Installing the Avantra Agent

Before you start your installation, please ensure to read the release notes for Avantra 20.5. Please also ensure you use the latest software versions and patches of Avantra, as described in the Components section.

Verify Network Connectivity

Network Connectivity

The Avantra Agent contacts the Avantra Server on TCP port 9050. The other way round, the Avantra Server connects to the Avantra Agent on TCP Port 9051.

Verify the connection from the Avantra Agent to the Avantra Server using

telnet [avantra_server] 9050

The telnet tool will report an error if a connection cannot be established.

If network restrictions are in place on your site, please contact your network staff to enable the communication in both directions, from the Avantra Agent to Avantra Server on port 9050, and the other direction on port 9051.

Preparing the Installation

This section describes preparations which are required to monitor SAP Systems or Databases using the Avantra Agent. If the agent shall only monitor the operating system, no preparations are required and you can continue reading the appropriate installation section: Installing the Agent on Microsoft Windows or Installing the Agent on Unix.

In order to monitor ABAP or ABAP+Java SAP Systems, the Avantra Agent needs an ABAP user to connect with, the so called Xandria RFC User. We recommend creating a dedicated RFC user for Avantra, as described in Avantra RFC User Setup.

Make sure to import the transport requests before you create the RFC user, since the transport requests include an authorization object and an authorization profile that the user requires.

For an ABAP+Java system, we recommend enabling the RFC user as a J2EE Administrator as well.

For a Java-only system, we recommend creating a user avantra_j2ee, as described in Avantra J2EE User Setup.

Importing the SAP Transport Request

For a general overview on our ABAP interface, please see Avantra ABAP Interface.

This section does not apply to Java-only systems.

The current version of Avantra ships with seven transport requests but you only have to import two transport requests matching the basis release of your SAP System. Unicode and non-Unicode systems of all basis releases listed in SAP Basis are supported. The following table gives an overview:

Table 1. Transport Request Overview
Transport Short Text Client Dep.

AVAK900034

Avantra Interface V20.5.3 for SAP Release 7.50

No

AVAK900035

Avantra Interface V20.5.3 for SAP Release 7.40

No

AVAK900036

Avantra Interface V20.5.3 for SAP Release 7.30

No

XANK900240

Avantra Interface V7 for SAP Release 7.20 and older

No

AVAK900010

Role for Avantra (ZAVANTRA) for SAP release ≥ 7.50

Yes

AVAK900008

Role for Avantra (ZAVANTRA) for SAP release 7.40

Yes

XANK900244

Role for Avantra (ZAVANTRA) for SAP release < 7.40

Yes

Avantra Agent also supports the interface V7 delivered with Syslink Xandria 7.3 in transport request XANK900189. However, we recommend to import the new interface V8 for SAP basis release 7.30 and above. The ABAP code delivered with the new transports have been rewritten from scratch and are the new codebase for upcoming releases as well. If you are running SAP releases 7.20 and older, you can continue with XANK900189; the content is the same as delivered with XANK900240.

Make sure the workbench request is imported before the customizing request containing the role, i.e., first import AVAK900034, AVAK900035, AVAK900036 or XANK900240 and after that import AVAK900010, AVAK900008 or XANK900244.

Transports AVAK900034, AVAK900035, AVAK900036, and XANK900240 are workbench requests and thus client independent. The contain interfaces for some monitoring related data which cannot be directly retrieved by RFC. In greater detail:

Table 2. Content of Transport Requests AVAK900034, AVAK900035, AVAK900036
Short Description Program ID Object Type Object Name

Class (ABAP Objects)

R3TR

CLAS

/SYSLINK/CL_APPLOG_GET … /SYSLINK/CL_WORKLOAD_GET (not all classes listed here)

PACKAGE

R3TR

DEVC

/SYSLINK/XANDRIA

PACKAGE

R3TR

DEVC

ZXAN

DOMAIN

R3TR

DOMA

/SYSLINK/RESULTS_TYPE

DATA ELEMENT

R3TR

DTEL

/SYSLINK/RESULTS_TYPE

FUNCTION GROUP

R3TR

FUGR

/SYSLINK/MON_XANDRIA

MESSAGE CLASS

R3TR

MSAG

/SYSLINK/MON_XANDRIA

NAMESPACE IN R/3 REPOSITORY

R3TR

NSPC

/SYSLINK/

PROGRAM

R3TR

PROG

/SYSLINK/RUNMON

AUTHORIZATION OBJECT

R3TR

SUSO

ZSYSXANMON

TABLE

R3TR

TABL

/SYSLINK/MONSTRUCT

TABLE TYPE

R3TR

TTYP

/SYSLINK/LIST_TTY

TABLE TYPE

R3TR

TTYP

/SYSLINK/SELOPS_TTY

TABLE TYPE

R3TR

TTYP

/SYSLINK/ZBAPILAWRGE_SYS_TTY

Table 3. Content of Transport Request XANK900240
Short Description Program ID Object Type Object Name

Package

R3TR

DEVC

/SYSLINK/XANDRIA

Report Source Code

LIMU

REPS

/SYSLINK/RUNMON

Function Group

R3TR

FUGR

/SYSLINK/MON_XANDRIA

Table

R3TR

TABL

/SYSLINK/MONSTRUCT

Package

R3TR

DEVC

ZXAN

Authorization object

R3TR

SUSO

ZSYSXANMON

Namespace

/SYSLINK/

All objects, except for the authorization object, use the registered namespace SYSLINK. For the authorization object this is not possible, therefore it is delivered in the customer name range.

Transports AVAK900010, AVAK900008, and XANK900244 are the customizing requests and thus client dependent. Please import the requests to the same client as the RFC user (see Avantra RFC User Setup). Choose the appropriate transport based on your SAP release. The transport contains the role ZAVANTRA only. This role includes the authorization object ZSYSXANMON which is required for the Avantra monitoring interface and other read-only system authorization objects.

We recommend the following steps to be performed only by an SAP Basis Administrator or another person with proper knowledge of the SAP transport system.

To import the transport request, replace all occurrences xxxx by the numbers indicated above.

Proceed as follows for all request you have chosen to import:

Procedure: Import Transport Requests
  1. Download the file transports-for-avantra-20.5.zip either from the Support menu of avantra.com (it is in the CONTRIB RELEASE 20.5 section) or from your Avantra Server (if you followed Preparing the Avantra Agent Deployment):

    $ curl http://[avantra-server]:9050/AgentUpdate/transports-for-avantra-20.5.zip > transports-for-avantra-20.5.zip
  2. Extract the zip file to some proper location, referenced as <transport-source> in this procedure.

  3. Copy the control files <transport-source>/cofiles/K90xxxx.* to the directory cofiles of your transport domain, e.g. /usr/sap/trans/cofiles (on Unix-like operating systems).

  4. Set the file permission of the copied cofiles in a way that they are readable and writable for any operating system user [sid]adm supposed to import the request. On Unix-like operating systems, you can do this like in the following example:

    root$ chgrp sapsys K90xxxx.*
    root$ chmod 664 K90xxxx.*

    On Microsoft Windows operating systems, you can use the Properties menu opened from the context menu of the file in order to modify the file attributes and other file security settings. Refer to your operating system documentation for further information.

  5. Copy the data files <transport-source>/data/R90xxxx.* to the directory data of your transport domain, e.g. /usr/sap/trans/data (on Unix-like operating systems).

  6. Set the file permission of the copied data files in a way that they are read- and writable for any operating system user [sid]adm supposed to import the request. On Unix-like operating systems, you can do this like in the following example:

    root$ chgrp sapsys R90xxxx.*
    root$ chmod 644 R90xxxx.*

    On Microsoft Windows operating systems, you can use the file Properties menu opened from the context menu of the file in order to modify the file attributes and other file security settings. Refer to your operating system documentation for further information.

  7. Import the transport requests. This might be done with the SAP transport program tp on operating system level, however, we recommend using transaction STMS:

    1. Start transaction STMS.

    2. Select Import Overview and select the SAP System where you want to import the request.

    3. Choose menu item Extras  Other requests  Add and type the transport number [XAN|SA1|AVA]K90xxxx e.g. AVAK90xxxx in the transport request text field of the following dialog.

      Please set the Ignore Invalid Component Version flag at the Options tab, otherwise the import may fail.

      Press the Continue button. The transport request has been added to the import queue.

    4. Import the request. If you are not sure whether to import all requests or only the newly added Avantra request XANK90xxxx, import XANK90xxxx only.

      Repeat the steps until all transport requests are imported.

  8. Check the transport log for errors. Warnings can usually be ignored.

Add Role ZAVANTRA to other Clients

If you need the role ZAVANTRA in more than one client import the transport XANK900244, AVAK900008, or AVAK900010 into each required client.

Avantra RFC User Setup

If you do not know how to setup a SAP (ABAP) user, please contact your SAP basis or security administrator to perform the following steps:

  1. Start SAP GUI and login to the SAP System to monitor.

  2. Please choose an appropriate logon client:

    • For ABAP+Java systems using SAP Java User Management Engine (UME), the user has to be created in the master client used by UME in order to enable it for Java monitoring.

    • If you intend to monitor a SAP BI/BW system, you need to create the user in the standard client of the BI/BW system.

    • If you intend to monitor a SAP PI/XI system, you need to create the user in the productive client of the PI/XI system.

    • Otherwise we recommend to use client 000.

  3. Call the user maintenance transaction SU01.

  4. Enter the name of the new user in the User field and press the Create button. We recommend to name the user AVANTRA_RFC.

  5. Enter at least a value for Last name in the following screen and switch to the Logon data tab.

  6. In the Logon data screen, enter a password in the fields Initial password and Repeat password.

  7. Also in Logon data, for User type choose the value System (or Communication, or Background).

  8. Switch to the Roles tab and enter the role ZAVANTRA. This profile has been imported with transport request XANK900244 or AVAK900010. If the transport has not been imported so far, please see Importing the SAP Transport Request on how to import the transport request and assign the profile afterwards.

  9. Press the Save button.

You may need a license for the user you fill in. In case of doubt double-check with SAP.

If you want to make use of security related monitoring, like the Custom Checks USER_PROFILES or USER_AUTHORIZATIONS, you may want to create the RFC user in all clients you want to monitor.

Avantra J2EE User Setup

Things are getting a little bit more complicated if Java comes into play. We need to distinguish between ABAP+Java and Java-only systems.

Setup for ABAP+Java systems

For an ABAP+Java System we recommend to authorize the user created as described in Avantra RFC User Setup as an administrator in the J2EE instance.

The easiest way to achieve this is to assign the ABAP role SAP_J2EE_ADMIN to the user created in the ABAP part.

  1. Go to transaction SU01, enter the name of the user created as described in Avantra RFC User Setup in the User field, and click Change.

  2. Switch to the Roles tab and enter the role SAP_J2EE_ADMIN.

    If you intend to monitor SAP XI/PI systems, you have to assign the ABAP role SAP_XI_MONITOR to the user.

    Additionally, you must assign the action xi_af_channel_admin_display to the SAP Java user in order to enable PI channel monitoring.

  3. Press the Save button.

Setup for Java-only systems

For a Java-only system we recommend creating a new user (for example AVANTRA_J2EE) and authorize it with the available read only role AVANTRA_READONLY. Do not use the Administrator user for monitoring.

  1. Start the UME console pointing your browser at the URL http://<hostname>:<port>/useradmin.

  2. Logon as administrator user.

  3. Click Create User and fill in the required fields. Afterwards, save the user.

  4. Import the role AVANTRA_READONLY according to the instructions from this solution document.

  5. For a PI/PO system, also assign the SAP_XI_MONITOR_J2EE role.

  6. For a MII system, also assign the SAP_XMII_ADMINISTRATOR role

  7. Click Save.

  8. Follow the solution document JavaJobs and JavaJobStat check critical with message "No scheduler assigned" in order for the checks JavaJobs and JavaJobstat to run properly.

You may need a license for the user you fill in. In case of doubt, double-check with SAP.

User Setup for Database Monitoring

The Avantra Agent needs the credentials of an SQL (!) Database User in order to connect to a stand-alone Database or the Database instance of an SAP System.

Database instance of an SAP System

As a general rule, use the following Database users in order to monitor the Database instance of an SAP System:

ABAP-only SAP System

Use the SAP ABAP schema user (e.g. SAPSR3)

Java-only SAP System

Use the SAP Java schema user (e.g. SAPSR3DB)

Double-stack SAP System

Use both users

For an SAP System with MaxDB Database you also need a DBM Operator (e.g. the CONTROL user). Customers with a higher focus on security can use own database user instead of using schema user. Please follow the instructions under "Stand-­alone Databases" to create users with minimal required permissions.

Stand-alone Databases

As a general rule, use an administrative Database user for the Database monitoring.

If for security reasons administrative users are not allowed, please follow the steps below:

Oracle

Please make sure the SQL user you use has the permission to access the Catalog Views in Oracle; at least the role SELECT_CATALOG_ROLE must be granted to the user, unless it is an Oracle administrator user. To do so, connect to your Oracle Database using SQLPlus and enter the following command:

SQL> GRANT CONNECT, SELECT_CATALOG_ROLE TO <sql-user>

Additionally, when using BR*Tools, the SQL user must be granted SELECT privileges to the SDBAH table in the corresponding SAP schema, unless you already use the SAP schema owner or an administrator user.

The same holds true for the table BC_COMPVERS found in the SAP schema of Java SAP Instances.

DB2

Please make sure your user is part of the SYSMON authority group or has system administration or system control authority. Please refer to your DB2 documentation on how to grant those authorities to your user.

Microsoft SQL Server

Please make sure the user you use has assigned the login permission VIEW SERVER STATE. See the Microsoft SQL Server documentation on how to assign the permission to your login user.

Avantra supports both, SQL Server authentication and Windows authentication. In case you choose a Windows authentication user, please define the user in domain format in the Avantra UI: [domain]\[username].

MaxDB

Please define a user in the DBA User Class. For a MaxDB Database you also need a DBM Operator (e.g. the CONTROL user).

The CONTROL user usually is not able to run SQL commands!
SAP HANA

Please make sure the user has assigned the role Monitoring. In case you run a Java SAP Instance on top of HANA the Database user also needs the following permissions:

GRANT SELECT ON TABLE [DBSCHEMA.]BC_COMPVERS TO [user]
SAP ASE (formerly SAP Sybase ASE)

Please make sure the user has assigned the roles mon_role and oper_role.

For the SYB_Backup check, permission setting depends if granular permissions are enabled for the database or not.

With granular permissions enabled, the dump configuration privilege must be granted to the user.

With granular permissions disabled, according to official Sybase ASE documentation the role oper_role should be sufficient for the check SYB_Backup (all other checks only require mon_role permissions). Unfortunately tests have shown that the stored procedure called for SYB_Backup fails with permission error unless the user is a member of sa_role.

SAP SQL Anywhere

Please make sure the user has assigned the system privileges to run the procedure sa_disk_free_space. To do this, run the following grant statements:

GRANT EXECUTE ON sa_disk_free_space to [user]
GRANT MANAGE ANY DBSPACE to [user]
GRANT SELECT ON maint_plan to [user]
GRANT SELECT ON maint_plan_report to [user]

Make sure to replace [user] by the real user name.

You may need a license for the user you fill in. In case of doubt, double-check with your database vendor.

Verify Java requirements

The Java 8, 9, or 10 Runtime Environment is required.

You will need a 64-bit JVM on 64-bit operating systems.

You may use the package management tools of your operating system in order to install a suitable version.

Otherwise download the JRE from the Avantra Server (if you followed Preparing the Avantra Agent Deployment) or directly from https://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp and install it.

Stand-alone Oracle-specific requirements

If you intend to monitor Oracle stand-alone Databases using the OCI driver connection method, make sure the ORACLE_HOME environment variable is properly set in the environment of the user running the Avantra Agent. On some platforms you might need to set the library path environment variable as well. Otherwise, the Oracle OCI driver will not be able to access the native shared libraries.

Deploying Avantra Agents to the target systems

On the Physical Servers supposed to run the Avantra Agent, download the appropriate package agent-20.5.n.bin (on Unix-like operating systems) or agent-20.5.n-setup.exe (on Microsoft Windows operating systems) from the Avantra Server (if you followed Preparing the Avantra Agent Deployment).

$ curl http://[avantra-server]:9050/AgentUpdate/agent-20.5.n.bin > agent-20.5.n.bin

Otherwise, download directly from the Support menu of avantra.com (in the AGENT RELEASE 20.5.n section)

Installing the Agent on Microsoft Windows

Start the Microsoft installer file agent-20.5.n-setup.exe and follow the instructions on the screen:

  1. On the introduction screen press Next.

  2. Read and accept the license agreement and click I Agree.

  3. Choose installation location and press Next.

  4. The installer will search for a suitable Java Runtime Environment.

    If no suitable Java Virtual Machine is found automatically, click Select Java to choose an installed Java Virtual Machine.

    Press Next to continue if a Java Virtual Machine is defined.

  5. To define a custom agent listener port in case the default port (9051) does not match, select the Set Agent Port checkbox and enter the custom port. If the port settings are correct proceed by pressing Next.

    If you change this value, you must set the AgentListenerPort Monitoring Parameter for this Server accordingly. See Maintaining Parameter Sets and Maintaining Parameter Sets.

  6. Read the Windows Firewall configuration rules which will be added to your system. Press Next to proceed.

  7. On the next screen you can define a different service user. The Avantra Agent service by default runs using the LocalSystem user account. This user may not be allowed to access network resources. If some of your SAP Systems profile data are located on remote (shared) resources, the SAP System will most likely not be monitored. In this case it is necessary to change the service user to an operating system user allowed to read the network resources (e.g. the SAP System's [sid]adm user).

    Using the SAP System’s [sid]adm as service user is especially recommended for Java-only SAP System running with a MaxDB.

    If you have chosen the user account press Install to proceed.

  8. Wait until Avantra Agent installation is completed. Press Next to proceed.

  9. Select Start Avantra Agent to start the windows service now. You can also start Avantra Agent later in Windows Services. Press Finish to finish the installation.

In case there is any issue with the installation, you can find the log files in $TEMP{avantra} Installation Logs.

Unattended/Silent Installation on Microsoft Windows operating systems

The Avantra Agent can be installed in an unattended (silent) mode. This is useful if the Agent is installed on many servers with scripts.

Following options can be set to configure the installation:

/S

Required. Start the Agent in silent mode.

/JAVA_PATH

Required. Path to Java installation directory. Do NOT point to java.exe or jvm.dll, JAVA_PATH must point to the directory where java is installed.

/PORT

Required. The port used for the Agent (default is 9051).

/START_SERVICE

Optional. Set to 1 if the Agent should be started immediately after the installation.

/USER

Optional. Set the service user. If not set the Local System account user is used.

/PASSWORD

Optional. Set the password of the service user. Only required if USER is set (see above).

/D

Optional. Installation path. This setting must be the last setting! Spaces are allowed. If you use spaces do not wrap with "". If you do not set the path, the Avantra Agent will be installed to %ProgramFiles%\syslink\agent.

Example 1. Install the Agent into the default directory
agent-20.5.n.-setup.exe /S /JAVA_PATH="C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.8.0_92" /PORT=9051
Example 2. Install the Agent into a different directory and start automatically
agent-20.5.n-setup.exe /S /JAVA_PATH="C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.8.0_92" /PORT=9051 /START_SERVICE=1 /D=C:\syslink

Installing the Agent on Unix

On Linux, you need to have the GNU C Library (glibc) version 2.7 or higher installed.

It is recommended to create a dedicated file system for the Avantra Agent of at least 1.5 GB size.

  1. Create a directory to hold the Avantra Agent software, i.e. /syslink.

    root$ mkdir /syslink
  2. Create an operating system user xandria member of an operating system group xandria in order to run the Avantra Agent.

    If you want to run the Avantra Agent using another OS user (e.g. sidadm), simply follow the instructions with user sidadm instead of xandria.

  3. Add the user xandria to the group sapsys.

    The user running the Avantra Agent needs the permissions to read and access the home directories of any user [sid]adm of the installed instances, as well as the profile directories /usr/sap/[SID]/SYS/profile.

  4. Verify that the following access permissions are set for the directory /home/[sid]adm, i.e. the group read permissions are set for the group sapsys:

    drwxr-x---   2 [sid]adm    sapsys    2048 Jan 24 17:28 .
    -rw-r-----   1 [sid]adm    sapsys    1515 Apr  9  2002 .cshrc
    -rw-r-----   1 [sid]adm    sapsys    2820 Apr 17  2002 .dbenv_[hostname].csh
    -rw-r-----   1 [sid]adm    sapsys    7307 Apr 17  2002 .sapenv_[hostname].csh
  5. Verify the group access permission of /usr/sap/[SID]/SYS/profile in the same way.

    1. For SAP installations based on an Oracle database, add the user xandria to the group dba.

      For SAP installations based on an Oracle database, the user xandria needs permissions to read and access the directory /oracle/[SID| (and all sub-directories). In particular it needs the permissions to read all init* files in `/oracle/[SID]/[ORA`VERS]/dbs_.

    2. For SAP installations based on an IBM DB2 UDB/LUW database add the user xandria to the group db[sid]adm.

      For SAP installations based on an IBM DB2 UDB/LUW database, the user xandria needs permissions to read and access the fail-over log archive path directory (FAILARCHPATH), if configured.

  6. It is recommended that the path to the java executable is included in the PATH environment of the user xandria. Additionally the path /syslink/java is searched for suitable Java Virtual Machines.

    If no Java executable can be found during the installation, the setup is aborted.

  7. Change ownership of /syslink directory to xandria.

    root$ chown xandria /syslink
  8. Change user to xandria and directory to /syslink.

    root$ su - xandria
    xandria$ cd /syslink
  9. Copy the Avantra Agent installation software agent-[version].bin into your current working directory /syslink and start the installer:

    xandria$ chmod +x agent-20.5.n.bin
    xandria$ ./agent-20.5.n.bin

    The installer will ask for the Agent listener port during the installation and whether it should start or not. Usually, you can confirm the default port 9051 by pressing Return. You may as well start the Agent immediately.

    Please enter the agent listener port[9051]:
    Start Xandria Agent [version]? [y,n] y

    If you change this value, you must set the AgentListenerPort Monitoring Parameter for this Server accordingly. See Maintaining Parameter Sets and Maintaining Parameter Sets.

    If everything works fine, you will get a notice:

    Starting 'xandria_agent' using property 'agent.cfg': Sending nohup output to nohup.out.
    Done, running with pid 4128818
    Removing 'agent-inst'
  10. You may want to include the Avantra Agent into your system initialization process. The way how to achieve this depends on the Unix type.

    To manually start and stop the Avantra Agent, simply execute the rc script either with parameter start or stop. This can either be done by user root or by user xandria. Example:

    root$ /syslink/agent/rc.agent start
    agent is running with PID 12345
    xandria$ /syslink/agent/rc.agent stop
    Stopping 'avantra_agent' using property 'agent.cfg': Done

Unattended/Silent Installation on Unix-like operating systems

The Unix Agent can be installed in an unattended (silent) mode. This is useful if the Agent is installed on many servers with scripts.

Following options can be set to configure the installation:

--

Required to pass arguments to the integrated self installation script.

--silent

Required. Turns on unattended/silent installation without any questions.

--target-dir=full path to target dir

Optional. Path to the target directory where the Agent will be installed. Default: <current working dir>/agent.

--jvm=start to search for compatible JVM in this directory

Optional. Path to the directory to start searching for a compatible Java. If not specified PATH environment is searched. To use a certain JVM, be as specific as possible, e.g. /opt/java/jre1.8.0_102/.

--port=<number>

Optional. The TCP/IP port the Agent is listening on (default is 9051).

--start=no

Optional. Do not automatically start the Agent process after installation.

Example 3. Install the Agent into ./agent, find java and start automatically
./agent-20.5.n.bin -- --silent
Example 4. Install the agent in a separate directory with a separate JVM, on a different port and without automatic start
./agent-20.5.n.bin -- --silent --target-dir=/opt/agent --jvm=/opt/java/jre1.8.0_102/ \
    --port=9052 --start=no

Installing the Agent on Linux using RPM

If you want to install the Avantra Agent on Linux, you may also use the RPM package.

The installation target will be /opt/syslink. You can override this using the --prefix command line option of the rpm command. The RPM package creates a user xandria and a corresponding group. Unfortunately, the RPM facility provides no means to change this. Use the manual installation if you want to run the Avantra Agent using a different user or a different group.

  1. Download the package avantra-agent-20.5.n-[o].[p].x86_64.rpm from the Support menu of avantra.com (it is in the AGENT RELEASE 20.5.n section) and save it to e.g. /tmp.

  2. Download the custom GPG key RPM-GPG-KEY-syslink-xandria from the Support menu of avantra.com (it is in the CONTRIB RELEASE 20.5 section) and save it to e.g. /tmp.

  3. Import the GPG key:

    root$ rpm --import /tmp/RPM-GPG-KEY-syslink-xandria
  4. Install the RPM (as user root):

    root$ yum install /tmp/avantra-agent-20.5.n-[o].[p].x86_64.rpm

    (for RedHat, CentOS, Fedora, Amazon Linux, etc.), or

    root$ zypper install /tmp/avantra-agent-20.5.n-[o].[p].x86_64.rpm

    for SuSE Linux.

  5. If you have a host-based firewall configured please make sure to open port 9051 for incoming TCP traffic. See also Using Firewalls and SuSEfirewall2.

  6. Perform the following steps to enable automatic startup of the Avantra Agent:

    1. Operating systems using systemd (i.e. RedHat Enterprise Linux 7 and higher, SuSE Enterprise Linux 12 and higher):

      1. Copy the service file:

        root$ cp /opt/syslink/agent/avantra-agent.service /etc/systemd/system
      2. Enable the service

        root$ systemctl enable avantra-agent
      3. Start the service

        root$ systemctl start avantra-agent
    2. Operating systems using the SysV init process:

      1. Link the rc.agent file

        root$ ln -s /opt/syslink/agent/rc.agent /etc/rc.d/init.d/avantra-agent
      2. Run chkconfig

        root$ chkconfig --add avantra-agent
      3. Start the service

        root$ service avantra-agent start

The RPM package does not configure automatic start of the Avantra Agent because the RPM packaging guidelines advise against it. The same holds true for the immediate start after installation.

Additional Setup for Monitoring of Java-only SAP Systems with MaxDB

There is still some work to do in order to make the Avantra Agent work properly with a Java-only SAP System using MaxDB.

In order to make the handling easier, we urgently recommend running the Avantra Agent service for Java-only SAP System using MaxDB on Microsoft Windows operating systems as the user [sid]adm.

The user running Avantra Agent (usually, the user xandria on Unix-like operating systems and the user [sid]adm on Microsoft Windows operating systems), needs a so called XUSER entry in order to access the MaxDB Database. See also the MaxDB documentation: MaxDB Library  Tools  Utilities  XUSER.

Proceed as follows in order to create the XUSER entry:

  1. Depending on your operating system:

    • On Unix-like operating systems login to the host running the Avantra Agent and switch to the user xandria.

    • On Microsoft Windows operating systems login as [sid]adm to the host running the Avantra Agent and open a command shell.

  2. Execute the following command in order to verify if there are any XUSER entries present for this user:

    [path_to_sapdb]/programs/bin/xuser list

    If there is already a key DEFAULT present, you can skip the following step. If there is also a key c with a user name CONTROL present, then you are done!

  3. Execute the following command to create the DEFAULT key. This is required (by the MaxDB system) although not used by Avantra. See also the MaxDB documentation : MaxDB Library  Tools  Utilities  XUSER  Creating or Changing XUSER Entries.

    [path_to_sapdb]/programs/bin/xuser  -u CONTROL,[pw_of_CONTROL] -d [SID] -n [host]

    where pw_of_CONTROL is the password of the CONTROL database user and SID is the database name which usually is the same as the Real SAP SID of the SAP System.

  4. Repeat the command from Step 2. You should see the following entry:

    XUSER Entry  1
    --------------
    Key         :DEFAULT
    Username    :CONTROL
    UsernameUCS2:C.O.N.T.R.O.L. . . . . . .
    Password    :?????????
    PasswordUCS2:?????????
    Dbname      :[SID]
    Nodename    :[host]
    Sqlmode     :<unspecified>
    Cachelimit  :-1
    Timeout     :-1
    Isolation   :-1
    Charset     :<unspecified>
  5. Execute the following command to create a c key:

    [path_to_sapdb]/programs/bin/xuser -Uc -u CONTROL,[pw_of_CONTROL] -d [SID] -n [host]
  6. Repeat the command from Step 2. You should also see the following entry:

XUSER Entry  2
--------------
Key         :c
Username    :CONTROL
UsernameUCS2:C.O.N.T.R.O.L. . . . . . .
Password    :?????????
PasswordUCS2:?????????
Dbname      :[SID]
Nodename    :[host]
Sqlmode     :<unspecified>
Cachelimit  :-1
Timeout     :-1
Isolation   :-1
Charset     :<unspecified>

Post-Installation Connectivity Check

Verify the connection from the Avantra Server to the Avantra Agent using a browser (or wget or curl) on the Avantra Server. Open http://<host name or IP-address of Xandria Agent>:9051/hello:

You have reached the Avantra Agent release 20.5.n running on [host].
Local date/time:
UTC date/time: