Install the Server Agent via API

To take advantage of our latest features such as ‘Run Command’, ‘Server Update Management Service’ and many more in the future, the STACKIT Server Agent must be installed on your server as a basis. The STACKIT Server Agent serves as an interface between our infrastructure and the operating system and receives and processes scripts sent remotely and executes them locally on your server, enabling you to customize your server settings as needed.

The following documentation describes the way to deploy your server fully configured with the latest STACKIT Server Agent version available by using API.

If you prefer to configure your system and manage the Run Command feature via STACKIT Portal, please refer to this documentation: Install the Server Agent via Portal.

Prerequisites

• You have created a Service Account.
  (See: Create, manage and delete service accounts)

• You have assigned the required project permissions to this service account.
  (See: Assign roles to a user or service account)

• You have created an Access Token for this service account.
  (See: Aquire short lived access tokens)

• Basic knowledge of how to use APIs: How to create a VM via API

• How to create a Windows Server via APIs & CLIs: Create a Windows Server via STACKIT API

Installing the STACKIT Server Agent on a new server via API

The STACKIT Server Agent will be installed via vendor data if the provisionSTACKITserver flag is included in the API request. When deploying a server through the API, ensure this flag is set if you want the agent installed. You can set this flag either

• as label in the IaaS API (For more information also see API Docs (stackit.cloud)) or through Terraform (For more information also see stackit_server | Resources | stackitcloud/stackit | Terraform | Terraform Registry).
• as Metadata in the Openstack API, CLI or Terraform.

Please be aware that the OpenStack API will be deprecated soon, so it is no longer recommended to use it as standard for managing your servers!

This method of providing the STACKIT Server Agent is supported for all latest x86 versions of STACKIT public images (ARM will be supported in the future).

Also keep in mind, that if vendor_data2 (dynamic vendor data) is not supported in your OS anymore (i.e. Debian 11), you can use the user data to install the STACKIT Server Agent by injecting the installation script. For this please refer to the STACKIT Server Agent installation scripts for Linux and Windows in the following documentation: Install the Server Agent via Portal.

Verifying the STACKIT Server Agent installation

After initiating the server deployment, please check the status of your server. Once the server is available and you are able to log in, verify that the STACKIT Server Agent is properly installed by checking the status of the STACKIT Server Agent service STACKITServerAgent.

In Windows use the following PowerShell command:

Get-Service STACKITServerAgent

Alternatively check the status in the Service tab of the task manager:

In Linux use the following command:

systemctl status stackit-server-agent.service

The STACKIT Server Agent is now fully configured and can be used to execute commands.

Installing the STACKIT Server Agent on an existing server

If you already have a running Linux or Windows server, you can install the STACKIT Server Agent manually afterwards by using the following documentation: Install the Server Agent via Portal.