Bamboo remote agent installation guide

Step 1. Download and install the remote agent

1. Create a directory on the agent machine (e.g. bamboo-agent-home) to serve as the Bamboo agent home for the remote agent.
2. On your Bamboo server, click Administration in the menu bar.
3. Click Agents in the left panel. This will display the 'Agents' screen, showing lists of all local agents and all remote agents that currently exist on your Bamboo system.
4. Click Install Remote Agent. The following screen will be displayed:
   bamboo_admin-addremoteagent.png
5. Click DOWNLOAD Remote Agent JAR and save the JAR file to the directory you created in step 1.1.
6. Take note of the command under the heading 'Running a Remote Agent' for use in step 2 below.

Step 2. Launch the remote agent

Once installed, you can run the remote agent by executing the command line obtained in the previous step. This command will look something like the following:

java -jar atlassian-bamboo-agent-installer-2.2-SNAPSHOT.jar http://bamboo-host-server:8085/agentServer/

The name of the jar file (e.g. atlassian-bamboo-agent-installer-2.2-SNAPSHOT.jar) will vary depending on the version of Bamboo you are running.

You can also choose to run the remote agent with different command line parameters, to change where the remote agent stores its data or to suppress the self-signed certificate of the server.

Changing where the remote agent stores its data

By default, the remote agent will store its data in a USER_HOME/bamboo-agent-home. If you wish to specify a different directory, add the following command line parameter before the JAR file name:

-Dbamboo.home=RemoteAgentHome

where RemoteAgentHome is the path to the Bamboo agent home directory you created in step 1.1.
Your command line will look something like this:

java -Dbamboo.home=RemoteAgentHome -jar atlassian-bamboo-agent-installer-2.2-SNAPSHOT.jar http://bamboo-host-server:8085/agentServer/

The name of the jar file (e.g. atlassian-bamboo-agent-installer-2.2-SNAPSHOT.jar) will vary depending on the version of Bamboo you are running.

Disabling auto-capability detection for the remote agent

There may be situations where you want to prevent Bamboo from automatically detecting and adding capabilities (such as JDKs) to the remote agent, or where you don't want to run the remote agent with default capabilities.

To disable auto-capability detection for the remote agent, restart the agent with the following command line parameter before the JAR file name:

java -Ddisable_agent_auto_capability_detection=true -jar atlassian-bamboo-agent-installer-2.2-SNAPSHOT.jar http://bamboo-host-server:8085/agentServer/

Changing the logging on the remote agent

By default, the remote agent will use the same logging level as the Bamboo server. However, you can control the level of logging of your remote agent independently of your Bamboo server by setting up a separate logging configuration file.

Please see Logging in Bamboo for further details.

Suppressing the self-signed certificate of the server

If your Bamboo server uses SSL (https) with a self-signed certificate, you will need to carry out one of the following two options:

• Add the following parameter "-Dbamboo.agent.ignoreServerCertName=true" to the remote agent's command line, for example:
  java -Dbamboo.agent.ignoreServerCertName=true -jar atlassian-bamboo-agent-installer-2.2-SNAPSHOT.jar http://bamboo-host-server:8085/agentServer/
  Please be aware that this reduces the security of your configuration, as the identity of your Bamboo server will not be authenticated by the remote agent.
• Use the keytool utility to add the self-signed certificate to the trusted certificates in your keystore. This is a more secure option, but is complex to set up. For detailed instructions of how to do this, please refer to the relevant Sun documentation.

Running Bamboo without the Remote Agent Supervisor

The remote agent supervisor is included in the remote agent JAR bundled with Bamboo. The appropriate remote agent supervisor for the operating system of your remote machine, will be automatically installed when you run the default remote agent start-up command line.

If you need to run the remote agent without running the remote agent supervisor, you can execute the 'classic' version of the remote agent JAR.
The 'classic' agent jar is available from bamboo's agent installation page for download. Follow the steps below to run the 'classic' version of the remote agent:

1. Browse to:

   http://<host>:8085/admin/agent/addRemoteAgent.action

2. Click the 'the direct agent JAR is available at bamboo-agent-2.2.2.jar.' link and save 'classic' agent jar.

3. Start the agent with:

   java -jar bamboo-agent-2.2.2.jar http://<host>:8085/agentServer/

The name of the jar file (e.g. bamboo-agent-2.2.2.jar) will vary depending on the version of Bamboo you are running.

Running the remote agent with different start-up commands

The remote agent supervisor is executed by default when you run the default remote agent start-up command line. The remote agent supervisor is implemented via a Java Service wrapper. The wrapper allows you to execute a number of general start-up commands when the remote agent is run. These commands are appended to the end of the default remote agent start-up command line:

java -jar atlassian-bamboo-agent-installer-2.2-SNAPSHOT.jar http://bamboo-host-server:8085/agentServer <wrapper_command>

where <wrapper_command> is one of the keywords described below:

• console — runs the remote agent in the foreground, i.e. display all of the commands on the screen. The agent home directory will be populated only if it is empty. This parameter is used by default.
• start — runs the remote agent in the background, i.e. no commands are displayed on screen. If you have installed the remote agent as a Windows service, this command will work with the service.
• stop — stops a remote agent that is running. If you have installed the remote agent as a Windows service, this command will work with the service.
• status — (non-Windows OS only) returns the status of the remote agent, e.g. "Remote agent is not running."
• install — installs the files for the remote agent, but does not start it. This will overwrite any changes that have been made to the wrapper.conf file. The agent home directory will be populated, regardless of whether it is empty or not, i.e. existing files will be overwritten. You may wish to use this option, if you want to customise the remote agent files before starting it.

The name of the jar file (e.g. atlassian-bamboo-agent-installer-2.2-SNAPSHOT.jar) will vary depending on the version of Bamboo you are running.

(Windows only) Installing the remote agent as a Windows service

The remote agent supervisor is executed by default when you run the default remote agent start-up command line. The remote agent supervisor is implemented via a Java Service wrapper. The wrapper allows you to install or uninstall the remote agent as a service in Windows (i.e. start the Bamboo remote agent automatically when the machine boots). This is done by appending the appropriate wrapper commands to the end of the default remote agent start-up command line:

java -jar atlassian-bamboo-agent-installer-2.2-SNAPSHOT.jar http://bamboo-host-server:8085/agentServer <wrapper_command>

where <wrapper_command> is one of the keywords described below:

• installntservice — (Windows only) installs the remote agent as a Windows service.
• uninstallntservice — (Windows only) uninstalls the remote agent as a Windows service.

The name of the jar file (e.g. atlassian-bamboo-agent-installer-2.2-SNAPSHOT.jar) will vary depending on the version of Bamboo you are running.

If you have installed the NT service, you will be able to use the start and stop start-up console commands with the service.

Step 3. Configure the remote agent's capabilities

Please see Configuring capabilities.

Step 4. (Optional) Rename the remote agent

Your new remote agent has been automatically given a default name (e.g. 'Remote Agent on mymachine'). If you wish to rename your new remote agent, please see Editing an agent's details.