Installing the TEA Agent silently

Where you are in the Installation process

The Synthetic Transaction Execution Adapter (TEA) Agent monitors the performance and reliability of worldwide applications through synthetic (also called robotic) transactions. An application specialist uses Silk Performer to record or author .ltzscripts that simulate user transactions. The scripting utility also serves as an execution module to run scripts on the computer with the TEA Agent.

You can install more than one TEA Agent on a single computer. Each agent must have a unique name and a separate installation directory.

The silent installation obtains the required user inputs from the TEAAgent-silent-option.txt file, which is bundled along with the installer.

Before you begin

• The Application Visibility Manager and Synthetic Transaction Execution Adapter (TEA) agent licenses are separate. The Application Visibility Manager license does not entitle the TEA Agent license, and vice-versa.
  
• The Transaction Execution Adapter (TEA) Agent requires that you install the Silk Performer for TrueSight Operations Management agent first.
• If you plan to install the Silk Performer agent silently, make sure to download the silent.agent.properties file from EPD beforehand.
• Before you begin installation, identify the host computers where you want to install TEA Agents. TEA Agents are grouped into Locations, which are logical groups (such as by geographical location or application type), that are used for load balancing and high availability.

Encrypting the password for silent installations

The Maintenance Tool enables you to encrypt passwords. You must use encrypted passwords when you define properties for the silent installation so that the passwords are not exposed in the TEAAgent-silent-option.txt file.

To encrypt a password

1. Log in to the host computer as a user with administrator privileges.
2. In the folder with the TEA Agent installation files, go to the Disk1\utility folder, and run the TEAAgentMaintenanceTool.cmd file.
3. On the Encrypt tab, enter your password in the Password and Confirm Password fields, and click Encrypt.

4. Copy and paste the value from the Encrypted Password field to the TEAAgent-silent-option.txt file for your silent installation.

   For example, if the encrypted password output is DES\:d70cbe3669602717ce66af37cce7ecf0, modify the archive_password property as follows:

   -J archive_password=DES\:d70cbe3669602717ce66af37cce7ecf0

5. Save the TEAAgent-silent-option.txt file.

Defining properties and running the silent installation

If you want to install more than one TEA Agent on the same computer, you must run the installation more than once. Each run must have a unique tea_service_name and a separate installLocation directory.

To define properties and run the silent installation

1. Log on to the host computer as a user with administrator privileges.
2. From the Disk1 directory, open the TEAAgent-silent-option.txt file, which is the options file provided with the product installer.
3. Accept the installation directory path, or edit the -P installLocation parameter.
   The default installation directory is one of the following, according to your system:

   • C:\Program Files (x86)\BMC Software\BMCTEAAgent

   • C:\Program Files\BMC Software\BMCTEAAgent

4. Do one of the following:

   • If you are installing a single TEA Agent, enter a name for the tea_service_name.
   • If you are using an installation deployment tool to deploy multiple TEA Agents, ignore the tea_service_name parameter and set the auto_generated_tea_service_name parameter to true to generate a unique name for each agent automatically.

   Each TEA Agent name must be unique in the synthetic transaction monitoring system.

   Example

   Example of an automatically generated TEA Agent name:
   0be49679-f1da-4149-b9b7-ec8542a07f8b

5. Type or edit the values for the following properties.
   Ensure that all passwords are encrypted, as described earlier in this topic.

   -J agent_group_name=
   -J archive_password=
   -J archive_confirm_password=
   -J portal_host_name=
   -J portal_port=8100
   -J proxy_host_name=
   -J proxy_port=
   -J proxy_type=0

   
   

   Installation parameter	Description
   Agent Group Name	Agent Group name to which the Agent will be associated. If the Agent Group name already exists in the system, the Agent is associated with that group. If the Agent Group name does not exist, a new group is created.
   Archive Password	Password to extract data from archived files in the execution logs. When a TEA Agent executes an Execution Plan, a local results file and related files are archived in a secure zip file that is protected with this password. The password uses Triple-DES encryption in ECB mode (DES_ecb3_encrypt). Note: You can set a different results archive password for each TEA Agent, or use the same password.
   Archive Confirm Password	Enter the password again.
   Portal Host Name (FQDN)	Fully qualified domain name of the App Visibility portal computer	Note If access to the App Visibility portal is through a load balancing server, such as in a high-availability environment, enter the connection information for the load balancer.
   Portal Port	Port number for the App Visibility portal The default port is 8100.
   Proxy Host Name	Host name or IP address of the proxy server your agent uses to communicate.
   Proxy Port	Port number of the proxy server your agent uses to communicate.
   Proxy Type	Proxy server type for connecting to the portal, if applicable. Possible values: 0 - No proxy (default value) 1 - HTTP proxy 2 - SOCKS4a proxy

6. Save the TEAAgent-silent-option.txt file.

7. From the directory where the installer file is stored, open a command prompt, and run the silent installation using the following command:

   setup.exe -i silent -DOPTIONS_FILE="<filePath>\TEAAgent-silent-option.txt"

   The <filePath> is the full location of the options file.

   Example

   setup.exe -i silent -DOPTIONS_FILE="C:\temp\Disk1\utility\TEAAgent-silent-option.txt"

   Note

   You may see the following message in the installation log file:

   Test connection could not establish a secure connection with App Visibility.  If you are using a custom certificate, after you install, use the certificate replacement tool to replace the agent certificate.

   If you see this message, you need to replace your TEA Agent security certificate after installation is completed. See Applying private certificates to Synthetic TEA Agents for more details.

8. Verify that the TEA Agent installation was successful.

     To verify that the TEA Agent installation was successful

   1. Using Windows Administration Tools to view local services, ensure that the service for the BMC TEA Agent is running. 
      If the service is not running, check in the bmcteaagent_install_log.txt file (located in the %temp% directory) for warnings or errors.
   2. Log on to the TrueSight Presentation Server with Administrator access.
   3. From the navigation menu, select Administration > App Visibility Agents.
   4. Ensure that your installed Agent is listed in the table and that the Agent status is Online.

After you install the BMC Transaction Execution Adapter Agent, the service automatically starts, and the Agent is automatically registered by the Presentation Server. The Agent is ready to receive configuration information. 

Troubleshooting installation issues

If you face issues during installation, see Troubleshooting the App Visibility Manager deployment

Next step in the Installation process

Now that you have successfully installed the TEA agent, install the other TrueSight components as per your license entitlements. For instructions, see the Installation process.