Installation Guide for Windows

Overview

Nectar Endpoint Client® Agents are high performance software-based active test agents designed for pre-deployment testing, SLA monitoring, and advanced troubleshooting of multimedia service quality and IP network performance.

Nectar Endpoint Client Agents can generate simulated VoIP calls or IPTV/IP Videoconferencing streams and perform a variety of diagnostic tests, including IP network and path testing and application transactions with DHCP, DNS, HTTP, and POP/SMTP servers. Nectar Endpoint Client Agents are small software applications that can run as background tasks on Android® mobile devices and a wide range of Linux®- and Microsoft® Windows®-based devices such as PCs, servers, routers, switches, and customer premises equipment in key locations throughout a service network.

As they exchange traffic, agents at both ends of each test connection analyze the quality of the voice or video/audio stream using integrated performance analysis technology and provide real-time feedback including Mean Opinion Scores (MOS) and detailed performance and diagnostic metrics.

About this Document

This document provides instructions for installing and configuring Nectar Endpoint Client Agents on a Windows-based system for use with the Nectar Endpoint Supervisor Controller. For instructions on installing and configuring Nectar Endpoint Client Agents on a Linux platform, see the Nectar Endpoint Client Agent Installation Guide for Linux.

System Requirements

This chapter provides a list of requirements for the Windows system on which the Nectar Endpoint Client Agent will be installed.

Platform Requirements

Nectar Endpoint Client Agent for Windows is supported for the following Microsoft operating systems:

• Windows 7
• Windows 8/8.1
• Windows 10

Nectar Endpoint Client Agent is available as a 32-bit or a 64-bit application. Note that 64-bit operating systems must use the 64-bit version (the 32-bit installer will not work).

Ports and Protocols

During setup, the Nectar Endpoint Client Agent setup wizard will provide an option to automatically create Windows firewall exceptions for the ports used by the agent and Controller. If you disable this option or are using a third-party firewall, ensure that the following local and remote ports are open in your firewall configuration to allow the agent to function properly.

Local Ports:

Remote Ports:

Installing and Configuring the Agent

This chapter provides instructions for installation and initial configuration of the Nectar Endpoint Client Agent on a Windows system.

Running the Nectar Endpoint Client Agent Setup Wizard

For installation on Windows systems, the Nectar Endpoint Client Agent installation software is provided as an executable file that includes a menu-driven setup wizard to assist in installing the Nectar Endpoint Client Agent and configuring the agent for initial use.

After installation, the setup wizard can be used to edit the agent's configuration settings (see Modifying the Agent Configuration) or uninstall the agent (see Uninstalling the Agent).

To begin the installation of the Nectar Endpoint Client Agent:

1. If you have not done so already, save the Nectar Endpoint Client Agent setup executable to a directory on the host system where the Nectar Endpoint Client Agent will be installed.
2. In Windows Explorer, double-click the file name to launch the Nectar Endpoint Client Agent setup wizard.
3. On the setup wizard welcome screen (see Nectar Endpoint Client Agent Setup Wizard – Welcome Screen on page 9), click Next to continue.
   
   Figure 3-1 Nectar Endpoint Client Agent Setup Wizard – Welcome Screen

    

4.  On the End-User License Agreement screen (see Setup Wizard – License Agreement), after reading the terms of the software license agreement, select I accept the terms in the License Agreement and then click Next to continue. (If you do not accept the terms in the license agreement, click Cancel to exit the installation.)
   
   Figure 3-2 Setup Wizard – License Agreement

   On the Installation Type screen (see Setup Wizard – Installation Type), select Typical Installation the type of installation to perform.
   
   Figure 3-3 Setup Wizard – Installation Type

   Performing a Typical Installation

   
   
   

   
   

If you selected Typical installation on the Installation Type screen follow the steps below to complete the installation of the Nectar Endpoint Client Agent.

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      1. The Agent Identification screen (see Setup Wizard – Typical Installation – Agent Identification) shows the configured name and description for the Nectar Endpoint Client Agent. The Agent Name field indicates the name that will be displayed in the Controller interface when the agent connects to the Controller. The Agent Description field is an optional field that can be used to identify the agent or indicate a location such as a city, location/zip code, office name, floor, network, etc.

Figure 3-4 Setup Wizard – Typical Installation – Agent Identification

By default, the Agent Name is the Windows computer name and the Agent Description field is blank. To accept the default options, click Next. If desired, enter a new name for the agent in the Name field and/or a description in the Agent Description field.

When you have finished configuring the agent name and description, click Next to Continue.

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      1. On the Administrative Domain screen (see Setup Wizard – Typical Installation – Administrative Domain), enter the name and passphrase for the administrative domain to which this Nectar Endpoint Client Agent will be assigned. For security reasons, the Controller and all agents to be used by the Controller must be configured with the same domain name and passphrase. If not, the agent will not be able to connect to the Controller.

Figure 3-5 Setup Wizard – Typical Installation – Administrative Domain

When you have finished configuring the administrative domain credentials, click Next to Continue.

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      1. The Controller Connectivity screen (see Setup Wizard – Typical Installation – Controller Connectivity) provides the option to enter the IP address or hostname and port for the managing the Nectar Endpoint Supervisor Controller.

Figure 3-6 Setup Wizard – Typical Installation – Controller Connectivity

• If the agent will not be running behind a firewall, or if you allow the setup wizard to create firewall exceptions for the agent (this option will be presented on the next screen of the setup wizard), then configuring the Controller address/port information is optional. You can manually add the agent as a test point in the Nectar Endpoint Supervisor Reporter by entering its IP address, provided the Controller is able to establish an outbound connection to the agent.
• If the agent will be running behind a firewall and you do not allow or create the required firewall exceptions, you must configure the Controller address to allow the agent to make an outbound connection to the Controller. If a firewall is enabled on the Controller host, ensure that it is configured to allow connections on the port used to listen for incoming agent connections (default is TCP 40001) or the agent will not be able to connect.

To test the connection, click Test. The Status field will indicate whether the connection attempt to the specified address was successful. If the connection is unsuccessful, confirm that the IP address/hostname and port are correct and that the Controller is up and running.

To add the Controller address, click Add. The address will be displayed in the Controller(s) list box near the bottom of the screen.

To remove the address, click to highlight the address in the Controller(s) list box and click

Remove.

When you have finished configuring Controller connectivity settings, click Next to continue.

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      1. On the Firewall Settings screen (see Setup Wizard – Typical Installation – Firewall Settings), choose whether or not to allow the setup wizard to automatically create exceptions for the agent in the Windows Firewall.

Figure 3-7 Setup Wizard – Typical Installation – Firewall Settings

If Allow Application Firewall Exceptions is checked, the setup wizard will create firewall exceptions for the Nectar Endpoint Client Agent application for the UDP and TCP ports used by the agent. If this option is not selected (or if you are using a third-party firewall), it may be necessary to manually open ports in the firewall to enable the agent to function properly (see Ports and Protocols).

After choosing an option, click Next to continue.

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      1. On the Agent Logging screen (see Setup Wizard – Typical Installation – Agent Logging), select a severity level for event messages to be logged by the agent (default is NOTICE). To disable agent event logging, select NONE.

Event severity levels are, in order from most severe to least severe: CRITICAL, ERROR, WARNING, NOTICE and INFO. Events of higher severity than the selected level will also be logged (for example, if WARNING is selected, ERROR and CRITICAL events will also be logged).

Select DEBUG to log verbose debug-style messages for application events. System events are logged to a rotating set of files stored in

%SYSTEMROOT%\System32\Logfiles\Nectar\EPClient*

Figure 3-8 Setup Wizard – Typical Installation – Agent Logging

After selecting a logging level, click Next to continue.

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      1. On the Ready to Install screen (see Setup Wizard – Typical Installation – Ready to Install), review the installation settings to be configured. If the options are correct, click Install to begin installing the agent. If you need to make any changes, click Back to return to previous screens in the setup wizard and edit the configuration settings as necessary.

Figure 3-9 Setup Wizard – Typical Installation – Ready to Install

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      1. When the Setup Complete screen is displayed (see Setup Wizard – Typical Installation – Setup Complete), click Finish to exit the setup wizard.

Figure 3-10 Setup Wizard – Typical Installation – Setup Complete

Installing an Agent from the Window Command Line ("Silent Install" Mode)

As an alternative to the Setup Wizard user interface, the Nectar Endpoint Client for Windows installer now supports a "silent installer" option that can be used to install and uninstall agents from the Windows command line.

NOTE

The silent installer cannot be used to modify the existing configuration for an installed agent. To modify an agent's configuration, you will need to either run the Setup Wizard (see Modifying the Agent Configuration or uninstall the agent and then perform another silent installation from the command line with the new configuration options.

Command Options

The following table lists the configuration command options supported by the Nectar Endpoint Client Agent silent installer. Some command options are required and others are optional, as indicated below.

Installation and uninstallation command examples are provided in the following sections.

Installing the Agent

To use the silent installer, open a Windows command prompt and change to the directory containing the Nectar Endpoint Client Agent installer executable (NectarEPClientInstaller64.exe or NectarEPClientInstallerew.exe, depending on your system type). The installation command format is as follows:

NectarEPClientInstaller64.exe /s /v"/qn"

The following command example performs a silent install using the automatically determined management domain device:

NectarEPClientInstaller64.exe /s /v"/qn LOCAL_AGENT_MGMT_BND=Any MGMT_DO- MAIN_NAME=nectarservices MGMT DOMAIN PASS=

TRL_LIST_STR=controller.us.nectar.services:40001 DVQ_LOCAL_NICS_COMBO=Any"

NOTE

If any parameters include space characters, make sure to use escaped quotes around the value. For example:

LOCAL_AGENT_DESC=AgentDescription_NoSpaces LOCAL_AGENT_DESC=\"Agent Description with spaces\"

Uninstalling the Agent

To uninstall an agent, open a Windows command prompt and change to the directory that contains the Nectar Endpoint Client Agent installer executable. Remove the agent by entering the following command:

NectarEPClientInstaller64.exe /x /s /v"/qn"

4.

MODIFYING THE AGENT CONFIGURATION

To modify Nectar Endpoint Client Agent configuration settings after the agent is installed:

1. Launch the Nectar Endpoint Client Agent setup wizard by doing one of the following:

In Windows Explorer, locate and double-click the Nectar Endpoint Client Agent installation setup executable.

From the Windows Control Panel:

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  • (Windows 7/8) – Open the Programs and Features menu. In the list of installed programs, locate and select Nectar Endpoint Client 32-bit or Nectar Endpoint Client Agent 64-bit (depending on your OS type) and then click Change.
  • (Windows 10) – Open the Apps & Features menu. the list of installed applications, locate and select Nectar Endpoint Client Agent 32-bit or Nectar Endpoint Client Agent 64-bit (depending on your OS type) and then click Modify.

Figure 4-1

1. On the Welcome to the Nectar Endpoint Client Agent Setup Wizard screen (see Setup Wizard – Welcome Screen (Existing Installation)), click Next.

Figure 4-2 Setup Wizard – Welcome Screen (Existing Installation)

Figure 4-3

1. The setup wizard will display each configuration screen and allow you to make changes to the configuration settings. For a description of each screen, refer to the instructions in Running the Nectar Endpoint Client Agent Setup Wizard.

When you reach the Agent Logging screen, click Install to commit the changes.

1. When the Setup Complete screen is displayed (see Setup Wizard – Modify Installation – Setup Complete), click Finish to exit the setup wizard.

Figure 4-4 Setup Wizard – Modify Installation – Setup Complete

5.

AGENT SERVICE MANAGEMENT

This chapter provides instructions for checking the running status of the agent service and for manually stopping and starting the service.

Before performing any of the following tasks, ensure that you are logged into Windows as an Administrator.

Checking the Agent Status

After installation, the Nectar Endpoint Client Agent service should be running and should restart automatically if Windows is rebooted. To check the status of the agent service:

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    1. In Windows, press the Windows key and the R key ( + R) to bring up a Run prompt.
    2. Type services.msc and press Enter.

Figure 5-1 Windows Run Prompt

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    1. On the Services screen (see example below), locate the Nectar Endpoint Client Agent service. The Status column indicates whether the service is started. If Started is not displayed, the agent service is stopped.

Figure 5-2 Windows Services

6.

UNINSTALLING THE AGENT

NOTE

The Repair and Remove buttons on the Modify, Repair or Remove Installation screen of the setup wizard are disabled. The Nectar Endpoint Client Agent must be uninstalled using the Windows Control Panel.

7.

TROUBLESHOOTING

This chapter provides recommended steps for troubleshooting common agent installation and operation issues.

Diagnosing Unexpected Agent Behavior

Each time the Agent is started, a new Syslog-style log file, nectarepc.log, is generated in either the \Windows\System32\ or \Windows\System32\LogFiles\Nectar directory. This log file may be examined in the event of a problem with the operation of the agent. Up to the last 10 log files are preserved in rotation (named nectarepc.0 through nectarepc.9). You may be asked to provide these log files to Support.

Agent Will Not Connect to the Controller

If the agent has been configured with the address and port number for the Controller but is unable to connect to the Controller, a firewall on the Controller host may be blocking connections on the port used to listen for incoming agent connections (default is TCP 40001). Ensure that the firewall on the Controller host is configured to allow connections on this port.

Revoking a Pool Key before Upgrading or Uninstalling the Agent

If an agent has been licensed using a pool license key, before uninstalling or upgrading the agent software to a new version it is recommended that you revoke the pool key assigned to the agent. Failure to do this may "orphan" the license and prevent it from returning to the license pool where it can be reused.

Problems Running Tests

If the agent was installed and configured successfully but is unable to execute tests, check to make sure that the agent is not being blocked by the firewall. For a list of ports that must be open for the agent to function properly, refer to Ports and Protocols.