You can install or update the Windows agent from the command line.

You can use the default or specify a service account, and use command-line parameters to specify server, port, and protocol information. For MSI command-line options, see the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Library website and search for MSI command-line options.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that you have permissions to perform installations and start services on the Windows machine.
  • If you use the silent installation options /quiet or /qn, verify that you run the installation as an administrator. If you are not an administrator and run silent installation, the installation does not prompt for administrator privileges and fails. Use the logging option and parameters /lxv* file_name for diagnostic purposes.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the Windows machine on which to install or update the VMware Aria Operations for Logs Windows agent.
  2. Open a Command Prompt window.
  3. Change to the directory where you have the VMware Aria Operations for Logs Windows agent .msi file.
  4. Install or update with default values with a command of the following form. Replace version-build_number with your version and build number.
    The /quiet option runs the command silently, and the /lxv option creates a log file in the current directory. 
    Drive:\path-to-msi_file>VMware-Log-Insight-Agent-version-build_number.msi
/quiet /lxv* li_install.log
  5. (Optional) Specify a user service account for the VMware Aria Operations for Logs Windows agent service to run under.
    Drive:\path-to-msi_file>VMware-Log-Insight-Agent-*.msi SERVICEACCOUNT=domain\user SERVICEPASSWORD=user_password
    Note: The account supplied in the SERVICEACCOUNT parameter is granted with the Log On As a Service right and full-write access to the %ProgramData%\VMware\Log Insight Agent directory. If the supplied account does not exist, it is created. The user name must not exceed 20 characters. If you do not specify a SERVICEACCOUNT parameter, the VMware Aria Operations for Logs Windows agent service is installed or updated under the LocalSystem service account.
  6. (Optional) You can specify values for the following command-line options as needed.
    Option Description
    SERVERHOST=hostname

    IP address or host name of the VMware Aria Operations for Logs virtual appliance.

    SERVERPROTO=protocol

    Protocol that the agent uses to send log events to the VMware Aria Operations for Logs server. The possible values are cfapi and syslog.

    The default is cfapi.

    SERVERPORT=portnumber
    Communication port that the agent uses to send log events to the VMware Aria Operations for Logs or third party server. By default the agent uses the appropriate port based on the options that are set for SSL and the protocol. See default port values provided in the list below. You need to specify the port option only if it's different from these defaults.
    • cfapi with SSL activated: 9543
    • cfapi with SSL deactivated: 9000
    • syslog with SSL activated: 6514
    • syslog with SSL deactivated: 514
    SERVICEACCOUNT=account-name User service account under which the VMware Aria Operations for Logs Windows Agent service is run.
    Note: The account supplied in the SERVICEACCOUNT parameter must have the Log On As a Service privilege and write access to %ProgramData%\VMware\Log Insight Agent directory so that the installer runs correctly. If you do not specify a SERVICEACCOUNT parameter, the VMware Aria Operations for Logs Windows agent service is installed under the LocalSystem service account.
    SERVICEPASSWORD=password Password for the user service account.
    AUTOUPDATE={yes|no}

    Activate or deactivate auto-update for the agent. You must also activate auto-update from the VMware Aria Operations for Logs server to fully activate auto-update. The default is yes.

    LIAGENT_SSL={yes|no}

    Activate secure connection. If SSL is activated, the agent uses TLS 1.2 protocol to communicate to the server. The default is yes.

Results

The command installs or updates the VMware Aria Operations for Logs Windows agent as a Windows service. The VMware Aria Operations for Logs Windows agent service starts when you start the Windows machine.

What to do next

Verify that the command-line parameters you set are applied correctly in the liagent.ini file. See Configuring Log Insight Windows Agent After Installation.