Note: This feature is only for Axeda® Connector and Axeda® Gateway Agents.
The Axeda Backup Agent provides a secondary channel to the asset where a primary instance of Axeda Gateway or Axeda Connector Agent is running. This secondary channel is intended for situations where the Primary Agent has been deactivated or has become disabled and a remote service technician needs to access the asset to diagnose and fix the problem. It is expected that the Backup Agent will remain transparent in the Platform until it is needed.
With the Backup Agent, you can run a minimally configured Axeda Connector Agent along with a fully configured instance of either Axeda Connector or Axeda Gateway as services on the same machine. The fully configured Connector or Gateway is the Primary Agent and the minimally configured Connector is the Backup Agent. You can configure the Backup Agent using Axeda® Builder. For details on configuring and running a Backup Agent, refer to the user guides for Axeda Connector and Axeda Gateway.
Both the Primary and Backup Agents communicate with the Axeda® Platform. However, the user interface of the Axeda® Connected Product Management Applications represents the pair as one asset (that is, a second asset is not created in the back end). The Platform acknowledges the existence of the Backup Agent, maintains connectivity to both Agent instances, and allows you to switch control between the Primary and the Backup Agent manually, as long as you have the appropriate privileges for the asset and Backup Agents.
Through the Asset dashboard of the Axeda® Service application, you can select to use the Backup Agent by clicking the Use Backup Agent link (in the Information module, Switch Agent field). Similarly, you can return to using the Primary Agent by clicking the Use Primary Agent link.
Once control is redirected to the Backup Agent, take the following steps:
1. Use a ping rate action to set the ping rate of the Backup Agent to 1 minute. (By default its ping rate is 50 minutes.)
Important! The Backup Agent field shows the last date and time that the Backup Agent contacted the Platform. Since the default ping rate is 50 minutes, it could take up to 50 minutes for this action to be delivered to the Agent. In addition, do NOT expect the Ping Rate field to change. It ALWAYS shows the ping rate of the Primary Agent.
2. Create a Remote Session (for example, a Remote Desktop Session) and diagnose the problem.
3. As
needed, create and deploy a Software Management package to send files
to fix the Primary Agent (for assistance, refer to New
| Package).
Keep in mind the following requirements:
§ For the asset to be available for deploying the package when you are using the Backup Agent, select that the package is for the Backup Agent.
§ Make sure that you use an ABSOLUTE path to the Primary Agent directory where the files are to be downloaded.
§ If you are downloading XML configuration files, the absolute path should point to the Home directory of the Primary Agent.
§ If you are downloading executable files, the absolute path should point to the directory that contains those files (which may be the Home directory, depending on how the Agent files are set up).
§ If you need to download both configuration and executable files, you must create separate packages if the files are stored in different directories.
4. If you shut down the Remote Session, start it again and then restart the service of the Primary Agent. On a Windows machine, for example, go to the Services panel to restart the Primary Agent.
5. Once you see that the Primary Agent is contacting the Axeda® Platform (Last Contact field in the Asset dashboard), create and deploy a package that performs a hard restart of the Backup Agent so that its ping rate goes back to 50 minutes.
6. Once you see that the hard restart has taken effect, switch to the Primary Agent.
Important! To prevent the accidental sending of packages or actions to the wrong Agent, the outgoing message queue for the asset is cleared each time you switch between the Primary and Backup Agents.
On the home page of the Axeda Service application you can search for those assets that are currently in the Backup Agent mode by selecting the check box, Backup Agents Only. When you select to search for Backup Agents Only, the search returns only those assets that have been switched to their Backup Agent. If an asset is configured with a Backup Agent but is currently using its Primary Agent, the asset does NOT appear in the search results. See also Search for assets overview.