Performing A Custom Installation of ObserveIT PDF
Performing A Custom Installation of ObserveIT PDF
OF OBSERVEIT
However, in some cases, customers may want to manually install each component of ObserveIT. This is usually true
for environments with higher security procedures, requiring each component of the ObserveIT product to be
installed separately and using dedicated service accounts; or in large-scale environments requiring custom
modifications of some of the server-side components.
This document contains detailed procedures and instructions on how to install ObserveIT by performing a custom
installation.
Release documentation
The most up-to-date release documentation is available at: Product Documentation
Documentation feedback
ObserveIT is engaged in a continuous effort to improve its documentation. Please help us by sending your
comments to: [email protected].
When a more complex environment is required, the following deployment architecture will be used:
For data encryption (data in transit, data at rest, Web Console traffic):
• An internal Certificate Authority (CA) capable of issuing the correct digital certificates (it is possible to use
self-signed certificates, however that may add complexity to the deployment)
For detailed instructions, hardware recommendations and sizing – please refer to the “ObserveIT General
Prerequisites and Recommendations” document which can be obtained by contacting ObserveIT’s professional
Services team at [email protected].
• This guide assumes installation on Windows Server 2016 and SQL Server 2016. This guide also assumes SQL
Management Studio version 17 is installed. All commands and queries performed in this guide are tested
to work on with these components at their latest iterations.
• The server hosting the ObserveIT server-side website application is a member of an Active Directory
domain, but not a domain controller (DC). Hosting IIS on a domain controller may cause adverse security
issues and should be avoided. However, it may be possible when installing in an isolated lab environment.
When installing on a DC, you need to use the “Active Directory Users and Computers” MMC snap-in and
add the ObserveIT service account to the “Administrators” group found in the “Builtin” container, but this
will affect all the DCs in the domain.
• You are performing the installation using the default values such as folder structures, file sizes and logon
account names.
• The reader has prior knowledge of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and its related terminology.
• Your organization has an SQL server administrator who follows the best practices for deploying and
maintaining SQL server.
• Your organization has backups administrator, who follows best practices for backing up databases,
Operating Systems, and file shares.
Copy binaries to the ObserveIT Application server to C:\Temp. Extract the content of the ZIP file to C:\Temp.
Note: File location screenshots and paths are updated to the GA version as of May 2016 but should
remain unchanged in future versions.
1. Connect to a Domain Controller or to a computer with Active Directory Remote Server Administration
Tools installed.
2. Click Start and type in DSA.MSC
and press Enter key.
3. Navigate to the Organizational
Unit where the ObserveIT Service
Account will be located.
4. Right-click the Organizational
Unit, click New > User.
5. Optional: Type in OBSERVEIT into
the First Name field, SERVICE
ACCOUNT into the Last Name field.
6. Type in OITSERVICEACCOUNT into
the User logon name field and
choose the appropriate UPN
suffix. Click Next.
7. Configure a password based on your
organization's password policy
requirements, uncheck the User must
change password at next logon
checkbox, and check the Password
never expires checkbox. Click Next.
Click Finish.
8. Close the Active Directory Users
and Computers window.
Note: From now on, this document assumes "OITServiceAccount" as the Service Account username.
Note: This permission is required only during the installation phase and may be removed when the
installation is complete. However, please note, that removing this permission will prevent ObserveIT
from creating additional archive databases with the service account and will require appropriate
credentials when creating a new archive.
1. Connect to the SQL server or to a computer with SQL Management Studio installed.
2. Open the Start menu, expand the Microsoft SQL Server 2016 folder and click SQL Management
Studio.
Note: This is only required during the installation phase; it can be removed as soon as the installation has
completed successfully.
Note: This step is only required during the installation phase; it can be removed as soon as the
installation has completed successfully.
By default, all the recorded graphic screenshots are stored in the "ObserveIT_Data" database.
In medium to large deployments of ObserveIT, it is recommended to configure all recorded graphic screenshots to
be stored in the file system network share (a UNC path) instead of in the SQL database. This will reduce the overall
I/O overhead on the SQL Server.
• Hot storage. This is where the recording screenshot data is written immediately after being received from a
remote ObserveIT Agent.
• Warm storage. This is where the screenshot data is stored after an active ObserveIT session is closed.
• Archive storage. This is where the screenshot data is moved during an archive operation.
Because all the graphic images stored on the hot storage are typically small, the disk on which they will be located
needs to be formatted in ReFS for Windows Server 2016 using the allocation unit size of 4KB (4096K). This will
ensure best disk location usage and reduce disk space waste.
The screenshot data stored on the warm and archive storage is stored in a ZIP format, with each ZIP file containing
all images for a single ObserveIT session. To optimize performance, format the warm and archive storage with
64KB block size.
The above configuration can be done using Disk Management or the DISKPART command line utility.
Note: If using Windows Server 2012/R2 machine or lower, please see Formatting NTFS.
To format the disk using the Disk Management snap-in, follow these steps:
Note: This guide assumes the new disk has just been connected to the machine, but no further action was
taken.
To create and share folders at a Windows Server file server follow these steps:
1. Mount a Windows Server 2016 installation DVD to the virtual machine or insert a Windows Server 2016
DVD into the DVD drive of the server.
Note: The following steps are similar for Windows Server 2012/2012R2 Operating Systems. If
using one of these systems, mount or insert the appropriate DVD to the machine.
2. Open the Start menu and type in POWERSHELL.
3. Right-click the PowerShell shortcut and choose Run as administrator.
4. If prompted Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device? click Yes.
5. Paste the following command, replacing the <dvddrive> string with the letter of the DVD drive in your
machine:
Install-WindowsFeature Web-Server, Web-WebServer, Web-Common-Http, Web-Default-Doc, Web-Dir-
Browsing, Web-Http-Errors, Web-Static-Content, Web-Health, Web-Http-Logging, Web-Performance,
Web-Stat-Compression, Web-Security, Web-Filtering, Web-App-Dev, Web-Net-Ext45, Web-Asp, Web-
Asp-Net45, Web-ISAPI-Ext, Web-ISAPI-Filter, Web-Mgmt-Tools, Web-Mgmt-Console –
IncludeManagementTools -Source <dvddrive>:\Sources\SxS
Install-WindowsFeature NET-Framework-45-Core, NET-Framework-45-Features, NET-Framework-45-
ASPNET -Source <dvddrive>:\Sources\SxS
1. Open the Start menu and type Run. Press the Enter key.
2. Type in POWERSHELL.
3. Right-click the PowerShell shortcut and choose Run as administrator.
4. If prompted Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device? click Yes.
5. Paste the following code into the PowerShell window:
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName “SQL Server” -Direction Inbound –Protocol TCP –LocalPort 1433
-Action allow
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName “SQL Admin Connection” -Direction Inbound –Protocol TCP –
LocalPort 1434 -Action allow
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName “SQL Database Management” -Direction Inbound –Protocol UDP –
LocalPort 1434 -Action allow
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName “SQL Service Broker” -Direction Inbound –Protocol TCP –
LocalPort 4022 -Action allow
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName “SQL Debugger/RPC” -Direction Inbound –Protocol TCP –LocalPort
135 -Action allow
#Enabling SQL Analysis Ports
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName “SQL Analysis Services” -Direction Inbound –Protocol TCP –
LocalPort 2383 -Action allow
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName “SQL Browser” -Direction Inbound –Protocol TCP –LocalPort 2382
-Action allow
6. Close the PowerShell window.
1. Open the Start menu and type Run. Press the Enter key.
2. Type in POWERSHELL.
3. Right-click the PowerShell shortcut and choose Run as administrator.
4. If prompted Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device? click Yes.
5. Paste the following code into the PowerShell window:
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName “HTTP” -Direction Inbound –Protocol TCP –LocalPort 4884 -
Action allow
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName “SSL” -Direction Inbound –Protocol TCP –LocalPort 443 -Action
allow
6. Close the PowerShell window.
In medium to large deployments of ObserveIT, it is strongly recommended to configure all recorded graphic
screenshots to be stored in the file system network share (a UNC path) instead of in the SQL database. This will
reduce the overall I/O overhead on the SQL Server.
Note: A functional SQL Server database is still required for storing all the recorded metadata, image
pointers, and configuration settings.
Note: Due to NTFS file system limitations, you must create a new share when the current one reaches
approximately 4 billion objects. This can be done through the Web Console.
For example, you could use this type of UNC paths for the production graphic screenshots and archived graphic
screenshots storage:
See Formatting a disk for graphic images storage and the database for more.
If you plan to keep the default setting skip to the database installation section.
Note: The database installer requires.NET Framework 4.5. See Installing prerequisites for more
information.
Note: The DB install process can also be run directly on the SQL Server machine.
1. Connect to the computer where you downloaded and extracted the ObserveIT installer using the
ObserveIT Service Account credentials.
Note: If unable to log in as the ObserveIT Service Account interactively, see Running elevated
Windows PowerShell prompt as a different user.
Note: the following steps assume two designated drives are present at the SQL machine. This guide
assumes that the database drive is assigned the drive letter E:, while the log drive is assigned the drive
letter F:. This guide also assumes the SQL Management Studio is installed on the SQL server machine.
USE MASTER;
GO
ALTER DATABASE ObserveIT
SET SINGLE_USER
WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE;
GO
EXEC MASTER.dbo.sp_detach_db @dbname = N'ObserveIT'
GO
USE MASTER;
GO
ALTER DATABASE ObserveIT_Archive_1
SET SINGLE_USER
WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE;
GO
EXEC MASTER.dbo.sp_detach_db @dbname = N'ObserveIT_Archive_1'
GO
USE MASTER;
GO
ALTER DATABASE ObserveIT_Archive_Template
SET SINGLE_USER
WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE;
GO
EXEC MASTER.dbo.sp_detach_db @dbname = N'ObserveIT_Archive_Template'
GO
USE MASTER;
GO
ALTER DATABASE ObserveIT_Analytics
SET SINGLE_USER
WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE;
GO
EXEC MASTER.dbo.sp_detach_db @dbname = N'ObserveIT_Analytics'
GO
6. Click the button. Wait for the query to finish.
7. Follow the Formatting a disk for graphic images store guide in this document to correctly format the two
new disks in the machine, in this example: disk E: for the database data files and disk F: for the database
log files.
8. Open the Start menu and type in EXPLORER. Press the Enter key.
9. Navigate to disk E:.
10. Right-click the empty space inside the File Explorer window, expand the New menu
and select Folder.
11. Type in MSSQLDATA. Press the Enter key.
( FILENAME = N'E:\MSSQLDATA\ObserveIT_Data_Data.mdf' ),
( FILENAME = N'F:\MSSQLLog\ObserveIT_Data_Log.ldf' )
FOR ATTACH
GO
( FILENAME = N'E:\MSSQLDATA\ObserveIT_Data.mdf' ),
( FILENAME = N'F:\MSSQLLog\ObserveIT_Log.ldf' )
FOR ATTACH
GO
( FILENAME = N'E:\MSSQLDATA\ObserveIT_Analytics_Data.mdf' ),
( FILENAME = N'F:\MSSQLLog\ObserveIT_Analytics_Log.ldf' )
FOR ATTACH
GO
( FILENAME = N'E:\MSSQLDATA\ObserveIT_Archive_1_Data.mdf' ),
( FILENAME = N'F:\MSSQLLog\ObserveIT_Archive_1_Log.ldf' )
FOR ATTACH
GO
( FILENAME = N'E:\MSSQLDATA\ObserveIT_Archive_Template_Data.mdf' ),
( FILENAME = N'F:\MSSQLLog\ObserveIT_Archive_Template_Log.ldf' )
FOR ATTACH
GO
Setting initial MDF and LDF file size for the ObserveIT databases on the SQL Server
Setting the initial size for the database files and database log files assures that the database writing is optimized.
1. Connect to the SQL server or to a computer with SQL Management Studio installed.
2. Open the Start menu, expand the Microsoft SQL Server 2016 folder and click SQL Management
Studio.
3. Type in the SQL server's FQDN or IP address into the Server name field.
4. Choose Windows Authentication if your account has sysadmin permissions on the SQL server.
Otherwise, choose SQL Server Authentication and log in with a sysadmin-level account.
5. Click OK to connect.
6. Expand Databases.
7. Right-click the ObserveIT database and
select Properties.
8. Click Files from Select a Page menu.
9. Change the Initial Size (MB) value for the ObserveIT_Data logical name to 102400MB.
Change the Initial Size (MB) value for the ObserveIT_Log logical name to 51200MB.
10. Click OK.
1. Connect to the machine containing the ObserveIT database or the machine at which SQL Management
Studio is installed.
2. Download the following file: http://files.observeit.com/support/OIT-DB-Maintenance.zip
3. Open the Start menu and type in EXPLORER. Press the Enter key.
4. Navigate to the folder you have downloaded the file in step 2 to.
5. Right-click the OIT-DB-Maintenance.zip file and click Extract All.
6. In the new window, check the Show extracted files when complete checkbox and click Extract.
A new File Explorer window will open.
7. Double-click the dbmaintprepare.sql file.
8. If prompted How do you want to open this file? choose SQL Management Studio or SSMS.
Click OK.
9. At the SQL Management Studio, specify the Server name, authentication type and Login and Password
to the ObserveIT SQL instance (if connecting via SQL Server Authentication). Click Connect.
10. Click inside the query window.
11. Click the button. If successfully
completed, a confirmation message will appear in
the Messages pane.
12. Return to the previous File Explorer window.
13. Double-click the OIT-DB-Maint-Create-Jobs.sql file.
14. Click inside the query window.
15. Click the button. If successfully completed, a
confirmation message will appear under the Messages pane.
Ignore any warnings received.
16. Close the SQL Management Studio.
17. Open the Start menu and type in RUN. Press the Enter key.
18. Type in SERVICES.MSC. Press the Enter key.
19. Locate the SQL Server Agent service.
20. Right-click the service and click Properties.
21. Change the value for Startup Type field to Automatic (Delayed Start).
22. Click the Start button.
23. Click OK.
24. Close the window.
If you have multiple Application Servers and/or a separate Web Console machine, you need to repeat this process
for each machine.
Note: If you plan on using unencrypted HTTP for the Web Console traffic – skip to the next section.
Note: In most instances, the Web Console is deployed on the only ObserveIT Application Server in a
smaller deployment or one of the ObserveIT Application Servers in case of a larger deployment. It is also
possible to deploy the ObserveIT Web Console on a separate server.
It is strongly recommended a certificate to be issued by a Certificate Authority, either 3rd-party (such as Verisign,
Thawte, GoDaddy, Rapid SSL, or other), or from an internal Enterprise Certificate Authority. Windows Server
operating systems have a built-in CA role that you can install and use.
When it is not possible to acquire a Certificate Authority certificate, a self-signed certificate may be used.
Note: Please consult with your organization’s security team to learn what type of digital certificate best
fits your environment. In this guide, we assume an Enterprise Certificate Authority certificate is used.
Option 1: Creating an internal Enterprise Certificate Authority certificate for the Web Console
To obtain a certificate from a local Enterprise Certificate Authority follow these steps:
If you have multiple Application Servers and/or a separate Web Console machine, you need to repeat this process
for each machine.
For example:
button.
17. Navigate to the following path: C:\Program Files\ObserveIT\Web. Click the Web folder. Click OK.
18. Click the Select button next to the Application Pool field.
Note: If you cannot find the “ObserveITApplication” application pool please go back to the
previous topic and make sure you properly created the application pool before creating the
website.
19. Under Binding, at the Port field, change the port value from 80 to 4884.
Click OK to save the changes and create the new website.
If you have multiple Application Servers, you need to repeat this process for each machine.
The result would be to have an identical website using the same name and application pool on the 2 machines
that will act as the Application Servers.
Note: Do not attempt to install ObserveIT server-side components over the network. Always use a local
copy of the installation files.
1. Connect to the computer where you downloaded and extracted the ObserveIT installer using the
ObserveIT Service Account credentials.
Note: If unable to log in as the ObserveIT Service Account interactively, see Running elevated
Windows PowerShell prompt as a different user.
When deploying more than one Application Server, you need to load
balance the Agent connections with the multiple Application Servers. You
may use software-based load balancing solutions, such as Microsoft
Network Load Balancing (NLB), or hardware-based solutions, such as F5,
Citrix NetScaler, or others. Configuring steps for these solutions is a task
that is beyond the scope of this document.
The steps required to install additional Application Server(s) and verify its
successful installation are identical to the steps required for installing and
verifying the first Application Server.
Note: In most cases, the Web Console is installed on the same machine as the Application Server (the first
one, in case of multiple Application Servers). However, it’s also possible that a separate dedicated
machine will be used for this role.
1. Connect to the computer where you downloaded and extracted the ObserveIT installer using the
ObserveIT Service Account credentials.
1. Connect to the Web Console machine, where you downloaded and extracted the ObserveIT installer using
the ObserveIT Service Account credentials.
2. Open the Start menu and type in COMMAND PROMPT.
3. Right-click the Command Prompt shortcut found and choose Run as administrator.
4. If prompted Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device? click Yes.
5. Navigate to the folder with the extracted ObserveIT installer. Navigate to the Web folder.
For example:
cd "c:\Users\OITServiceAccount\Desktop\ObserveIT_Setup_vx.x.x.xx\ScreenshotsStorageOptimizer"
6. Type in SCREENSHOTSSTORAGEOPTIMIZER.MSI and press Enter.
To trigger alerts on Internet browsing, the Website Categorization module must be installed. Note that the Website
Categorization module can be installed on the same machine as the Web Console or on a separate dedicated
machine (recommended).
1. Connect to the computer where you downloaded and extracted the ObserveIT installer using the
ObserveIT Service Account credentials.
• "ObserveITNotificationService"
• "ObserveIT Health Monitoring Service"
• “ObserveIT Analytics Service”
• “Screenshots Storage Optimizer”
• “GCF1Service”
• “WebsiteCat.Manager”
Use the following steps to verify the ObserveIT Activity Alerts Service identity:
When installing the product with a trial license, your trial license will be provided for you. However, full installations
of ObserveIT require a license file that is tied to your current ObserveIT infrastructure.
To receive your non-trial license key, please perform the following steps:
1. Contact your Account Manager at ObserveIT to receive your ObserveIT serial number.
2. When you have the serial number, paste it into the Web Console's Serial Number field and click
Generate Registration Key. A new window will open.
3. Right-click inside the text box in the new window and click Select all.
4. Right-click the selected text and click Copy.
5. Click the Start menu and type in NOTEPAD. Press Enter.
6. Right-click inside the Notepad and click Paste.
7. Click the File menu and click Save.
8. Navigate to your desktop.
9. At the File name field enter ObserveIT License Request and click Save.
10. Create a new email, attach the file from step 9 to it, and send the email to [email protected].
1. Open your preferred web browser, click the address bar and type in the URL address of your ObserveIT
Web Console in the following format:
https://<WebConsoleServerAddressFQDN>/ObserveIT
For example:
https://oitsrv1.oit-demo.local/ObserveIT
2. Log into the ObserveIT Web Console.
3. At the License File section of the screen, click the Browse button.
4. Navigate to the folder you have saved your ObserveIT license file to.
5. Locate the license file, click it, and click the Open button.
6. Click the Activate button. Your ObserveIT installation is now activated.
Note: The Web Console is responsible for sending emails from ObserveIT . Please allow the Web Console
to send email via your email server.
1. Open your preferred web browser, click the address bar and type in the URL address of your ObserveIT
Web Console in the following format:
https://<WebConsoleServerAddressFQDN>/ObserveIT
For example:
https://oitsrv1.oit-demo.local/ObserveIT
2. Log into the ObserveIT Web Console.
3. Click Management Console at the top of the screen, click Configuration, and click SMTP Settings.
4. At the SMTP Server field enter the FQDN of your email server. Adjust he Port field value if necessary.
5. At the Mail From field enter the email address which will identify the sender of ObserveIT notifications.
6. Optional: At the User Name and Password fields enter credentials for the account authorized to send
emails using the specified email server.
7. Click the Update button to save the details.
8. To verify ObserveIT can successfully send emails, enter a working email address at the Email Address
field and click Send.
9. If the verification is successful, a Successfully Verified message will appear and you should receive an email
from an email address specified in the Mail From field.
1. Open your preferred web browser, click the address bar and type in the URL address of your ObserveIT
Web Console in the following format:
https://<WebConsoleServerAddressFQDN>/ObserveIT
For example:
https://oitsrv1.oit-demo.local/ObserveIT
2. Log into the ObserveIT Web Console.
3. Click Management Console at the top of the screen, click Configuration, and click Storage.
4. Click the Screen Capture Data tab.
5. Click Change storage mode.
6. When prompted, click Yes.
7. Choose On fast SSD-based hard
drive (Hot Storage) for live
sessions, and then signed
sessions on standard hard
drive (Warm Storage).
8. Specify the Hot Storage path, the Warm Storage path, and the Archive path.
9. Click Test Access for each path to verify ObserveIT can successfully access each path.
Note: If you followed the custom installation guide, the ObserveIT Web Console should alread y be using
HTTPS.
Note: This guide assumes you are only using one Application Server. If you plan to deploy more than one
Application Server, you must use a network load balancing product. This can be a software -based load
balancing solution such as Microsoft Network Load Balancing (NLB), or hardware-based solutions such as
F5, Citrix NetScaler, or others. In that case, the digital certificate used for this traffic must be identical for
all Application Servers, which can be achieved by creating it on the first Application Server, exporting i t
(including the private key), and importing it to the other Application Servers.
Required steps to enable traffic encryption between the ObserveIT Agents and the Application Server:
Note: When enabling HTTPS encryption on an existing ObserveIT installation, with existing ObserveIT
Agents, remember that removing an existing, non-encrypted binding, will cause existing ObserveIT Agents
to cease communications with the ObserveIT Application Server. It is recommended to leave as -is the
previous, non-encrypted binding at this point.
To make changes to the ObserveIT Database for enabling HTTPS on the Agents:
1. Connect to the SQL server or to a computer with SQL Management Studio installed.
2. Open the Start menu, expand the Microsoft SQL Server 2016 folder and click SQL Management
Studio.
3. Type in the SQL server's FQDN or IP address into the Server name field.
4. Choose Windows Authentication if your account has sysadmin permissions on the SQL server.
Otherwise, choose SQL Server Authentication and log in with a sysadmin-level account.
5. Click OK to connect.
6. Click the File menu, click New and Query with Current Connection.
7. To Check the current connection URL, paste the following code into the query window:
Use ObserveIT
select * from dbo.ServerConfiguration
WHERE PropertyId = 4
Note: These steps apply to ObserveIT Agents that are deployed on Unix/Linux-based operating systems:
Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, RHEL/CentOS, Oracle Linux, SLES (SuSE Linux Enterprise Server), and Ubuntu.
For detailed instructions on how to perform the above steps, please refer to the product documentation.
The following overview outlines steps required to secure communications to and from the SQL server:
Note: As previously, this guide assumes you are employing an Enterprise Certificate Authority certificates.
1. Use a previous guide in this document to obtain a certificate from an Enterprise Certificate Authority.
Note: to configure ObserveIT Image Security your certificate must support the Encrypting File
System Enhanced Key Usage.
Note: The certificate obtained in this step must not be removed from the ObserveIT machine even
after expiration. If the certificate is removed, ObserveIT will no longer be able to decrypt the
stored images.
2. Open your preferred web browser, click the address bar and type in the URL address of your ObserveIT
Web Console in the following format:
https://<WebConsoleServerAddressFQDN>/ObserveIT
For example:
https://oitsrv1.oit-demo.local/ObserveIT
3. Log into the ObserveIT Web Console.
4. Click Management Console at the top of the page, click Configuration, and click Security &
Privacy.
5. Click Off at the Image Security tab. New window will appear.
6. Check the Enable Image Security checkbox.
7. Select the appropriate certificate.
8. Click Update.
Note: for detailed system requirements for the ObserveIT Agent software, please consult the product
documentation.
Note: for detailed procedure on configuring the DNS auto-configuration, please consult the product
documentation.
The following steps describe how to install an ObserveIT Agent on a Microsoft Windows-based machine:
1. Connect to the computer where you downloaded and extracted the ObserveIT installer using the
ObserveIT Service Account credentials.
2. Click the Start menu and type in RUN.
3. Type in CMD. Right-click the Command Prompt shortcut and click Run as administrator.
4. If prompted Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device? click Yes.
5. Navigate to the folder with the extracted ObserveIT installer. Navigate to the Web folder.
For example:
cd c:\Users\OITServiceAccount\Desktop\ObserveIT_Setup_vx.x.x.xx\WinAgent64bit
Note: This guide will install ObserveIT Agent on a CentOS 7 Operating System as an example. However,
ObserveIT Agent supports all major Unix/Linux distributions. for detailed system requirements for the
ObserveIT Agent software, please consult the product documentation.
1. Connect to the computer where you downloaded and extracted the ObserveIT installer.
2. Navigate to the folder with the extracted ObserveIT installer. Navigate to the Unix-Linux Agent folder.
3. Upload the Agent installer package for the correct Unix/Linux distribution to the Unix/Linux machine. In
this example, the folder is /tmp and the package name is observeit-agent-RHEL7-x.x.x.xx.run.
4. Run the installer command in the following format:
sudo sh observeit-agent-RHEL7-x.x.x.xx.run -- -i -s
<Protocol>://<ObserveITApplicationServerFQDN>:<Port>/ObserveITApplicationServer -z
For example, for HTTP:
sudo sh observeit-agent-RHEL7-x.x.x.xx.run -- -i -s http://oitsrv1.oit-demo.local:4884/
ObserveITApplicationServer -z
For example, for HTTPS:
sudo sh observeit-agent-RHEL7-x.x.x.xx.run -- -i -s https://oitsrv1.oit-demo.local:10443/
ObserveITApplicationServer -z
5. You should receive output like this:
Verifying archive integrity... Done.
Uncompressing ....
The oit package was not previously installed; performing clean install
ssh stop/waiting
6. Run the following command to check for the successful registration and communication with the
ObserveIT Application Server: SUDO /OPT/OBSERVEIT/AGENT/BIN/OITCHECK
This output indicates the installation ObserveIT Agent for Unix/Linux was completed successfully.
The following steps provide an example of how to verify user activity recording and replaying. For detailed use
cases, please refer to the product user guide.
1. Open the Start menu and type in POWERSHELL. Press the Enter key on your keyboard.
2. In the new PowerShell window, type in the following command, replacing Domain\Account with the
NETBIOS name of your Active Directory domain and the account name for the ObserveIT Service Account:
Start-Process powershell.exe -Credential "DOMAIN\account" -NoNewWindow -ArgumentList "Start-
Process powershell.exe -Verb runAs"
3. Press the Enter key on your keyboard.
4. In the Windows Security window enter the credentials of the ObserveIT Service Account.
5. Click OK.
6. If prompted Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device? click Yes.
7. A new elevated PowerShell window will start running as the ObserveIT Service Account.
Configuring Simple Recovery Model for the ObserveIT databases on the SQL Server
A recovery model is a database property that controls how transactions are logged, whether the transaction log
requires (and allows) backing up, and what kinds of restore operations are available. It automatically reclaims log
space to keep space requirements small, essentially eliminating the need to manage the transaction log space.
Note: If you need to use a point in time recovery option – use Full recovery model instead, which is the
default configuration option. No changes need to be made. For more information, see Full Database
Backups (SQL Server) MSDN article: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-AU/library/ms186289.aspx.
1. Connect to the SQL server or to a computer with SQL Management Studio installed.
2. Open the Start menu, expand the Microsoft SQL Server 2016 folder and click SQL Management
Studio.
3. Type in the SQL server's FQDN or IP address into the Server name field.
4. Choose Windows Authentication if your account has sysadmin permissions on the SQL server.
Otherwise, choose SQL Server Authentication and log in with a sysadmin-level account.
5. Click OK to connect.
6. Expand Databases.
7. Right-click the ObserveIT
database and select
Properties.
8. Click Options from Select a
Page menu.
9. Under Recovery model select
Simple.
10. Click OK.
11. Repeat steps 7-10 for the remaining 4 ObserveIT databases – 5 total.
1. Connect to the SQL server or to a computer with SQL Management Studio installed.
2. Open the Start menu, expand the Microsoft SQL Server 2016 folder and click SQL Management
Studio.
3. Type in the SQL server's FQDN or IP address into the Server name field.
4. Choose Windows Authentication if your account has sysadmin permissions on the SQL server.
Otherwise, choose SQL Server Authentication and log in with a sysadmin-level account.
5. Click OK to connect.
6. Click the File menu, click New and Query with Current Connection.
7. Paste the following code into the New query window:
USE master ;
ALTER DATABASE ObserveIT SET RECOVERY SIMPLE ;
ALTER DATABASE ObserveIT_Analytics SET RECOVERY SIMPLE ;
ALTER DATABASE ObserveIT_Archive_1 SET RECOVERY SIMPLE ;
ALTER DATABASE ObserveIT_Archive_Template SET RECOVERY SIMPLE ;
ALTER DATABASE ObserveIT_Data SET RECOVERY SIMPLE ;