This page provides requirements, permissions, and a procedure to install the Machine Agent. You can also use the AppDynamics Agent Installer to streamline the deployment of the Machine Agent. The Agent Installer simplifies the agent installation process.

To install Machine Agents in Kubernetes, see Install Infrastructure Visibility with the Cluster Agent Operator.


Make sure to thoroughly test your deployment in a staging or test environment before deploying it to production.

JRE Requirements

  • JRE 1.8 is required.
  • The Machine Agent starts within its own JVM.
  • You can use an existing JRE previously installed in your environment.

Permissions

  • To avoid permission issues, install the agent as the same user who owns the Machine Agent files or as an administrator on the host machine. 

  • All files in the <machine-agent-home> installation directory should be readable by the Machine Agent. 
  • The user that runs the Machine Agent must have write privileges to the logging output directory and to the /conf directory in the agent installation directory.
  • If you plan to enable the JVM Crash Guard, review the required permissions for JVM Crash Guard.
  • To create a non-root user to run the Machine Agent, see Permissions Required to Run the Machine Agent.
  • Windows permissions for files and subfolders are inherited by default from the parent folder (<machine_agent_home>). Appdynamics recommends that you restrict permissions to users authorized to start, stop, and configure the Machine Agent:
    • Read and Write permissions to all files and subfolders under <machine-agent-home>.
    • If running as a: 
      • Terminal application, then restrict Read, Write, and Execute permissions for the file <machine-agent-home>\bin\machine-agent.vbs.
      • Service, then restrict Start, Stop, and Restart permissions for the Machine Agent service. You only need admin privileges to install the service. The Machine Agent runs under the local system account which has extensive privileges on the local system. However, if WMI access is revoked, then you must run the Machine Agent as Administrator. Typically, users do have WMI access. See User Account Control and WMI.
  • Enable Windows Script Host for the Windows Machine Agent.

Installation Directory and Path Name Requirements 

The following table lists characters that are not supported for the <machine-agent-home> directory name or in any directory in the path:

Not Supported on any OS
Not Supported on Linux
Not Supported on Windows
Whitespace characters% #% # \ / : * ? " < > |
An exclamation point at the end of the directory name
Control characters such as ASCII EOL, CR, etc.

Configuration

The controller-info.xml file contains the properties used to specify agent to Controller communications. To specify the Controller host, port, and account access key properties, see Plan the Machine Agent Configuration. Based on your installation requirements, you may need to configure additional properties.

Installation for New Machine Agent

The following steps are for new installations. To upgrade Machine Agent <= 4.3, see Upgrade the Machine Agent.

  1. Plan the Machine Agent Configuration. 

  2. From AppDynamics Downloads, download the Machine Agent installation package for your OS environment onto the machine you want to monitor. 

    If there is no download bundle for your OS, use the Machine Agent zip file without the JRE, and use a separately downloaded JRE to run it. You need to download a separate JRE if the one already installed on the machine is a version earlier than JRE 1.8.

  3. Verify the Machine Agent Installation.

  4. Start the Machine Agent by executing <machine_agent_home>/bin/machine-agent. If you have java or system properties, you can add them to the end of the command. To review machine usage, enter machine-agent -h.