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Configure the P9 Agent for macOS
Configure the P9 Agent for macOS
IT-Man avatar
Written by IT-Man
Updated over a week ago

Table of contents

Once the Panorama9 Agent has been installed it will run silent in the background collecting information about the machine and forward it to the Panorama9 cloud. The agent is automatically updated when a new version is released.

Command-line utilities

You may use the included command-line tools to troubleshoot connectivity, manually start/stop the agent, enable/disable P9 Connect, suspend notifications or generate e.g. IT support tickets.

You can verify if the agent is running with:

sudo /Library/Panorama9/scripts/status

(First time the agent runs it may take some time before it's fully started, so do not get alarmed if status tells you that it isn't running yet)

Manually stopping and starting the Panorama9 Agent:

sudo launchctl unload \
/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.panorama9.daemon.plist
sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.panorama9.daemon.plist

Manage the Panorama9 Connect remote control feature:

p9-connect -h

(The "-h" argument lists available command line arguments that must be entered to use this tool)

Suspend notification

From time to time you're required to do maintenance work on e.g. a server. Any monitored services that you stop will result in Panorama9 generating an issue and sending you a notification, if you've configured the Dashboard to warn you. Rebooting the server results in even more notifications coming your way. Until you've completed your work a stream of disturbing and needless notifications could be filling up your inbox. This is easily avoided by temporarily suspending notifications.

p9-suspend-notifications -h

(The "-h" argument lists available command line arguments that must be entered to use this tool)

User message (e.g. IT support ticket):

p9-user-message -h

(The "-h" argument lists available command line arguments that must be entered to use this tool)

To check if the Panorama9 Agent is able to communicate with the Panorama9 cloud do:

p9-check-connectivity

Disable automatic start of the P9 system bar application

The Panorama9 agent automatically starts the system bar application when an user logins to the desktop. However, if you prefer to disable the system bar application just remove the "Panorama9 Status Bar" item from "System preferences" -> "Users & Groups" -> "Login Items".

The Panorama9 agent will continue to run silent in the background and report to the Panorama9 cloud.

Change classification of machine from "computer" to "server"

The Panorama9 backend will automatically guess if your macOS installation is a server or a regular workstation. However if you wish to force set the classification it can easily be changed.

Edit the configuration file:

sudo vim /Library/Panorama9/config/plugins.conf

edit: #is_server = 1 should be un-commented and then ”1” will classify the machine as a server in the dashboard and “0” will classify it as a computer. That’s it.

After changing this the P9 Agent should be restarted.

Daemons or services that the Panorama9 Agent should monitor

You can configure the Panorama9 Agent for OS X to check the status of daemons and services. If a daemon or service terminates an issue is generated and if desired a notification can also be sent to you. When the daemon or service runs again the issue will be cleared and a new status notification sent.

To configure which daemons and services that should be monitored edit the "service configuration file":

$ sudo vi /Library/Panorama9/config/services.conf

You must enter "path to pid file" that the daemon has created during startup. When checking status of the daemon the Panorama9 Agent for macOS first verifies that the pid file exists and next ensures the process is running.

If a check fails the Panorama9 cloud is contacted and an issue is generated. Once the issue has been fixed and the daemon is restarted the Panorama9 cloud is notified again.

To monitor e.g. the Apache daemon using the "path to pid file", add the following line to the "service configuration file":

/var/run/apache2.pid:apache

(format: path_to_pid:display_name or simply path_to_pid. The display name is optional but will allow you to change how the service is displayed in issues in the Panorama9 dashboard and notifications etc.)

After making configuration changes to the "service configuration file" restart the Panorama9 agent for OS X (see above).

Configuration tool: Add device to given client Dashboard

This tool allows you to configure which client Dashboard the Panorama9 Agent should belong to (only relevant if your Panorama9 subscription includes the MSP Control Panel).

To list available client Dashboards:

$ sudo p9-config-tool --list --api-key YOUR_API_KEY

To add device to a client Dashboard:

$ sudo p9-config-tool --add --client-dashboard ID --api-key YOUR_API_KEY

To generate an API key login to the the Panorama9 MSP Control Panel, then navigate to "Extensions" -> "P9 Agent" and enable the agent configuration key.

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