Deploy Solarwinds agents using Certificate on Unix/Linux platforms

This article provides steps on how to deploy SolarWinds agents on Linux/Unix Nodes using SSH and Passwordless authentication, i.e., using a Certificate for SSH authentication. The agent can be installed via Push / Pull methods.

Prerequisites:
1. Make sure you have the required credentials needed to install an application/package on the server.
2. Have the private key and the pass phrase used to encrypt the private key
3. Depending on type of communication mode allowed. Ensure port 17778(Agent Initiated ) / 17790 (Server Initiated) port open between the Node and SolarWinds Server, and Port 22 for ssh (only needed during deployment stage/ upgrade of agent in future)
4. You have gone through the SolarWinds Agent Requirements page to verify the OS and Port and account requirements.

There is more than one way to deploy an agent on Linux. The Add Agent Wizard in the SolarWinds Platform Web console is preferred as it gives more control over how you can deploy and on which nodes to deploy.

3. Click Add Agent.

4. Select the deployment method, in this example we are going to use default i.e "Deploy the agent on my Network"

5. Enter the IP Address/ Hostname if you are adding a new node that is not already in the SolarWinds Platform and click add to list. Repeat the steps if you want to add more nodes OR Select From existing nodes already being monitored

6. Once you added/selected the nodes Click Next.
7. On Agent Settings Tab, you should assign credentials to each of the node if there are different or Select all the nodes and assign if the same credentials are used.

8. In this example there is only one node, so we are going to click Assign Credentials which brings us the following screen.

Note: In this example case, we are using an account that needs su previleges to authenticate and will be using the Private Key / Cert method.

a) Click on Unix/Linux Tab
b) Select Certificate Radio button
c) Enter Credential Name that is meaningful and fill in the User Name
d) Click Browse to select the Private Key OR Click Paste Key manually
e) Enter the pass phrase for the key if required (This is considered security best practice as Private keys should not be stored on computers without a pass phrase)
Note: If in your scenario if root accounts are used then don't need to Tick the Check box next to "Include Credentials with Elevated Privileges" - As we are using a non-root account here so will tick that option and enter root / super user credentials
f) Once happy, click on test
If all is well, you should see a message against each of the nodes in the list

g) Once you click on Assign you should see:

9. Once the agents are selected, click on Deploy Agent at the bottom

The process of deployment can take few minutes per agent depending on Network and System performance on the Agents nodes and the SolarWinds Platform server.

To learn more about SolarWinds agents, check out the Poll devices with SolarWinds agents