On Windows, the Secure Agent runs as a Windows service. When you install the Secure Agent, you also install the Informatica Cloud Secure Agent Manager.
By default, the Secure Agent starts when you start Windows. You can stop and restart the Secure Agent using the Secure Agent Manager or Windows Services. If you install the Secure Agent on a different volume than you use to run the installation program, you must start and stop the Secure Agent from Windows Services.
You can also use the Secure Agent Manager to check the Secure Agent status and configure proxy information. The Secure Agent works with BASIC, DIGEST, and NTLMv2 proxy authentication.
You can launch the Secure Agent Manager from the Start menu or desktop icon. When you close the Secure Agent Manager, it minimizes to the Windows taskbar notification area for quick access.
When you install a Secure Agent, you perform the following tasks:
1Verify that the machine meets the minimum requirements.
2Download the Secure Agent installer files.
3Install and register the Secure Agent.
Secure Agent requirements on Windows
You can install the Secure Agent on any machine that has internet connectivity and can access Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services.
Verify the following requirements before you install the Secure Agent on Windows:
•The Secure Agent machine has the following attributes at a minimum:
- x86 64-bit architecture
- 4 CPU cores
- 16 GB RAM
- 5 GB free disk space
•The Secure Agent machine is on a volume with at least 250GB disk space, with at least 5 GB free space or three times the size of the Secure Agent installation, whichever is greater.
•The account you use to install the Secure Agent has access to all remote directories that contain flat source or target files.
•No other Secure Agent is installed on the machine. If another Secure Agent is installed on the machine, uninstall it first.
A Secure Agent requires certain permissions to transfer data between sources and targets.
When you install a Secure Agent on Windows, the Secure Agent must be part of the local Administrators group.
Configuring Windows settings
Before you use the Secure Agent on Windows, configure proxy settings and a Windows Secure Agent service login.
You can configure proxy settings in Secure Agent Manager. Configure a login for the Windows Secure Agent service on Windows.
Note: If you use the Secure Agent for Informatica Cloud Data Wizard, you do not need to configure proxy settings or a Windows service login for the Secure Agent.
Downloading and installing the Secure Agent on Windows
To install the Secure Agent on a Windows machine, you must download and run the Secure Agent installation program and then register the agent.
Secure Agent registration requires an install token. To get the install token, copy the token when you download the agent or use the Generate Install Token option in Administrator. The token expires after 24 hours.
Before you download and install the Secure Agent, verify that no other Secure Agent is installed on the machine. If any other Secure Agent exists, you must uninstall it.
Tip: To verify the checksum of the Secure Agent installation program, use the agent REST API version 2 resource. For more information about the agent resource, see REST API Reference.
1Open Administrator and select Runtime Environments.
2On the Runtime Environments page, click Download Secure Agent.
3Select the Windows 64-bit operating system platform, copy the install token, and then click Download.
The installation program is downloaded to your machine. The name of the installation program is agent64_install_ng_ext.<agent core version>.exe.
4Run the installation program as an Administrator:
aSpecify the Secure Agent installation directory, and click Next.
Note: Ensure that the file path doesn't contain multibyte characters. If the path contains multibyte characters, the Secure Agent might not start.
bClick Install to install the agent.
The Cloud Secure Agent dialog box opens and prompts you to register the agent as shown in the following image:
5If you did not copy the install token when you downloaded the agent, click Generate Install Token on the Runtime Environments page in Administrator, and copy the token.
6In the Secure Agent Manager, enter the following information, and then click Register:
Option
Description
User Name
User name that you use to access Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services.
Install Token
Token that you copied.
The Secure Agent Manager displays the status of the Secure Agent. It takes a minute for all of the services to start.
7If your organization uses an outgoing proxy server to connect to the internet, enter the proxy server information.
8Close the Secure Agent Manager.
The Secure Agent Manager minimizes to the taskbar and continues to run as a service until stopped.
Configuring the firewall
If your organization uses a protective firewall, include the Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services and Operational Insights domain name or IP address ranges for your region in the list of approved domain names or IP addresses. You must also configure Secure Agents used by the domains Operational Insights monitors to use the approved IP address ranges.
You should also enable the port that the Secure Agent uses. The Secure Agent uses port 443 (HTTPS) to connect to the internet. Configure your firewall to allow traffic to pass over port 443.
You must add the domain name or IP address ranges required by both Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services and Operational Insights to your list of approved domain names or IP addresses.
The allowlists of domains and IP addresses can vary according to your data center, which is also called a POD (Point of Deployment). You can identify your POD through the URL that appears when you open any service in Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services. The first few characters of the URL string identify the POD. For example, if the URL starts with usw3.dm-us.informaticacloud.com, your POD is USW3.
You can find the domains and IP addresses to allowlist for Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services in the following KB article on Informatica Network:
To configure a Secure Agent to use the approved IP address ranges, complete the steps below:
1 Add either the domain names or the IP address ranges for your region to your list of approved addresses.
2Log in to Operational Insights.
3Select a domain, and then click the Details tab.
4Locate the name of the Secure Agent the domain uses in the Secure Agent Group property.
5Click Secure Agents in the left hand navigation bar.
6Select a Secure Agent, then click Manage.
The Details page for the Secure Agent opens in the Administrator application.
7Click Edit.
8Click the + symbol next to a property in the Custom Configuration section of the page to add a new custom property.
9Select OpsInsights Data Collector from the Service menu, and then select OpsInsights from the Type menu.
10Enter useStaticIP in the Name field, and then enter true in the Value field.
11Click Save.
Updating proxy settings through the Secure Agent Manager
To update proxy hosts, proxy ports, and the username and password used to connect to the proxy server, edit the proxy settings through the Secure Agent Manager.
1In the Secure Agent Manager, click Proxy.
2To enter proxy server settings, click Use a Proxy Server.
3Enter the following information:
Field
Description
Proxy Host
Required. Host name of the outgoing proxy server that the Secure Agent uses.
Proxy Port
Required. Port number of the outgoing proxy server.
User Name
User name to connect to the outgoing proxy server.
Password
Password to connect to the outgoing proxy server.
4Click OK.
The Secure Agent Manager restarts the Secure Agent to apply the settings.
Configuring a login for a Windows Secure Agent service
On Windows, configure a network login for the Secure Agent service. The Secure Agent can access the network with the privileges and permissions associated with the login.
Configure a login for the Secure Agent machine to allow the Secure Agent to access directories to configure and run tasks. When you configure connections, configure tasks, and run tasks that use flat file or FTP/SFTP connection types, the Secure Agent might require read and write permissions on the related directories.
For example, to browse to a directory to configure a flat file or FTP/SFTP connection, the Secure Agent login might require permission to access the directory. Without a Secure Agent login with the appropriate permissions, Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services cannot display the directory in the Browse for Directory dialog box.
1Go to the Services window from the Windows Administrative tools.
2In the Services window, right-click the Informatica Cloud Secure Agent service and choose Properties.
3In the Properties dialog box, click the Log On tab.
4To configure a login, select This Account.
5Enter an account and password.
Use an account with the required privileges and permissions for the network security defined for the domain. By default, the account format is <domain name>\<user name>.
6Click OK.
7In the Services window, restart the Secure Agent service for the changes to take effect.
Uninstalling the Secure Agent in Windows
You can uninstall the Secure Agent. You might uninstall the Secure Agent if you no longer want to run the Secure Agent on the machine or if you want to reinstall the Secure Agent.
Before you uninstall the Secure Agent, verify that no connection or task is configured to use it.
4Delete any remaining files in the installation directory.
After you uninstall the Secure Agent, delete all files and directories associated with the Secure Agent installation.
Note: Uninstalling the Secure Agent does not delete log files from the Secure Agent directory. If you want to reinstall a Secure Agent on the machine, you must delete all files and directories associated with the Secure Agent installation or reinstallation will fail. If you want to save the log files, copy them to a different directory, and then delete the Secure Agent installation directory.
