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The FlexDeploy HTTP Agent distribution contains the following components:

• A tomcat 9 Tomcat 9 server with required libraries, and base configurations

• The HttpAgent Https Agent WAR

Step 1. Ensure Java 8 is installed on the server.

Setting JAVA_HOME in the configuration will be done later. This Java will be used to run the tomcat Tomcat server. A different Java version can be specified on the endpoint configuration in FlexDeploy and those will be used to actually execute plugins.

Step 2. Prepare software

The HTTP Agent can be downloaded Download and unzip the HTTPS Agent software using wget, curl, or manually from the Flexagon Support Site. You will download specific version of agent (This will correspond with FlexDeploy version), download file is namedHttpsAgentTomcatComplete-X.X.X.X.zip, where X.X.X.X represents four digit version number.Portal.

# select folder location where the agent will be downloaded
export SOFTWARE_HOME=/u01/software
mkdir -p $SOFTWARE_HOME
cd $SOFTWARE_HOME

# DOWNLOAD either using wget or curl or transfer here manually
# FlexDeploy 7.0 requires version 7.0 of the https agent.
# A newer version may be available, see https://support.flexagon.com/a/solutions/articles/5000886515 for the latest download link.
wget -O HttpsAgentTomcatComplete.zip <link from support site>
# or
curl -L --max-redirs 5 <link from support site> --output HttpsAgentTomcatComplete.zip

If the endpoint does not have internet access you can download the agent from the Flexagon Support Portal and transfer the zip file manually.

Extract the zip file in the desired location (referred to as "HTTPS_AGENT_HOME" in this document).

unzip /u01/software/HttpsAgentTomcatComplete-X.X.X.X.zip .

Step 3. Configure authentication

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You must configure the user to have the role 'FlexDeployHTTPSAgent'

Basic Auth

To configure basic auth, use the username and password being stored in tomcat-users.xml.

For basic configuration only, the password needs to be configured in the given HTTPS_AGENT_HOME/apache-tomcat-flexdeploy-https-agent/conf/tomcat-users.xml file. Here’s what that will look like:

...

<!-- Use the LockOutRealm to prevent attempts to guess user passwords
via a brute-force attack -->
<Realm className="org.apache.catalina.realm.LockOutRealm">
  <!-- This Realm uses the UserDatabase configured in the global JNDI
  resources under the key "UserDatabase".  Any edits
  that are performed against this UserDatabase are immediately
  available for use by the Realm.  -->
  <!--<Realm
  className="org.apache.catalina.realm.UserDatabaseRealm"
        resourceName="UserDatabase" />-->
  <!-- user MUST be a part of FlexDeployHTTPSAgent group in order for authentication
  to work -->
  <Realm className="org.apache.catalina.realm.JNDIRealm"
        connectionName="CN=administrator,CN=Users,DC=flexagondev,DC=local"
        connectionPassword="password"
        connectionURL="ldap://yourldapurl.example:389"
        userBase="CN=Users,DC=flexagondev,DC=local"
        userSearch="(&amp;(objectClass=*)(sAMAccountName={0}))"
        userRoleName="member"
        roleBase="CN=Users,DC=flexagondev,DC=local"
        roleName="cn"
        roleSearch="(objectClass=group)"
  />
</Realm>

Next you can , add your the organization specific LDAP/Azure Directory configuration.

Make sure the user you are trying to connect as with has the FlexDeployHTTPSAgent role or they will not be able to connect.

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The use of SSL is required. These steps Steps will be listed for generating and using a self signed certificate. You can of course use any other certificate compatible with Tomcat. See self signing, as well as importing an existing certificate.

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Self Signed

Run the following command and generate the self signed certificate in the HTTPS_AGENT_HOME/config directory. Run the following command.

keytool -genkey -keyalg RSA -alias tomcat -keystore tomcat.jks -validity 365 -keysize 2048

When prompted enter a password for the keystore.

Then when prompted for your name input the hostname for the server. This is important, if this step is missed the FlexDeploy server will not trust the certificate. The rest of the information is not needed (although you can input it).

After that you will be prompted for the password for the tomcat key, press enter to use the same password as the keystore. This is required by Tomcat.

Next let’s export the certificate in order to add it to the FlexDeploy server’s trust store.

keytool -export -keystore tomcat.jks -storepass <password> -alias tomcat -file httpsagent.cer

...

Existing Certificate

First generate your certificate using whatever method you would usually use.

Next convert the certificate to pk12 format.

openssl pkcs12 -export -in server.crt -inkey server.key -out server.p12 -name tomcat -CAfile ca.crt -caname root

Now import the pk12 format cert into a java keystore. This will also generate the keystore if it does not exist. It is recommended to put the keystore into the HTTPS_AGENT_HOME/config directory.

keytool -importkeystore -deststorepass <Same as deskkeypass> -destkeypass <Same as desstorepass> -destkeystore tomcat.jks -srckeystore server.p12 -srcstoretype PKCS12 -srcstorepass some-password -alias tomcat

Configure Tomcat and Import Public Key

Next configure the keystore password (and the location of the file if not generated in the config directory). Open up the HTTPS_AGENT_HOME/apache-tomcat-flexdeploy-https-agent/conf/server.xml file. Find the SSL connector (by default set for port 8444) and add the keystore password like this: If you made the alias tomcat, this will be enough. Otherwise, add key

<Connector port="8444" protocol="org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11NioProtocol"
           maxThreads="150" scheme="https" secure="true"
           clientAuth="false" sslProtocol="TLS" SSLEnabled="true"
           keystoreFile="../config/tomcat.jks" keystorePass="KEYSTORE PASSWORD HERE">
</Connector>

...

First copy over the certificate that was generated (with the .cer extension). If you used an existing certificate, this should be the root certificate’s public key. You may have already configured this.

Next determine the Java install used by the FlexDeploy server.

...

keytool -import -noprompt -trustcacerts -alias tomcathttpsAgent -file httpsagent.cer -keystore "JAVA_INSTALL_PATH/jre/lib/security/cacerts" -storepass <password>

The default password for the java keystore is changeit.

Now the server will be able to connect to the endpoint. It is not necessary to restart the FlexDeploy server after adding a certificate.

Step 5. Start the

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Agent

Run Execute the StartFlexDeployHttpsAgent.sh (or StartFlexDeployHttpsAgent.bat) script to start the agent.

Next Steps

If you need additional configuration, check out To manage FlexDeploy properties locally on the endpoint without the need to send them through HTTPS requests to the agent checkout this page.

If you are all set, you can configure Create the endpoint on your FlexDeploy server. For more info see this page.