Install and configure the Rackspace Monitoring Agent

This article describes different methods for installing and configuring the
Rackspace Monitoring Agent on a cloud server. You install the Rackspace
Monitoring Agent on the servers you want to monitor. The agent gathers data
based on the checks that you configure, including checks for host information
and host metrics, and custom-defined checks.

Rackspace Montioring agent supports both Windows and Linux platforms. For a list of detailed supported operating systems, see Rackspace Monitoring support matrix.

This article describes the following tasks:

  • Install the monitoring agent by using the Rackspace Intelligence interface
  • Install the monitoring agent by using meta packages
  • Configure the monitoring agent by using the agent setup program
  • Install the monitoring agent using other methods
  • Upgrade the monitoring agent
  • Uninstall the monitoring agent

Install the monitoring agent

Rackspace Monitoring agents are packaged in the standard way for the ease of
installation process. To check out
individual steps for each platform, please see the Install and configure the agent section of the Rackspace Monitoring Developer Guide.

We recommend using the Rackspace Intelligence web-based interface to install and
configure the monitoring agent. The Rackspace Intelligence interface provides
easy installation and set up based on the Windows or Linux platform you select.
The Rackspace Intelligence interface also provides graphs for visualizing data
collected by Rackspace Monitoring.

Rackspace Intelligence has many more monitoring configuration and visualization
options than the Cloud Control Panel, including three methods for installing the
monitoring agent: Quick Install, Step By Step, and Source.

To use the Rackspace Intelligence interface to install the agent:

  1. Log in
    at intelligence.rackspace.com with
    your Cloud Control Panel login credentials.
  2. Click the name of the entity (the object or resource
    that you want to monitor) for your server. If your
    server is not a cloud server or cloud database from Rackspace,
    create the entity by entering the name of the server that you want
    to monitor, and then clicking Create Entity.
  3. In the Monitoring Details section of the entity details page, click
    Install Agent next to the Monitoring Agent option.
    The Monitoring Agent Installation page opens.
  4. Choose the platform of your server and then click one of the
    following tabs:
    • Quick Install: This method provides a simple command that you
      can copy and then paste into a shell window after you are logged in
      to the server that you want to monitor.
    • Step By Step: This method provides a series of commands that
      give you insight into the agent installation process.
    • Source: This method takes you directly to the open-source agent
      pages where you can download the agent.

Completing the steps for any method installs the agent immediately. You can then
continue to create checks for the agent, which you can also do within Rackspace
Intelligence.

Install the monitoring agent by using meta packages

The meta packages installation obviates the need to install the
certificate or create a repository manually. This is for Linux distribution only.

  1. Log in to the server that you want to monitor.

  2. Open a browser to the Rackspace Monitoring Meta Packages page.

  3. Find your operating system and enter the commands provided.

Configure the monitoring agent by using the agent setup program

After you have installed the agent package on your server, you can
configure the monitoring agent by running the agent Setup program.
The agent setup program completes the following configuration tasks for
you:

  • Configures an agent token that the agent uses to authenticate with
    Rackspace Monitoring.
  • Creates an agent configuration file,
    rackspace-monitoring-agent.cfg{.filename}. Note: Rackspace
    Monitoring now supports debug logging based on the
    configuration file.
  • Verifies connectivity to the Rackspace data centers.
  • Associates the agent with a monitoring entity.

For more information, see the Configure the agent with the Setup program
section in the Rackspace Monitoring Developer Guide.

Upgrade the agent

The agent does not upgrade itself. However, if you've added the agent repository
to a Linux system, the agent is upgraded when you run a system update.

For Windows and other systems that do not have the agent in a package
repository, you must upgrade the agent manually by following the
installation instructions found in the Rackspace Monitoring Developer guide.

If you upgrade manually, we recommend that you check for an upgrade to the agent
every three to four weeks.

Uninstall the agent

Use the standard method for your operating system to uninstall the agent.

Debian and Ubuntu operating systems

On Debian and Ubuntu operating systems, run the following command:

sudo apt-get remove rackspace-monitoring-agent

CentOS, Red Hat, and Fedora

On CentOS, Red Hat, and Fedora, run the following command:

sudo yum remove rackspace-monitoring-agent

Windows

On Windows, use the Add/Remove Programs utility in the Windows Control Panel.

Next steps

After you have installed and configured the monitoring agent, the next steps are
to create checks to gather metrics (specific data points) and alarms that
trigger a notification at certain thresholds. You also need to create a
notification and notification plan. For details about
performing these steps in the Cloud Control Panel, see Rackspace Monitoring Checks and Alarms and
Creating a monitoring check using the Control Panel.

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