Install the Database Agent

This page describes how to manually install the Database Agent. You can alternatively follow the steps in the Download & Install Wizard, which you can access from the Home page in the Controller UI. The wizard simplifies the install process.

To avoid permission issues, you should install the Database Agent as the same user who will run the agent, or as an administrator on the host machine. To run the Database Agent, you must have write privileges to the logging output directory and to the conf directory, which are located in the agent installation directory.

Install the Agent Software

1. Download the version of the installation package that is appropriate for your OS environment from the AppDynamics Download Center (http://download.appdynamics.com).
2. Extract the zip file to the destination directory. Do not use spaces in the agent installation destination directory. 
3. Log on as an administrator to the machine where you will be installing the Database Agent.

Windows

Double-click the dbagent-x.x.x.zip file and extract the files to <db_agent_home>. If necessary, you can unblock the zip file before you extract it as follows: Right-click on the zip file, select Properties and choose unblock. 

There are two versions of the database agent: one that is 32-bit and one that is 64-bit (as of 4.5.2). Choose a version based on your OS requirements.

Linux

Enter the following on the command line: 

unzip dbagent-x.x.x.zip -d <db_agent_home>

Running Multiple Database Agents

You can have multiple Database Agents concurrently running the agent jar in the <db_agent_home> directory on the same machine. Some system properties may be required depending on how you'll be using the agents.

Database Agent Licensing (On-premises Only)

Obtain a license.lic file with Database Monitoring licensing from your sales or support representative and put the license file in the directory where you installed the Controller. After placing the license in the directory, the Controller may take a minute or two to detect the new license. Restarting the Controller forces it to detect new licenses.

Configure the Agent

You can configure properties for the Controller host name, port number, and account access key using either the <db_agent_home>/conf/controller-info.xml file or by adding system properties to the Database Agent startup script.

Controller Host Name

Configure using controller-info.xml: <controller_host>
Configure using System Properties: -Dappdynamics.controller.hostName
Required: Yes
Default: None

Controller Port

Configure using controller-info.xml: <controller_port>
Configure using System Properties: -Dappdynamics.controller.port
Required: Yes
Default:  For On-premises Controller installations: Port 8090 for HTTP and 8181 for HTTPS communication. 
               For SaaS Controller service: Port 80 for HTTP and port 443 for HTTPS communication.

Account Access Key

Configure using controller-info.xml: <account_access_key>
Configure using System Properties: -Dappdynamics.agent.accountAccessKey
Required: Yes
Default:  None 

Optional Configurations:

• Configure the agent to use SSL, see Enable SSL for Communicating with the Controller.

• Configure the agent to use Proxy Settings, see Proxy Settings for the Controller.

• Configure the agent to run automatically when the Machine starts on Linux or Windows.

• Configure the agent to uniquely identify itself to the Controller, such as when you require multiple agents. See Multiple Agent Environment Properties.
• Configure the agent to act as a backup to another Database Agent. See Multiple Agent Environment Properties.
• Configure the logging level of the Database Agent running on the agent JVM. The attached log file shows an example of the agent log file when the agent logging is set to INFO level. This is the default. The log files are in <db_agent_home>\logs.

Start the Controller Events Service (On-premises Only)

In an on-premises environment, for monitoring the database you must start the controller events service before starting Database Agent.

Linux

The following assumes that all the necessary parameters have been specified in the controller-info.xml.

Method 1: Launch Agent with Start Script

You can use a script to start the agent. This is the recommended method.

Linux

./start-dbagent -Xms<min_heap_size> -Xmx<max_heap_size> &

Windows

start-dbagent.bat -Xms<min_heap_size> -Xmx<max_heap_size>

Alternatively, you can launch the agent as a Windows Service (as of 4.5.4). See Install the Database Agent as a Windows Service.

Method 2: Launch Agent with Java Command 

Alternatively, you can launch the agent with these Java commands:

Linux

System Properties

Database Agent Name

Configure using System Properties:  -Ddbagent.name=<db_agent_name>
Type: ASCII string, including spaces. If <db_agent_name> contains spaces, you must enclose the entire name in double quotes (" ").
Required: Yes, when you have multiple agents reporting to the same Controller.
Default: Default Database Agent

Java Library Path

Configure using System Properties:  -Djava.library.path=<db_agent_home>\auth\x64
Type: ASCII string, including spaces. If <db_agent_home> contains spaces, you must enclose the entire name in double quotes (" ").
Required: Yes, for Windows only
Specify:
   For 64-bit systems: <db_agent_home>\auth\x64
   For 32-bit systems: <db_agent_home>\auth\x86

Increase the JVM Memory

To monitor multiple databases, you may need to increase the JVM memory allocation size. Increased activity on the databases you are monitoring results in increased memory usage. 

Use one of the following commands to start the agent, and to initially allocate 1536 MB to the agent instead of the default of 64 MB. 

C:\java -Xmx1536m -Djava.library.path="<db_agent_home>\auth\x64" -jar <db_agent_home>\db-agent.jar

% java -Xmx1536m -jar <db_agent_home>/db-agent.jar