluster Agent. From this Alpine Linux example:

    1. Download the Cluster Agent bundle. 

    2. Unzip the Cluster Agent bundle.

    3. Deploy the Cluster Agent Operator using the CLI specifying the correct Kubernetes and OpenShift version (if applicable):

      unzip appdynamics-cluster-agent-alpine-linux-<version>.zip
      kubectl create namespace appdynamics
      BASH
      kubectl create -f cluster-agent-operator.yaml
      BASH
      kubectl create -f cluster-agent-operator-openshift.yaml
      BASH
      kubectl create -f cluster-agent-operator-openshift-1.15-or-less.yaml
      BASH

      You can also install Cluster Agent Operator from OpenShift OperatorHub in your OpenShift cluster.

  2. Create a Cluster Agent secret using the Machine Agent access key to connect to the Controller. If a cluster-agent-secret does not exist, you must create one, see Install the Cluster Agent with the Kubernetes CLI.

    kubectl -n appdynamics create secret generic cluster-agent-secret --from-literal=controller-key=<access-key>
    BASH
  3. (Optional) Create an Infrastructure Visibility secret by using the keystore credentials.
    1. Run the following command to import your CA certificate from custom-ssl.pem file:

      keytool -import -alias rootCA -file custom-ssl.pem -keystore cacerts.jks -storepass <your-password>
      CODE
    2. Create keystore file secret.

      kubectl -n appdynamics create secret generic <cacertinfraviz> --from-file=cacerts.jks
      CODE
    3. Create Keystore password secret

      kubectl -n appdynamics create secret generic <kspassinfraviz> --from-literal=keystore-password="<your-password>"
      CODE

      Here, cacertinfraviz is the keystore filename and kspassinfraviz is the keystore password of Infrastructure Visibility.

      The the keystore file and password that you specify here should be included in the infraviz.yaml file to apply the custom SSL configuration. For example,

      keyStoreFileSecret: cacertinfraviz
      keystorePasswordSecret: kspassinfraviz
      CODE
  4. Update the infraviz.yaml file to set the controllerUrl, and account values based on the information from the Controller's License page.
    To enable Server Visibility, set enableServerViz to true (shown in the infraviz.yaml configuration example).
    To deploy a Machine Agent without Server Visibility enabled, set enableServerViz to false.

    infraviz.yaml Configuration File with Server Visibility Enabled

    apiVersion: v1
    kind: ServiceAccount
    metadata:
      name: appdynamics-infraviz
      namespace: appdynamics
    ---
    apiVersion: cluster.appdynamics.com/v1alpha1
    kind: InfraViz
    metadata:
      name: appdynamics-infraviz
      namespace: appdynamics
    spec:
      controllerUrl: "https://mycontroller.saas.appdynamics.com"
      image: "docker.io/appdynamics/machine-agent:latest"
      account: "<your-account-name>"
      globalAccount: "<your-global-account-name>"
      enableContainerHostId: true
      enableServerViz: true
      resources:
        limits:
          cpu: 500m
          memory: "1G"
        requests:
          cpu: 200m
          memory: "800M"
    YML

    The infraviz.yaml configuration file example deploys a daemonset that runs a single pod per node in the cluster. Each pod runs a single container from where the Machine Agent, or Server Visibility Agent runs. 

  5. To enable the Network Visibility Agent to run in a second container in the same pod, add the netVizImage and netVizPort keys and values as shown in this configuration file example:

    infraviz.yaml Configuration File with Second Container in a Single Pod

    apiVersion: v1
    kind: ServiceAccount
    metadata:
      name: appdynamics-infraviz
      namespace: appdynamics
    ---
    apiVersion: cluster.appdynamics.com/v1alpha1
    kind: InfraViz
    metadata:
      name: appdynamics-infraviz
      namespace: appdynamics
    spec:
      controllerUrl: "https://mycontroller.saas.appdynamics.com"
      image: "docker.io/appdynamics/machine-agent:latest"
      account: "<your-account-name>"
      enableContainerHostId: true
      enableServerViz: true
      netVizImage: appdynamics/machine-agent-netviz:latest
      netVizPort: 3892
      resources:
        limits:
          cpu: 500m
          memory: "1G"
        requests:
          cpu: 200m
          memory: "800M"
    YML
  6. Use kubectl to deploy infraviz.yaml 

    • For environments where Kubernetes >=1.25, PodSecurityPolicy is removed from Kubernetes >= 1.25 (https://kubernetes.io/blog/2022/08/23/kubernetes-v1-25-release/#pod-security-changes). Pod security restrictions are now applied at the namespace level (https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/security/pod-security-admission/) using Pod Security Standard levels . Therefore you must set the level as Privileged to the namespace in which Infrastructure Visibility pod is running.
    • For environments where Kubernetes <1.25, PodSecurityPolicies block certain pod security context configuration, such as privileged pods, you must deploy the infraviz-pod-security-policy.yaml before editing the infraviz.yaml file. You must attach PodSecurityPolicy to appdynamics-infraviz service account explictly.
    • For environments where OpenShift SecurityContextConstraints block certain pod security context configuration, such as privileged pods, you must deploy the infraviz-security-context-constraint-openshift.yaml before editing the infraviz.yaml file.
    kubectl create -f infraviz.yaml
    BASH
    kubectl create -f infraviz-pod-security-policy.yaml
    kubectl create -f infraviz.yaml
    BASH
    1. Specify the following Kubernetes labels to the namespace where Infrastructure Visibility is installed:

      • pod-security.kubernetes.io/<MODE>: <LEVEL> (Required)

      • pod-security.kubernetes.io/<MODE>-version: <VERSION> (Optional)
        For more info see, https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/configure-pod-container/enforce-standards-namespace-labels/.

        sample-namespace.yaml

        apiVersion: v1
        kind: Namespace
        metadata:
          name: appdynamics
          labels:
            pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce: privileged
            pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce-version: v1.27
            pod-security.kubernetes.io/audit: privileged
            pod-security.kubernetes.io/audit-version: v1.27
            pod-security.kubernetes.io/warn: privileged
            pod-security.kubernetes.io/warn-version: v1.27
        YML
    2. Run the following command:

      kubectl create -f infraviz.yaml
      CODE
    kubectl create -f infraviz-security-context-constraint-openshift.yaml
    kubectl create -f infraviz.yaml
    BASH
  7. Confirm that the appdynamics-infraviz pod is running, and the Machine Agent, Server Visibility Agent, and Network Agent containers are ready:

    kubectl -n appdynamics get pods
    NAME                                    READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
    appdynamics-infraviz-shkhj                     2/2     Running   0          18s
    
    BASH
  8. To verify that the agents are registering with the Controller, review the logs and confirm that the agents display in the Agents Dashboard of the Controller Administration UI. In the Controller, if Server Visibility is enabled, the nodes are visible under Controller > Servers.

    kubectl -n appdynamics logs appdynamics-infraviz-shkhj -c appd-infra-agent
    ...
    Started Machine Agent Successfully
    BASH

InfraViz Configuration Settings

To configure Infrastructure Visibility, you can modify these parameters in the infraviz.yaml file included with the download package. After changing the file, delete and re-create the InfraViz deployment to ensure the changes are applied.

ParameterDescriptionRequired/OptionalDefault
account

Cisco AppDynamics account name

RequiredN/A
appNameName of the cluster displayed on the Controller UI as your cluster name. This is a flag to group nodes of the cluster under this cluster name.OptionalN/A
argsList of command argumentsOptionalN/A
controllerUrl

URL of the Cisco AppDynamics Controller

RequiredN/A
enableContainerHostIdFlag that determines how container names are derived; specify either true or false.Requiredtrue
enableMastersBy default, only Worker nodes are monitored. When set to true, Server Visibility is provided for Master nodes. For managed Kubernetes providers, the flag has no effect because the Master plane is not accessible.Optionalfalse
enableServerVizEnable Server VisibilityRequired
false
enableDockerVizEnable Docker VisibilityRequiredfalse
envList environment variablesOptionalN/A
eventServiceUrlEvent Service EndpointOptionalN/A
globalAccountGlobal account nameOptionalN/A
imageRetrieves the most recent version of the Machine Agent image.Optionalappdynamics/machine-agent:latest
imagePullPolicyThe image pull policy for the InfraViz pod.Optional

imagePullPolicy: Always

imagePullSecretName of the pull secret imageOptionalN/A
logLevelLevel of logging verbosity. Valid options are: info or debug.Optionalinfo
metricsLimitMaximum number of metrics that the Machine Agent sends to the Controller.OptionalN/A
netVizImageRetrieves the most recent version of Network Agent image.Optionalappdynamics/machine-agent-netviz:latest
netVizPortWhen > 0, the Network Agent is deployed in a sidecar with the Machine Agent. By default, the Network Visibility Agent works with port 3892.Optional3892
nodeSelectorOS specific label that identifies nodes for scheduling of the daemonset pods.Optionallinux

overrideVolumeMounts

The list of volumeMounts.Optional

overrideVolumeMounts:

- proc
- sys
- etc

priorityClassName

Name of the priority class that determines priority when a pod needs to be evicted.OptionalN/A
propertyBagString with any other Machine Agent parametersOptionalN/A
proxyUrlURL of the proxy server (protocol://domain:port)OptionalN/A
proxyUserProxy user credentials (user@password)OptionalN/A
resourcesDefinitions of resources and limits for the Machine Agent

Optional

N/A
resourcesNetVizSet resources for the Network Visibility (NetViz) containerOptional

Request

  • CPU: 100m
  • Memory: 150Mi

Limit

  • CPU: 200m
  • Memory: 300Mi
runAsUser

The UID (User ID) to run the entry point of the container process. If you do not specify the UID, this defaults to the user id specified in the image.

docker.io/appdynamics/machine-agent

 docker.io/appdynamics/machine-agent-analytics:latest

If you require to run on any other UID, change the UID for runAsUser without changing the group ID.

Optional

UID: 1001

Username: appdynamics

runAsGroupThe GID (Group ID) to run the entry point of the container process. If you do not specify the ID, this uses the UID specified in the image, 

docker.io/appdynamics/machine-agent

docker.io/appdynamics/machine-agent-analytics:latest

OptionalUID: 1001
Username: appdynamics
stdoutLoggingDetermines if logs are saved to a file or redirected to the Console.Optionalfalse
tolerationsList of tolerations based on the taints that are associated with nodes.OptionalN/A
uniqueHostId

Unique host ID in Cisco AppDynamics. Valid options are: spec.nodeNamestatus.hostIP.

Optionalspec.nodeName