Installing Agents from the CommCell® Console - On-Demand Learning Library

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Deploying Agents

Credits:

Great thanks to Mike Byrne for his hard work with the screen captures!

Deploying Agents

Deploying agents can be achieved in several ways:

Available agent deployment methods:

Push install
Interactive install
Custom package

Agent deployment best practices:

If DNS names are used, ensure the DNS is properly resolving the name forward and reverse.
If deploying an agent on a remote site, consider using a remote software cache or transfer a custom package.
If the client is behind a firewall blocking ports, set network configurations to tunnel communication in a port.

Push Install

From the Tools menu | Click Add/Remove Software | Install Software
The CommCell^® console is used to push the Commvault^® software to clients. The following specific ports are used to achieve the install:

Commvault base services – Ports 8400 and 8401 are used
Linux – port 22 is required
Windows — ports 135, 139, 445 are required

To execute a push install

1 - From the Tools menu | Click Add/Remove Software | Choose Install Software.

2 - Click Next to continue.

3 - Choose the operating system type.

4 - Select option to manually specify computers or to auto discover servers.

5 - Type the computer names, or IP addresses, one per line

6 - Use a provided tool to help defining computers in bulk.

7 - Provide a domain account that has administrative privileges on the target systems to install software.

8 - Select the agent(s) and component(s) to install.

9 - If required, choose Client Group and Storage Policy to use for default subclients.

10 - Review and select an additional install options.

11 - If required, change the default install path or default port.

12 - If there is a firewall, set network route to communicate with the CommServe^® server.

13 - The installation task can be executed immediately or scheduled.

14 - View the summary and Click Finish to launch the job.

15 - From the Job Controller window, double-click the job.

16 - Choose the client status tab to see every client's status.

Interactive Install

It is possible to download the desired packages on a client machine by using the download bootstrapper. Once downloaded, start the installation by executing Setup.exe.

To execute an interactive installation

1 - Download the packages or remotely reach the Software Cache | Execute Setup as an administrator.

2 - Select the Language.

3 - Check the box to agree with the License Agreement.

4 - Choose to install packages on this computer.

5 - Browse through categories to display the different agents.

6 - Select agent(s) and component(s) to install.

7 - Use the default path or enter a different drive and installation path.

8 - If there is a firewall, set rules to communicate with the CommServe^®.

9 - Define the client display name.

10 - If there are multiple network interfaces, select the DNS name or type the IP address used to communicate from this server to the CommServe^®.

11 - Define the CommServe^® DNS name or IP address. Leave empty for a Decoupled Install.

12 - Select to disable local server firewall if required.

13 - If it is a locked down CommCell^®, provide the certificate file.

14 - Provide user account with CommCell^® Security Role having installation permissions.

15 - Select the appropriate data management Plan.

16 - Click Finish to complete the installation.

17 - You may need to refresh the view. To redraw window, Click Client Computers and press F5 key to refresh the view.

18 - View the newly installed client in the Commcell Browser window.

Custom Package

A custom package is a lightweight agent package created by the Commvault administrator. A typical agent installation requires many questions to be answered. The custom package has all these questions pre-answered. It also is useful to run silent installations. If an enterprise level deployment solution is in place, such as Microsoft^® SCCM, it can be leveraged to silently push the package to multiple machines.

To create a custom package

1 - Download the packages or remotely reach the Software Cache | Execute Setup as an administrator.

2 - Select the Language.

3 - Check the box to accept the license agreement.

4 - Choose to create a package for installation on a different computer.

5 - Choose the server architecture.

6 - Select this option to install new agent(s) on a server.

7 - Select this option to upgrade installed agents to a new version (i.e. v10 to v11).

8 - Select this option to update agent(s) to the latest service pack (i.e. SP11 to SP12).

9 - Choose the Select Packages option to select the agents to include in the package.

10 - Choose the folder to store the created custom package.

11 - Browse through categories to display the different agents.

12 - Check each box to select agent(s) and component(s) to install.

13 - Select to include .NET Framework.

14 - Select to create a self extracting custom package. Unselect to create a silent install package with response file.

15 - Select to include answers in the package.

16 - Select to Create or Use existing instance or check Show to users to provide interaction for this section.

17 - Use the default installation folder or type or browse to a different installation directory.

18 - If there is a firewall in place, set rules to communicate with the CommServe® or check Show to users to provide interaction for this section at time of install.

19 - Provide CommServe® DNS name or IP address. Leave empty for a Decoupled Install or check Show to users to provide interaction for this section at time of install.

20 - Select to disable local server firewall if required or check Show to users to provide interaction for this section at time of install.

21 - If it is a locked down CommCell®, provide the certificate file or check Show to users to provide interaction for this section at time of install.

22 - Select a Data Protection Plan to manage client jobs.

23 - Provide a user account with Commcell Permissions to add client to Commcell.

24 - Click Finish to create the package

25 - If the ‘Create a self extracting executable’ option was selected, it will create a custom package.

26 - If the ‘Create a self extracting executable’ option was not selected, it will create a silent install folder structure.

Agent Requirements

It is important when deploying agents, to validate requirements. Prerequisites differ from one type to another. Even for components that you frequently deploy, always confirm as it may change when a new service pack is released.

Most frequent requirement categories:

Operating system version
Application version (for application agents)
Service account with specific privileges

For more information on requirements, please refer to their respective section on Commvault's online documentation.