vSTREAM Agent on Linux

Introduction

This is a simplified installation procedure that has been thoroughly tested by our engineers on virtual as well as physical host.

A complete and detailed installation guide is available on MyNetscout.

 

Solution

Before you install

Some considerations before we start:

• We don't want to use NetScout's default communication ports as they are reltively common and could be in use on the host, now or in the future.
• We prefer using the hostname to identify the vSTREAM Agent (VSTA) in Device Configuration.
• We know the IP address of the nGeniusONE Server (NGS).
• You are familiar with nGeniusONE
• You are familiar with Linux CLI

 

Firewall

These communication are required.  Make sure they are allowed by every firewall in the path between the host running VSTA and NGS:

From NGS to VSTA (basic communication = required):

• tcp/7080
• tcp/7443
• tcp/7501

From VSTA to NGS (NetScout Discovery Protocol = recommended):

• udp/395 

From VSTA to any Next Generation InfiniStream (packet forwarding = recommended)

• GRE (IP protocol number 47) or udp/50100

 

Pre-configuration files

Before we start the installation of the software, we must create a couple of configuration files.

We recommend allowing VSTA to store detailed records and packets on the host.  The amount of disk space used for this purpose is limited and must be at least 10GB.  Any value configured below this value will disable this function.

 

Create a file /tmp/nsagent_config.cfg. with the follwing content:

export NSCOMM_PORT=395 
export NSCONSOLE_PORT=7501 
export HTTP_PORT=7080 
export HTTPS_PORT=7443 
export NSCONFIG_SERVER_IP=A.B.C.D (save and exit with ":wq")

You MUST specify all four communication ports in this file.  Respect the syntax.  Failure to do so will make the installation return to its default values. 

Create the file /tmp/nsprobeid with the following content. Replace HOSTNAME with the actual hostname or any string value you need to proper identify this vSTREAM Enbedden in nGeniusONE. The name can be up to 127 characters long.  It can only contain alphanumerical characters, period (.) and hyphen (-), NO SPACES, NO UNDERSCORE (_), NO SPECIAL CHARACTERS !

# vi /tmp/nsprobeid

HOSTNAME

(save and exit with ":wq")

Both files MUST have "0644" rights and be owned by "root:root".  This should already be the case.

 

Installation

Copy the most recent version of the rpm to the /tmp directory on the target host. It is recommended to keep the original file name for reference.

# cd /tmp
# wget https://comcert.box.com/shared/static/something.rpm
# mv something.rpm is-6110-668-vSTREAM_EMB.x86_64.rpm
# md5sum is-6110-668-vSTREAM_EMB.x86_64.rpm

Run the rpm. There are no dependencies to be installed. If you omit the --prefix argument, the installation directory will be /usr/lib/NetScout/.  If you specify for example "--prefix=/opt" vSTREAM Embedded will be installed in /opt/NetScout/

# yum localinstall is-6110-668-vSTREAM_EMB.x86_64.rpm --nogpgcheck --prefix=<target directory>

 

Clean-up

Remove all installation and configuration files from the /tmp directory immediately after verifying if the vSTREAM Embedded is working properly.

 

Service

Check if the vSCOUT-Emb service is running:

# systemctl status vstream-emb

Stop/Start/Restart the service with the following commands:

# systemctl stop vstream-emb
# systemctl start vstream-emb
or
# systemctl restart vstream-emb

 

Clean-up

We recommend removing all the files from the /tmp direcotory immediately after verification.

 

Modifying the configuration

If for any reason the configuration needs to be modified, edit this file and restart the agent.

# vi <target directory>/NetScout/rtm/config/nsagent_config.cfg

(save and exit with ":wq")