How to cleanup and reinstall the N-able N-central Mac Agent

Last Modified

Tue Oct 13 19:02 GMT 2020

Description

  • This article provides steps clean up and re-install Mac Agent

Environment

  • N-able N-central
  • Mac Agent

Solution

N-able N-central 12.2 and above:

  1. The N-able N-central agent should appear under Applications. Drag the app to the Trash, or select the app and choose File > Move to Trash
  2. To reinstall, log into N-able N-central and download the "DMG Installation Script" and the "macOS Agent (dmg)"
  3. Make sure to extract the script into the same folder location as the dmg
  4. Use one of the methods below to install
    • To install with an activation key, retrieved from the N-able N-centralserver
      • sudo dmg-install.sh -k <activation key>
    • Prior to N-able N-central 2020.1, to install with a Customer Name and Customer ID (Customer name may need to be quoted if it contains spaces or shell meta-characters)
      • sudo sh dmg-install.sh -s <server endpoint ip/fqdn without the https://> -c <customer name> -i <customer id>
    • On 2020.1 or later to install with a Customer Name and Customer ID (Customer name may need to be quoted if it contains spaces or shell meta-characters)
      • sudo sh dmg-install.sh -s <server endpoint ip/fqdn without the https://> -c <customer name> -i <customer id> -t <registration token>
    • Additional Flags
      • -p Specify the protocol for the agent to use
      • -a Specify the port for the agent to use
      • -x Specify an http proxy for the agent to use
  5. Once the script has run go to the All Devices view and click on the Network Devices tab.
  6. Click on the Add button
  7. Click on Discovered Assets
  8. Select your device and import it
  9. Your device should now be added in N-able N-central
  10. From the Customer level, go to the All Devices view, and click on the Network Devices tab.

N-able N-central 12.1 and older:

  1. Check if the following file exists:
    1. /Applications/Mac_Agent.app/Contents/Daemon/usr/sbin/uninstall-nagent
      1. NOTE: use CMD+SHIFT+G/Windows Key+Shift+G in Finder > paste in the folder path above
    2. If it does not exist, create this directory manually and populate it with the contents of the agent uninstall-nagent from another working Mac device or please contact N-able Support for this file.
  2. Start uninstall-nagent
  3. Download new installer file from within your N-able N-central server > Actions > Download Agent/Probe > macOS Agent
  4. Delete the existing device from the UI
  5. Reinstall the agent
    • Run the installation script or use the pkg installer from the GUI. If you use the script, some example syntax is below:
./batch-install.sh -P agent-macosx.pkg -T "/Volumes/Macintosh HD" -s (Address of N-able N-central server) -i 100
  • Alternately, you may add a new MAC device to N-able N-central using the Actions > Add/Import > Manually create, checkmark local agent when creating, then use the activation key found on the agent tab
./batch-install.sh -P agent-macosx.pkg -T "/Volumes/Macintosh HD" -k <NewActivationKey>
  • NOTE: Do not use the old activation key