Install and Configure NGINX Agent
Follow the instructions in this guide to install and configure the NGINX Agent on your data plane systems.
Prerequisites
This section lists the prerequisites for installing and configuring NGINX Agent. Follow the steps below to complete the requirements:
-
NGINX Management Suite is installed on a server.
Note:
When installing and configuring NGINX Management Suite, take note of the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) and gRPC port number. You’ll need this information to properly configure the NGINX Agent to communicate with NGINX Management Suite. -
Make sure NGINX is running on your instance:
ps aux | grep nginx
-
If a previous version of NGINX Agent was installed, you must stop the current NGINX Agent process before running the NGINX Agent install script. To check if any NGINX Agent processes are running, run the following command:
ps aux | grep nginx-agent
-
If a previous version of NGINX Agent was installed, make sure to uninstall
nginx-agent-selinux
before running the NGINX Agent install script. To see ifnginx_agent_selinux
is installed, run the following command:rpm -qa | grep nginx_agent_selinux
dpkg -s nginx_agent_selinux
-
Review the Technical Specifications guide for system requirements.
Install NGINX Agent
You can choose one of the following two methods to install the NGINX Agent on your data plane host:
- Install via the NGINX Management Suite API Gateway
- Install from packages downloaded from MyF5 Customer Portal or from your NGINX/F5 sales team.
Install using the API
You can install the NGINX Agent using curl
, wget
, or any command-line tool for transferring data with URLs. If the NGINX Management Suite host is not set up with valid TLS certificates, you can use the available insecure flags of those tools. See the following examples:
-
Secure:
curl https://<NMS_FQDN>/install/nginx-agent | sudo sh
-
Insecure:
curl --insecure https://<NMS_FQDN>/install/nginx-agent | sudo sh
Modules including App Delivery Manager and API Connectivity Manager take advantage of the instance group feature for managing NGINX instances. You can add your NGINX instance to an existing instance group or create one using
--instance-group
or-g
flag when installing NGINX Agent.The following example shows how to download and run the script with the optional
--instance-group
flag adding the NGINX instance to the instance group my-instance-group:curl https://<NMS_FQDN>/install/nginx-agent > install.sh; chmod u+x install.sh sudo ./install.sh --instance-group my-instance-group
By default, the install script attempts to use a secure connection when downloading packages. If, however, the script cannot create a secure connection, it uses an insecure connection instead and logs the following warning message:
Warning: An insecure connection will be used during this nginx-agent installation
To require a secure connection, you can set the optional flag
skip-verify
tofalse
.The following example shows how to download and run the script with an enforced secure connection:
curl https://<NMS_FQDN>/install/nginx-agent > install.sh chmod u+x install.sh; chmod u+x install.sh sudo sh ./install.sh --skip-verify false
-
Secure:
wget https://<NMS_FQDN>/install/nginx-agent -O - | sudo sh -s --skip-verify false
-
Insecure:
wget --no-check-certificate https://<NMS_FQDN>/install/nginx-agent -O - | sudo sh
Modules including App Delivery Manager and API Connectivity Manager take advantage of the instance group feature for managing NGINX Instances. When you install the NGINX Agent, you can use the
--instance-group
or-g
flag to add your NGINX instance to an existing instance group or to a new group that you specify.The following example downloads and runs the NGINX Agent install script with the optional
--instance-group
flag, adding the NGINX instance to the instance group my-instance-group:wget https://gnms1.npi.f5net.com/install/nginx-agent -O install.sh ; chmod u+x install.sh sudo ./install.sh --instance-group my-instance-group
Install from Package Files
To install directly from package files, you’ll need to download the files from the MyF5 Customer Portal or use the package files provided by your NGINX Sales Team. The file you need is agent-install.sh
.
To install from package files, take the following steps:
-
Copy
agent-install.sh
to the data plane host where you want to install the NGINX Agent. -
Run the following command to install OR update NGINX Agent:
sudo PACKAGE_HOST=<NMS_FQDN> ./agent-install.sh
Note:
In the example above,<NMS_FQDN>
is the the fully qualified domain name or IP address for the Instance Manager API gateway.
Enable and Start NGINX Agent
Run the following command to enable and start the NGINX Agent service:
sudo systemctl enable nginx-agent --now
Verifying NGINX Agent is Running and Registered
Run the following command on your data plane to verify that the NGINX Agent process is running:
ps aux | grep nginx-agent
You should see output that looks similar to the following example:
root 293850 109 1.1 1240056 23536 ? Ssl 22:00 0:07 /usr/local/bin/nginx-agent
vagrant 293866 0.0 0.0 8160 736 pts/0 S+ 22:00 0:00 grep --color=auto nginx-agent
Once you’ve verified the NGINX Agent is running on your data plane, you should confirm it’s registered with NGINX Management Suite. You can do this two ways:
Send an API request similar to the following example to get the inventory list. Your instance should be listed.
curl -u <user>:<password> https://<NMS_FQDN>/api/platform/v1/systems | jq
In a web browser, go to the FQDN for your NGINX Management Suite host and log in. The registered instance is shown in the Instances list.
Once you’ve verified the NGINX Agent instance is registered with NGINX Management Suite, no additional action is required for monitoring the instance.
Note:
If you need to remove the instance, ensure that the NGINX Agent service is stopped first. Then you can remove the instance from the inventory.
Configuring the NGINX Agent
The following sections explain how to configure the NGINX Agent using configuration files, CLI flags, and environment variables.
Note:
The NGINX Agent interprets configuration values set by configuration files, CLI flags, and environment variables in the following priorities:
- CLI flags overwrite configuration files and environment variable values.
- Environment variables overwrite configuration file values.
- Config files are the lowest priority and config settings are superseded if either of the other options is used.
The NGINX Agent is configured by default to connect to the NGINX Management Suite on port 443 based on the address used to download the install script. If this setting doesn’t work, you can change the
server
fields in thenginx-agent.conf
file. Instructions are provided in the following sections.Open any required firewall ports or SELinux/AppArmor rules for the ports and IPs you want to use.
Configure with Config Files
The configuration files for the NGINX Agent are /etc/nginx-agent/nginx-agent.conf
and /var/lib/nginx-agent/agent-dynamic.conf
. These files have comments at the top indicating their purpose.
Note:
If you’re running Instance Manager 2.10.1 or earlier or NGINX Agent 2.25.1 or earlier, theagent-dynamic.conf
file is located in/etc/nginx-agent/
.
Examples of the configuration files are provided below:
example nginx-agent.conf
Note:
In the following example
nginx-agent.conf
file, you can change theserver.host
andserver.grpcPort
to connect to the NGINX Management Suite.If NGINX Agent was previously installed for data reporting purposes only, you may need to find and remove the following line from the NGINX Agent configuration file:
features: registration,dataplane-status
#
# /etc/nginx-agent/nginx-agent.conf
#
# Configuration file for NGINX Agent.
#
# This file tracks agent configuration values that are meant to be statically set. There
# are additional agent configuration values that are set via the API and agent install script
# which can be found in /var/lib/nginx-agent/agent-dynamic.conf.
# specify the server grpc port to connect to
server:
# host of the control plane
host: <NMS_FQDN>
grpcPort: 443
# tls options
tls:
# enable tls in the nginx-agent setup for grpcs
# default to enable to connect with secure connection but without client cert for mtls
enable: true
# controls whether the server certificate chain and host name are verified.
# for production use, see instructions for configuring TLS
skip_verify: false
log:
# set log level (panic, fatal, error, info, debug, trace; default "info")
level: info
# set log path. if empty, don't log to file.
path: /var/log/nginx-agent/
nginx:
# path of NGINX logs to exclude
exclude_logs: ""
# data plane status message / 'heartbeat'
dataplane:
status:
# poll interval for dataplane status - the frequency the agent will query the dataplane for changes
poll_interval: 30s
# report interval for dataplane status - the maximum duration to wait before syncing dataplane information if no updates have been observed
report_interval: 24h
metrics:
# specify the size of a buffer to build before sending metrics
bulk_size: 20
# specify metrics poll interval
report_interval: 1m
collection_interval: 15s
mode: aggregated
# OSS NGINX default config path
# path to aux file dirs can also be added
config_dirs: "/etc/nginx:/usr/local/etc/nginx:/usr/share/nginx/modules:/etc/nms:/etc/app_protect"
extensions:
- nginx-app-protect
# Enable reporting NGINX App Protect details to the control plane.
nginx_app_protect:
# Report interval for NGINX App Protect details - the frequency the NGINX Agent checks NGINX App Protect for changes.
report_interval: 15s
# Enable precompiled publication from the NGINX Management Suite (true) or perform compilation on the data plane host (false).
precompiled_publication: true
example agent-dynamic.conf
#
# /var/lib/nginx-agent/agent-dynamic.conf
#
# Dynamic configuration file for NGINX Agent.
#
# The purpose of this file is to track agent configuration
# values that can be dynamically changed via the API and the agent install script.
# You may edit this file, but API calls that modify the tags on this system will
# overwrite the tag values in this file.
#
# The agent configuration values that API calls can modify are as follows:
# - tags
#
# The agent configuration value that the agent install script can modify are as follows:
# - instance_group
instance_group: devenv-group
tags:
- devenv
- test
NGINX Agent CLI Flags & Usage
This section displays the configurable options for the NGINX Agent that can be set with CLI flags. See the CLI flags and their uses in the figure below:
NGINX Agent CLI flags & usage
Usage:
nginx-agent [flags]
nginx-agent [command]
Available Commands:
completion Generate completion script.
help Help about any command
Flags:
--api-cert string The cert used by the Agent API.
--api-host string The host used by the Agent API. (default "127.0.0.1")
--api-key string The key used by the Agent API.
--api-port int The desired port to use for nginx-agent to expose for HTTP traffic.
--config-dirs string Defines the paths that you want to grant nginx-agent read/write access to. This key is formatted as a string and follows Unix PATH format. (default "/etc/nginx:/usr/local/etc/nginx:/usr/share/nginx/modules:/etc/nms")
--dataplane-report-interval duration The amount of time the agent will report on the dataplane. After this period of time it will send a snapshot of the dataplane information. (default 24h0m0s)
--dataplane-status-poll-interval duration The frequency the agent will check the dataplane for changes. Used as a "heartbeat" to keep the gRPC connections alive. (default 30s)
--display-name string The instance's 'name' value.
--features strings A comma-separated list of features enabled for the agent. (default [registration,nginx-config-async,nginx-ssl-config,nginx-counting,metrics,metrics-throttle,dataplane-status,process-watcher,file-watcher,activity-events,agent-api])
-h, --help help for nginx-agent
--instance-group string The instance's 'group' value.
--log-level string The desired verbosity level for logging messages from nginx-agent. Available options, in order of severity from highest to lowest, are: panic, fatal, error, info, debug, and trace. (default "info")
--log-path string The path to output log messages to. If the default path doesn't exist, log messages are output to stdout/stderr. (default "/var/log/nginx-agent")
--metrics-bulk-size int The amount of metrics reports collected before sending the data back to the server. (default 20)
--metrics-collection-interval duration Sets the interval, in seconds, at which metrics are collected. (default 15s)
--metrics-mode string Sets the desired metrics collection mode: streaming or aggregation. (default "aggregated")
--metrics-report-interval duration The polling period specified for a single set of metrics being collected. (default 1m0s)
--nginx-config-reload-monitoring-period duration The duration the NGINX Agent will monitor error logs after a NGINX reload (default 10s)
--nginx-exclude-logs string One or more NGINX access log paths that you want to exclude from metrics collection. This key is formatted as a string and multiple values should be provided as a comma-separated list.
--nginx-socket string The NGINX Plus counting unix socket location. (default "unix:/var/run/nginx-agent/nginx.sock")
--nginx-treat-warnings-as-errors On nginx -t, treat warnings as failures on configuration application.
--server-command string The name of the command server sent in the tls configuration.
--server-grpcport int The desired GRPC port to use for nginx-agent traffic.
--server-host string The IP address of the server host. IPv4 addresses and hostnames are supported.
--server-metrics string The name of the metrics server sent in the tls configuration.
--server-token string An authentication token that grants nginx-agent access to the commander and metrics services. Auto-generated by default. (default "750d0148-c4b2-499a-9011-ca5a8c752d52")
--tags strings A comma-separated list of tags to add to the current instance or machine, to be used for inventory purposes.
--tls-ca string The path to the CA certificate file to use for TLS.
--tls-cert string The path to the certificate file to use for TLS.
--tls-enable Enables TLS for secure communications.
--tls-key string The path to the certificate key file to use for TLS.
--tls-skip-verify Only intended for demonstration, sets InsecureSkipVerify for gRPC TLS credentials
-v, --version version for nginx-agent
Use "nginx-agent [command] --help" for more information about a command.
Note:
The following commands were deprecated In Instance Manager v2.1:
--instance-name
--location
NGINX Agent Config Dirs Option
Use the --config-dirs
command-line option, or the config_dirs
key in the nginx-agent.conf
file, to identify the directories the NGINX Agent can read from or write to. This setting also defines the location to which you can upload config files when using NGINX Management Suite Instance Manager. The NGINX Agent cannot write to directories outside the specified location when updating a config and cannot upload files to directories outside of the configured location.
The NGINX Agent follows NGINX configuration directives to file paths outside the designated directories and reads certificates’ metadata. The NGINX Agent uses the following directives:
NGINX Agent Environment Variables
This section displays the configurable options for the NGINX Agent that can be set with environment variables. A list of the configurable environment variables can be seen below:
NGINX Agent Environment Variables
- NMS_INSTANCE_GROUP
- NMS_DISPLAY_NAME
- NMS_FEATURES
- NMS_LOG_LEVEL
- NMS_LOG_PATH
- NMS_PATH
- NMS_METRICS_COLLECTION_INTERVAL
- NMS_METRICS_MODE
- NMS_METRICS_BULK_SIZE
- NMS_METRICS_REPORT_INTERVAL
- NMS_NGINX_EXCLUDE_LOGS
- NMS_NGINX_SOCKET
- NMS_SERVER_GRPCPORT
- NMS_SERVER_HOST
- NMS_SERVER_TOKEN
- NMS_SERVER_COMMAND
- NMS_SERVER_METRICS
- NMS_TAGS
- NMS_TLS_CA
- NMS_TLS_CERT
- NMS_TLS_ENABLE
- NMS_TLS_KEY
- NMS_TLS_SKIP_VERIFY
- NMS_CONFIG_DIRS
- NMS_DATAPLANE_REPORT_INTERVAL
- NMS_DATAPLANE_STATUS_POLL_INTERVAL
- NMS_NGINX_APP_PROTECT_REPORT_INTERVAL
- NMS_ADVANCED_METRICS_AGGREGATION_PERIOD
- NMS_ADVANCED_METRICS_PUBLISHING-PERIOD
- NMS_ADVANCED_METRICS_SOCKET_PATH
- NMS_ADVANCED_METRICS_TABLE_SIZES_LIMITS_PRIORITY_TABLE_MAX_SIZE
- NMS_ADVANCED_METRICS_TABLE_SIZES_LIMITS_PRIORITY_TABLE_THRESHOLD
- NMS_ADVANCED_METRICS_TABLE_SIZES_LIMITS_STAGING_TABLE_MAX_SIZE
- NMS_ADVANCED_METRICS_TABLE_SIZES_LIMITS_STAGING_TABLE_THRESHOLD
Enable NGINX App Protect WAF Status Reporting
You can configure NGINX Agent to report the following NGINX App Protect WAF installation information to NGINX Management Suite:
- the current version of NGINX App Protect WAF
- the current status of NGINX App Protect WAF (active or inactive)
- the Attack Signatures package version
- the Threat Campaigns package version
You can also configure NGINX Agent to enable the publication of precompiled NGINX App Protect policies and log profiles from the NGINX Management Suite.
To enable NGINX App Protect WAF reporting or precompiled publication, edit the /etc/nginx-agent/nginx-agent.conf
to add the following directives:
# path to aux file dirs can also be added
config_dirs: "/etc/nginx:/usr/local/etc/nginx:/usr/share/nginx/modules:/etc/nms:/etc/app_protect"
# Enable necessary NAP extension
extensions:
- nginx-app-protect
nginx_app_protect:
# Report interval for NGINX App Protect details - the frequency the NGINX Agent checks NGINX App Protect for changes.
report_interval: 15s
# Enable precompiled publication from the NGINX Management Suite (true) or perform compilation on the data plane host (false).
precompiled_publication: true
Additionally, you can use the agent installation script to add these fields:
# Download install script via API
curl https://<NMS_FQDN>/install/nginx-agent > install.sh
# Specify the -m | --nginx-app-protect-mode flag to set up management of NGINX App Protect on
# the instance. In the example below we specify 'precompiled-publication' for the flag value
# which will make the config field 'precompiled_publication' set to 'true', if you would like to
# set the config field 'precompiled_publication' to 'false' you can specify 'none' as the flag value.
sudo sh ./install.sh --nginx-app-protect-mode precompiled-publication
Enable NGINX Plus Advanced Metrics
- To enable NGINX Plus advanced metrics, follow the steps in the Install NGINX Plus Metrics Module guide.
SELinux for NGINX Agent
This section explains how to install and configure the SELinux policy for the NGINX Agent.
Installing NGINX Agent SELinux Policy Module
The NGINX Agent package includes the following SELinux files:
/usr/share/man/man8/nginx_agent_selinux.8.gz
/usr/share/selinux/devel/include/contrib/nginx_agent.if
/usr/share/selinux/packages/nginx_agent.pp
To load the NGINX Agent policy, run the following commands:
sudo semodule -n -i /usr/share/selinux/packages/nginx_agent.pp
sudo /usr/sbin/load_policy
sudo restorecon -R /usr/bin/nginx-agent
sudo restorecon -R /var/log/nginx-agent
sudo restorecon -R /etc/nginx-agent
Adding Ports for NGINX Agent SELinux Context
You can configure the NGINX Agent to work with SELinux. Make sure you add external ports to the firewall exception list.
The following example shows how to allow external ports outside the HTTPD context. You may need to enable NGINX to connect to these ports.
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect 1
For additional information on using NGINX with SELinux, refer to the guide Using NGINX and NGINX Plus with SELinux.
Secure the NGINX Agent with mTLS
Important:
By default, communication between the NGINX Agent and NGINX Management Suite is unsecured.
For instructions on how configure mTLS to secure communication between the NGINX Agent and NGINX Management Suite, see NGINX Agent TLS Settings.
NGINX Metrics
After you register an NGINX instance with NGINX Management Suite, the NGINX Agent will collect and report metrics. For more information about the metrics that are reported, see Overview: Instance Metrics.