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Installation
Prerequisites
Hardware Sentry OpenTelemetry Collector requires Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version 11 or higher.
The OpenTelemetry Collector will use the $JAVA_HOME environment variable to determine that path to the JRE. If $JAVA_HOME is not set, it will use any java executable found in the $PATH.
To verify the version installed on a Linux system, run the following commands:
$JAVA_HOME/bin/java -version
java -version
On Windows, run the following commands:
%JAVA_HOME%\bin\java -version
java -version
If needed, you can download the latest versions of the Java Runtime Environment from Adoptium (formerly AdoptOpenJDK).
Windows or Linux?
Windows and Linux are equally supported to run Hardware Sentry OpenTelemetry Collector. However, the WMI protocol is implemented on Windows only. This means that you will need to run Hardware Sentry on Windows, to monitor another Windows system through WMI.
Please check the Hardware Connector Library documentation for more details on the required protocols, depending on the targeted platform, and whether you need WMI.
Note: The product does not support 32-bit systems.
On Linux
Download
From Sentry Software's Web site, download:
- hws-otel-collector-1.0-linux-amd64.tar.gz
Install
Unzip and untar the content of hws-otel-collector-1.0-linux-amd64.tar.gz into a program directory, like /usr/local or /opt. There is no need to create a specific subdirectory for hws-otel-collector as the zip archive already contains an hws-otel-collector directory.
/ $ cd /usr/local
/usr/local $ sudo tar xf /tmp/hws-otel-collector-1.0-linux-amd64.tar.gz
Configure
There are 2 configuration files:
- ./config/otel-config.yaml: to specify where the OpenTelemetry Collector should send the collected data
- ./config/hws-config.yaml: to specify the hosts to monitor and their credentials
Before starting the OpenTelemetry Collector, make sure to configure ./config/otel-config.yaml, since a restart of the Collector is required to take into account its changes.
Start
You can start the Hardware Sentry OpenTelemetry Collector with the below command:
/usr/local/hws-otel-collector/bin/hws-otel
This will start the Hardware Sentry OpenTelemetry Collector with the default OpenTelemetry Collector configuration file: ./config/otel-config.yaml.
You can start the Hardware Sentry OpenTelemetry Collector with an alternate configuration file with the below command:
/usr/local/hws-otel-collector/bin/hws-otel --config <PATH>
hws-otel is just a shell script that ensures the OpenTelemetry Collector is run from its home directory. You can choose to execute the OpenTelemetry Collector binary directly with the below commands:
/$ cd /usr/local/hws-otel-collector
/usr/local/hws-otel-collector$ bin/hws-otel-collector --config config/my-otel-config.yaml
On Windows
Download
From Sentry Software's Web site, download:
- hws-otel-collector-1.0-windows-amd64.zip
Install
Unzip the content of hws-otel-collector-1.0-windows-amd64.tar.gz into a program folder. There is no need to create a specific subfolder for hws-otel-collector as the zip archive already contains an hws-otel-collector folder.
Note: You will need administrative privileges to unzip into C:\Program Files.
Configure
There are 2 configuration files:
- ./config/otel-config.yaml: to specify where the OpenTelemetry Collector should send the collected data
- ./config/hws-config.yaml: to specify the hosts to monitor and their credentials
Before starting the OpenTelemetry Collector, make sure to configure ./config/otel-config.yaml, since a restart of the Collector is required to take into account its changes.
Start
Start Hardware Sentry OpenTelemetry Collector in CMD.EXE or Windows Terminal with elevated privilages (Run As Administrator).
c:
cd "Program Files"
cd hws-otel-collector
bin\hws-otel
This will start the Hardware Sentry OpenTelemetry Collector with the default OpenTelemetry Collector configuration file: .\config\otel-config.yaml.
You can start the Hardware Sentry OpenTelemetry Collector with an alternate configuration file with the below command:
"c:\Program Files\hws-otel-collector\bin\hws-otel" --config "c:\Program Files\hws-otel-collector\bin\hws-otel\config\my-otel-config.yaml"
Start As a Service
It is recommended to install and run the Hardware Sentry OpenTelemetry Collector as a Windows Service with NSSM.
Download and install the very latest version of NSSM so that it's available in your %PATH% (to make things easier).
Run the below command to create the service (assuming the product has been installed in c:\Program Files):
nssm install hws-otel "c:\Program Files\hws-otel-collector\bin\hws-otel-collector.exe" --config """c:\Program Files\hws-otel-collector\config\otel-config.yaml"""
nssm set hws-otel AppDirectory "c:\Program Files\hws-otel-collector"
nssm set hws-otel DisplayName "Hardware Sentry OpenTelemetry Collector"
nssm set hws-otel Start SERVICE_AUTO_START
The service will appear as below in services.msc:
Verify
To verify that Hardware Sentry OpenTelemetry Collector is properly running, read the Health Check section.
Ports and Firewalls
Hardware Sentry OpenTelemetry Collector opens several TCP ports for listening. None of these ports need to be open to the outside network, as they are used internally only.
| Component | Port | Required |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware Sentry Exporter | TCP/24375 | Used internally only |
| OpenTelemetry Collector HealthCheck | TCP/13133 | Optional, if you need to verify the status of the collector |
| OpenTelemetry Collector Exporter | TCP/8888 | Used internally only |