Manually registering an on-premise Robots Agent

The Robots Agent must be registered using a keyfile (registration.key). Typically, you register the Robots Agent as part of the installation process. However, you need to manually register the agent separately from installation, or re-register the agent, in some situations.

Manually registering a Robots Agent requires two distinct steps:

1. Generate and download the registration keyfile.
2. Manually install the registration keyfile in the Robots Agent directory structure and start or restart the Robots Agent service.

Manual registration required

Manual registration, or re-registration, of the Robots Agent is required in the following situations:

• Change the service account post-installation During installation of the Robots Agent, you leave Copy registration file deselected. After installation is complete, you intend to immediately update the account used to run the Robots Agent service.
• Changed server IP The IP address of the Windows server housing the Robots Agent changes.
• Problem with a keyfile Some problem exists with the existing registration keyfile.

Manual registration not required

You should not manually re-register an existing Robots Agent, or generate a new registration keyfile, in the following situations:

• Change a production service account You need to change the service account that has been running an installed Robots Agent. For more information, see Changing the Robots Agent service account.
• Upgrade the Robots Agent The registration keyfile is not involved when upgrading the Robots Agent.

For these situations, generating a new registration keyfile is unnecessary and can be disruptive to the configuration of your organization's Robots instance (explained below).

Implications of re-generating a registration key

Re-generating a registration key for a Robots Agent that is already in use has the following effects:

• All saved passwords in robot tasks are deleted and must be re-entered.
• All agents are removed from the list of agents in the Agent management screen.
• All agents need to be registered again, including migrating the Robots Agent RSA key between servers for multi-agent installations.

Generate the Robots Agent registration keyfile

1. Sign in to Diligent One (www.highbond.com).
2. From the Launchpad homepage, under Automation, click the Robots app.
3. In the upper-right corner of the dashboard, click Settings.
4. In the left-hand pane, make sure Agent management is selected.
5. If your instance of Robots is currently using a cloud-based Robots Agent, do the following:
   1. Click Replace cloud agent.
   2. Click Register agent and generate key.
6. If your instance of Robots is currently using an on-premise Robots Agent, or has no Robots Agent specified, do the following:
   1. Click Generate a new registration key.

      The warning dialog box that appears applies to you if you have one or more existing on-premise agents already installed.

   2. Click Generate a new registration key.

7. Click Download keyfile and close.

   Caution

   Do not close the browser window until you download the keyfile.

8. Save the downloaded keyfile in a safe location on the Windows server that will house the Robots Agent.

   Note

   Generating a keyfile is the first part of registering a Robots Agent. The registration process is complete when you place the keyfile in the correct location in the Robots Agent directory structure, start or restart the Robots Agent service, and successfully connect to the Robots app.

Manually install the registration keyfile

1. On the Windows server that runs the Robots Agent, copy the registration keyfile from the location where you saved it.
2. Navigate to the Robots Agent installation directory, and paste the registration keyfile in the agent subfolder.

   The default installation directory is:  C:\Program File (x86)\ACL Software\Robots Agent\agent

   If necessary, delete or overwrite an existing keyfile.

3. In the Windows Services manager, restart the Robots Agent service.

   Note

   If you do not restart the service, analytic scripts will not run.

4. Check the application log file to confirm that the Robots Agent is successfully connected to the Robots app.

   Go to the end of the log file and look for an INFO|Connected entry with a date and time that aligns with the start of the Robots Agent service.

   The default location of the log file is: C:\acl\robots\logs\application.log

5. In the Robots app, go to the Agent management screen and press F5 to reload the page.

   If the Robots Agent appears with a status of Online, it was successfully registered.