Installing the host agent on Linux

Install the host agent on Linux in an online or offline (air-gapped) environment. See the following sections to learn about the steps involved in the agent installation and configuration on Linux:

Prerequisites

Before you install the Instana host agent on Linux, make sure to meet the conditions that are explained in Checking the prerequisites.

Installing the host agent

In an online environment (where the host can communicate with the Instana-hosted agent repositories), you can install the host agent automatically by using the one-liner installation technique on supported Linux distributions.

Alternatively, in an online or offline (air-gapped) environment, you can download the agent package manually and then either install the package manually or create a repository and instruct your package manager to install the package for you.

For both online and offline environments, you can also install and run the agent from a .tar file with a root user.

For more information about installation, see Installing the host agent.

What to do next

  1. Check whether the host agent works as described in Checking the status of the host agent. If the agent is not started, start the agent as described in Starting the agent.

    When you install the agent, it is enabled to start automatically at system boot. You can turn off this behavior by setting the environment variable INSTANA_AGENT_AUTOSTART=false when you install the agent.

  2. After you install the host agent, configure Instana agent sensors to monitor specific technologies. For the list of supported sensors, see Agent sensors.

    Most Instana agent sensors are automatically installed, and some sensors are also automatically configured after the host agent is installed. But for the other sensors, you need to do some configurations to make these sensors work.

  3. If you have problems when you install the agent, see Potential problems during installation.

  4. You can do installation-related activities on the agent such as to customize the agent configuration or update the agent. For more information, see Administering the host agent on Linux.

  5. You can uninstall the host agent if it's not needed. For more information, see Uninstalling the host agent on Linux.