Installing the USAS or USPS Agent

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Last updated: Jan 22, 2020 by Former user (Deleted)
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Introduction

The agents are distributed with shell scripts which may be used to run the agents automatically. These instructions assume you have followed the instructions in Daemonize the Agent. If the agents are being started manually then adjust the instructions below appropriately.

Upgrading

  • If a previous version of the Agent is running, stop the current running Agent prior to completing the installation steps:

    Redhat

    $ /etc/init.d/usps_sif stop $ /etc/init.d/usas_sif stop



    Ubuntu

    systemctl stop usas-sif systemctl stop usps-sif



  • The SSDT recommends you install into a clean directory for each version. Installing in a clean directory ensures that obsolete files do not remain from a prior version and allow you to revert to an earlier version if necessary

  • When upgrading, you should copy the agent.cfg file from the previous version to preserve your zone definitions and SOAP service configuration.

  • If you are not using a shared keystore you will also want to copy the Trusted.ks and agent.ks files from the previous installation

Download and Unpack the kit

  1. Create a directory for USAS or USPS and the version using the pattern USxS-SIF-n-n-n. It is common practice to place that directory inside a directory named /SIFAgents. For example: /SIFAgents/USPS-SIF-2-0-2

  2. Download the agent kit from the SSDT's download site into the new directory

  3. Unzip the kit

For example:

$ cd /SIFAgents $ mkdir USPS-SIF-2-0-2 $ cd USPS-SIF-2-0-2 $ wget http://download.ssdt-ohio.org/ohiosif/usps-sif-agent/usps-soap-agent-2.0.2.zip $ unzip usps-soap-agent-2.0.2.zip

Set Permissions

After unpacking the kit, ensure the following files have permissions of  Owner: rwx, Group: rx, Other: rx

  • USPS_daemon.sh

  • USPS

  • USAS_daemon.sh

  • USAS

Add execute permission for all levels



For Linux, be sure to give execute access to USAS or USPS without an extension, USAS.exe and USPS.exe are Windows binaries.

Update Service File

If this is the first installation of the SIF Agent on the current server, refer to the Daemonize the Agent section. 

Redhat - Update symbolic link



The service file in /etc/systemd/system  will need to be updated for the new installation directory path. Then reenable the service.

Ubuntu - Reenable service with updated path

Starting the Agent

If upgrading, copy the agent.cfg and Agent.ks from the previous install directory prior to starting the new agent.

The USAS_daemon.sh or USPS_daemon.sh scripts accept several command line parameters that can be used. The ones of most interest are:

  • console – which runs agent in the foreground, is recommended for testing, and can be stopped by pressing ctrl-c

  • start – starts agent in the background

  • stop – stops the agent running in the background

  • status – displays a message indicating if the agent is running

When starting a new agent for the first time, it is recommended that you start it in console mode to display messages directly on the console. If the agent starts without errors, then press ctrl-c, and then restart it in the background.

The example below shows a successful startup of the USPS Agent:

Running the Agent Console GUI

The SIF agents include a graphical management agent for configuring the agent and defining zones. The Agent Console does not run automatically in the background and does not need to be running for the Agent to function.

To execute the Agent Console, do:

On Linux, this command must be executed from a VNC connection in order to access the GUI interface. Alternatively, the Agent Console may be installed on a Windows workstation and used to connect remotely to the agent.

Daemonize the Agent

If this is the first installation of the Agent or the Agent is being installed using a different directory path than the previous installation, the Agent should be daemonized referrencing the installation path for the Agent. Running the agent as a daemon is helpful, because:

  • It can auto recover

  • It can auto startup

  • It can run without having a user logged on

For those with Redhat Linux OS, go here.

Ubuntu Linux - Daemonize the Agent

A service file for the SIF Agent needs to be created and placed in /etc/systemd/system

USAS-SIF.service



Edit USAS_daemon.sh / USPS_daemon.sh to include the following at the top. The daemon.sh files are located in the installation directory of the Agent.



Enable the daemon



Start the service



Stop the service



Show Status

This command leaves you in systemctl . You will need to enter Q to exit.



REDHAT Linux - Daemonize the Agent

Daemonize the Agent by following these steps:

  • Add a symbolic link to the /etc/init.d directory. For example:

    Redhat



  • Ensure that the owner is root. If that is not the case, use the following command to change the owner to root.

    Redhat



  • Change the rights using the following command.

    Redhat



  • Next, use the following command to add the USAS_daemon.sh or USPS_daemon.sh to the list of daemons.

    Redhat Linux



  • To start the agent, use this command.

    Redhat



  • To ask if the agent is running, use this command.

    Redhat



  • To stop the agent, use this command.