Configure the agent

You can set up your system to run Vusers and monitor servers over a firewall. As part of the process of setting up your system to work over firewalls, you configure the LoadRunner Agent.

Configure agents over the firewall - workflow

To work over firewalls, you need to configure the LoadRunner Agent on each Load Generator machine running over a firewall, and on each Monitor Over Firewall machine.

Before you configure your system to run Vusers over the firewall, ensure that you have completed the configuration steps described in Initial configuration of over firewall system.

To run Vusers over a firewall, configure the LoadRunner Agent on the load generator machine.
To monitor over a firewall, configure the LoadRunner Agent on the MOFW machine.

You configure the agent to communicate with the MI Listener. The MI Listener serves as a router between the agent and the Controller.

Configure the agent on Windows

This section describes how to configure the LoadRunner Agent on Windows machines to communicate with the MI Listener.

To configure the agent on Windows machines:

From the Start menu, select Performance Engineering > Advanced Settings > LoadRunner Agent Configuration or run <Installdir>\launch_service\bin\AgentConfig.exe.
In the Agent Configuration dialog box, select Enable Firewall Agent.
Click Settings. The Agent Configuration dialog box displays a list of settings.
Set each option as described in Agent configuration settings. Pay careful attention to the first three settings.
Click OK to save your changes.
When prompted, click OK to restart the agent.
Check the connection status between the agent and the MI Listener.

Change the Agent Runtime settings to run as a process and check the status. For details, see Run the agent as a process.
If the status is OK, revert back to running it as a service. For details, see Run the agent as a service.

Notes:

When you configure the agent on Windows machines, the Remote Management agent is automatically configured with the same settings. The Remote Management agent enables you to manage remote machines from Administration.
After you have configured the agent on the Load Generator machine, you can edit the configuration settings from Administration. For details, see the Help Center.

Configure the agent on Linux

Load Generator hosts can be installed on Linux machines. This section describes how to configure and run agents on Linux machines.

Note: As part of the process of configuring the LoadRunner Agent on Linux machines, you also need to configure the Remote Management Agent. The Remote Management Agent enables you to manage remote machines from Administration.

To configure the agent on Linux machines:

Activate the firewall service for the agent:

Open <installdir>/dat/br_lnch_server.cfg in a text editor.
In the Firewall section, set FireWallServiceActive to 1 and save your changes.

Activate the firewall service for the Remote Management Agent:

Open <installdir>/al_agent/dat/br_lnch_server.cfg in a text editor.
In the Firewall section, set FireWallServiceActive to 1 and save your changes.

Run agent_config from the <installdir>/bin directory and enter the agent configuration settings (see Agent configuration settings).

Note: When you set the agent configuration settings, they are applied to both the LoadRunner Agent and Remote Management Agent.
Restart the LoadRunner Agent for the configuration changes to take effect.
Restart the Remote Management Agent for the configuration changes to take effect.

To stop the Remote Management Agent, run the following command from the <installdir>/al_agent/bin directory:
Copy code
```
al_daemon_setup -remove 
```
To start the Remote Management Agent, run the following command from the <installdir>/al_agent/bin directory:
Copy code
```
al_daemon_setup -install
```

Agent configuration settings

The following table provides an explanation of the agent configuration settings.

Setting	Default Value	Description
MI Listener name	none	The host name, fully qualified domain name, or IP address of the MI Listener.
Local Machine Key	none	A symbolic string identifier used to establish a unique connection between the Controller host and the agent machine, through the MI Listener machine. When configuring a Monitor Over Firewall agent, you can enter any logical name, using lowercase letters only. When configuring the agent on a load generator to run Vusers over a firewall, you must use the format `hostname_locationname` where: `hostname` is the name of the host as found in Administration's Hosts page. `locationname` is the name of the host location as found in Administration's Host Locations page.
Connection Timeout (seconds)	20 seconds	The length of time you want the agent to wait before retrying to connect to the MI Listener machine. If zero, the connection is kept open from the time the agent is run.
MI Listener User Name	none	The user name needed to connect to the MI Listener machine.
MI Listener Password	none	The password needed to connect to the MI Listener machine.
Server Domain	none	The domain name needed to connect to the MI Listener machine. This field is required only if NTLM is used.
Connection Type - TCP/HTTP	TCP	Select either TCP or HTTP, depending on the configuration you are using.
Connection Type - HTTP	none	If you select HTTP, configure the following: Proxy Name. The name of the proxy server. The proxy server must support HTTP tunneling using the CONNECT method. This field is mandatory if the Connection Type setting is HTTP. Proxy Port. The proxy server connection port. This field is mandatory if the Connection Type setting is HTTP. Proxy User Name/Password. The credentials of a user with connection rights to the proxy server. Proxy Domain. The user's domain if defined in the proxy server configuration. This option is required only if NTLM is used.
Use Secure Connection (SSL)	inactive	Enable to connect using the TLS (formally SSL) protocol. When a proxy server is used, TLS is enabled by default and cannot be turned off. If you enable this option, enter the following information: Check Server Certificates. Authenticates the TLS certificates that are sent by the server. Select Medium to verify that the server certificate is signed by a trusted Certification Authority. Select High to verify that the sender IP matches the certificate information. This setting is available only if Use Secure Connection is set to True. Private Key Password. The password that might be required during the TLS certificate authentication process. This option is relevant only if the Client Certificate Owner option is enabled.

Check connectivity

To run Vusers or monitor servers over a firewall, you must be able to establish a connection between the LoadRunner Agent, MI Listener, and the Controller machine.

If you encounter connectivity problems after installing and configuring all the necessary components, check the following table for troubleshooting tips.

Check	Solution
To check that the Firewall service was activated on the agent machine:	Windows Installation: Change the Agent Runtime settings to run as a process and check the status. For details, see Run the agent as a process. If the status is OK, revert back to running it as a service. For details, see Run the agent as a service. Otherwise, you need to reconfigure the LoadRunner Agent on your Windows machine. For details, see Configure the agent on Windows. Linux Installation: In the temporary directory of the agent machine, locate the <local_machine_key>_connected_to_MI_Listener file. If the file is missing, this indicates that the FirewallServiceActive=1 is not set in the [FireWall] section of the Agent Settings. For details, see Configure the agent on Linux.
To check that port 443 is open:	On the agent machine, open a command prompt window, and type the following: `telnet <MI_Listener_IP> 443`. Example:`telnet 111.111.111.1111 443` If port 443 is open, a new Telnet window opens. If port 443 is not open, contact your network administrator.
To check that port 443 is available:	If a web server is running on the MI Listener or Monitor Over Firewall machine, port 443 does not allow the access required by the listening and monitoring processes. Contact your network administrator to change the web server port.
To check connectivity between the agent and the MI Listener, when running the agent as a service:	When running the agent as a service, do the following: Check that port 443 is open. For details, see above. Check that the Agent Settings and Agent Configuration are correctly set. For details, see Configure agents over the firewall - workflow. Run the agent as a process by launching <installdir>\Launch_service\bin\magentproc.exe. If you are successful, this indicates an authentication issue with the Agent Service. Browse to the Administrative Tools > Services > OpenText Performance Engineering Agent Service and change the properties of this service to `System User Account`, or provide the username and password of a user who has administrative permissions on this machine.

Check

Solution

To check that the Firewall service was activated on the agent machine:

MI Listener with firewall

Windows Installation:
1. Change the Agent Runtime settings to run as a process and check the status. For details, see Run the agent as a process.
2. If the status is OK, revert back to running it as a service. For details, see Run the agent as a service.
Linux Installation:

In the temporary directory of the agent machine, locate the <local_machine_key>_connected_to_MI_Listener file. If the file is missing, this indicates that the FirewallServiceActive=1 is not set in the [FireWall] section of the Agent Settings. For details, see Configure the agent on Linux.

To check that port 443 is open:

MI Listener firewall port

On the agent machine, open a command prompt window, and type the following:
telnet <MI_Listener_IP> 443.

Example:telnet 111.111.111.1111 443

If port 443 is open, a new Telnet window opens. If port 443 is not open, contact your network administrator.

To check that port 443 is available:

MI Listener Firewall Web Server

If a web server is running on the MI Listener or Monitor Over Firewall machine, port 443 does not allow the access required by the listening and monitoring processes. Contact your network administrator to change the web server port.

To check connectivity between the agent and the MI Listener, when running the agent as a service:

MI Listener Firewall Agent

When running the agent as a service, do the following:

Check that port 443 is open. For details, see above.
Check that the Agent Settings and Agent Configuration are correctly set. For details, see Configure agents over the firewall - workflow.
Run the agent as a process by launching <installdir>\Launch_service\bin\magentproc.exe. If you are successful, this indicates an authentication issue with the Agent Service. Browse to the Administrative Tools > Services > OpenText Performance Engineering Agent Service and change the properties of this service to System User Account, or provide the username and password of a user who has administrative permissions on this machine.