Installing and managing Linux connector

Install the connector to collect logs from Linux-based applications.

Before you begin

• Ensure that the host computer on which you plan to install the connector has a 2-core CPU and 16 GB RAM.
• Download and install the connector only on the RHEL 8.x operating systems.
• Ensure that you have the root permissions to install the connector.
• Confirm that the 24444 port is available on the Linux server from where logs will be collected.

To download and install the connector

1. Click the Collection menu and select Connectors.
2. On the Connectors page, click Create.
3. Enter a unique name and description.
4. In the Download Connector step, click Download.
5. In the Tags step, add tags (in the form of key-value pair) to identify the connector; for example, name-windows, location-Pune, and so on.

6. Click + to add the tag.

   Important

   Even if you are adding only one tag, ensure that you click +.

7. Download the installation script, in the Download Install Script step, click Download.

   Important

   Ensure that you do not copy the script to any public domains.

8. Click Save.
9. Copy the installation script and tar.gz files to the '/opt' directory on the Linux (RHEL) server from where you want to collect logs.
10. Extract the tar.gz file, from the /opt folder (command: cd /opt), and run the following command:
    tar -xvf tdc-connector-linux-<build_id>-<version>.tar.gz
    The connector file is extracted in the bmc-devtools folder.
11. Grant execute permission to the downloaded shell script, and then run the script.
    For example, run the following commands:
    chmod +x install-connector-my-bmc.sh
    ./install-connector-my-bmc.sh
    After installation, the bmc-devtools folder is deleted and the connector is installed in the td-agent folder.

To communicate with the connector through a proxy

1. Open the /etc/systemd/system/td-agent.service file.
2. Search for the following line: LimitNOFILE=65536.
3. After this line, add the following entry:
   Environment=HTTP_PROXY=http://<PROXY_HOST_OR_IP>:<PROXY_PORT>
4. Save the file.

To verify the connector installation

To verify the connector installation, go to the Collection menu and click Connectors, and look for the the installed connector on the page. Connectors will be available in one of the following status:

• Created: The connector is installed successfully, but has not started sending hearbeats.
• Active: The connector is sending heartbeats.
• Suspended: The connector has not sent hearbeats for a preconfigured time. You can delete a connector only in this status.

To start and stop a connector

• To start a connector, run the following command:
  systemctl start td-agent.service
• To stop a connector, run the following command:
  systemctl stop td-agent.service

To uninstall a connector

1. Run the following commands (in the order that follows):
   systemctl stop td-agent.service
   systemctl disable td-agent.service
   rm -rf /etc/systemd/system/td-agent.service
   systemctl daemon-reload
   systemctl reset-failed
2. Remove the td-agent directory by running the following command:
   rm -rf /opt/td-agent

To delete a connector

1. Ensure that the connector is not associated with a collection policy.
2. Stop the connector and wait for 5 minutes.
   When you stop the connector, its status changes to Suspended.
3. On the Connector page, for the required connector, click the Actions menu and select Delete.
4. Confirm deletion by clicking Yes. 

Where to go from here

Creating-a-parsing-rule