Introduction
Welcome, intrepid tech explorer, to the ultimate guide on deploying the Cisco AppDynamics Smart Agent across multiple hosts! In this adventure, we'll blend the magic of automation with the precision of Ansible, ensuring your monitoring infrastructure is both robust and elegant. So, buckle up, fire up your terminal, and let's dive into a journey that will turn your deployment woes into a seamless orchestration symphony.
Steps to Deploy Cisco AppDynamics Smart Agent
Step 1: Install Ansible on macOS
Before we embark on this deployment journey, we need our trusty automation tool, Ansible. Follow these steps to install Ansible on your macOS system using Homebrew:
-
Install Homebrew (if not already installed):
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
brew install ansible
ansible --version
You should see output indicating the installed version of Ansible.
Step 2: Prepare Your Files and Directory Structure
The project directory should contain the following files:
├── appdsmartagent_64_linux_24.6.0.2143.deb
├── appdsmartagent_64_linux_24.6.0.2143.rpm
├── inventory-cloud.yaml
├── inventory-local.yaml
├── inventory-multiple.yaml
├── smartagent.yaml
└── variables.yaml
Step 3: Understanding the Files
1. inventory-cloud.yaml, inventory-local.yaml, inventory-multiple.yaml
These inventory files list the hosts where the Smart Agent will be deployed. Each file is structured similarly:
all:
hosts:
smartagent-hosts:
ansible_host: <IP_ADDRESS>
ansible_username: <USERNAME>
ansible_password: <PASSWORD>
ansible_become: yes
ansible_become_method: sudo
ansible_become_password: <BECOME_PASSWORD>
ansible_ssh_common_args: '-o StrictHostKeyChecking=no'
Update these placeholders with your actual host details.
Explanation of smartagent.yaml
This Ansible playbook is designed to deploy the Cisco AppDynamics Smart Agent on multiple hosts. Let's break down each section and task in detail.
Playbook Header
---
name: Deploy Cisco AppDynamics SmartAgent
hosts: all
become: yes
vars_files:
- variables.yaml # Include the variable file
name: Describes the playbook.
hosts: Specifies that the playbook should run on all hosts defined in the inventory.
become: Indicates that the tasks should be run with elevated privileges (sudo).
vars_files: Includes external variables from the variables.yaml file.
Tasks
-
Ensure required packages are installed (RedHat)
- name: Ensure required packages are installed (RedHat)
yum:
name:
- yum-utils
state: present
update_cache: yes
when: ansible_os_family == "RedHat"
- name: Ensure required packages are installed (Debian)
apt:
name:
- curl
- debian-archive-keyring
- apt-transport-https
- software-properties-common
state: present
update_cache: yes
when: ansible_os_family == "Debian"
- name: Ensure the directory exists
file:
path: /opt/appdynamics/appdsmartagent
state: directory
mode: '0755'
- name: Check if config.ini exists
stat:
path: /opt/appdynamics/appdsmartagent/config.ini
register: stat_config
- name: Create default config.ini file if it doesn't exist
copy:
dest: /opt/appdynamics/appdsmartagent/config.ini
mode: '0644'
content: |
[default]
AccountAccessKey="{{ smart_agent.account_access_key }}"
ControllerURL="{{ smart_agent.controller_url }}"
ControllerPort=443
AccountName="{{ smart_agent.account_name }}"
FMServicePort={{ smart_agent.fm_service_port }}
EnableSSL={{ smart_agent.ssl | ternary('true', 'false') }}
when: not stat_config.stat.exists
- Uses the copy module to create a default config.ini file if it doesn't exist.
- The content field uses Jinja2 templating to populate the configuration with variables from variables.yaml.
-
Configure Smart Agent
- name: Configure Smart Agent
lineinfile:
path: /opt/appdynamics/appdsmartagent/config.ini
regexp: '^{{ item.key }}='
line: "{{ item.key }}={{ item.value }}"
loop:
- { key: 'AccountAccessKey', value: "{{ smart_agent.account_access_key }}" }
- { key: 'ControllerURL', value: "{{ smart_agent.controller_url }}" }
- { key: 'AccountName', value: "{{ smart_agent.account_name }}" }
- { key: 'FMServicePort', value: "{{ smart_agent.fm_service_port }}" }
- { key: 'EnableSSL', value: "{{ smart_agent.ssl | ternary('true', 'false') }}" }
- name: Set the Smart Agent package path (Debian)
set_fact:
smart_agent_package: "{{ playbook_dir }}/appdsmartagent_64_linux_24.6.0.2143.deb"
when: ansible_os_family == "Debian"
- name: Set the Smart Agent package path (RedHat)
set_fact:
smart_agent_package: "{{ playbook_dir }}/appdsmartagent_64_linux_24.6.0.2143.rpm"
when: ansible_os_family == "RedHat"
Defines the path to the Smart Agent package for RedHat systems.
- name: Fail if Smart Agent package not found (Debian)
fail:
msg: "Smart Agent package not found for Debian."
when: ansible_os_family == "Debian" and not (smart_agent_package is defined and smart_agent_package is file)
- name: Fail if Smart Agent package not found (RedHat)
fail:
msg: "Smart Agent package not found for RedHat."
when: ansible_os_family == "RedHat" and not (smart_agent_package is defined and smart_agent_package is file)
- name: Copy Smart Agent package to target (Debian)
copy:
src: "{{ smart_agent_package }}"
dest: "/tmp/{{ smart_agent_package | basename }}"
when: ansible_os_family == "Debian"
- name: Install Smart Agent package (Debian)
command: dpkg -i /tmp/{{ smart_agent_package | basename }}
when: ansible_os_family == "Debian"
- name: Copy Smart Agent package to target (RedHat)
copy:
src: "{{ smart_agent_package }}"
dest: "/tmp/{{ smart_agent_package | basename }}"
when: ansible_os_family == "RedHat"
- name: Install Smart Agent package (RedHat)
yum:
name: "/tmp/{{ smart_agent_package | basename }}"
state: present
disable_gpg_check: yes
when: ansible_os_family == "RedHat"
- name: Restart Smart Agent service
service:
name: smartagent
state: restarted
- Uses the service module to restart the Smart Agent service to apply the new configuration.
-
Clean up temporary files
- name: Clean up temporary files
file:
path: "/tmp/{{ smart_agent_package | basename }}"
state: absent
- Uses the file module to remove the temporary Smart Agent package files from the target hosts.
3. variables.yaml
This file contains the variables used in the playbook:
smart_agent:
controller_url: 'tme.saas.appdynamics.com'
account_name: 'ACCOUNT NAME'
account_access_key: 'ACCESS KEY'
fm_service_port: '443'
ssl: true
smart_agent_package_debian: 'appdsmartagent_64_linux_24.6.0.2143.deb'
smart_agent_package_redhat: 'appdsmartagent_64_linux_24.6.0.2143.rpm'
Explaining the Variables File
In Ansible, variables are used to store values that can be reused throughout your playbooks, roles, and tasks. They help make your playbooks more flexible and easier to maintain by allowing you to define values in one place and reference them wherever needed. Variables can be defined in several places, including:
- Playbooks: Directly within the playbook file.
- Inventory files: Associated with hosts or groups of hosts.
- Variable files: Separate YAML files that are included in playbooks.
- Roles: Within the defaults and vars directories of a role.
- Command line: Passed as extra variables when running the playbook.
Variables can be referenced using the Jinja2 templating syntax, which is denoted by double curly braces {{ }}.
The provided variables file is a YAML file that contains a set of variables used in an Ansible playbook. Here is a breakdown of the variables defined in the file:
smart_agent:
controller_url: 'tme.saas.appdynamics.com'
account_name: 'ACCOUNT NAME'
account_access_key: 'ACCESS CODE HERE'
fm_service_port: '443'
ssl: true
smart_agent_package_debian: 'appdsmartagent_64_linux_24.6.0.2143.deb'
smart_agent_package_redhat: 'appdsmartagent_64_linux_24.6.0.2143.rpm'
-
smart_agent: This is a dictionary (or hash) containing several key-value pairs related to the configuration of a "smart agent".
- controller_url: The URL of the controller.
- account_name: The name of the account.
- account_access_key: The access key for the account.
- fm_service_port: The port number for the service.
- ssl: A boolean indicating whether SSL is used.
-
smart_agent_package_debian: The filename of the Debian package for the smart agent.
-
smart_agent_package_redhat: The filename of the Red Hat package for the smart agent.
Step 4: Execute the Playbook
To deploy the Smart Agent, run the following command from your project directory:
ansible-playbook -i inventory-cloud.yaml smartagent.yaml
Replace inventory-cloud.yaml with the appropriate inventory file for your setup.
And there you have it! With these steps, you're now equipped to deploy the Cisco AppDynamics Smart Agent to multiple hosts with ease. Happy deploying!
