Virtualization

The Insight Agent supports virtual distribution using a virtual machine clone or an Amazon Machine Image (AMI). If you are using a golden image that contains installed Insight Agents, ensure the golden image certificates are refreshed within 5 years of initial installation to avoid using expired certificates.

IMPORTANT

Perform these configuration steps very carefully. To avoid potential UUID conflicts, the agent service must not be started after the initial installation. The Insight Agent relies on the UUID of its asset to be recognized by your Insight products as unique.

To properly virtualize the agent:

  1. Install the agent on your system, but do not start the service.
    • For Linux, the sudo ./agent_installer.sh install command will install the agent while also preventing the service from starting automatically.
    • For Windows, the service will always start automatically. In this case, make sure you stop the service before you proceed to the next step. See Agent controls for instructions on how to stop the service.
  2. Remove the bootstrap.cfg file from the agent installation directory. Default installation paths for this file are as follows:
    • Linux - /opt/rapid7/ir_agent/components/bootstrap/common/bootstrap.cfg
    • Windows - C:\program Files\Rapid7\Insight Agent\components\bootstrap\common\bootstrap.cfg
  3. Shut down the host machine.
  4. Perform a cloning/baseline image snapshot operation.

This procedure ensures that all new instances created from this original clone/image will evaluate their own unique UUIDs.