Installing a Unix or Linux robot using the nimldr utility
Article ID: 33977
Updated On:
Products
Issue/Introduction
This KB provides additional information / considerations for installing a robot agent using the nimldr utility on Linux or UNIX platforms and provides a walkthrough of the installation process.
This installation uses the install_LINUX_23_64.zip package.
Environment
- Release: DX UIM 9.x / 20.x.x / 20.3 / 20.4 / 23.4
- Component: Robot
- OS: Linux or Unix
- nimldr installer
- Robot version 9.36 or higher
- install_LINUX_23_64.zip package used for installation
Cause
- DX UIM (Nimsoft) Robot installation guidance and tips
Resolution
DX UIM Robot Installation Guide
=========================
To check a RedHat (RHEL) release version run the command:
# cat /etc/redhat-release
or run the relevant command to check the release version for the given OS/platform.
For example:
Red Hat Enterprise Linux release 9.1 (Plow)
===================================
Please refer to the UIM Compatibility matrix for supported platforms/OS:
UIM compatibility matrix
Installing a Robot on a RedHat (RHEL) LINUX system where a robot was not previously installed:
1. Download the nimldr installer package
To download the nimldr package from the support.nimsoft.com website, use wget.
If the wget command is not found/not installed on the machine, install wget by issuing the command:
yum install wget -y
Once wget is installed, change directory, e.g.,
cd /tmp
and run the following command to download the nimldr (latest GA version) package into the directory:
For UIM 20.4x/robot 9.41:
wget http://support.nimsoft.com/Files/Archive/00056/nimldr-9.41.tar.Z
For UIM 23.4x/robot 23.4.1:
http://support.nimsoft.com/Files/Archive/00056/nimldr-23.4.1.tar.Z
Note: you can always obtain the latest nimldr package and related installation ZIP file(s) from the "UIM Home Page" which is accessible by pointing a web browser to the IP address of your primary hub, e.g. http://##.##.##.##/uimhome/ and accessing the "Installers" tab.
2. Unzip the nimldr installer package
#gunzip nimldr-9.40.tar.Z
3. Extract the nimldr package files
For example,
# tar -xvf nimldr-9.40.tar
- This creates a directory on your disk with a tree-structure where you can access the relevant Linux/UNIX platform for your install.
aix-ppc64/
aix-ppc64/nimldr
hpux-ia64/
hpux-ia64/nimldr
linux-ppc64le/
linux-ppc64le/nimldr
linux-x64/
linux-x64/nimldr
linux-x86/
linux-x86/nimldr
solaris-amd64/
solaris-amd64/nimldr
solaris-i386/
solaris-i386/nimldr
solaris-sparcv9/
solaris-sparcv9/nimldr
Change directory to the correct installer directory. In most cases it will be the Linux 64-bit installer:
e.g., linux-x64, or LINUX_23_64 (depending on the version of nimldr)
4. Update/change permissions
#chmod 755 nimldr*
#chmod 755 on the directory where you saved the nimldr utility
cd to the sub-directory to which your UNIX platform was copied (e.g., linux-x64) and run,
#chmod 755 nimldr to enable program execution, then
5. Run the nimldr installer
# ./nimldr -I <ip-address of the UIM (Nimsoft) Primary hub>
Follow the prompts to complete the robot install.
Listed below is an example of a nimldr installation run, with prompts and example answers:
# cd linux-x64
./nimldr -I ##.###.###.###
=============================================
nimldr version 9.40 [Build 9.40.....]
Copyright(c) 1998-2021, CA. All rights reserved.
=============================================
This program will help you install the Nimsoft infrastructure components (such as a robot or a secondary hub) on the current system.
You will be given a series of questions, default answers are in brackets.
Example: <Question>? ==>[default]
Pressing Enter directly will use the default value, otherwise, you should type in the requested information.
If express installation is specified, the default value will be used automatically.
A log of the installation can be found in the file: nimldr.log
Hit Enter/Return key to continue.
1 - ens4 (IPv4): ##.###.###.##
Select the number of the IP you would like to use for this robot from those listed above: 1
You selected IP #1: ##.###.###.##
WARNING: The temporary files directory is removed after installation!
Where should nimldr store temporary files?
==>[/opt/nimsoft/tmp]
Beginning installation:
Is this a Cloud installation?
==>[no]
Do we have the installation file locally?
==>[no]
Is there a host running a Nimsoft Hub we can query for the installation file?
==>[yes]
Preparing to search for Archives:
What is the Nimsoft Domain called (*=search)?
==>[abcde-primary_domain]
What is the Nimsoft Hub called (*=search)?
==>[abcde-primary_hub]
What is the installation file called?
==>[install_LINUX_23_64]
Searching for Archives:
We need to log in to NMS to query for available archives
Attempting to log in to NMS...
Enter Nimsoft username and password...
Username: administrator
Password:
1 /abcde-primary_domain/abcde-primary_hub/abcde-primary/distsrv
Beginning download of install_LINUX_23_64
\
Done!
What are we installing? (1=Robot,2=Infrastructure)
==>[1]
Extracting files from archive /opt/nimsoft/tmp//install_LINUX_23_64.zip to temp directory /opt/nimsoft/tmp/
Where should NMS be installed?
==>[/opt/nimsoft]
Automatically unregister Robot from Hub on termination?
==>[no]
Should this Robot run in passive mode?
==>[no]
What is this Nimsoft Domain called?
==>[abcde-primary_domain]
Which Nimsoft Hub should this Robot connect to?
==>[abcde-primary_hub]
What is that Nimsoft Hub's IP address?
==>[##.###.###.###]
Starting NimBUS
Cleaning up temporary files
Finished installation!
6. Check if the robot processes (controller, hdb, and spooler), are all up and running
# ps -ef|grep nim
Additional Information
Understanding the nimldr utility
Some helpful Linux commands
• uname -a
• hostname
• whoami
• pwd
• systemctl disable firewalld
• firewall-cmd --state
• systemctl stop firewalld
You can decide which install_LINUX package you need to copy/ftp over onto the server (32-bit vs 64-bit) if you cannot connect to the Primary Hub machine from the remote node where you're trying to install a Robot.
• Verify /etc/hosts file, if it just contains the loopback address you do need to add an entry with the actual Robot IP address, and it should precede the loopback address at the top of the file.
• You might need to run nimldr -d 5 (DEBUG MODE) then look at the nimldr.log for what exact install_LINUX file it is looking for. Most of the time when the install_LINUX.zip is ftp'ed/coped over it has a version number appended to the file name, like install_LINUX_3.1.3.zip, so if that happens, you might need to change that to install_LINUX.zip.
• You should be able to finish the robot install and the robot controller, hdb and spooler probes should display in IM as green with ports and PIDs for each process.
If you cannot open the controller (communication error), check a few things:
• Check to see if the robot processes, controller, hdb and spooler are all running using ps -ef|grep nim.
• Check to make sure that the Linux firewall is not running and if it is shut it down and/or have it disabled by your Linux admin e.g., systemctl disable firewalld
Check firewall status by running-> firewall-cmd --state
Shutdown the firewall by running-> systemctl stop firewalld
• Check if you can telnet to the Linux server (robot) on port 48000 FROM the hub
cd /opt/nimsoft/bin (or your install directory if it’s different)
• Stop the robot-> Run ./niminit stop
Check to make sure all robot processes are down using ps -ef|grep nim
Add an entry in the robot.cfg:
robotip = <ip_address>
• Start the robot-> Run ./niminit start
• Check again to make sure all robot processes are up using ps -ef|grep nim
Example output:
# ps -ef|grep nim
root 1675 1 0 20:23 ? 00:00:00 ./nimbus /opt/nimsoft
root 1676 1675 0 20:23 ? 00:00:00 nimbus(controller)
root 1686 1676 0 20:25 ? 00:00:00 nimbus(hdb)
root 1687 1676 0 20:26 ? 00:00:00 nimbus(spooler)
If you see the controller has started but NOT the hdb and spoooler processes, then check the controller.log at loglevel 6 for errors. For example like so,
Controller: Probe 'spooler' FAILED to start, file check determines changes in the probe
Controller: Probe 'spooler' FAILED to start, file check determines changes in the probe
Controller: Probe 'spooler' FAILED to start, file check determines changes in the probe
Controller: Probe 'spooler' FAILED to start, file check determines changes in the probe
Controller: Probe 'spooler' FAILED to start, file check determines changes in the probe
In this case, you have to validate security for those probes.
To do so, in IM use Tools->Connect and first click 'Get Info' to see if you can communicate with the robot.
If the hdb and spooler probes are red with a security icon, rt-click and choose Security->Validate on the hdb and then the spooler.
This should alleviate those errors if they occur.
• You might need to run nimldr -d 5 (DEBUG MODE) then look at the nimldr.log for what exact install_LINUX file it is looking for. Most of the time when the install_LINUX.zip is ftp'ed/coped over it has a version number appended to the file name, like install_LINUX_x.x.x.zip, so if that happens, you might need to change that to install_LINUX.zip.
Lastly, after installing on RHEL 9:
At the end of the installation, you may see some errors related to nimbus starting on boot:
ln: failed to create symbolic link '/etc/rc.d/rc3.d/xxxxxxxxx: No such file or directory
ln: failed to create symbolic link '/etc/rc.d/rc4.d/xxxxxxxxx': No such file or directory
ln: failed to create symbolic link '/etc/rc.d/rc5.d/xxxxxxxxx': No such file or directory
ln: failed to create symbolic link '/etc/rc.d/rc0.d/xxxxxxxxx': No such file or directory
ln: failed to create symbolic link '/etc/rc.d/rc1.d/xxxxxxxxx': No such file or directory
ln: failed to create symbolic link '/etc/rc.d/rc2.d/xxxxxxxxx': No such file or directory
ln: failed to create symbolic link '/etc/rc.d/rc6.d/xxxxxxxxx': No such file or directory
Starting NimBUS
Cleaning up temporary files
Finished installation!
But the robot installation should be successful.
Check to make sure that the robot processes are running (controller, hdb and spooler)
Run the command:
ps -ef|grep nim
to check for them.
Then check with your system admin on what needs to be done to ensure that the nimsoft robot starts on boot.
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