Learn by watching: Installing on Linux

For an overview of the Controller and its requirements, including supported operating systems, see Controller System Requirements.

The Controller Installer for Linux

The AppDynamics Controller installer for Linux is an executable binary that you can run in GUI mode, console mode, or in silent mode by passing the installer a response file.

All software components required for Controller installation are bundled with the installer, so you do not normally need to install additional software to install the Controller.

Pre-installation Checklist for Linux

For optimum stability and performance, AppDynamics strongly recommends that you install the Controller on a dedicated machine.
The disk space requirements differ for each of the Controller Performance Profiles. Verify that there is enough disk space for the performance profile that describes your environment.
Verify that you have the right CPU, RAM and Disk I/O capacity for the performance profile you plan to install. Run the Disk I/O measurement tests described at To measure available Disk I/O.
The Controller requires that libaio be installed on the same machine. For more information see Install libaio on Linux.
Make sure the file descriptor limit is set to at least 65535. For more information see Configure File Descriptor Limits on Linux.
Install the Controller on a 64-bit Linux system if you plan to use a Medium, Large, or Extra Large Performance Profile. For details see Controller Performance Profiles.
For the Extra Large performance profile, AppDynamics recommends XFS and RAID, and additional Linux settings. See Tuning for Large Scale Deployments.
When performing the installation, the installer attempts to start up the system. Depending on system resources or other factors, this can take a considerable amount of time. If startup exceeds the 30 minute default timeout, the installer exits but leaves changes on disk, so that you can troubleshoot the issue. When finished, remove the installation directory manually and restart the installation. Optionally, you can extend the timeout by passing the ad-timeout-in-min command line parameter with the new value in minutes to the installer.
Verify that you have Read/Write/Execute permissions on the directory where you install the Controller.
Verify that a ZIP/UNZIP utility is installed on the machine to which you will download the installer.
Make sure that your network permits the Controller to communicate with agents and AppDynamics UI on its HTTP or HTTPS port.

During the installation procedure you configure several accounts for the Controller, including the database account, a root user in the Controller, and an administrator in the Controller. The usernames and password for Controller cannot include the @ character. Also, if this user will be used to authenticate REST calls to the Controller REST API, additional limitations on the use of special characters in usernames apply. See Configure Users for more information.

You do not need to be logged into the operating system as a superuser such as the root user to install the Controller. If you do not have privileges to write to the /opt directory, the installer puts the Controller in your user home directory.

Download and Launch the Linux Installer

The Controller is available at AppDynamics Download Center.

Installer Modes

The Controller installer can run in three different modes:

GUI: By default the installer tries first to start in GUI mode. If the system is not set up to display the GUI, it will start in console mode.
Console: You can force the installer to start in console mode by passing the -c option to the installer.
Silent: You can force the installer to start in silent mode by passing the -q -varfile <path-to-response-file> option. See Install an On-Premise Controller Silently for more information about silent mode and the response file.

Download and launch the Controller on Linux

To download and start the Controller installation:

Download the Linux Controller binary (controller_linux_<version>.sh) file from AppDynamics Download Center.
Assign execute permissions to the downloaded installer binary.
Launch the installer by executing the controller_linux_<version>.sh that you downloaded.

To start the installer in console or silent mode, use the -c or -q options as above. For example, to install in console mode:

./controller_32bit_linux.sh -c

The following steps describe the installation process in the context of the GUI mode. However, these steps correspond to the console installer steps, so they can be used to perform the console installation as well.

Installing the Controller on Linux

To install the Controller on Linux in GUI Mode

In the Welcome screen click Next.
The license agreement displays.
Scroll down to the bottom and accept the license agreement, then click Next.
Click Yes to grant or No to deny AppDynamics permission to collect usage data statistics from your Controller.
The data collected helps AppDynamics improve its products and services.
Set the path of the Controller installation directory in the Destination directory field, then click Next.
Enter the password for the database user that the Controller will use to access the database it uses to store data. The installer creates a user account named root in the database with the password you specify.
Enter the host name (or IP address) and primary port that the AppDynamics App Agents and browsers will use to connect to the Controller.
Scroll down to verify the default configuration of the Controller ports. If needed, click Edit Ports, modify the ports, and then click Next.

Note that the installer checks to make sure that each port is available on the system before suggesting it. If a default port number is already in use, it chooses the next highest available number for the port. For example, if the usual default port of 8090 for the Controller application server is taken, the installer suggests 8091. You only need to edit a default port number if you know it will cause a future conflict or if you have some other specific reason for choosing another port.
Choose single-tenancy or multi-tenancy mode for the Controller, then click Next.

See Controller Tenant Mode for more information about these modes.
Enter the password for the root user account in the Controller.
The Controller root user is a special type of administrative account that has global privileges in the Controller. The root user credentials let you access the global AppDynamics administration console, where you can create and manage AppDynamics accounts and configure other Controller-wide settings. See Access the Administration Console for more information about the console.
Configure initial account settings, as follows:
- If you selected single-tenancy mode, enter the username and password for the administrator of the built-in account.
- If you selected multi-tenancy mode:
  1. Enter a name for the initial account in the system, along with a username and password for the administrator for the initial account.
  2. Review and record the settings for the initial account settings and click Next.
    
    You will need to configure the App Agents with this account key and account name to associate the application with a particular account.
Select the Controller performance profile that matches your requirements and click Next.

The installer limits the choice of profiles to Demo and Small profile on 32-bit systems. When you click Next, the installer checks your system for minimum requirements and warns you if any are not met.
In the data directory settings, enter the path to the MySQL data directory and to the Elastic Search data directory and then click Next.

The Controller stores configuration and metric data in the directory indicated in the MySQL data directory field. The Elastic Search data directory is used by Database Monitoring features. If you are storing MySQL data somewhere other than the default location, say in a separate disk partition, it is likely that the Elastic Search data directory would need to be put in the same location. If you are not sure whether you will use database monitoring, you can keep the default location for now and change the data directory location later, if needed, in the events_service/analytics-processor/conf/analytics-all.properties file.
Select the high availability configuration for the Controller or Not Applicable if you are not enabling HA for this Controller. For more information see Manage Controller High Availability.

With the initial configuration settings gathered, the installer copies the files to the installation directory and configures the new instance.

To install the Controller on Linux in Silent Mode

See Install an On-Premise Controller Silently.

Verifying Controller Installation

Wait for the installation status screen to show that the installation is complete. The Controller starts automatically when installation is completed.

To verify the success of your installation, open a browser to the URL for the Controller.

http://<application_server_host_name>:<http-listener-port>/controller

Next Steps for Linux

Apply the License File
Configure swappiness if the Linux kernel is newer than 2.1.10
Configure Backups

Apply the License File

To access the Controller UI, you need to have a valid license. For a trial installation, the license file (license.lic) is bundled in your download. Otherwise, you may have acquired the license file from AppDynamics. If needed, copy the license file to the Controller installation directory:

After moving a license file to the Controller home, allow up to 5 minutes for the license change to take effect.

Configure swappiness if the Linux kernel is newer than 2.1.10

For better performance, configure swappiness. For details see Configure Swappiness on Linux. This feature is available only for Linux kernel versions greater than 2.1.10.

Configure Backups

See Controller Data Backup and Restore.

Learn More

Install the Controller on Linux