Start and Configure MariaDB Agent Manager on MariaDB Xpand Nodes

Compatibility

Prerequisites

Before performing this procedure, deploy MariaDB Agent Manager on each Forwarding Host and Monitored Host.

Step 1: Switch to Dedicated OS User

For security purposes, MariaDB does not recommend running MariaDB Agent Manager as root.

If you created a dedicated user account and group for MariaDB Agent Manager, switch to a shell using the dedicated user account:

$ su -l mariadbagent

Each of the subsequent steps in this procedure should be performed using this dedicated user account.

Step 2: Configure Firewalls

MariaDB Agent Manager communicates over TCP between the Forwarding Host and each Monitored Host. MariaDB Agent Manager also communicates over TCP between the Forwarding Host and the Remote Observability Service.

Firewall configuration must support this communication.

Step 3: Create Xpand Accounts

MariaDB Agent Manager connects to database user accounts on Monitored Hosts.

A dedicated Xpand user account should be created for MariaDB Agent Manager. The user account only needs to be created on a single node in the Xpand cluster. The user account is replicated to all nodes.

If you previously created an Xpand user when you ran the mariadb_agent_manager install sub-command, you can skip this step.

On each Xpand cluster, create a dedicated Xpand user account using one of the following methods:

• To have MariaDB Agent Manager automatically create the account with the correct privileges, execute the mariadb_agent_manager create-user sub-command:

  $ mariadb_agent_manager create-user
  

• Or to manually create the user account, create the account with the following privileges:

  CREATE USER ros@'localhost'
     IDENTIFIED BY 'passwd';
  
  GRANT PROCESS, REPLICATION CLIENT
     ON *.*
     TO ros@'localhost';
  
  GRANT SELECT
     ON system.*
     TO ros@'localhost';
  

Step 4: Prepare credentials.json

On each Monitored Host, exporters authenticate using credentials that are stored locally. These credentials must initially be provided in a credentials file.

The MariaDB Agent Manager credentials file is in JSON format. These instructions assume that the credentials file is named credentials.json

On each Monitored Host running MariaDB Xpand, create a credentials file.

Create a mariadb section with the user account and password details from "Step 3: Create Xpand Accounts":

{
  "cred_store": {
    "mariadb": {
      "user": "ros",
      "pwd": "USER_PASSWORD"
    }
  }
}

Step 5: Encrypt Passwords

On each Monitored Host running MariaDB Xpand, the passwords in the credentials file must be encrypted by executing the mariadb_agent_manager encrypt-creds sub-command:

$ mariadb_agent_manager encrypt-creds -p ~/credentials.json

The following files have been successfully created:
Encrypted credentials:    /home/USER/.config/mariadb-agent-manager/cred.json
Secret key:               /home/USER/.config/mariadb-agent-manager/.key.txt

• The -p option specifies the path to the credentials file. Alternatively, the REMOTE_AGENT_CREDENTIALS environment variable can be used.

MariaDB Agent Manager encrypts the credentials and saves the encrypted credentials to its configuration directory.

After the credentials have been encrypted, MariaDB Agent Manager deletes the credentials file. If you need to preserve the credentials file, ensure that you have a backup.

Step 6: Prepare configuration.json

MariaDB Agent Manager reads a configuration file to understand the database infrastructure. These instructions assume that the configuration file is named configuration.json. The MariaDB Agent Manager configuration file is in JSON format.

Create a configuration file:

• Select the example configuration file for your topology and edit to reflect your database infrastructure and parameters.

• Alternatively, a configuration file can be created using the configuration wizard by executing the mariadb_agent_manager init sub-command.

The configuration file must be copied to each Forwarding Host and each Monitored Host.

{
  "datacenter": {
    "name": "Example Data Center",
    "location": "Oregon, US",
    "database_services": [
      {
        "name": "example-distributed",
        "type": "distributed",
        "servers": [
          {
            "name": "mxs1",
            "type": "maxscale",
            "hostname": "mxs1.example.com"
          },
          {
            "name": "xpand1",
            "type": "xpand-backend",
            "hostname": "xpand1.example.com"
          },
          {
            "name": "xpand2",
            "type": "xpand-backend",
            "hostname": "xpand2.example.com"
          },
          {
            "name": "xpand3",
            "type": "xpand-backend",
            "hostname": "xpand3.example.com"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

Step 7: Start MariaDB Agent Manager

On each Forwarding Host and Monitored Host running MariaDB Xpand, MariaDB Agent Manager must be started by executing the mariadb_agent_manager start sub-command.

• If the Xpand node is also acting as a Forwarding Host, MariaDB Agent Manager can be started for the first time with the following options:

  $ mariadb_agent_manager start -c ~/configuration.json -k ~/skysql-api-key.txt -f
  

  • The -c option specifies the path to the configuration file. Alternatively, the REMOTE_AGENT_CONFIG environment variable can be used.

  • The -k option specifies the path to a file that contains your SkySQL API Key. Alternatively, the REMOTE_AGENT_API_KEY environment variable can be used. Setting the API key is only required the first time that the services are started on the Forwarding Host, because MariaDB Agent Manager saves the API key to a file. If the option or environment variable are not set, MariaDB Agent Manager prompts the user to enter the API key.

  • The -f option indicates that the node is a Forwarding Host. Alternatively, the FORWARDING_SERVER environment variable can be used. If the host is not defined in the configuration file, MariaDB Agent Manager assumes that it is a dedicated Forwarding Host. If the host is defined in the configuration file, MariaDB Agent Manager handles it as a combination Forwarding and Monitored Host.

• On each Monitored Host running MariaDB Xpand, MariaDB Agent Manager can be started with the following options:

  $ mariadb_agent_manager start -c ~/configuration.json
  

  • The -c option specifies the path to the configuration file. Alternatively, the REMOTE_AGENT_CONFIG environment variable can be used.

After the service has been successfully started, MariaDB Agent Manager prints the status of the components running on the host:

STATUS of the SERVICES:
Service: MariaDB Exporter                         active
Service: Node Exporter                            active

Next Steps

If you still need to start and configure MariaDB Agent Manager on additional node types:

• Start and Configure MariaDB Agent Manager

If you have already started and configured MariaDB Agent Manager on all nodes:

• Check SkySQL Monitoring