Installing agents as a non-root user

If you do not have root privileges and you want to install a monitoring agent, you can install the agent as a non-root user. Also, you can install the agent as a non-root user if you are a host administrator and you do not want to run the monitoring agent as a root user. Installation flow is the same as for a root user. After a non-root installation, run the UpdateAutoRun.sh script with root user or sudo user access.

Before you begin

To uniquely identify the computer system, the Linux® OS agent must identify the computer system board Universal Unique Identifier (UUID), manufacturer, model and serial number.

To obtain the computer system information, complete the following steps:

Ensure that the /usr/bin/hal-get-property command is installed on the computer system and that the hald process (HAL daemon) is running.
If the /usr/bin/hal-get-property command is not installed on the computer system, then confirm that the /sys/class/dmi/id/product_uuid file exists and contains the computer system UUID.

Note: The Linux OS Agent does not support monitoring of Docker when running as non-root.

Remember: The Linux OS agent retrieves this information periodically so the commands or files in the previous steps must remain in place even after installation.

Procedure

Install your monitoring agents on Linux or AIX® systems, as described in Installing agents on Linux systems and Installing agents on UNIX systems.
Optional: If you installed your agent as a selected user and want to configure the agent as a different user, run the install_dir/bin/secure.sh script.
For example:
```
install_dir/bin/secure.sh -g mqadmin1
```
For more information about the ./secure.sh script, see Configuring agents as a non-root user and Securing the agent installation files.
Optional: Configure your monitoring agents on Linux or AIX as necessary, see Configuring the ICAM Agents.
To update the system startup scripts, run the following script with root user or sudo user access:
```
install_dir/bin/UpdateAutoRun.sh
```

What to do next

If you installed your agent as a non-root user and you want to configure the agent as the same user, no special action is required. If you installed your agent as a selected user and want to configure the agent as a different user, see Configuring agents as a non-root user.

If you installed and configured your agent as a non-root user and you want to start the agent as the same user, no special action is required. If you installed and configured your agent as a selected user and want to start the agent as a different user, see Starting agents as a non-root user.

Use the same user ID for agent installation and upgrades.

If you run the UpdateAutoRun.sh script as root user, the agent is configured to automatically start after operating system restart. If you do not want this agent behavior, you can disable the automatic agent start. For more information, see Disabling automatic agent start on AIX and Linux systems.