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This topic provides requirements, permissions, and steps to install the Machine Agent. 

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 also 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, see JVM Crash Guard to review the required permissions.
  • 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>). It is good practice to 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>.
    • Read, Write, and Execute permissions for the file <machine-agent-home>\bin\machine-agent.vbs (if running as a terminal application) 
    • Start, Stop, and Restart permissions for the Machine Agent service (if running as a 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, so there is no need to run the Machine Agent as Administrator, unless WMI access is revoked. Typically normal users do have WMI access. For additional information, see User Account Control and WMI.
  • The Windows machine agent needs Windows Script Host to be enabled.
  • The Windows machine agent runs under the local system account which has extensive privileges on the local system, so there is no need to run the Machine Agent as Administrator, unless WMI access is revoked. Typically normal users do have WMI access. For additional information, see User Account Control and WMI.

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% #% # \ / : * ? " < > |
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 for specifying agent to Controller communications. You will need to specify the Controller host, port, and account access key properties. See Plan the Machine Agent Configuration for more details. You might need to configure additional properties depending on your installation requirements.

Installation Procedure 

The following steps are for new installations. For upgrading version 4.3 and older, see Upgrade the Machine Agent.

The following steps are for new installations.

Follow these general steps to complete your installation: 

  1. Plan the Machine Agent Configuration. 

  2. From the AppDynamics Download Portal, 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 below 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 see usage, enter machine-agent -h.