Runtime Environments > Secure Agent groups > Customer Managed Secure Agent groups

Customer Managed Secure Agent groups

A Customer Managed Secure Agent group is a runtime environment where Secure Agents run after deployment, with no dependency on a connection to IDMC.

Customer Managed Secure Agent groups allow you to determine which changes to send to the Secure Agents within the group and when, as no updates push to the Secure Agents without you performing a synchronization. Configure a customer-managed Secure Agent group when you expect sporadic or unreliable internet connectivity or when you need to run jobs or tasks in an air-gapped environment.

For example, a data engineer at a retail bank in an emerging market can create a schedule for data integration jobs that run in an environment without constant internet connectivity. An operator on a maritime vessel can run scheduled jobs during high-latency or intermittent connectivity windows.

Secure Agents in a Customer Managed environment run jobs using definitions that were active when the job started. When the job completes, the Secure Agents synchronize the job execution results and agent logs with IDMC, if a connection is available. If not, this synchronization defers until connectivity returns.

The Customer Managed operation isn't available in standard Secure Agent groups and elastic runtime environments.

Note:

A Customer Managed Secure Agent group should have internet connectivity at least once a month, to avoid billing issues and to install any Secure Agent updates. If connectivity is not available, the Secure Agents continue to function with previous data until connectivity is restored.

Differences between Customer Managed and standard Secure Agent groups

Customer Managed and standard Secure Agent groups are similar, with a few key differences.

Note the following key differences between the two types of Secure Agent groups:

•Unlike Standard Secure Agent groups, Customer Managed Secure Agent groups don't support all services, transformations, and task types For more information, see Supported functionality in Customer Managed runtime environments.
•You need to provide a PostgreSQL database for Customer Managed Secure Agent groups to store metadata. In standard Secure Agent groups, the metadata is stored within IDMC.
•In standard Secure Agent groups, the flow of information occurs seamlessly between the agents and IDMC. In a Customer Managed environment, you need to synchronize all changes manually. For more information, see Synchronize the runtime environment.
•In standard Secure Agent groups, the Secure Agents automatically upgrade when a new version is available. In a Customer Managed environment, you manually check for and install the upgrades. You are alerted to available upgrades when you attempt to synchronize. For more information, see Working with Customer Managed Secure Agent groups.
•You can’t use the IDMC UI to start, restart, or pause jobs on Secure Agents attached to a Customer Managed Secure Agent group. To perform these tasks, use the REST API for Customer Managed runtime environments. For more information, see REST API.

Supported functionality in Customer Managed runtime environments

Customer Managed runtime environments support only a subset of the functionality supported by standard Secure Agent groups.

The following table summarizes the supported services and functionality:

Supported Service	Unsupported functionality
Cloud Application Integration
Cloud Data Ingestion & Replication
Cloud Data Integration	- Advanced Integration - Dynamic tasks - Linear taskflows - Taskflows that span more than one Customer Managed runtime environment - Access Policy transformation - Data Masking transformation - Data Services transformation
Cloud Data Integration for PowerCenter
Cloud Data Quality
Connectors	Connections created with OAuth authentication.
Industry Solutions for Healthcare

All services not listed in the above table are not supported in Customer Managed runtime environments.

Set up a Customer Managed Secure Agent group

You perform a series of setup steps to get your Customer Managed environment ready.

1Contact Informatica Global Customer Support to license the Customer Managed functionality for your organization.
2Create a Customer Managed Secure Agent group. For more information, see Create a Customer Managed runtime environment.
3Configure a PostgreSQL database for your Customer Managed runtime environment. For more information, see Configure a database for a Customer Managed Secure Agent group.
4Install Secure Agents into the Customer Managed runtime environment. For more information, see Install Secure Agents to a Customer Managed Secure Agent group.
5Push tasks, schedules, and dependencies to the Secure Agents using the Synchronize Runtime Environment action. For more information, see Synchronize the runtime environment.
6Create a password to access the API for the local launch of on-demand jobs for a Customer Managed Secure Agent. For more information, see Create a password to access the Customer Managed Secure Agent API.

The Secure Agents are now fully autonomous and ready to operate in a Customer Managed environment.

Create a Customer Managed runtime environment

Create a Customer Managed runtime environment in Administrator.

Note:

You can't convert a Customer Managed runtime environment to a standard Secure Agent group.

1In Administrator, open the Runtime Environments page.

2Select New Runtime Environment.

3On the General page, enter a name for the runtime environment.

4Select Customer Managed Runtime Group as the runtime environment type and optionally add a description.

Note:

If the option isn't visible, verify that the feature is enabled on the Settings page. For more information, see Set up a Customer Managed Secure Agent group.

5Click Next to configure the database.

6Select PostgreSQL as the connection type and then select a connection from the drop-down list.

7Click Next and then enable the services and components for your runtime environment.

8Optionally select any additional services to enable.

Note:

You can also enable services and connectors from the Actions menu after you create the Customer Managed runtime environment.

9Click Create.

The Customer Managed runtime environment appears on the Runtime Environments page.

Configure a database for a Customer Managed Secure Agent group

A Customer Managed Secure Agent group uses a database that you supply to maintain its metadata store.

The database stores job metadata, schedules, execution state, service discovery information.

Use the Database Configuration tab of a Customer Managed runtime environment's details page to enter or modify connection details.

Connection Details

The following table describes the connection details:

Property	Description
Connection Name	Name of the database connection.
Database Type	PostgreSQL
Host	Domain of the database host, for example, "db-prod.example.com".
Port	Port number for the database host.
Database Name	Name of the database.

Authentication

The following table describes the authentication properties:

Property	Description
Authentication Type	Username/Password
Username	User name
Password	Password

After you enter the connection details, click Test Connection to verify that the connection is successful.

To test a connection, you need at least one Secure Agent in the Customer Managed Secure Agent group.

Install Secure Agents to a Customer Managed Secure Agent group

You can install a Secure Agent to a Customer Managed Secure Agent group in your chosen environment. The procedure is virtually identical to installing to a standard Secure Agent group.

For complete installation instructions, see Secure Agent installation.

The following image shows the Download Secure Agent dialog box, where the differences occur:

The Download Secure Agent dialog box has drop-down menus that allow you to select the environment type and the Secure Agent group.

Perform the following steps:

1Select Customer Managed Secure Agent as the environment type.
2Select a Customer Managed Secure Agent group as the runtime environment.
3Click Copy to copy the install token.

You will need this token to install the Secure Agent. The token expires after 24 hours. If the token expires before you install the Secure Agent, repeat steps 1 to 3 to obtain a new token. You don't need to download the installer again.

4Specify your platform.
5Click Download and save the installer.
6Install the Secure Agent for your platform:

- On Windows, run the installer file and follow the installation wizard.
- On Linux, run the following shell command in the directory where you saved the installation file:

./agent64_install_ng_ext.bin -i console

When the installer completes, navigate to the following directory:

<Secure Agent installation directory>/apps/agentcore

Start the Secure Agent using the following command:

./infaagent.sh startup

Registering the Secure Agent on Windows

When the installation is complete, you are prompted to register the Secure Agent. The following image shows the registration dialog box:

The Secure Agent registration dialog box prompts you to enter the user name and install token.

1Enter the user name that you use to access IDMC.
2Paste the install token that you copied earlier.
3Click Register.

Registering the Secure Agent on Linux

Perform the following steps:

1Navigate to the following directory:

<Secure Agent installation directory>/apps/agentcore

2Run the following command:

./consoleAgentManager.sh configureWithEmbeddedToken <token>

Where "<token>" is the install token that you copied earlier.

Monitor synchronizations for a Customer Managed Secure Agent group

The Monitor tab on a Customer Managed Secure Agent Group's details page shows the status and history of runtime synchronizations. Knowing the status allows you to take corrective actions as necessary.

Customer Managed runtime environments require that you manually synchronize all changes to the Secure Agents. The Monitor tab on the details page of a Customer Managed Secure Agent group displays the status and history of these synchronizations.

Runtime synchronizations

A runtime synchronization represents a deployment of task metadata and assets that IDMC pushes to the Secure Agents running in the Customer Managed environment. The Monitor tab lists all the runtime synchronizations for the offline runtime environment.

Runtime Syncs table

The runtime synchronizations table on the Monitor tab displays the following information for each synchronization:

•A sync ID that you can select to view more details about the synchronization.
•The start and end times of the runtime synchronization, based on your user profile time zone.
•The status of the runtime synchronization.

The following table describes each status:

Status	Description
Activated	Synchronization is complete.
In Progress	Auto synchronization is in progress.
Completed Successfully	Auto synchronization was successful. Moves automatically to Activated.
Completed with Errors	Auto synchronization encountered errors and requires a user response. If the user chooses to continue synchronization despite errors, the status moves to Activated.
Cancelled	User cancelled the synchronization after errors are found.

Synchronization errors

If a synchronization status shows Completed with Errors, click Pending Review in the job's review pane on the Monitor tab to view the details of the errors. The following image shows the review pane for a job named "Runtime Sync 11111:"

The review pane includes a Status area that shows that Runtime Sync 11111 completed with errors.

Review the failures and choose one of the following actions:

•To continue with the synchronization despite the errors, click Activate Sync. The "Success" assets will receive the latest versions pushed down through this synchronization. Failed assets continue to use the last successful synchronized version. After synchronization, the status moves to "Activated."
•To cancel the synchronization so that you can address the failures, click Cancel Sync. You can restart the synchronization later through the Synchronize the runtime environment action. For more information, see Synchronize the runtime environment.

Create a password to access the Customer Managed Secure Agent API

The Secure Agent API allows you to perform tasks without using the IDMC user interface. Create a separate password to allow Customer Managed Secure Agents to authenticate API calls. The password doesn't grant access to the IDMC user interface.

1In Administrator, select Settings.

2Under Customer Managed Secure Agent, create a password.

Grant access to Customer Managed Secure Agent API

To allow a user to access the Customer Managed Secure Agent API, assign a role with the appropriate feature enabled.

1In Administrator, select User Roles.

2Click Add Role and enter a role name.

3Select the Features tab and enable Offline Secure Agent API Access.

4Click Save.

5In Administrator, select Users.

6Select the user who needs the API access.

7In the Roles tab, select the role that you just created.

8Synchronize the runtime environment to send the updated user role to the Customer Managed Secure Agents. For more information, see Working with Customer Managed Secure Agent groups.

Working with Customer Managed Secure Agent groups

After you create a Customer Managed Secure Agent group, you can edit, synchronize, and delete it. You can also view dependencies, change permissions, and check for upgrades.

You can perform the following tasks from the Actions menu:

Change the name or description of the environment: To change the name or description of your Customer Managed runtime environment, select Edit Environment Properties.
Enable or disable services and connectors: You can enable a service to allow the Customer Managed runtime environment to run product features associated with the service. You can enable specific connectors to allow the environment to communicate with cloud and on-premises applications, platforms, databases, and flat files.; To enable services and connectors, select Enable or Disable Services, Connectors.
Manage configuration: To change the configuration on the Database Configuration tab, select Manage configuration.
Synchronize the runtime environment: To push changes to Secure Agents in a Customer Managed runtime environment, select Sync Runtime Environment.; For more information, see Synchronize the runtime environment.
Check and install upgrades: Check whether upgrades are available for the Secure Agents in the Customer Managed runtime environment and then install the upgrades.; Install any upgrades as soon as possible, as you can't synchronize your Customer Managed runtime environment with outdated Secure Agents.; To check for upgrades, select Check and install upgrades.
Delete the runtime environment: You can delete a Customer Managed runtime environment if it is no longer being used.; To delete a Customer Managed runtime environment, select Delete.
View dependencies: View dependencies to find the tasks or connections that use the Customer Managed runtime environment or to find the objects that are used by the Customer Managed runtime environment.; To view dependencies, select Show Dependencies.
Change permissions: To change permissions for a Customer Managed runtime environment, select Permissions. You can define permissions for a Customer Managed runtime environment for each user group in your organization.; The following table describes the permissions that you can set:

Permission	Description
Read	View details about the Customer Managed runtime environment and use the Customer Managed runtime environment in a task.
Update	Edit the Customer Managed runtime environment.
Delete	Delete the Customer Managed runtime environment.
Execute	Run tasks in the Customer Managed runtime environment.
Change Permissions	Change permissions for the Customer Managed runtime environment.

Synchronize the runtime environment

When you use the Sync Runtime Environment action of a Customer Managed runtime environment, you manually push changes to tasks, assets, or configurations to the Secure Agents in the environment. Unlike standard runtime environments, these changes don't transmit automatically.

It's important to understand the two types of synchronizations in a Customer Managed runtime environment:

•Automatic synchronization. Secure Agents in a Customer Managed runtime environment automatically return results of jobs back to IDMC when a connection is available. This operation runs in the background, with no user interaction.
•Manual synchronization. Any changes within IDMC such as new tasks, mappings, connections, or schedules require you to manually deploy the changes to the Secure Agents. You do this using the Sync Runtime Environment option in the Actions menu of a Customer Managed runtime environment.

The following image shows a confirmation dialog listing a set of assets that will be synchronized:

The dialog box showing the assets to be synchronized to the runtime environment. You can choose to initiate the synchronization or cancel.

If everything is in order, click Initiate Sync to begin the synchronization. This may take several minutes to complete and you will be notified when the process is finished.

If you need to make changes, click Cancel, make the corrections and synchronize.

Secure Agent upgrade

If your Secure Agent requires an upgrade, a banner prompts you to upgrade before synchronization is possible.

The following image shows the upgrade banner:

The agent upgrade banner appears if there are Secure Agent upgrades available when you synchronize.

Click Install Upgrade to continue and then click Upgrade in the confirmation dialog to proceed with the upgrade.

Optionally, you can select to upgrade all available Customer Managed Secure Agent groups. If you don't select this option, only the agents in the current Customer Managed Secure Agent group are upgraded.