vSCOUT on Linux

Introduction

vSCOUT verion 6.1.1 build 336 is the final version of product that supports "lite" mode.  In lite mode the agent is not analyzing traffic.  It can only be used as packet forwarder to any InfiniStream NG.

The procedure below is a siplified installation procedures tested by our engineers and in accordance with our best practises. Supported OS and Harware as specified by NETSCOUT.

Please read the article on vSCOUT resource usage before you start.

This article assumes familiarity with Windows server operations systems.

 

Solution

Before you begin

Create a first file nsprobeid containing the hostname of the target host.  This name will eventually be used by NGS to identify the vSCOUT:

# vi /tmp/nsprobeid

Content of the file:

HOSTNAME

Save and exit (wq).

Create a second file named nsagent_config.cfg.  Replace <A.B.C.D> with the IP address of the nGenius Server.  Replace <MON> and <MAN> with the device name of the network interface on the target host.  In most cases the interface to monitor will be the same interface used to communicate with nGenius (<MON>=<MAN>):

# vi /tmp/nsagent_config.cfg

Content of the file:

export NSCONFIG_SERVER=<A.B.C.D>
export NSCOMM_PORT=395
export NSCONSOLE_PORT=7501
export HTTP_PORT=7080
export HTTPS_PORT=7443
export NUM_CPUS=2
export MEM_SIZE=2048
export MON_INF=<MON>
export MGMT_INF=<MAN>
export VSCOUT_MODE=lite

Save and exit (wq).

Note: these files will be copied by the installer to their final destination in the installation folder.  The file nsagent_config.cfg can be modified after installation to change vSCOUT settings as many times as you want.  You must restart vSCOUT for the changes to take effect.

 

Download

Use wget or curl to download the required installation file to the /tmp directory on the host.  There are two versions of this file: RPM to be used with Redhat, CentOS and Amazon Linux and BIN to be used with Ubuntu, Fedore and SUSE Linux.  Keep in mind that only x86_64 architecture is supported.

 

Installing vSCOUT using the RPM file

# md5sum is-6xxx-xxx-vSCOUT.x86_64.rpm
# yum -y is-6xxx-xxx-vSCOUT.x86_64.rpm --prefix=<target directory>

The --prefix argument is optional and allows you to specify a location for the vSCOUT installation.  The default location is /opt/NetScout/.  If you want for example install vSCOUT in /usr/lib/NetScout/, you must specify /usr/lib/ as target directory.

 

Installing vSCOUT using the BIN file

# md5sum is-6xxx-xxx-vSCOUT.bin
# chmod +x is-6xxx-xxx-vSCOUT.bin
# ./is-6xxx-xxx-vSCOUT.bin --prefix=<target directory>

 

Removing vSCOUT from Linux

vSCOUT, vSTREAM Embedded and vSTREAM Agent are completely different products with different capabilities and different licenses.  Before moving to vSTREAM Embedded or vSTREAM Agent, vSCOUT must be removed entirely.

To remove vSCOUT from Linux, please read the article.