Installation and upgrade of Private Synthetic ActiveGate (AG)

[Gogi]

Hi All,
I have few queries regarding installation and upgrade of Private Synthetic ActiveGate (AG)

1. if we want to install Synthetic AG on linux servers then manually downloading chromium from S3 and installing it manually is mandatory step ?, is it true ? (installer is "Activegate-Linux-x86-1.297.7.sh").

2:  if we want to install Synthetic AG on windows servers chromium gets auto downloaded and also gets auto installed as a single step of installation ?, is it true (Installer "Activegate-Windows-x86-1.297.7.exe").

3: Chromium update on Linux  hosts needs to be downloaded manually every time and upgrade AG version parallely , is it true ?

4: Whether we are installing Synthetic AG on Linux or on windows host we need to enable access to s3 as a pre-requisite to download chromium during first installation(https://synthetic-packages.s3.amazonaws.com) and upload screenshots to s3(*.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com on port 443) as per this DT doc, please confirm whether Iam correct.
https://docs.dynatrace.com/docs/shortlink/private-synthetic-location#before-you-begin

[AntonioSousa · Accepted solution]

Replies below:

1. You don't have to install chromium manually.
   From: https://docs.dynatrace.com/docs/platform-modules/digital-experience/synthetic-monitoring/private-syn...
   
2. True.
3. It is automatic, if the Private Synthetic location has the "Chromium update" flag enabled:
   From: https://docs.dynatrace.com/docs/shortlink/manage-private-locations#location-details
   
4. Yes, if you want to have it automated, the URL has to be accessible. If it is not accessible, you'll have to do it manually. If not accessible, you won't also have screenshots, as you mention.

[HannahM · Accepted solution]

To add to Antonio's answer, 

1. You only need to update Chromium on Linux ActiveGates manually if you do not want to allow access to s3 or set up a custom repository for Chromium. 

2. True. For Windows ActiveGates Chrome is bundled with the Synthetic Module installer

3. If you do not set Chromium auto-update on the location then, yes, you will need to manually keep Chromium updated. It needs to be kept with 2 versions of the expected version for that ActiveGate version.

4. Only Linux ActiveGates need access to https://synthetic-packages.s3.amazonaws.com, Windows ActiveGates have Chrome bundled with installer so this is not needed for them.

[gurugogi]

Thanks @HannahM  and @AntonioSousa  - so what I understood is 
1. Best practice is to install Synthetic AG on Windows servers as it comes with chrome bundled.

  please let me know when you say chrome bundled it is chromium specific to AG or chrome browser specific?

 

[HannahM]

For Windows, we install the version listed here, so the version of Chromium is tied to the ActiveGate version.

[AntonioSousa]

@gurugogi,

I wouldn't say it's a best practice to install it on Windows, it's just an option as in Linux. In Linux it might be just a little bit more complex.

The Chromium version installed is specific to Dynatrace. Not sure what specifics might it have, but I believe it might have some modifications for use in a monitoring environment.

Please also note that accessing web applications from a Windows environment might trigger different replies from the web applications. I have two clients where that happens.

[gurugogi]

@AntonioSousa Thanks.

My final queries are consider Iam planning to install Synthetic AG on Redhat host now:

1: Just get the installer from "Deploy Dynatrace" section and run it, this will install both synthetic AG module and chromium ?or as a prerequisite I need to enable access to S3 to download chromium during first installation only ?
(https://synthetic-packages.s3.amazonaws.com)

2. After installing Syn AG on Redhat host consider I have enabled auto-upgrade toggle, so during auto-upgrade it still need access to S3 to download latest chromium installer (https://synthetic-packages.s3.amazonaws.com)? 
https://docs.dynatrace.com/docs/shortlink/manage-private-locations#chromium

 

Regards,
Guru Gogi

 

[HannahM · Accepted solution]

1. For RedHat install, please follow the instructions in the Wizard for installing, it will provide you with the commands to execute. Using the wizard requires access to https://synthetic-packages.s3.amazonaws.com to download Chromium. 
   If you don't want to allow access to https://synthetic-packages.s3.amazonaws.com/, you will need to follow the manual installation instruction 
2. With chromium auto-update enabled, you will need to permanently give the machine access to https://synthetic-packages.s3.amazonaws.com/ 
   
   Please note that Red Hat will also require a Red Hat subscription to keep the repos up to date. If you don't intend to get the subscription, you should choose a different OS.  

[gurugogi]

Thanks @HannahM  @AntonioSousa  for you suggestions, it helped lot.