CloudCenter 4.8 has reached End of Life (EOL) as of November 14, 2018. See End of Support Notices for additional context.
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Management Agent (Worker) Installation

Overview

To deploy VMs and run applications on VMs that use the CloudCenter platform, you need the Java-based Management Agent (referred to as agent) installed on each VM.

The Worker image provided or shared by Cisco contains the agent pre-installed using the CentOS 6 operating systems for some supported clouds. These worker images save you time as you do not need to explicitly install the agent yourself.

A Worker image becomes fully functional once you deploy the Worker VM to the cloud.


Using Dynamic Bootstrapping

The CloudCenter management agent can be dynamically installed on VMs launched from images that do not have the Management Agent installed. In this case, you do not need to upload the provided or shared image, instead, the CloudCenter platform automatically detects your selected image, verifies if the agent is installed, and installs the agent if it not installed.

Depending on the support provided by Cisco for Dynamic Bootstrapping, you can decide your approach when launching Worker VMs:

  • Cloud Supported: Allow CloudCenter to detect if the agent is missing on supported clouds and automatically push the agent to the VMs at provisioning time using the Dynamic Bootstrapping approach.


  • Cloud Not Supported: Build a custom image or install Cisco-provided images as mentioned in the Manual Installation Instructions section below
.

Using Cisco Images

A Worker VM refers to an empty base OS image that has the Java-based Management Agent installed. In the CloudCenter context, a Worker VM is also referred to as an Application VM.

Due to licensing issues, a virtual appliance is not available for custom Windows images.

We recommend that you use the the Manual Installation Instructions section below
 to install custom Windows images.

The CloudCenter platform ships with pre-bootstrapped CentOS6 image for the clouds listed in Virtual Appliance Overview > Per Cloud Region > Pre-Bootstrap Images.

To use Cisco's CentOS 6 worker image for supported clouds listed in Base OS Images, you can use one of two approaches:

If your Application VM image has the Docker engine installed (by default, CentOS 7 images), the following Out-Of-Box (OOB) CloudCenter services are run as containers inside the Application VM:

Manual Installation Instructions

FAQs

  1. Question: Why is the Agent installed on Worker VM as part of Application deployment?
    Answer    : An agent is a program or application that runs on a worker VM. This agent is required by the CloudCenter platform to ensure trust-based message queue communication (see Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) for additional details). The agent is configured based on settings configured on the CCO.

  2. Question: What are the various ways in which Application VMs (workers) can communicate with the CCO?
    Answer    : Two ways for the agent to establish communication with the CCO:

    1. Manually Install Bootstrapping Scripts: Manually install the required binaries (referred to as custom images) to bootstrap the Application VM. See Custom Linux Image for additional details.

    2. Dynamic Bootstrapping Injection: Dynamically install the required binaries to bootstrap the Application VM. See Dynamic Bootstrapping for additional details.

  3. Question: Should I use the Custom Image or use Dynamic Bootstrapping?
    Answer: This depends on your environment! Here are details to help you make your decision:

    • Custom Image: You will need to provide information on the OS and platform being used. Cisco pre-installs the latest versions of the compatible JDK, JVM, Jetty and other dependent applications in the downloaded file.

    • Dynamic Bootstrapping: CloudCenter dynamically detects missing/updated components on each VM image and automatically pushes the updated agent to each VMs at the time of provisioning.

  4. Question: What services are created when I install the agent? Why are these services created?
    Answer    : The following services are created when you install the agent:

    1. CliQr Startup Service: This file is a part of the agent install process. It is the first service that sets the stage to download the agent bundle and kickoff the agent startup process.

    2. Jetty Service: Platform-independent program that enables the Java web application connection on the agent – installed as part of the agent installer.

    3. Agent Service: Platform-independent application that establishes the AMQP connection and processes information from the CCO.

    4. Node Metadata Service: Platform-independent application that preserves node-specific information.See Locate Log Files for the path to these files for both Linux and Windows Application VMs. The following image identifies when these files are created during the installation and deployment process:

  5. Question: If I want to run an image with the agent, is it necessary to deploy the Bundle Store?
    Answer    : The agent is not pre-installed. If you want to use the agent, you must setup a Bundle Store (contact the CloudCenter Support team) or use the publicly available Bundle Store (see Repo (Conditional)).

    • Prior to CloudCenter 4.8.2, the CCO did not need to have access to a Bundle Store if you used worker images and required access if you use dynamic bootstrapping.

    • Effective CloudCenter 4.8.2, the CCO always requires access to a Bundle Store regardless of your use of worker images or dynamic bootstrapping

  6. Question: How does the agent communicate with the CCO?
    Answer    : Once the agent is installed, it needs to connect with the message queue to begin communication with the CCO by way of the RabbitMQ IP address that is provided in the the Agent Bundle URL field when you configure the CCO - Configure Wizard Properties.


  7. Question: When is the incoming access to port 1433 used?
    Answer    : Port 1433 is enabled as part of agent installer process for Windows OS. This firewall rule must be opened depending on your use of out-of-box Services. If your environment requires access to any service listed here, you must open Port 1433. See Other Firewall Rules for additional context.

  8. Question: When is the IIS feature used?
    Answer    : The CloudCenter platform installs Internet Information Services (IIS) for Windows-specific agent installations. This is an optional file as identified in Install Worker on a Windows Image and your need for this file depends on your deployment.

  9. Question: Which files are created as part of the agent installation process?
    Answer    : The list of file created as part of the agent installation process differs for Linux and Windows installations. See the Deployment Lifecycle Scripts > Lifecycle Action Script Definition for additional context.

  10. Question: Why is cliqruser permission required to run some scripts?
    Answer    : By default, key-based authentication is configured using cliqruser permission – this user refers to the OS user in the Application VM (Worker). See the Deployment Lifecycle Scripts > Lifecycle Action Script Definition for script-specific details on when cliqruser permission is required.


  11. Question: Why does the agent program retain files in the C:\temp and C:\ directories?
    Answer    :  Some deployment scripts like resumeScript or reboot or restore take effect based on information retained in these directories. These scripts require information from those files to function as designed. Each script, the level at which it is defined, the script download location, the user running the script, and the location from which the script is run in provided in detail in the Deployment Lifecycle Scripts > Lifecycle Action Script Definition section for both Linux and Windows environments.


  12. Question: Do we install 7zip, Putty, Notepad2 on Windows workers?
    Answer: The CloudCenter platform installs these legacy applications for convenience.

    • Putty – If you are not using this application in your environment, you can remove it from this location. This file is removed in CloudCenter 4.9.0.

    • Notepad2 – Optional application used to view test files as CloudCenter does not change the file association for .txt files on Windows workers. If you are not using this application in your environment, you can remove it from this location. This file is removed in CloudCenter 4.9.0.

    • 7zip – The CloudCenter platform uses this application to extract agent archives. This file is removed in CloudCenter 4.9.0 and replaced by ccc-archiver.

    • ccc-archiver – Available effective CloudCenter 4.9.0, a proprietary tool to open TAR files.


  13. Question: Do we explicitly configure the Java Update on workers? If so, then is there a way for the user to change this frequency or time or disable it?
    Answer: The CloudCenter platform does not enable auto java updates. Java files are installed as part of the  agent installer.


  14. Question: How are application services different from the services created by the agent installation process?
    Answer    : The agent services and application services are independent of each other. T

    • Agent Services: Specific to the agent installer. When you install the agent, the Agent installer installs some services to help with the installation and maintenance of the management agent. These files include the CliQr Startup Service, Jetty Service, Agent Service, and other services mentioned in Question 4 in this section.

    • Application Services: Specific to application deployment. Once you set up image mapping (see Map Images) for each application VM, the  CloudCenter platform dynamically make some out-of-box services available in the CCM UI Topology Modeler page. See Services for a complete list of these services.

Other References


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