Linux

StackState Self-hosted v5.1.x

Overview

StackState Agent V3

StackState Agent V3 can be installed on Linux systems running CentOS, Debian, Fedora, RedHat or Ubuntu. The Agent collects data from the host where it's running and can be configured to integrate with external systems. Retrieved data is pushed to StackState, to work with this data the StackState Agent V2 StackPack must be installed in your StackState instance. For details of the data retrieved and available integrations, see the StackPack integration documentation.

Monitoring

StackState Agent V3 will synchronize the following data with StackState from the Linux host it's running on:

• Hosts, processes and containers.

• Telemetry for hosts, processes and containers.

• For OS versions with a network tracer:

  • Network connections between processes and containers.

  • Network traffic telemetry.

  • Golden signals, such as HTTP server latencies, errors and request counts.

Setup

Supported versions

StackState Agent is tested to run on the Linux versions listed below with 64bit architecture. Note that host data for network connections between processes and containers (including network traffic telemetry) can only be retrieved for OS versions with a network tracer (kernel version 4.3.0 or higher):

Platform	Minimum version	Notes
CentOS	CentOS 6	CentOS 6 requires Agent V2.0.2 or above. Network tracer available from CentOS 8.
Debian	Debian 7 (Wheezy)	Debian 7 (Wheezy) requires glibc upgrade to 2.17. Network tracer available from Debian 9 (Stretch).
Fedora	Fedora 28	-
RHEL	RHEL 7	Network tracer available from RHEL 8.
Ubuntu	Ubuntu 15.04 (Vivid Vervet)	Network tracer available from Ubuntu 16.04 (LTS) (Xenial Xerus).

Install

StackState Agent V3 is installed using an install script.

• Online install - If you have access to the internet on the machine where the Agent will be installed.
• Offline install - If you don't have access to the internet on the machine where the Agent will be installed.

Online install

If you have access to the internet on the machine where the Agent will be installed, use one of the commands below to run the install.sh script. The Agent installer package will be downloaded automatically.

• <STACKSTATE_RECEIVER_API_KEY> is set during StackState installation.

• <STACKSTATE_RECEIVER_API_ADDRESS> is specific to your installation of StackState.

For details see StackState Receiver API.

cURL

curl -o- https://stackstate-agent-2.s3.amazonaws.com/install.sh | \
STS_API_KEY="<STACKSTATE_RECEIVER_API_KEY>" \
STS_URL="<STACKSTATE_RECEIVER_API_ADDRESS>" bash

wget

wget -qO- https://stackstate-agent-2.s3.amazonaws.com/install.sh | \
STS_API_KEY="STACKSTATE_RECEIVER_API_KEY" \
STS_URL="<STACKSTATE_RECEIVER_API_ADDRESS>" bash

Offline install

If you don't have access to the internet on the machine where the Agent will be installed, you will need to download both the install script and the Agent installer package before you install. You can then set the environment variable STS_INSTALL_NO_REPO=yes and specify the path to the downloaded installer package when you run the install.sh script.

1. Download the install script and copy this to the host where it will be installed:

   • https://stackstate-agent-2.s3.amazonaws.com/install.sh
2. Get the Key of the latest version of the Agent installer package (DEB or RPM package):

   • DEB installer package list
   • RPM installer package list
3. Download the Agent installer package and copy this to the host where it will be installed. The download link can be constructed from the S3 bucket URL and the installer package Key provided on the installer package list page. For example, to download the DEB installer package for agent_2.13.0-1_amd64.deb, use: https://stackstate-agent-2.s3.amazonaws.com/pool/stable/s/st/stackstate-agent_2.13.0-1_amd64.deb

   • DEB Download link: https://stackstate-agent-2.s3.amazonaws.com/<Key_from_DEB_installer_package_list>

   • RPM Download link: https://stackstate-agent-2-rpm.s3.amazonaws.com/<Key_from_RPM_installer_package_list>

4. Use the command below to set the required environment variables and run the installer script.

   • <STACKSTATE_RECEIVER_API_KEY> is set during StackState installation.

   • <STACKSTATE_RECEIVER_API_ADDRESS> is specific to your installation of StackState. For details see StackState Receiver API.

STS_API_KEY="<STACKSTATE_RECEIVER_API_KEY>" \
STS_URL="<STACKSTATE_RECEIVER_API_ADDRESS>" \
STS_INSTALL_NO_REPO=yes \
./install.sh <PATH_TO_LOCAL_AGENT_INSTALLER_PACKAGE>

Upgrade

To upgrade StackState Agent V3 on your system, stop the stackstate-agent service and upgrade using yum or apt-get. To upgrade offline, download the Agent installer package (DEB or RPM package) and copy this to the host where it will be installed - see step 2 in the offline install instructions.

yum

# stop the Agent with one of the below commands
sudo systemctl stop stackstate-agent
sudo service stackstate-agent stop

# online Agent upgrade
sudo yum upgrade stackstate-agent

# offline Agent upgrade
sudo yum upgrade <agent_installer_package>.rpm

apt-get

# stop the Agent with one of the below commands
sudo systemctl stop stackstate-agent
sudo service stackstate-agent stop

# online Agent upgrade
sudo apt-get update && apt-get upgrade stackstate-agent

# offline Agent upgrade
sudo apt-get upgrade <agent_installer_package>.deb

Configure

Agent configuration

The StackState Agent V3 configuration is located in the file /etc/stackstate-agent/stackstate.yaml. The <STACKSTATE_RECEIVER_API_KEY> and <STACKSTATE_BASE_URL> specified during installation will be added here by the install script. No further configuration should be required, however, a number of advanced configuration options are available.

Advanced Agent configuration

StackState Agent V3 can be configured to reduce data production, tune the process blacklist, or turn off specific features when not needed. The required settings are described in detail on the page advanced Agent configuration.

Integration configuration

The Agent can be configured to run checks that integrate with external systems. Configuration files for integrations run through StackState Agent V3 can be found in the directory /etc/stackstate-agent/conf.d/. Each integration has its own configuration file that's used by the associated Agent check.

Documentation for the available StackState integrations, including configuration details can be found on the StackPacks > Integrations pages.

Proxy configuration

The Agent can be configured to use a proxy for HTTP and HTTPS requests. For details, see use an HTTP/HTTPS proxy.

Commands

Commands require elevated privileges.

Start, stop or restart the Agent

To manually start, stop or restart StackState Agent V3:

# with systemctl
sudo systemctl start stackstate-agent
sudo systemctl stop stackstate-agent
sudo systemctl restart stackstate-agent

# with service
sudo service stackstate-agent start
sudo service stackstate-agent stop
sudo service stackstate-agent restart

Status and information

To check if StackState Agent V3 is running and receive information about the Agent's state:

# with systemctl
sudo systemctl status stackstate-agent

# with service
sudo service stackstate-agent status

To show tracebacks for errors or output the full log:

# with systemctl
sudo journalctl -u stackstate-agent

# with service
sudo service stackstate-agent status -v

Manually run a check

Use the command below to manually run an Agent check.

# Execute a check once and display the results.
sudo -u stackstate-agent stackstate-agent check <CHECK_NAME>

# Execute a check once with log level debug and display the results.
sudo -u stackstate-agent stackstate-agent check <CHECK_NAME> -l debug

Troubleshooting

To troubleshoot the Agent, try to check the Agent status or manually run a check.

Log files

Logs for the Agent subsystems can be found in the following files:

• /var/log/stackstate-agent/agent.log

• /var/log/stackstate-agent/process-agent.log

Debug mode

By default, the log level of the Agent is set to INFO. To assist in troubleshooting, the Agent log level can be set to DEBUG. This will enable verbose logging and all errors encountered will be reported in the Agent log files.

To set the log level to DEBUG for an Agent running on Linux:

1. Edit the file /etc/stackstate-agent/stackstate.yaml

2. To set the log level to DEBUG, add the line:

   log_level: debug

3. To also include the topology/telemetry payloads sent to StackState in the Agent log, add the line:

   log_payloads: true

4. Save the file and restart the Agent for changes to be applied.

Support knowledge base

Troubleshooting steps for any known issues can be found in the StackState support knowledge base.

Uninstall

To uninstall StackState Agent V3 from your system, stop the stackstate-agent service and remove it using yum or apt-get.

yum

# stop the Agent with one of the below commands
sudo systemctl stop stackstate-agent
sudo service stackstate-agent stop

# uninstall the Agent
sudo yum remove stackstate-agent

apt-get

# stop the Agent with one of the below commands
sudo systemctl stop stackstate-agent
sudo service stackstate-agent stop

# uninstall the Agent
sudo apt-get remove stackstate-agent

See also

• About StackState Agent V3
• Advanced Agent configuration
• StackState Agent V2 StackPack
• StackPack integration documentation
• StackState Agent V3 (github.com)