Skip to main content

Installation and Configuration Guide

Overview​

The nOps Agentless Data Collector (ADC) is a lightweight application that gathers comprehensive time-series metrics from your IT environment to power nOps Discovery's migration assessment capabilities. The ADC collects critical performance data including CPU utilization, memory usage, IOPS, network throughput, and process-level information without requiring agents on each target system.

Key Benefits​

  • Secure Data Collection: All telemetry is stored locally in human-readable JSON format before transmission
  • Transparency: IT Security teams can review all collected data before it's sent to nOps
  • Flexible Deployment: Supports both connected and air-gapped environments
  • Low Overhead: Minimal resource requirements on collection server

Prerequisites​

System Requirements​

  • Host System: Windows Server 2016 or newer
  • Deployment Options:
    • Bare-metal Windows Server
    • Windows Server VM in your environment
  • Minimum Specifications:
    • 4 CPU cores
    • 8GB RAM
    • 100GB available disk space
    • Network connectivity to all systems in scope

Network and Security Requirements​

For Linux Target Systems:​

  • Inbound port 22 (SSH) must be open and accessible from the ADC host
  • SSH service must be enabled on all target Linux systems
  • Authentication via either:
    • Username/password combination
    • SSH keypair
  • The user account must have sudo privileges to collect system-level telemetry

For Windows Target Systems:​

  • For WinRM collection:
    • Inbound ports 5985 (HTTP) and 5986 (HTTPS)
    • Outbound ports 5985 and 5986
  • For WMI collection:
    • Inbound ports 135, 445, and dynamic ports (1024-65535)
    • Outbound ports 135, 445, and dynamic ports (1024-65535)
  • The ADC must run with domain administrator privileges or equivalent local administrator access

For Google Cloud Platform Access:​

  • The system must have internet access to connect to Google Cloud APIs
  • Service account credentials with appropriate read permissions

Installation Steps​

1. Prepare the Windows Server Host​

  1. Verify that the Windows Server meets the minimum system requirements
  2. Ensure the server has network connectivity to all target systems
  3. For domain environments, verify the server is joined to the domain
  4. Log in with an account that has administrator privileges

2. Access the ADC Installer​

  1. Log in to your nOps dashboard at https://app.nops.io
  2. Navigate to "Migration" → "Assessment" → "Tools"
  3. Select "Download Agentless Data Collector"
  4. Save the MSI installer package to your Windows Server

3. Install the ADC​

  1. Connect to your Windows Server via RDP or console
  2. Copy the MSI installer to the server (if not downloaded directly)
  3. Right-click the MSI file and select "Install" or run from command line: 
    msiexec /i nOpsADC.msi /quiet
  4. Follow the on-screen instructions if installing via GUI
  5. The installer will place files in the default location: C:\Program Files\nOps\ADC\

4. Configure the ADC​

  1. After installation completes, the nOps ADC Configuration Wizard will launch automatically
  2. If it doesn't launch, you can find it at: C:\Program Files\nOps\ADC\ConfigWizard.exe
  3. Enter your License Key (Account ID) when prompted
    • This can be obtained from the nOps Dashboard under "Discovery" → "License Keys"
    • The License Key is unique to your organization and helps track your data
  4. The wizard will link the ADC to your nOps account

Data Collection and Storage​

The Agentless Data Collector uses a secure store-and-forward model:

  1. Local Storage: All collected telemetry is stored on the host machine in human-readable JSON format

    • Default location: C:\Program Files\nOps\ADC\data\
    • Files can be opened with any text editor for inspection
    • JSON structure is documented for transparency

  2. Data Transmission:

    • By default, data is transmitted to nOps secure servers every 15 minutes
    • Transmission frequency is configurable in the Configuration Wizard
    • All data is encrypted using TLS 1.2+ during transmission

  3. Disconnected Mode:

    • For high-security environments, the ADC supports an "air-gapped" mode
    • Enable this mode by selecting "Disconnected Operation" in the Configuration Wizard
    • Data can be exported to portable media (e.g., USB drive) for manual transfer
    • Export tool location: C:\Program Files\nOps\ADC\tools\export-data.exe

5. Set Up Discovery Credentials​

For Linux Systems:​

  1. In the Configuration Wizard, select "Add Linux Credentials"
  2. Choose your authentication method:
    • For username/password: Enter the username and password
    • For SSH keypair: Browse to the location of your private key file
  3. Test connectivity to a sample Linux system to verify credentials
  4. You can add multiple credential sets if needed for different systems

For Windows Systems:​

  1. In the Configuration Wizard, select "Add Windows Credentials"
  2. Enter domain credentials in format DOMAIN\username with password
  3. Select the preferred collection method (WinRM or WMI)
  4. Test connectivity to a sample Windows system to verify credentials

For Google Cloud Platform:​

  1. In the Configuration Wizard, select "Configure GCP Integration"
  2. Upload or paste your Google Cloud service account JSON key file
  3. The service account must have the following roles:
    • Compute Viewer
    • Billing Account Viewer
    • BigQuery Data Viewer

6. Define Discovery Scope​

  1. Select "Configure Discovery Scope"
  2. Define the systems to be included in the assessment:
    • IP ranges
    • Specific hostnames
    • GCP projects
  3. Set appropriate discovery parameters:
    • Scanning frequency
    • Data retention period
    • Performance metric collection intervals

7. Start Data Collection​

  1. Review the configuration summary
  2. Click "Start Discovery" to begin the data collection process
  3. The ADC will immediately begin discovery of systems within the defined scope
  4. Initial discovery may take 1-2 hours depending on environment size

Verification and Monitoring​

  1. The ADC dashboard will show discovery progress in real-time
  2. You can monitor collection status from both the local ADC interface and the nOps web dashboard
  3. Verify successful connection to target systems in the "Discovery Status" section
  4. Data will begin appearing in your nOps dashboard as it's collected and processed

Troubleshooting​

Common Issues​

  1. Connection Failures to Linux Systems:

    • Verify SSH is enabled and port 22 is accessible
    • Check that credentials have sudo access
    • Ensure firewall rules allow connections from the ADC host IP

  2. Connection Failures to Windows Systems:

    • Verify WinRM or WMI is properly configured
    • Check that required ports are open
    • Ensure the account has sufficient privileges
    • For domain environments, verify the ADC host is properly joined to the domain

  3. Limited or No Data Collection:

    • Verify the ADC service is running: services.msc
    • Check connection logs at: C:\Program Files\nOps\ADC\logs\
    • Verify internet connectivity to nOps cloud services

8. Supplemental VMware Data Collection​

For environments with VMware vCenter, you can enhance the data collection with detailed virtual machine information:

  1. In the vCenter client, generate an RVTools export:
    • Download and install RVTools on a system with vCenter access
    • Connect to your vCenter server
    • Select "Export to Excel" and save the file with all tabs included
  2. In the ADC Configuration Wizard, select "Upload VMware Data"
  3. Browse to the RVTools export file (.xlsx format)
  4. Click "Upload" to include this data in your assessment

The RVTools data provides critical information on VM-to-host relationships, resource allocations, and virtual infrastructure dependencies that significantly improves migration planning accuracy.

Next Steps After Data Collection​

Once data collection has started, nOps Discovery will guide you through the complete migration journey:

  1. Workload Analysis: Detailed analysis of resource utilization, licensing, and business intent
  2. Migration Planning: Interactive creation of migration waves with configurable risk tolerance
  3. Migration Execution: Orchestrated execution of the migration using AWS Application Migration Service

All recommendations and analysis are available in the nOps Discovery dashboard once your data is processed. For most environments and higher accuracy on recommendations, we recommend 1-2 weeks of data collection in order to capture trends over time, but you can begin reviewing insights as soon as data is available.