Deploying OpsMgr Agents
,OpsMgr agents are deployed to all managed servers through the OpsMgr Discovery Wizard, or by using software distribution mechanisms such as Active Directory GPOs or System Center Configuration Manager 2007. Installation through the Operations Console uses the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the computer.
When searching for systems through the Operations Console, you can use wildcards to locate a broad range of computers for agent installation. Certain situations, such as monitoring across firewalls, can require the manual installation of these components.
The Discovery Wizard can discover and configure monitoring for Windows computers, UNIX/Linux computers, and network devices. It pushes agents to Windows and UNIX/Linux computers, if the proper rights are provided, such as an account with local administrator rights or a root account.
To install domain member agents using the Discovery Wizard, perform the following steps:
1. Launch the Operations Console and select the Administration section.
2. Right-click the top-level Administration folder and select Discovery Wizard.
3. Select the Windows computers and click Next.
4. Select Automatic computer discovery and click Next. This scans the entire Active Directory domain for computers.
5. Leave the Use selected Management Server Action Account and click Discover. This starts the discovery process.
6. After the discovery runs (this might take a few minutes), the list of discovered computers displays. Select the devices that should have agents deployed to them.
Note
The list includes only systems that do not already have agents installed. If a computer has an agent installed, the wizard excludes it from the list of devices.
7. Click Next.
8. Leave the Agent installation directory and the Agent Action Account at the defaults, and click Finish.
9. The Agent Management Task Status window appears, listing all the computers selected and the progress of each installation. As shown in Figure 13.8, the LS1.companyxyz.com agent installation task starts.
Figure 13.8 Agent Installation Progress
10. Click Close when the installation completes.
Even if the window is closed before the installs complete, the results of the installs can be viewed in Task Status view in the Monitoring section of the Operations Console.
The agent deployment is efficient, and a large number of computers can be selected for deployment without any issues. The agents start automatically and monitor as they are discovered.
After installation, it might be necessary to wait a few minutes before the information from the agents is sent to the management server.
During the next few minutes after installation, the agent contacts the management server and establishes a mutually authenticated, encrypted communication channel with the assigned management server. If the agent was pushed through a software delivery system such as System Center Configuration Manager 2007, the agent determines the management server through Active Directory–integrated discovery.
The agent downloads rules to discover the various applications and components it’s hosting, enabling the correct application-specific management packs to be applied. This discovery process runs periodically to ensure that the correct rules are always applied to the server.