Remote Installation of Remote Agents on Solaris OS, Red Hat Linux, and IBM AIX Systems

You can install a Remote Agent remotely from another machine across the network. When you install the Master Server, the scripts needed to remotely install a Remote Agent are installed in the /server/bin directory. The installation is a non-interactive installation and uses environment variables to manage the installation and configuration of the Remote Agents. You can set the environment variables in a parameters file, at the command line, or use the default values provided by the installation script.

How to Remotely Install Remote Agents on Solaris OS, Red Hat Linux, and IBM AIX

Before You Begin

The target machine must meet the following requirements.

The UNIX utility sshd must be running and have direct IP connectivity to the source machine.
Support for the UNIX hostname command must exist, so that the remote installation script can call this command. The Remote Agent must be configured to listen on the IP address of the hostname returned by the hostname command.

The Master Server machine must have the UNIX utilities ssh and scp installed and in the path at the time of execution.

The remote installation program uses environment variables to manage the installation and configuration of the Remote Agent. You can set the environment variables in a parameters file, at the command line, or use the default values provided by the installation script. Following are the required environment variables and their default values.

CR_RA_INSTALLER_USER=root – The installation program installs the Remote Agent with the root user as the owner of the application.
CR_RA_INSTALLER_WORKDIR=/tmp – A copy of the installation script is saved in the /tmp directory on the target machine.
CR_RA_INSTALLER_LEAVEFILES=no – The installation program deletes any files copied to the working directory when the installation program completes.
CR_RA_INSTALLER_HOSTS=host1,host3.enterprise.com,10.10.0.207 – If you do not supply hostnames on the command line or as an environment variable, the installation script exits with an error.

Steps

On the Master Server machine, insert the CD.
- If you are installing the Remote Agent on a Solaris OS system, insert the N1 Service Provisioning System 4.1: Solaris CD.
- If you are installing the Remote Agent on IBM AIX or Red Hat Linux, insert the N1 Service Provisioning System 4.1: IBM AIX, Redhat Linux, Windows 2000 Server/Advanced Server CD.

Change to the directory on the software CD where the installation script is located.
% cd /script-directory
script-directory is one of the following values:
- solaris – on the N1 Service Provisioning System 4.1: Solaris CD
- aix – on the N1 Service Provisioning System 4.1: IBM AIX, Redhat Linux, Windows 2000 Server/Advanced Server CD
- linux – on the N1 Service Provisioning System 4.1: IBM AIX, Redhat Linux, Windows 2000 Server/Advanced Server CD

Copy the installation script to the Master Server.
% cp cr_ra_opsystem_4.1.sh N1SPS4.1-MasterServer-home/server/bin
N1SPS4.1-MasterServer-home is the directory where you installed the Master Server and opsystem is one of the following values:
- solaris – installs the application on the Solaris OS
- aix – installs the application on IBM AIX
- linux – installs the application on Red Hat Linux

Change directories to where the scripts are located.
% cd N1SPS4.1-MasterServer-home/server/bin
N1SPS4.1-MasterServer-home is the directory where you installed the Master Server.

Determine how to provide configuration information to the installation script.

Create a new parameters file or edit the sample parameters file that was installed by the N1 Service Provisioning System 4.1. When you install the Master Server, a parameters file is installed. The file is named N1SPS4.1-MasterServer-home/server/bin/cr_ra_41_remote_params.sh. You can use the default values that are provided in this file or edit the file and add your custom values. You can also create a new parameters file to use. The contents of the sample parameters file are in Sample Remote Agent Parameters File for Solaris OS, Red Hat Linux, and IBM AIX. The parameters file must be an executable file.

Set the environment variables.

% export CR_RA_INSTALLER_USER=username
% export CR_RA_INSTALLER_WORKDIR=/working_directory
% export CR_RA_INSTALLER_LEAVEFILES=yes_or_no
% export CR_RA_INSTALLER_HOSTS=hostnames.enterprise.com,10.10.0.207

Start the remote installation.
% cr_ra_opsystem_4.1_remote.sh path-to-file/parameters-file.sh –f cr_ra_opsystem_4.1.sh hostnames
- opsystem is one of the following values:
  - solaris – installs the application on the Solaris OS
  - aix – installs the application on IBM AIX
  - linux – installs the application on Red Hat Linux
- cr_ra_opsystem_4.1.sh is the installation script that you copied from the N1 Service Provisioning System 4.1 CD.
- path-to-file/parameters-file is the path to the parameters file and the name of the parameters file that you want the installation program to use to obtain the configuration information. If you set the environment variables or you want the installation script to use the default values, you do not need to specify a parameters file.
- hostnames are the hostnames of the machines on which to perform the installation. Separate the hostnames by a space. If you specified the hostnames in the CR_RA_INSTALLER_HOSTS parameter, either in the parameters file or as an environment variable, you do not need to specify the hostnames on the command line. Any hostnames that you specify on the command line take precedence over those specified in the CR_RA_INSTALLER_HOSTS parameter.

Make a note of the location of the log file.

The installation program notifies you that it is creating a log file and displays the location of that file. Note the location of the file so that you can view it later.

If prompted by the installation program, provide passwords for the remote machine.

The installation script generates log files on the remote machine.