Help CenterOcaltQL Client

Add a Linux server with its SSH login

Give Ocalt a server's SSH host and login, and it installs the agent, registers the server under an alias and has it online in under a minute, with nothing to install by hand.

Open OcaltQL Client

Before you start

  • The server runs Linux with glibc 2.35 or newer: Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 12, Fedora 36 or later, on x86_64, arm64 or armhf.
  • Its SSH port is reachable from the internet, and it can reach ql.ocalt.com over HTTPS.

Steps

  1. Go to client.ocalt.com/register and find Or add a Linux server with its SSH login.
  2. Type the server's Host (its public address or name) and Port (usually 22), the User to sign in as, and an Alias for this server, such as web-1. The alias is its name everywhere in Ocalt.
  3. Choose Password and type it, or Private key and paste a key that has no passphrase.
  4. Click Add this server. The steps appear as they happen: signing in, checking the system, installing the agent, and waiting for it to answer.
  5. When it says Your device has been added., the server is a device like any other: use it in Fabric, Clusters, Ocaltio, QueryAdmin and from OQL with DIRECTIVE.

What happens next

Signed in as root, or as a user who can use sudo, the agent is installed for the whole machine in /opt/ocalt-agent and runs as a system service called ocalt-agent that starts with the server. As any other user it is installed in that user's home folder and can only reach what that user can.

Good to know

  • The login is used to install the agent and is not kept. A pasted key is held in your storage only while the agent installs, then deleted.
  • A private address such as 192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x cannot be reached from Ocalt. Install the client on that machine directly and register it with its alias instead.
  • For a sudo user, the password you type is also given to sudo. With a key, the user needs passwordless sudo for a system install; otherwise the agent installs for that user only.
  • To install by hand on a server you are signed in to: curl -fsSL https://ql.ocalt.com/downloads/install-agent.sh -o install-agent.sh, then OCALT_IDENTITY=you@example.com OCALT_KEY=your-client-key OCALT_ALIAS=web-1 sh install-agent.sh.
  • To remove it: sudo systemctl disable --now ocalt-agent, then delete /opt/ocalt-agent and /root/.oql-client.

Related articles

Check a device is registered Confirm a machine is on your account and see what you can do with it. OcaltQL Client Add a machine to Fabric Put a laptop, server, phone or SSH host into your fleet. Fabric Link a machine to Clusters Bring a computer or server into your machine inventory. Clusters Find your Ocalt Client key Copy the key your machines and phones use to join your account, or rotate it. Ocalt account

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