Install on Windows - AWS Application Discovery Service
Package signing and automatic upgradesManage the Discovery Agent process in WindowsTroubleshooting in Windows

Install on Windows

Complete the following procedure to install an agent on Windows. Be sure that your Migration Hub home region has been set before you begin this procedure.

To install AWS Application Discovery Agent in your data center

  1. Download the Windows agent installer but do not double-click to run the installer within Windows.

    Important

    Do not double-click to run the installer within Windows as it will fail to install. Agent installation only works from the command prompt. (If you already double-clicked on the installer, you must go to Add/Remove Programs and uninstall the agent before continuing on with the remaining installation steps.)

    If the Windows agent installer doesn't detect any version of the Visual C++ x86 runtime on the host, it automatically installs the Visual C++ x86 2015–2019 runtime before installing the agent software.

  2. Open a command prompt as an administrator and navigate to the location where you saved the installation package.

  3. To install the agent, choose one of the following installation methods.

    To... Do this...

    Install Discovery Agent

    To install the agent, run the agent install command as shown in the following example. In the example, replace your-home-region with the name of your home region, aws-access-key-id with your access key ID, and aws-secret-access-key with your secret access key.

    Optionally, you can set the agent installation location by specifying the folder path C:\install-location for the INSTALLLOCATION parameter. For example, INSTALLLOCATION="C:\install-location". The resulting folder hierarchy will be [INSTALLLOCATION path]\AWS Discovery. By default, the install location is the Program Files folder.

    Optionally, you can use LOGANDCONFIGLOCATION to override the default directory (ProgramData) for the agent logs folder and configuration file. The resulting folder hierarchy is [LOGANDCONFIGLOCATION path]\AWS Discovery.

    .\AWSDiscoveryAgentInstaller.exe REGION="your-home-region" KEY_ID="aws-access-key-id" KEY_SECRET="aws-secret-access-key" /quiet

    By default, agents automatically download and apply updates as they become available.

    We recommend using this default configuration.

    However, if you don't want agents to download and apply updates automatically, include the following parameter when running the agent install command: AUTO_UPDATE=false

    Warning

    Disabling auto-upgrades will prevent the latest security patches from being installed.

    (Optional) Install Discovery Agent and configure a non-transparent proxy

    To configure a non-transparent proxy, add the following public properties to the agent install command:

    • PROXY_HOST – The name of the proxy host

    • PROXY_SCHEME – The proxy scheme

    • PROXY_PORT – The proxy port number

    • PROXY_USER – The proxy user name

    • PROXY_PASSWORD – The proxy user password

    The following is an example of the agent install command using the non-transparent proxy properties.

    .\AWSDiscoveryAgentInstaller.exe REGION="your-home-region" KEY_ID="aws-access-key-id" KEY_SECRET="aws-secret-access-key" PROXY_HOST="myproxy.mycompany.com" PROXY_SCHEME="https" PROXY_PORT="proxy-port-number" PROXY_USER="myusername" PROXY_PASSWORD="mypassword" /quiet

    If your proxy doesn't require authentication, then omit the PROXY_USER and PROXY_PASSWORD properties. The example install command uses https. If your proxy uses HTTP, specify http for the PROXY_SCHEME value.

  4. If outbound connections from your network are restricted, you must update your firewall settings. Agents require access to arsenal over TCP port 443. They don't require any inbound ports to be open.

    For example, if your home region is eu-central-1, you'd use the following: https://arsenal-discovery.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com:443

Package signing and automatic upgrades

For Windows Server 2008 and later, Amazon cryptographically signs the Application Discovery Service agent installation package with an SHA256 certificate. For SHA2-signed autoupdates on Windows Server 2008 SP2, ensure that hosts have a hotfix installed to support SHA2 signature authentication. Microsoft's latest support hotfix helps support SHA2 authentication on Windows Server 2008 SP2.

Note

The hotfixes for SHA256 support for Windows 2003 are no longer publicly available from Microsoft. If these fixes are not already installed in your Windows 2003 host, manual upgrades are necessary.

To perform upgrades manually

  1. Download the Windows Agent Updater.

  2. Open command prompt as an administrator.

  3. Navigate to the location where the updater was saved.

  4. Run the following command.

    AWSDiscoveryAgentUpdater.exe /Q

Manage the Discovery Agent process in Windows

You can manage the behavior of the Discovery Agent at the system level through the Windows Server Manager Services console. The following table describes how.

Task Service Name Service Status/Action
Verify that an agent is running

AWS Discovery Agent

AWS Discovery Updater

 Started
Start an agent

AWS Discovery Agent

AWS Discovery Updater

 Choose Start
Stop an agent

AWS Discovery Agent

AWS Discovery Updater

 Choose Stop
Restart an agent

AWS Discovery Agent

AWS Discovery Updater

 Choose Restart
To uninstall a discovery agent on Windows

  1. Open the Control Panel in Windows.

  2. Choose Programs.

  3. Choose Programs and Features.

  4. Select AWS Discovery Agent.

  5. Choose Uninstall.

    Note

    If you choose to reinstall the agent after uninstalling it, run the following command with the /repair and /norestart options.

    .\AWSDiscoveryAgentInstaller.exe REGION="your-home-region" KEY_ID="aws-access-key-id" KEY_SECRET="aws-secret-access-key" /quiet /repair /norestart

To uninstall a discovery agent on Windows using the command line

  1. Right-click Start.

  2. Choose Command Prompt.

  3. Use the following command to uninstall a discovery agent on Windows. 

    wmic product where name='AWS Discovery Agent' call uninstall

Troubleshooting Discovery Agent in Windows

If you encounter problems while installing or using the AWS Application Discovery Agent on Windows, consult the following guidance about logging and configuration. AWS Supportoften requests these files when helping to troubleshoot potential issues with the agent or its connection to the Application Discovery Service.

  • Installation logging

    In some cases, the agent install command appears to fail. For example, a failure can appear with the Windows Services Manager showing that the discovery services are not being created. In this case, add /log install.log to the command to generate a verbose installation log.

  • Operational logging

    On Windows Server 2008 and later, agent log files can be found under the following directory.

    C:\ProgramData\AWS\AWS Discovery\Logs

    On Windows Server 2003, agent log files can be found under the following directory.

    C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AWS\AWS Discovery\Logs

    Log files are named to indicate whether generated by the main service, automatic upgrades, or the installer.

     

  • Configuration file

    On Windows Server 2008 and later, the agent configuration file can be found at the following location.

    C:\ProgramData\AWS\AWS Discovery\config

    On Windows Server 2003, the agent configuration file can be found at the following location.

    C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AWS\AWS Discovery\config

  • For instructions on how to remove earlier versions of the Discovery Agent, see Prerequisites for Discovery Agent.