This page describes how to install A2 on different platforms. A2 is an agentless automation tool that by default manages machines over the SSH/WinRM protocol. Once installed, A2 does not add a database, and there will be one daemon which starts through systemd service. You only need to install it on one machine (which could easily be a laptop) and it can manage an entire fleet of remote machines from that central point. When A2 manages processes on remote machines, it does not leave software installed or running on them, so there's no real question about how to upgrade A2 when moving to a new version.

Prerequisites

You install A2 on a control node, which then uses SSH (by default or WinRM) to communicate with your managed nodes (those end devices you want to automate process on).

Control node requirements

Currently A2 can be run from any machine with Python 3 (versions 3.7 is already bundled in package) installed. This includes Red Hat, Debian, CentOS, Ubuntu or Fedora. Windows is not supported for the control node.

When choosing a control node, bear in mind that any management system benefits from being run near the machines being managed. If you are running A2 in a cloud, consider running it from a machine inside that cloud. In most cases this will work better than on the open Internet.

Managed node requirements

On the managed nodes, you need a way to communicate, which is normally SSH or WinRM(for windows). SSH is general available on Linux, Unix or MacOS. For enabling WinRM on windows, following commands have to be run by 'Administrator':

  winrm quickconfig
  winrm set winrm/config/client/auth @{Basic="true"}
  winrm set winrm/config/service/auth @{Basic="true"}
  winrm set winrm/config/service @{AllowUnencrypted="true"}

Installing A2 on RHEL, CentOS, or Fedora

  EL7:
                 sudo yum install A2-0.3.0-2.el7.x86_64.rpm

  EL8:
                 sudo yum install A2-0.3.0-2.el8.x86_64.rpm

Installing A2 on Ubuntu or LinuxMint

Debian:
                 sudo apt install ./A2-0.3.0-2.amd64.deb

This package includes A2 Control Server and Web Interface. After installation you can access Web Application using http://ControlServerIP/ with Admin account "a2adm/a2adm"

A2 on GitHub

You may also wish to follow the GitHub project if you have a GitHub account. This is also where we keep the issue tracker for sharing bugs and feature ideas.