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Install Test Agent Appliance

The installation topic describes procedures to install the Test Agent Appliance as a bootable image on a custom x86 hardware, install the Test Agent Appliance on a Proxmox server and register a Test Agent Appliance from the local console.

Note: Test Agent Appliance is a beta feature in this release.

A Test Agent Appliance is a full-fledged Test Agent designed to test network performance, which is integrated with an optimized Debian Linux operating system. The Test Agent Appliance can be packaged and delivered in a number of ways:

  • Dedicated Test Agent—You can download a Test Agent Appliance Software image and install on a custom x86 hardware.

  • Test Agent Virtualized Network Function (TA VNF)—You can upload a Test Agent Software image to a virtualization platform and run on a virtual machine (VM) running on a hypervisor.

Before You Begin

Before you begin the Test Agent Appliance installation:

  • Ensure that no firewalls are blocking the connection to Paragon Automation on TCP port 6800.
  • Ensure that the platform on which you are installing Test Agent Appliance has a minimum of 4.1 GiB storage space.

Install the Test Agent Appliance on a custom x86 hardware

You can boot a Test Agent Appliance directly from a USB flash drive. You can use the USB flash drive-based deployment as an alternative to the virtual machine-based deployment.

To install a Test Agent Appliance on a custom x86 hardware, you must:

  1. Create a bootable USB flash drive by using command-line tool such as dd or applications such as Etcher or Win32 Disk Image. For more information, see Create a bootable USB flash drive.

  2. Boot the custom x86 hardware from USB flash drive by using the BIOS boot manager. For more information, see Boot the custom x86 hardware from USB flash drive.

Create a bootable USB flash drive

You can create a bootable USB flash drive in one of the following ways:

  • To create a bootable USB flash drive by using Etcher:

    1. Download the latest image of the Test Agent Appliance from the Software Download page.

    2. Download and install Etcher on your device to create a bootable USB flash drive.

    3. Insert a USB flash drive with at least 4.1 GB of free space into your hardware.

    4. Launch Etcher, and select the Test Agent Appliance image from the hard disk of your x86 hardware.

    5. Select the USB flash drive where you want to write the image.

    6. Click Flash to start the process.

      Once the image has been flashed, you can eject your USB flash drive.

    7. Eject the USB flash drive.

      The USB flash drive is now ready to be used as a bootable disk.

      For more information on Etcher, see Etcher documentation.

  • To create a bootable USB flash drive by using Win32 Disk Image, see Create a Bootable USB flash drive Using a Windows Device.

  • To create a bootable USB flash drive by using dd command on Max or Linux, see Create a Bootable USB flash drive Using a MAC OS X.

    Warning: Make sure that the USB flash drive has a memory of 4.1 GiB for temporary installation files, and any existing content on the USB flash drive is erased.

Boot the custom x86 hardware from USB flash drive

You can boot the custom x86 hardware from USB flash drive by using the BIOS boot manager.

To boot the custom x86 hardware from USB flash drive:

  1. Insert the bootable USB flash drive into a USB port on your custom x86 hardware.

  2. Power on the x86 hardware, and press DEL, ESC, F2, or F12 depending on the hardware to access the BIOS menu.

    You can now access the BIOS boot manager to check the USB selection.

  3. Go to Boot Order settings and move the USB flash drive to the top of the priority list.

  4. Select Save to update the settings and reboot.

    The boot process takes upto 20 seconds, and once complete a login prompt is displayed.

  5. Log in to the system by using the system credentials. The username is 'admin' and the password is 'admin'.

  6. Navigate to Utilities and select Install to disk.

    Once the installation is complete, you are prompted to remove the USB flash drive and reboot the hardware.

    Note: Remove the USB flash drive before you reboot your x86 hardware.

  7. Reboot your x86 hardware.

    You have successfully installed Test Agent Appliance on a x86 hardware, and the custom x86 hardware now boot up as a Test Agent Appliance.

Before you can use the Test Agent Appliance, you must register Test Agent Appliance with the Paragon Automation.

Register a Test Agent Appliance from the local console

When you reboot the custom x86 hardware, the Test Agent Admin Menu appears. To use the Test Agent Appliance, you must first configure the management interface to enable connectivity with Paragon Automation. Once you configure, you can proceed with registration.

Configure the management interface on Test Agent Appliance

To configure the management interface on a Test Agent Appliance:

  1. Reboot the custom x86 hardware to access the Local Console.

    The text-based Test Agent Admin Menu appears automatically when you reboot the custom x86 hardware.

  2. Select Configure management, and click OK.

    A Select Management Interface page appears.

  3. Select the interface for management traffic, and click OK.

    The Select Interface speed page appears.

  4. Select the speed and duplex settings for the selected management interface, and click OK.

    The page appears asking whether you want to use a VLAN tag for the management interface.

  5. (Optional) Specify the VLAN tag. If your network setup requires VLAN tagging, select Yes and specify the appropriate VLAN ID.

  6. Select one of the following IPv4 address types, and click OK.

    • None—To not configure an IPv4 address type.

    • Static—To manually specify the IPv4 address.

    • DHCP—To automatically assign IPv4 address.

  7. Select one of the following IPv6 address types, and click OK.

    • None—To not configure an IPv6 address type.

    • SLAAC—To automatically configure a stateless address.

    • Static—To manually specify the IPv6 address.

    • DHCP—To automatically assign IPv6 address.

    Once you configure an IPv6 address, a page is displayed asking whether you want to enable IPv6 support for the NTP client.

  8. Specify NTP servers as comma-separated list for accurate time synchronization, and click OK.

    The page appears asking whether the information you specified is correct.

  9. Verify the information, and click Yes.

    Now, you are taken back to the Test Agent Admin Menu where you can register Test Agent Appliance with Paragon Automation.

Register a Test Agent Appliance by using Secret

To register a Test Agent Appliance by using Secret:

On the Paragon Automation GUI—

  1. Navigate to the Test Agents (Inventory > Active Assurance > Test Agents) page.

  2. Click the Add Test Agent button.

    The Add Test Agent page appears.

  3. Select Test Agent Appliance as the type of Test Agent.

  4. Specify the Name, Tags, and Description for the Test Agent.

  5. Click Create.

    A message confirms that Paragon Automation has successfully added the Test Agent Appliance, and you are redirected to the Test Agent Details (Inventory > Active Assurance > Test Agents > Test Agent Details) page.

  6. On the Download & Run tab, copy the secret key generated by Paragon Automation by using the Copy button next to the Secret text box. You can use this secret key to establish a connection with Paragon Automation.

On the Test Agent Admin Menu—

  1. Configure the management interface as described in Configure the management interface on Test Agent Appliance.

  2. Select Register/Connect from the text-based Test Agent Admin Menu.

    The Register/Connect Menu page appears.

  3. Select Register using secret, and click OK.

    The Enter registration information page appears.

  4. Specify the following details, and click OK.

    • IP address of the Paragon Automation Test Agent Gateway.

    • TCP port number that connects to Paragon Automation. The defaulf TCP port number is 6800.

    • Secret that you copied from the Download & Run tab.

    A confirmation message appears displaying that the registration is successful.

    Once the registration is successful, Test Agent Appliance is listed on the Test Agents (Inventory > Active Assurance > Test Agents) page on the Paragon Automation GUI.

    Note: If the Paragon Automation uses a self-signed certificate, navigate to Utilities > SSL Certificate Validation on the Test Agent Admin Menu and disable the SSL certificate validation.

Register a Test Agent Appliance by using username and password

You can register a Test Agent Appliance by using username and password on the text-based Test Agent Admin Menu.

Note:

The preferred method for registering a Test Agent Appliance is by using a secret.
Warning:

The username and password authentication does not work if Single Sign-On (SSO) and Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) are enabled.

To register a Test Agent Appliance by using username and password:

  1. Select Register/Connect from the Test Agent Admin Menu.

    The Register/Connect Menu page appears.

  2. Select Register using user/password and click OK.

    The Enter registration information page appears.

  3. Specify the following details, and click OK.

    • IP address of the Paragon Automation Test Agent Gateway.

    • TCP port number that connects to Paragon Automation. The default TCP port number is 6800.

    • Email address associated with your Paragon Automation account.

    • Name for Test Agent Appliance.

  4. Enter your Paragon Automation account password for authentication, and click OK.

    A Select organization page appears.

  5. Select your organization from the list, and click OK.

    A confirmation message appears displaying that the registration is successful.

    Once the registration is successful, Test Agent Appliance is listed on the Test Agents (Inventory > Active Assurance > Test Agents) page on the Paragon Automation GUI.

Install Test Agent Appliance on Proxmox

Proxmox is an open-source virtualization platform where you can deploy a Test Agent Appliance as a virtual machine (VM). This method helps you to run a Test Agent Appliance in a virtualized environment instead of dedicated physical hardware,

To install Test Agent Appliance on Proxmox server:

  1. Create a VM without an operating system.

    1. Log in to the Proxmox Web UI.

    2. Click the Create VM button from the left-nav bar.

      The Create: Virtual Machine page appears.

    3. In the General tab, specify the VM ID to identify the VM.

    4. In the OS tab, select Do Not Use Any Media to prevent the VM from booting from a CD-ROM or ISO file.

    5. In the Disk tab, click the Delete (trash can) icon to delete the default disk.

    6. In the CPU, Memory, and Network tabs, specify details based on the VM requirements, and click Finish. For more information, see Proxmox VM settings.

  2. Create a directory to store qcow2 images.

    1. In the Proxmox UI, click Host from the left-nav bar and click Shell to open the terminal.

    2. Use the following command:

  3. Import the qcow2 image.

    On the Proxmox Shell, run the following command:

  4. Attach the qcow2 virtual disk to the VM.

    1. Select the VM you created and navigate to the Hardware > Hard disk.

    2. Select the newly imported QCOW2 disk that is listed under Unused Disk and click the Edit button.

      The Add: Unused Disk page appears.

    3. Select the bus type VirtIO Block from the drop-down list and click Add.

      You have successfully attached qcow2 disk to the VM as a VirtIO Block device.

  5. Change the boot order.

    1. Navigate to the Options > Boot Order.

    2. Select Boot Order and move the VirtIO Block Disk to the top.

    3. Click OK.

  6. Start the VM.

    1. Navigate to the Console menu.

    2. Click Start Now to boot the Test Agent Appliance.

    You have successfully deploy the Test Agent Appliance on Proxmox. You can use the cloud-config metadata to establish a communication with Paragon Automation.

Format of cloud-config metadata

On virtualization platforms, cloud-config metadata (user data) can be specified. During deployment of a virtual machine, cloud-init uses cloud-config (a YAML-based file format) to automate the initialization of virtual machines. You can customize cloud-config metadata to define network configurations and application-specific parameters. When you deploy a Test Agent Appliance on Amazon Web Services or OpenStack, the cloud-config metadata helps to automate Test Agent Appliance configuration. It establishes secure communication with the management server registering Test Agent Appliance with Paragon Automation.

You can use the following cloud-config file as reference:

Note: The <values> used in the commands are placeholders. You must replace them with required values based on your configuration need.