Section 3.2. Preparing to Deploy Agents

3.2. Preparing to Deploy Agents

Before deploying agents , identify the machines you are going to deploy to. Depending where the machines are in your network, you will use different methods to install and manage the agents.

Leaky Faucet has to deploy agents into three different environments: the local LAN, across slow WAN links and firewalls but still in the same domain, and into a workgroup in their DMZ. The Leaky Faucet network is depicted in Figure 3-2.

Figure 3-2. Leaky Faucet's network

Although the method of agent deployment and management will vary based on the target computer and the environment it is in, you will go through the same deployment process and management steps.

1. Identify the machines that you want to monitor, including network location and security context.

2. Prepare the machines that will be monitored, ensuring that they have sufficient disk space for the agent to use and that the Windows event logs and application logs are of sufficient size.

3. Set the desired configurations at the management-group level. For example, you can configure the management group to automatically install agents on every computer it becomes aware of, or require administrative approval before installing an agent.

4. Configure MOM 2005 to include or exclude computers in its management scope through computer discovery rules . Computer discovery is the process in which MOM actively scans the network for computers that satisfy some preconfigured criteria. For example, you can configure the computer discovery rules to search for all computers in a domain using the domain name and the any character(s) wildcard (*), or only those with a certain string of characters in the name. Regular expressions and Boolean regular expressions are available to help craft your search query. Once MOM finds these computers, it adds an entry for them to the operations database and displays that information in the Administrator console.

5. Deploy the agent, or start agentless management on a computer.

6. Ensure the agent is working by checking the Operator console for entries and data that are specific to the monitored computer.

7. Import management packs into the management group if this is the first time agents are being deployed. The agents will then classify the computer into roles based on discovery information and apply application-specific rules.

8. Manage and troubleshoot the agent through its life cycle, updating it manually if necessary.

9. Uninstall the agent when the monitored computer is decommissioned.