Walkthrough: Adding a Windows managed server

This topic walks you through the process of adding a Microsoft Windows server to TrueSight Server Automation management.

It includes the following sections:

Introduction
What does this walkthrough show?
What do I need to do before I get started?
How to add a managed server
Wrapping it up
Where to go from here

The video demonstrates the process of adding a managed server.

For a walkthrough with specific instructions for adding multiple target servers, see Walkthrough-Adding-multiple-target-servers-to-the-environment.

https://youtu.be/i3VaWjswlok

Introduction

This topic is intended for systems administrators with knowledge of server and infrastructure management, but who are new to the TrueSight Server Automation product.

The goal for this topic is to add a server to TrueSight Server Automation management. Adding servers is a fundamental task in the product. After you add a server, you can view its contents in real time and run various types of jobs on the server. TrueSight Server Automation jobs let you perform actions such as patching, deploying software, or checking a server's configuration for compliance with organizational standards. You can also use Network Shell and the TrueSight Server Automation command line interface (BLCLI) to manage the server.

Before you can add a server to TrueSight Server Automation management, you must first deploy an RSCD agent to the server and then perform some minor configuration.

What does this walkthrough show?

This walkthrough:

Downloads the RSCD agent installer and copies it to a Windows server
Performs the agent installation
Configures the agent
Adds the server to TrueSight Server Automationmanagement

Note

This example demonstrates how to set up a single managed server. If you are adding large numbers of servers, you may want to use the Unified Agent Installer, which allows you to deploy many agents simultaneously.

What do I need to do before I get started?

You must have a BMC support ID so you can access a website for product downloads.

Make sure you have access to the TrueSight Server Automation Console.

Make sure you have the appropriate level of permissions to read and modify servers and server groups.

For this walkthrough, you log on as BLAdmin, the default superuser for TrueSight Server Automation. In live deployments, BMC recommends that you grant access based on roles with a narrower set of permissions.

How to add a managed server

Step

Example screen

Download the installation file for an RSCD agent. Using FTP or an equivalent tool, copy the file to the server where you are installing the agent.

For this example, we are installing an agent on a 64-bit Windows server. The file name for that installer is RSCD85-WIN64.msi.

You can obtain the file from the BMC Electronic Product Download (EPD) site (BMC support ID required). Click here for detailed instructions describing how to download files from EPD.

Double-click the installation file. The installation program starts. Click Next and accept the defaults as you step through the program. Click Finish to end the program.

You can customize the installation, but for this example, we are using default values.

A default installation of an RSCD agent grants read-level permissions to the server. To make changes to the server, you must modify a configuration file that explicitly grants permissions.

This example grants permissions to Administrator, but the agent's configuration files give you great flexibility in granting permissions.

On the server where you installed the agent, cd to C:\Windows\rsc.
Using a text editor, open the exports file.
Change the last line of the file.
Currently reads:
Change to:
#* rw
* rw,user=Administrator
Save the file.

Using the console, you must add the server where you just installed the agent to the collection of servers that TrueSight Server Automation manages. But first you must add a server group where you will store the new server.

Right-click the Servers folder (at left) and select New > Server Group. The New Server Group wizard opens.
Enter a name and description for the new server group.
Click Finish.
The new server group is added.

Right-click the newly added server group and select Add Server. The Add New Server wizard opens. Notice that most of the properties listed in the window have no values.

For Name/IP Address, enter the name or IP address of the server you are adding.
Test the connection to the server by clicking Verify Server . If a valid connection to the server is established, values populate the properties listed in the window.

Click Finish. The Add Server wizard closes.
Expand the server group where you are adding a server. The server group now includes the server you just added.

Wrapping it up

This walkthrough has demonstrated how to run the agent installation program, configure the agent, and then add the agent to the list of managed servers in the console.

Where to go from here

Now that you have added at least one server to TrueSight Server Automation management, you can begin to perform management tasks, such as using Live Browse to examine the configuration of servers in your environment .

You can also reference the Managing-servers section, for additional server management tasks.