Updated: November 8, 2020

Install a Linux agent

Before you can use N-able N-central to monitor and manage computers at a customer's site, you need to install the agent. The Linux agent monitors local services and reports any issues. Linux agents are installed by downloading and running the compressed installation files. Linux installs require independent Agents for 32-bit and 64-bit OS installs.

There are customer-specific and generic system installers.

The customer-specific installers are pre-configured with activation keys, registration token, customer names, and IP address of your N-able N-central server. As the customer-specific installers are very easy to use, we recommend that you make them your first choice when downloading the agent or probe software.

Generic system installers require you to specify either the activation key, or the IP address of your N-able N-central server and a customer name or customer ID. These installers are useful when you want to keep a copy of a certain version of the agent or probe offline.

The probe performs an SSH connection a Linux device. To discover a Ubuntu/Debian OS device, the device must have openssh installed.

For troubleshooting installation issues, see the N-ableMe Knowledge Base.

The Linux agent supports the following operating systems:

Linux Agents

Independent Agents are required for 64-bit Linux OS installations.

The probe performs an SSH connection to a Linux device. To discover a Linux OS device, the device must have openssh installed.

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux/CentOS 8 (64-bit)
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux/CentOS 7 (64-bit)

  • Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (64-bit)

  • Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (64-bit)

  • Debian 12 (64-bit)

  • Debian 11 (64-bit)

You need a device's agent activation key to install Linux agent software. Activation keys are displayed on the All Devices view. To copy the agent activation key, hover your mouse over the key icon and copy.

  1. Click Actions > Download Agent/Probe.
  2. For a Customer/Site Specific Agent:
    1. From the Select Customer/Site drop-down menu, select the customer or site.
    2. Click Get Registration Token.

    3. When selecting a customer-specific agent to download, the registration token is included in the download. You do not need to generate a key. For more information on registration tokens, see Registration tokens for agent installation.

  3. In the System Agent/Probe area, click the Ubuntu Agent or CentOS/RedHat Agent link related to the version of Linux the customer is running.
  4. Switch to root by typing su root and unzip the downloaded file by typing tar -zxf <filename>.

  5. Change directories to the location of the install.sh script.

  6. Run the installation script. As root/sudo type ./install.sh
  7. Run the installation script.
  8. Type 1 in the Linux Agent configuration menu and press Enter.
  9. Type 1 in the sub-menu and press Enter.
  10. Type the device activation key. The key is generated when you enable the Install Local Agent option on the Settings > Local Agent tab for the device.

    You can configure multiple addresses for an Agent to communicate with both a primary and backup N-able N-central server. When typing multiple addresses, they must be separated by a comma but with no spaces between the different addresses and the comma.

  11. Type Y in the Confirm Settings dialog box to confirm the settings.
  12. Type 3 when the Agent installation is completed and press Enter.

The agent software installs and communicates with the N-able N-central server.

If the device is rebooted at any time, the agent is automatically activated.

The Linux agent monitors the following information on a device:

  • CPU
  • Memory
  • Disk Details
  • Video Card Info
  • Network Adapters
  • Manufacturer
  • Model
  • Serial Number
  • Populated Memory Slots
  • Motherboard information