Install Rudder agent on Debian or Ubuntu

If you are working on a test system, you can use the quick install script:

curl https://repository.rudder.io/tools/rudder-setup | bash -s setup-agent 6.1 [policy server hostname or ip]

That will automatically execute the following steps.

Dependencies

If you need to use syslog reporting, which is not the general case, Rudder agent requires that a syslog server is installed on the node. This syslog server can be either syslogd, syslog-ng or rsyslog.

One of them is generally installed by default, but it may not be the case with minimal images. In this case you should install one (preferably syslog-ng or rsyslog).

Installation

Each official package is signed with our GPG signature. To ensure the packages you will install are official builds and have not been altered, import our key into apt using the following command:

wget --quiet -O /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/rudder_apt_key.gpg "https://repository.rudder.io/apt/rudder_apt_key.gpg"

Our key fingerprint is:

pub  4096R/474A19E8 2011-12-15 Rudder Project (release key) <security@rudder-project.org>
      Key fingerprint = 7C16 9817 7904 212D D58C  B4D1 9322 C330 474A 19E8

On old debian version (before Debian 7 and before Ubuntu 10.04), you should use the apt-key tool instead:

wget --quiet -O- "https://repository.rudder.io/apt/rudder_apt_key.pub" | sudo apt-key add -

Add Rudder’s package repository:

# If lsb_release is not installed on your machine, change $(lb_release -cs) by your distribution codename.
# Ex:
#   stretch for Debian 9
#   bionic  for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

echo "deb http://repository.rudder.io/apt/6.1/ $(lsb_release -cs) main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/rudder.list

If you have an active subscription, use the following to get access to long term support (you need to replace the user name and the password by your Rudder account):

echo "deb https://LOGIN:PASSWORD@download.rudder.io/apt/6.1/ $(lsb_release -cs) main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/rudder.list

Update your local package database to retrieve the list of packages available on our repository:

apt-get update

Install the package:

apt-get install rudder-agent

Configuration

Configure the agent

Configure the IP address or hostname of the Rudder Root Server in the following file

rudder agent policy-server <rudder server ip or hostname>

We advise you to use the IP address of the Rudder root server. The DNS name of this server can also be used if you have a trusted DNS infrastructure with proper reverse resolutions.

Add the node to the server

Several minutes after the start of the agent, the new node should be pending in the Rudder web interface. You will be able to browse its inventory, and accept it to manage its configuration with Rudder.

You may force the agent to run and send an inventory by issuing the following command:

rudder agent inventory

You may force the agent run by issuing the following command:

rudder agent run

By default, a node listens on port 5309 to allow remote agent trigger. This feature is optional and can be disabled for security reason.

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