Setting up agent repositories for dynamic host agents

In certain instances where the agent cannot communicate directly with the Instana agent repositories (for example, air-gapped deployments), you can create a local mirror of the repository and configure the dynamic agent to get packages from the mirror. You must configure each deployed agent to use the mirror. For more information, see Configuring the agent repository as the mirror.

You can configure the Instana host agent to use the agent repository as the mirror or configure a different mirror.

To use your agent repository mirror, open the <agentfolder>/etc/mvn-settings.xml file and uncomment the following section:

<mirrors>
  <mirror>
    <id>agent-release</id>
    <url>http://192.168.69.3:8081/repository/agent-release</url>
    <mirrorOf>features</mirrorOf>
  </mirror>
  <mirror>
    <id>instana-shared</id>
    <url>http://192.168.69.3:8081/repository/instana-shared</url>
    <mirrorOf>shared</mirrorOf>
  </mirror>
</mirrors>
 

If you require authentication for the agent repository mirror, update the following sections in the <agentfolder>/etc/mvn-settings.xml file:

<server>
  <id>agent-release</id>
  <username>myuser</username>
  <password>mypassword</password>
</server>
<server>
  <id>instana-shared</id>
  <username>myuser</username>
  <password>mypassword</password>
</server>
 

If you install the agent in a Kubernetes environment, you can use the following flags in the operator or helm chart installations. The agentRelease flags correspond to the agent-release server and the instanaShared flags correspond to the instana-shared server. For more information about the repositories, see Generic repository information.

• agent.agentReleaseRepoMirrorUrl
• agent.agentReleaseRepoMirrorUsername
• agent.agentReleaseRepoMirrorPassword
• agent.instanaSharedRepoMirrorUrl
• agent.instanaSharedRepoMirrorUsername
• agent.instanaSharedRepoMirrorPassword

If you install the agent on Docker, you can use the following environment variables to configure the mirroring:

• AGENT_RELEASE_REPOSITORY_MIRROR_URL
• AGENT_RELEASE_REPOSITORY_MIRROR_USERNAME
• AGENT_RELEASE_REPOSITORY_MIRROR_PASSWORD
• INSTANA_SHARED_REPOSITORY_MIRROR_URL
• INSTANA_SHARED_REPOSITORY_MIRROR_USERNAME
• INSTANA_SHARED_REPOSITORY_MIRROR_PASSWORD

You can change the agent repository location for package-based host agent instead of configuring the agent repository as the mirror.

When you install the host agent by using the one-Liner or a package-based installer, the location from which the host agent downloads updates and sensors is specified in the <agentfolder>/etc/org.ops4j.pax.url.mvn.cfg file.

To change the agent repository location, add the path to access the Maven repository. To add the path, use the org.ops4j.pax.url.mvn.repositories variable. See the following configuration example of the Nexus setup on the host 192.168.69.3 and port 8081:

org.ops4j.pax.url.mvn.repositories=http://192.168.69.3:8081/repository/agent-release@id=features@snapshots@snapshotsUpdate=always,http://192.168.69.3:8081/repository/instana-shared@id=shared@snapshots@snapshotsUpdate=always
 

In the example, the following proxy locations for the Maven repositories are set. Each location is separated by a comma.

• http://192.168.69.3:8081/repository/agent-release@id=features@snapshots@snapshotsUpdate=always
• http://192.168.69.3:8081/repository/instana-shared@id=shared@snapshots@snapshotsUpdate=always

Append the Maven repository URL with the following parameters:

• @id: The identifier for the Maven repository. The variable is optional.
• @snapshots: The snapshots are artifacts in the Maven repository. If this parameter is set, the Instana agent is updated automatically by using the artifacts.
• @snapshotsUpdate=always: The snapshots are updated every time an agent update runs. If this parameter is not set, the snapshots are updated only once in 24 hours and the updates might be delayed.

You can change the agent repository location for Docker-based host agent instead of configuring the agent repository as the mirror.

Similar to the package-based agent, the org.ops4j.pax.url.mvn.repositories parameter is used. The startup script sets the value based on the following expression:

org.ops4j.pax.url.mvn.repositories={{ getenv "INSTANA_MVN_REPOSITORY_URL" }}/{{ getenv "INSTANA_MVN_REPOSITORY_FEATURES_PATH" }},{{ getenv "INSTANA_MVN_REPOSITORY_URL" }}/{{ getenv "INSTANA_MVN_REPOSITORY_SHARED_PATH" }

 

To change the agent repository location, complete the following steps:

1. Specify the base URL by using the INSTANA_MVN_REPOSITORY_URL environment variable. See the following example:

   INSTANA_MVN_REPOSITORY_URL=http://192.168.69.3:8081/repository
    

2. Specify a location for the host agent to download updates and sensors by using the INSTANA_MVN_REPOSITORY_FEATURES_PATH environment variable. See the following example:

   INSTANA_MVN_REPOSITORY_FEATURES_PATH=agent-release@id=features@noreleases@snapshots@snapshotsUpdate=always
    

   The Bill of Material (BOM) of the agent is retrieved from the path. The BOM contains the list of all the features that Instana agent can use.

3. Specify a location for the host agent to download updates and sensors by using the INSTANA_MVN_REPOSITORY_SHARED_PATH environment variable. See the following example:

   INSTANA_MVN_REPOSITORY_SHARED_PATH=instana-shared@id=shared@snapshots@snapshotsUpdate=always