The Atera agent monitors the availability, performance and health of your computers\servers, and is the backbone of Atera. It enables Atera to alert you when a critical system or resource is down, degraded, or has reached a predefined threshold parameter, and gives you the ability to view, access, and fix the problem. The Atera agent for Windows OS is a .MSI file, and should be installed on all computer/servers you wish to monitor. This article explains how to:
- Download an agent
- Install the downloaded agent
- Share an agent installer link with your customer (for self download/installation)
For download/installation instructions on Mac OS devices, see these instructions.
Downloading the Agent
The following are instructions for downloading the agent.
To download an agent:
1. Click the + sign at the top right of the screen to open the dropdown menu, and select Agent Installer.
The Download agent installer screen appears.
2. Select either Windows or Mac.
Note: If you selected Windows, you can choose to create a 'General' agent installer, or one specific to the customer (which auto assigns agents to them).
3. Click Download. The agent is downloaded to your computer.
Note: You can also download the agent installer from within the customer's page. To download:
1. From Customers (on the side panel), click the specific customer.
2. Click the Devices tab, from within the customer's page.
3. From the Actions dropdown menu, click Agent Installer (Customized) > Check to select either Windows or Mac > Click Download. An agent installer is specific to the customer downloads (meaning agents installed will automatically be assigned to the customer).
See 'Installing the agent' (below) for instructions on installing the downloaded agent.
Installing the Agent
Once the agent is downloaded, you can install it in one of three ways:
- Single Agent Installation: The most basic installation, used to install an agent on a single customer device, in a non-domain environment.
- Multiple Agent Installation (Using Group Policy): Used to automatically install agents on multiple customer devices, in a domain environment.
- Installation Via Command Prompt: An alternative way to install the agent.
Single Agent Installation
The most basic installation, used to install an agent on a single customer device, in a non-domain environment.
To install via single agent installation: Simply double click on the downloaded agent installer, and follow the installation prompts to install the agent.
Multiple Agent Installation (Using Group Policy):
Used to automatically install agents on multiple customer devices in a domain environment, and on any device logging into the domain that doesn’t already have the agent.
To install using Group Policy:
1. Save the Atera agent .msi file in the SYSVOL folder.
2. In the domain controller, open the Group Policy Management and edit the Default Domain Policy.
3. Under Computer Configuration, click on Policies.
4. Click on Software Settings >Software Installation.
5. Click on New, then Package...
5. Choose the Setup file and click Open.
6. Right click on the new package, and click Properties.
7. Click the Deployment tab to verify the deployment type is set to 'Assigned'. That's it. The Atera agent will automatically be installed on all computers in your network.
Troubleshooting Group Policy Installation:
- An internet connection is required for agent installation.
To enable: Go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Logon > Always wait for the network at computer startup and logon – Enabled
Note: This can significantly slow down off-domain logins for laptops and wireless clients.
- If the device is slow (e.g., old hardware, bad network) you might need to extend the timeout:
To extend: Go to Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > System > Group Policy -> Specify startup policy processing wait time - Set timeout (in seconds)
- Language discrepancies can cause installation failure. To work around this, it is necessary to remove the language check:
To remove the language check: Go to Computer Configuration > Policies > Software Installation > Right Click AteraGPO > Properties > Deployment > Advanced > Ignore language when deploying this package - Enabled
- Previously installed agent: Sometimes, the installation will fail if an agent was previously installed through a different account. One of the following two registry keys might be the cause:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\4758948C95C1B194AB15204D95B42292
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\10F15BFE50893924BB61F671FEC4DE2F
Note: After any of the above settings are applied, be sure to run gpupdate /force in order to force the GPO to update. Then reboot, and wait for the policy to enforce.
Installation Via Command Prompt
This is an alternative way to install the agent. To install an agent via the command prompt, see these instructions.
Sharing the Agent Installer Link
As an alternative to downloading and installing the agent for your customer, you can share the agent installer link with them, to download and install on their own.
To share the agent installer link:
1. Click the + sign at the top right of the screen to open the dropdown menu, and select Agent Installer.
The Download agent installer screen appears.
2. Select either Windows or Mac.
Note: If you selected Windows, you can choose to create a 'General' agent installer, or one specific to the customer (which auto assigns agents to them).
3. Click Copy agent installer link. The link is copied
4. Paste the link into an email, WhatsApp, Slack message etc., and send to you customer with instructions to download and install (above).
Note: You can also copy the agent installer link from within the customer's page (To copy: Click Customers (on the side panel) > click the specific customer > click the Devices tab > From the Actions dropdown menu, click Agent Installer (customized). The Download agent installer screen appears. > click Copy agent installer link to copy the agent installer specific to the customer (meaning any agents installed will automatically be assigned to the customer).