Skip to content

Agent Management Overview

This section covers the ongoing management, monitoring, and maintenance of the EPMware Agent after installation and configuration. Proper management ensures reliable operation and quick issue resolution.

Management Components

  • Windows Services
    Managing agent as Windows scheduled task or service

  • Linux Services
    Managing agent as Linux background process or systemd service

  • Agent Logs
    Understanding and managing agent log files

  • Monitoring
    Implementing monitoring and alerting for agent health

Daily Management Tasks

Health Checks

Regular checks to ensure agent health:

# Quick health check
ps aux | grep epmware-agent  # Is it running?
tail -n 20 logs/agent-poll.log  # Is it polling?
grep ERROR logs/agent.log | tail -n 10  # Any errors?

Log Review

Daily log review routine:

  1. Check for errors or warnings
  2. Verify successful deployments
  3. Monitor polling frequency
  4. Review resource usage

Performance Monitoring

Track key metrics: - CPU usage - Memory consumption - Network connectivity - Deployment success rate

Weekly Management Tasks

Log Maintenance

Manage log file growth:

# Archive old logs
find logs/ -name "*.log" -mtime +7 -exec gzip {} \;

# Remove very old logs
find logs/ -name "*.gz" -mtime +30 -delete

# Check disk usage
du -sh logs/

Configuration Backup

Weekly backup routine:

#!/bin/bash
# Weekly backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/epmware/$(date +%Y-%W)"
mkdir -p $BACKUP_DIR

# Backup configuration
cp agent.properties $BACKUP_DIR/
cp ew_target_service.sh $BACKUP_DIR/

# Create archive
tar -czf $BACKUP_DIR.tar.gz $BACKUP_DIR

Service Validation

Verify service configuration: - Check scheduled task (Windows) - Verify systemd service (Linux) - Test auto-restart capability - Review service dependencies

Monthly Management Tasks

Security Review

Monthly security checks:

  1. Token Rotation - Consider refreshing REST tokens
  2. Permission Audit - Verify file permissions
  3. Access Review - Check user access levels
  4. Update Check - Look for security patches

Performance Analysis

Analyze monthly trends:

# Deployment statistics
grep "Deployment completed" logs/agent.log | wc -l

# Error frequency
grep ERROR logs/agent.log | awk '{print $1}' | uniq -c

# Average response time
grep "Response time" logs/agent.log | awk '{sum+=$NF; count++} END {print sum/count}'

Capacity Planning

Review resource usage: - Disk space trends - Memory usage patterns - Network bandwidth usage - Deployment volumes

Service Management

Starting the Agent

Platform-specific start procedures:

Windows: - Task Scheduler → Run task - Or PowerShell command

Linux: - systemctl start epmware-agent - Or background process start

Stopping the Agent

Graceful shutdown procedures:

Windows: - Stop scheduled task - Kill Java process

Linux: - systemctl stop epmware-agent - Or kill process

Restarting the Agent

When to restart: - After configuration changes - After agent updates - To resolve stuck processes - As part of maintenance

Troubleshooting Management Issues

Agent Not Starting

Common causes and solutions:

Issue Check Solution
Java not found java -version Fix PATH or JAVA_HOME
Port in use netstat -an Find and stop conflicting process
Permission denied File ownership Fix with chown/chmod
Configuration error agent.properties Validate configuration syntax

Agent Stops Unexpectedly

Investigate unexpected stops:

# Check system logs
journalctl -u epmware-agent  # Linux systemd
eventvwr.msc  # Windows Event Viewer

# Check agent logs
tail -100 logs/agent.log | grep -E "ERROR|FATAL"

# Check memory issues
dmesg | grep -i "out of memory"

Performance Degradation

Address performance issues:

  1. Check Resources 

    top  # Linux
taskmgr  # Windows

  2. Review Logs

  3. Large log files?
  4. Excessive errors?

  5. Slow response times?

  6. Optimize Configuration

  7. Adjust polling interval
  8. Tune JVM settings
  9. Clean temporary files

Automation Scripts

Health Check Script

Automated health monitoring:

#!/bin/bash
# health_check.sh

STATUS=0
REPORT=""

# Check process
if pgrep -f epmware-agent > /dev/null; then
    REPORT="✓ Agent running\n"
else
    REPORT="✗ Agent NOT running\n"
    STATUS=1
fi

# Check recent activity
LAST_POLL=$(tail -1 logs/agent-poll.log | cut -d' ' -f1-2)
REPORT="${REPORT}Last poll: $LAST_POLL\n"

# Check errors
ERRORS=$(tail -1000 logs/agent.log | grep -c ERROR)
REPORT="${REPORT}Recent errors: $ERRORS\n"

# Send alert if issues
if [ $STATUS -ne 0 ]; then
    echo -e "$REPORT" | mail -s "EPMware Agent Alert" admin@company.com
fi

echo -e "$REPORT"
exit $STATUS

Maintenance Script

Regular maintenance automation:

#!/bin/bash
# maintenance.sh

# Rotate logs
find logs/ -name "*.log" -size +100M -exec mv {} {}.old \;
find logs/ -name "*.log.old" -mtime +7 -delete

# Clean temp files
find temp/ -type f -mtime +7 -delete

# Compact database (if applicable)
# Add database maintenance here

# Restart if needed
if [ -f /tmp/agent_restart_required ]; then
    systemctl restart epmware-agent
    rm /tmp/agent_restart_required
fi

Monitoring Setup

Key Metrics to Monitor

Essential monitoring points:

Metric Warning Threshold Critical Threshold
Agent Process - Not running
Polling Frequency >60 seconds >300 seconds
Error Rate >5/hour >20/hour
Deployment Success <95% <80%
Response Time >5 seconds >30 seconds
Disk Usage >80% >90%

Alerting Configuration

Set up alerts for: - Agent process failure - Deployment failures - Connection timeouts - Disk space warnings - Memory exhaustion

Best Practices

Operational Excellence

  1. Regular Monitoring - Check agent daily
  2. Proactive Maintenance - Schedule regular tasks
  3. Documentation - Keep runbooks updated
  4. Change Management - Track all changes
  5. Incident Response - Have procedures ready

Security Management

  1. Regular Updates - Apply security patches
  2. Access Control - Limit agent access
  3. Audit Logging - Monitor all activities
  4. Token Rotation - Refresh tokens periodically
  5. Backup Encryption - Secure backup files

Performance Management

  1. Resource Monitoring - Track usage trends
  2. Capacity Planning - Plan for growth
  3. Performance Tuning - Optimize settings
  4. Load Distribution - Balance workloads
  5. Regular Reviews - Analyze metrics

Documentation Requirements

Maintain documentation for:

Operational Documentation

  • Start/stop procedures
  • Troubleshooting guides
  • Contact information
  • Escalation procedures

Configuration Documentation

  • Current settings
  • Change history
  • Integration details
  • Network diagrams

Recovery Documentation

  • Backup procedures
  • Restore procedures
  • Disaster recovery plan
  • Business continuity plan

Management Tools

Built-in Tools

EPMware provides: - Agent status in UI - Deployment history - Error reporting - Connection testing

External Tools

Consider integrating: - Monitoring systems (Nagios, Zabbix) - Log aggregators (ELK, Splunk) - Alerting systems (PagerDuty) - Automation tools (Ansible, Puppet)

Upgrade Management

Planning Upgrades

Consider when upgrading: 1. Release notes review 2. Testing in non-production 3. Backup current version 4. Maintenance window scheduling 5. Rollback plan preparation

Upgrade Process

Standard upgrade steps: 1. Stop agent 2. Backup configuration 3. Deploy new version 4. Restore configuration 5. Test functionality 6. Monitor closely

Next Steps

Explore specific management topics:

  1. Windows Services - Windows-specific management
  2. Linux Services - Linux-specific management
  3. Agent Logs - Log management details
  4. Monitoring - Monitoring implementation

Automation is Key

Automate repetitive management tasks to ensure consistency and reduce manual effort. This improves reliability and frees time for strategic work.

Regular Maintenance

Neglecting regular maintenance can lead to performance degradation, disk space issues, and unexpected failures. Establish and follow a maintenance schedule.