Auto-Deploy Agents with Deployment Groups

Deployment Groups are used as a template to auto-attach (for Java and Node.js)and configure multiple supported agents for installation. The Deployment Group configuration is a one-time setup process applicable to any supported agent type. It can be applied to various Smart Agents to install the configured language agents.

Deployment groups are beneficial for large-scale deployments. These groups allow you to automate deployments in a declarative manner, efficiently managing deployment and configuration from a centralized location.

A deployment group allows you to set up the following from a single location:

• Deployment of agents
• Configuration of agents
• Setting up auto-attach for Java and Node.js

When creating a Deployment Group, you can enable the necessary agents along with their required configurations. Selecting a host with Smart Agent will trigger the automatic deployment of these agents. Also, a single configuration can be applied to multiple hosts with Smart Agent.

You can perform the following actions from the Agent Management > Deployment groups tab:

Create a Deployment Group

Perform the following steps to create a Deployment group:

1. Navigate to Agent Management > Deployment groups.
2. Click Create New.
3. Under Name, specify a unique name for the deployment group, then click Next.
   To deploy the agent at a specific time, specify the date and time for Schedule Deployment.
4. It is worth calling out that one agent version + configuration per language/type can be set up to be installed to the hosts.
5. Set up one agent version with its configuration based on the agent type to be installed using a specific host.
   Under Agents, perform the following:
   1. select the agent that you want to auto-deploy with a specific configuration.
   2. Select Enabled.
   3. Specify the Primary Attributes and any Additional Attributes.
   4. Repeat steps from a to c if you require to auto-deploy other agents on the same host machine.
   5. Click Next
6. Under Hosts, select the host on which you want to deploy the agents from the available table and move it to the Selected table using the left arrow. 
   You can choose more than one host if you want to auto-deploy the same agents with same configuration on different hosts. 
   
   

   • If you do not want to specify the hosts during the group creation because you want to auto-deploy the agents later, you can skip this step and specify the hosts later.
   • If you create a Deployment group with an already configured host, Smart Agent overwrites the existing configuration. This happens because Deployment group is for redeploying the supported agents with new configuration using the Smart Agent.
7. Click Next.
   Summary provides the details of the created group. This helps you to review the Deployment group configuration. 
8. Click Save.

Update or Change the Hosts in a Deployment Group

You can add a host or change a host in a specific Deployment group using Change hosts. When you change the host of a specific Deployment group, the agents get auto-deployed with that group configuration to the updated host. You can also import the list of hosts in a CSV format.

When you removal a host from a deployment group, it does not uninstall agents from the host.

To change or update host, perform the following:

1. Navigate to Agent Management > Deployment groups.
2. Select the deployment for which you require to update or change the host, then click Change hosts.
3. Select the required host from the Available table and move it to the Selected table using left arrow.
   To deselect a host, move the host from Selected to Available using the right arrow.
4. Click Save and deploy.

Edit a Deployment Group

You can edit any Deployment group configuration by using Edit. You can edit all the parameters that you specify when you create a Deployment group.

• If you modify a Deployment group, it re-deploys the existing agents with the updated configuration. However, if you have not deployed an agent with the deployment group, then even if you are using the same host, the configurations are not applied to that agent.

• Each Smart Agent can be assigned to a single Deployment Group, and assigning the Smart Agent to another deployment group will remove the Smart Agent from the previous deployment group.

  The configured agents from the new deployment group are installed over the agents from the previous deployment group.

Create a Duplicate Deployment Group

If you require to create a Deployment group similar to an existing Deployment group, then you can perform the following:

1. Navigate to Agent Management > Deployment groups.
2. Select the Deployment group that you want to duplicate, then click Duplicate.
   This creates a new Deployment group with the same configuration as the original Deployment group. However, there will be no hosts selected.

Delete a Deployment Group

You can select the Deployment group that you require to delete, then click Delete. 

Deleting a deployment group does not delete the instrumented agents. Similarly, removing a host from a deployment group will not uninstall agents from the host. 

View Deployment Groups

You can view the following details under the Deployment groups tab: