Install the Agent Using the Web Interface

Applies to: Tableau Advanced Management

The Agent is a lightweight process that consumes minimal server resources and sends data to the Resource Monitoring Tool Server (RMT Server). Install the Resource Monitoring Tool Agent on each of your Tableau Server nodes. To install and register an Agent, download the Agent bootstrap configuration file and save it to a location that is accessible from the Resource Monitoring Tool Agent nodes.

Installation through web interface is currently only supported for Windows Installations. If you want to install on Linux, see Install the Agent Using Command Line.

Before you install

  • Download the bootstrap file. Bootstrap files are only valid for 24 hours after downloading. You will need to regenerate the bootstrap file if the one you are using is older than 24 hours.
  • Starting in version 2021.3, Agent registration will need to communicate both through an https endpoint and RabbitMQ to complete the Agent registration. Make sure both ports 443 and 5672 are open for these communications.

Steps to download the Agent bootstrap file

Use the following steps if you have not yet downloaded the bootstrap file from the RMT Server.

  1. Using the web interface (https://<hostname>) on the RMT Server, from the Admin menu, select Environments.

  2. The bootstrap file can be downloaded directly from the environment overview tab on the home page.

    Note: If you haven't created an environment as part of the RMT Server setup, follow steps 12–15 described in the Install the RMT Server Using Web Interface topic.

  3. Save the bootstrap configuration file to a location that is accessible from the Tableau Server nodes where you will be installing Resource Monitoring Tool Agent.

Steps to install Agent

To install the Agent on each of your Tableau Server nodes:

  1. Run the Agent setup program.

  2. After reading the EULA, select I agree to the license terms and conditions and click Next.

  3. On this page, you will have the option of changing the install location and specify the Run As User account for Agent.

    If you are planning to install to a non-default location, use the guidelines provided in the Installing to a Non-Default Location. The default location is C:\Program Files\Tableau\Tableau Resource Monitoring Tool\agent.

    Starting in 2021.4, you must specify a Run As User account for Agent. This account is used to access Tableau Server for gathering monitoring information from Tableau Server nodes.

    For the Agent Run As User account, you must specify the same account that you currently use for the Tableau Server Run As User account. If the account information you provide is not the same as that on Tableau Server, Agent will not be able to gather the monitoring data on that node.

  4. If the User Account Control dialog opens, click Yes to allow the installer to make changes.

  5. When the installer is finished an Agent Registration web page opens.

    Tip! It may take a while for the web page to open. If the web page fails to open for some reason, use the following URL on the machine that you are installing:

    http://localhost:9002/setup/register

  6. Review the information on this page about the Tableau Server log file size, historical data and the implications. Once you proceed to the next step, you will no longer see this information.

    Once Agent is installed and registered, the Resource Monitoring Tool processes relevant historical data from Tableau Server logs before data is displayed. If there is a large amount of historical log data, it may take a while to process the information which in turn might result in a delay of processing newer events on the Server.

    If you are concerned about the delay, and not having historical information does not concern you, you can do the following to clean up the existing Tableau log files:

    Remove Unneeded Files, and consider Log File Snapshots (Archive Logs) before you remove log files.

    Note: Performance data like CPU usage and memory usage are not gathered using historical log data and are collected after Agent is installed and configured so cleaning up historical data does not affect performance data.

  7. Browse to the location of the bootstrap file you downloaded from the RMT Server. Click Import Bootstrap File. Bootstrap files are only valid for 24 hours after downloading. You will need to regenerate the bootstrap file if the one you are using is older than 24 hours.

  8. Once the import is successfully completed, a web page to enter the Server information is displayed. In the Tableau Server gateway URL field, enter the URL you use to access Tableau Server.

    Here are some examples on what the URL might look like:

    • https://MarketingServer/ (if you know the server's name)

    • https://10.0.0.2/ (if you know the server's IP address)

    • http://10.0.0.4/ (If your Tableau Server is not enabled to use SSL)
  9. Enter the username and password. You can use the admin user credentials that you created when you installed the RMT server. This username and password is used for communications between RMT Server and Agent.

  10. Click Test Tableau Server Connection to verify the Agent is able to reach Tableau Server.

    A Success message displays to confirm the Agent can connect to Tableau.

  11. The RMT Server URL field should already be populated from the information in the bootstrap file. This is the URL of the web page used to do administration tasks, monitor performance and other tasks.

    Here is an example of what the URL might look like:

    • https://<hostname>)

  12. Click Test RMT Server Connection to verify the Agent is able to reach the Resource Monitoring Tool RMT Server.

    A Success message displays to confirm the connection to the RMT Server works.

  13. The RMT Server certificate thumbprint field should be already be populated using the information in bootstrap file. The bootstrap file you saved should have this and the RMT Server URL information. Enter the RMT Server username and password. This user must have the Server/Environment Management role.

    Click Get Registration Options.

    This takes you to the Agent Registration - Message Queue page.

  14. Click Test Message Queue Connection to verify the message queue connection is working.

    A Success message displays if the connection works.

    Note: The Enable TLS setting under the message queue section allows you to enable encryption when data is transmitted between the RMT Server and the Agents. It requires additional RabbitMQ setup. For more information, see Encrypted Data Collection.

  15. On the final Agent Registration page the environment section should already be filled in. Verify the information and add any Tableau Server node details.
  16. Click Connect to Message Queue.

  17. Click Register Agent to complete the agent installation and configuration.

    You will see an option to disable the web interface. After registration the web interface is no longer necessary for the agent and can optionally be disabled. If you need to re-enable the web interface, use the following command:

    rmtadmin set server.web.run true

    For more information on Resource Monitoring Toolcommands, see rmtadmin Command Line Utility

  18. You can verify that the Agent is connected by navigating to the RMT Server web interface. From the Admin menu, select Environments, and under environment details you can see the number of Agents that are currently connected.

Installing Agent on a Multi-Node Tableau Server Installation

  1. Follow the steps described above to install the Agent on the Tableau Server initial node to connect to the Resource Monitoring Tool.
  2. In the Server section on the final registration page, tick the Primary Server option.
  3. On the Tableau Server additional nodes, install the Agent using the same bootstrap file that you used to install Agent on the initial node and follow the steps described above.
  4. On the final registration page, in the Environment section, select the environment you created when installing the Agent on the initial node.
  5. In the Server section, select the New Environment Server option. The Primary Server option should remain unselected.

  6. The agent registration process automatically adds this node to your existing environment.

Installing to a Non-Default Location

Tableau recommends using \Tableau\Tableau Resource Monitoring Tool\agent as the location for the prerequisites. Example non-default location: D:\Tableau\Tableau Resource Monitoring Tool\agent.

To choose a non-default location during installation, use the following steps:

  1. Run the Agent installer.
  2. On the EULA page, choose Customise.
  3. Under Setup Options, in the Install location field, enter the location.
  4. Continue with Step 2 of the installation as described Install the Agent Using the Web Interface.

Who can do this

To install Resource Monitoring Tool, you must have all the following:

  • Administrator permissions on the machine you are installing Resource Monitoring Tool.
  • Tableau Server Administrator site role.

Next Steps

Resource Monitoring Tool Server Configuration

 

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