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Install the Ops Agent during VM creation

This document describes how the Google Cloud console can automatically install the Ops Agent for you when you create a VM instance. During the installation process, the Compute Engine VM Manager creates an Ops Agent OS policy that installs the agent and reinstalls it when necessary. The VM Manager helps you get the Ops Agent running on your VM and ensures that the agent is always installed.

Overview

The VM Manager uses OS policies to manage the Ops Agent installation. A configuration policy is applied to a VM by using a mapping called an assignment ID, which looks like the following example:

goog-ops-agent-v2-x86-template-1-0-0-ZONE

An assignment ID for an Ops Agent OS policy consists of the following components:

A VM is associated with an assignment ID by using the labels on the VM instance. A Compute Engine VM is a monitored resource of type gce_instance and includes a zone label. When you use the Google Cloud console to create a VM with the Ops Agent installed, the VM Manager adds another label to the VM, which looks like goog-ops-agent-policy:v2-x86-template-1-0-0. This label identifies the policy, template, and version:

When you create a VM in the Google Cloud console, you can select the Install Ops Agent for Monitoring and Logging checkbox. When you click Create, VM Manager assigns the VM a label of goog-ops-agent-policy:v2-x86-template-1-0-0 and installs the Ops Agent. If the VM is the first VM in its zone, then VM Manager also creates an Ops Agent OS policy and an Ops Agent OS policy assignment for that zone.

While a zone has an Ops Agent OS policy assignment, the Ops Agent OS policy monitors VMs that have the following characteristics:

The Ops Agent OS policy checks every hour whether its covered VMs have the Ops Agent installed. If the Ops Agent isn't installed, then the Ops Agent OS policy installs the latest version of the agent.

Create a VM with automatic installation of the Ops Agent

To install the Ops Agent automatically during VM creation and apply the Ops Agent OS policy assignment to the VM, do the following:

  • Grant roles to your user account. Run the following command once for each of the following IAM roles: roles/osconfig.osPolicyAssignmentEditor 

    gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding PROJECT_ID --member="user:USER_IDENTIFIER" --role=ROLE

    Replace the following:

  • Follow the steps in Create a VM instance from a public image. Before you click Create, select the Install Ops Agent for Monitoring and Logging checkbox:

    The Install Ops Agent for Monitoring and Logging checkbox.

    • Click Create.

    When you install the Ops Agent automatically for the first time in a zone, if you don't have VM Manager enabled for your Google Cloud project, then the VM-creation process does the following:

    1. Enables VM Manager to operate in restricted mode.
    2. Creates the Ops Agent OS policy and an Ops Agent OS policy assignment for the zone. The Ops Agent OS policy is a field of the policy assignment.
    3. Enables Patch, OS policies, and OS inventory management by setting the VM metadata label enable-osconfig to TRUE.
    4. Creates the VM and assigns it the Ops Agent OS policy label.

    If you create a VM and automatically install the Ops Agent in a zone where an Ops Agent OS policy assignment already exists, then the VM-creation process creates the VM and assigns it the Ops Agent OS policy label.

    Example

    Your Google Cloud project doesn't have any Ops Agent OS policy assignments. You create two VMs, instance-1 and instance-2 in the us-central1-a zone. You then create instance-3 and instance-4 in the us-east1-b zone. instance-1, instance-2, and instance-3 had the Install Ops Agent for Monitoring and Logging checkbox selected during creation.

    The Ops Agent OS policies then cover the following VMs based on the Ops Agent OS policy assignment IDs:

    OS Policy Assignment ID Covers VMs In: Covered VMs
    goog-ops-agent-v2-x86-template-1-0-0-us-central1-a us-central1-a instance-1, instance-2
    goog-ops-agent-v2-x86-template-1-0-0-us-east1-b us-east1-b instance-3

    By default, instance-4 isn't covered because you didn't select Install Ops Agent for Monitoring and Logging, so it doesn't have the goog-ops-agent-policy:v2-x86-template-1-0-0 label. If you also want to apply the Ops Agent OS policy to instance-4, then see Add Ops Agent OS policy coverage to an existing VM.

    Manage Ops Agent versions on VMs covered by the Ops Agent OS policy

    The Ops Agent OS policy doesn't update the Ops Agent when new versions of the agent are released. As long as the VM has some version of the Ops Agent installed, the policy does nothing. If you uninstall the Ops Agent, then the policy detects that the Ops Agent isn't installed and then installs the latest version.

    To upgrade your VM to the latest version of the Ops Agent, uninstall the version that you are currently running and let the Ops Agent OS policy install the latest version.

    If you need to install a previous version of the Ops Agent, you can uninstall the Ops Agent on VMs covered by the Ops Agent OS policy and then install a specific version of the agent.

    Troubleshooting

    For information about troubleshooting agent installation and Ops Agent OS policies, see Manage VMs covered by the Ops Agent OS policy and Agent diagnostics tool for automatic installation policies.

    Pricing

    OS policies are generic tools for installing packages. By default, when VM Manager is enabled because you've created a VM with the Ops Agent automatically installed, VM Manager is enabled in the limited mode. For information about VM Manager modes and pricing, see VM Manager Pricing.

    What's next

    For information about managing VMs covered by the Ops Agent OS policy, see Manage VMs covered by the Ops Agent OS policy.