Creating agents, troubleshooting install problems

[KelAuth]

This page is for Windows installations only. Linux and others contain their own installation instructions and information.

Here is a brief installation video on YouTube

IMPORTANT INSTALL NOTES
This is the text that can be seen in the installation notes when installing a new agent. If you missed them, here they are again.

Install with admin rights
If you are not logged in with full administrator rights or if you do not run the agent install using (right click package) 'run as administrator', the installation could fail. One of the errors shown will be 'failed to elevate' if not enough access is the cause.

This is because the installer needs to add a rule into your Windows firewall. If that fails, the agent will not run correctly. A rule could be added manually. This could happen when other software is preventing the agent from being installed correctly.

Uninstall previous version first
We recommend downloading, extracting and saving the agent to a known location on your PC so that you can restart the installer if it ended due to uninstalling a previous version.

Windows defender
Windows defender may try to prevent the service from running. You can temporarily disable the “Real Time Protection” in the “Windows Security” settings and re-enable that later.

Installing software agent
-Click on the download link to download the latest windows agent, saving it on your drive.
-Double click on the software package to start the installation.
-Click on the 'Agree to terms and conditions' to reveal installation credentials and the download link.
-Note then enter the credentials shown when prompted during the install to associate this agent with your account.

Starting, stopping, restarting
The installer should automatically start the agent and set it to auto start each time your machine is turned on. In some cases, the task icon (tiny monitor) may or may not control the agent correctly.

If required, you can control the agent from the Services control on your PC.
To manually enable or disable the agent rather than fully uninstalling it, look for the 'Echo Networks service' in your Services listing and set the service accordingly. Search for your particular OS's Services location.

Firewall, Virus scanner
Firewalls and virus scanners could prevent the agent from communicating after installation is complete. The agent uses standard port 80, 443, some UDP ports and ICMP.
If you see any warnings, it is either because you are not installing with full administrator rights or your protection software is being overly protective. Simply bypass the warning.

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The above is mostly a copy of what can be found in the installation notes when you create an agent. The following tries to be a little more detailed in some areas.

If you are new to OutagesIO, we suggest reviewing this entire page. .

These are the most important things to know

-Uninstall any existing OutagesIO agent first.

-You must install using an account which has full administrative access or the installer may be unable to update the firewall.

-Security software running on the PC/device may try to prevent the firewall update or the agent from communicating over the Internet which is required.

-Creating a new agent means installing software on your PC/device and its associated report in your control panel.

The software must be downloaded and installed before your report starts receiving data that it can display.

The agent software is associated to a report in your control panel. If you remove the software from your PC/device, the associated report will no longer be updated. Likewise, if you remove the agent from your agents list, your PC/device agent will no longer be able to update its associated report. Even if a report is no longer being updated, you may keep it on OutagesIO until it is auto removed. A warning will be sent before removal, offering an opportunity to re-install the software on your PC/device.

Creating a new agent

From the Agents list, click on 'Create software agent'.

This will create a new report and take you to the initial settings page.

Step one, Create agent

Pick the version of the software agent based on the operating system.

Enter your Internet providers name.

Set the location where this agent will be installed at.

Setting the correct location is important as it provides OutagesIO a consistent addressing scheme in order to give you accurate reports. In addition, having the correct location data can show you if others in your area are also experiencing problems when/if multiple locations are affected and if others are monitoring in your area.

Enter the full or partial address then click on 'Click to Auto fill address details'. If the information shown on the right hand side is not correct, use the mouse to move the map, zoom in and out as needed. Pinpoint the location then double click to save that location. This is sometimes required if the mapping system cannot find your exact location.

Click on Create and you will be taken to the installation page.

Uninstall previous version first

You must uninstall any previous version if one is installed otherwise, the installer will only remove the existing software then complete without installing the new version. We recommend downloading, extracting and saving the agent to a known location on your PC so that you can restart the installer if it ended due to uninstalling a previous version.

Installation page

Always review the installation notes displayed on the same page where you create the new agent for any updated information or steps.

When ready, click on 'Agree to terms and conditions'.

Write down or keep the installation keys displayed on the installation page as you will need them during the installation.

Click on the download link and save the software to your PC/device.

Double click the file it to start the installation.

During the installation, you will be prompted to enter both keys.

Here you enter the key1 and key2 codes displayed. The purpose behind these is to ensure that your agent is assigned to your control panel.

The installer will complete the installation and display a success notice ending the process.

You should now be able to go to the Agents menu and see your new agent in Active status.

Click on the first icon, on the right hand side to go to its dashboard.

To confirm proper operation, you should see the Heartbeat in green, you should see 'hops' in the Recent events/Agent communications and you should see Pings start to come into your Pings graph.

Troubleshooting

If you see 'please wait while the credentials are being checked' and nothing else happens or notice that the agent is not communicating with your dashboard, this usually means the installer was not able to continue properly.

The main reasons this could happen are;

-the wrong keys were entered. Be sure to cut/paste the keys being shown after you click on the agree button.

-the installation was not started with a user that has full administrative access to the PC

-the installer was not able to update the firewall for some reason or there is a virus scanner or some other protective service preventing the installation from completing.

If the local firewall is not updated, the service will not be allowed to communicate over the Internet and so cannot reach the OutagesIO network to start running.

If you do not see the Echo Networks Service rule after trying to install an agent, it means something blocked the installer.

You could try manually creating the rule as shown in the image and making sure the user doing the install has full administrative access.

Next, check to see if the software was in fact installed. If it was, after adding the firewall rule, you may only need to restart the Echo Networks service then check the dashboard for that agent to see if it is communicating.

The other option is to uninstall the agent first, then re-install as usual and this time it should work.

Reasons for seeing '24hrs to complete install

Creating an agent also requires downloading and installing the software on the PC/device in order to begin sending data to its associated report.

The agent is not installed correctly. If you do not see hops in the Standard view/Recent events and/or Pings coming in, it means something is blocking the agent from fully communicating with OutagesIO.
This usually means either ICMP is blocked on your PC/device or router or firewall.

Auto removed - This ID (agent) will be automatically removed 24hrs from the time it was created to prevent cluttering your control panel.

Simply create a new agent if this one is removed.