In the ever-evolving landscape of cloud computing, the ability to efficiently log, monitor and manage resources has become a cornerstone of operational success. At the heart of this intricate ecosystem are OCI agents such as Oracle Cloud Agent, Oracle Management Agent, and Unified Monitoring Agent emerge as crucial players in ensuring observability and management is seamless and tightly integrated with OCI cloud resources.
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure agents come in various forms, each designed with a specific set of capabilities to address different use cases. However, while these agents offer powerful functionalities, navigating the landscape and choosing the right agent for your unique requirements can sometimes be a daunting task. This overview aims to shed light on the types of OCI agents available, their key features, and how to approach selecting the most suitable agent for your use cases.
Categories | Oracle Cloud Agent | Oracle Management Agent | Oracle Unified Monitoring Agent |
---|---|---|---|
Monitoring | via Compute Instance Monitoring Plugin | N/A | N/A |
Logging | via Unified Monitoring Agent Plugin | N/A | Integration with Loggin Service via User Principal |
Logging Analytics | via Management Agent Plugin | via Logging Analytics Plugin | N/A |
Stack Monitoring | via Management Agent Plugin | via Stack Monitoring Plugin | N/A |
Database Management | via Management Agent Plugin | via Database Management Plugin | N/A |
Operations Insights | via Management Agent Plugin | via Operations Insights Plugin | N/A |
Java Usage Tracking | via Management Agent Plugin | via Java Usage Tracking Plugin | N/A |
Java Management Service | via Java Management Service Plugin | via Java Management Service Plugin | N/A |
OS Management Hub | via OS Management Service Plugin | via OS Management Hub Plugin | N/A |
Agent Installation | Preinstalled for OCI compute, manual installation(zip, rpm) | Manual installation(zip, rpm) | Manual installation(zip, rpm) |
Authentication/Authorization | Resource Principal, Instance Principal | Resource Principal, Instance Principal | User Principal |
Agent Management | Fully Integrated | Fully Integrated | Partially Integrated, no UI |
Compute Instance Support | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Oracle Base Database Service Support | No | Yes | Yes* |
Oracle Exadata Database Service Dedicated Support | No | Yes | Yes* |
* NOTE: The Unified Monitoring Agent can be installed in Oracle Base Database system or ExaDB-D VMs. Unified Monitoring Agent can send custom logs to OCI Loggign Service. However, open-source fluentd agent doesn't support parsing Oracle databases logs(for instance alert logs, trace files, listener logs, Grid Infrastructure logs etc). Raw database logs will be presented in OCI Logging Service.
Name | Description |
---|---|
Bastion | Allows secure shell (SSH) connections to an instance without public IP addresses using the Bastion service. |
Block Volume Management | Configures Block Volume sessions for the instance. |
Compute Instance Monitoring | Emits metrics about the instance's health, capacity, and performance. These metrics are consumed by the Monitoring service. Enable Monitoring for Compute instances. |
Compute Instance Run Command | Running commands and scripts within the instance to remotely configure, manage, and troubleshoot the instance. |
Custom Logs Monitoring | Ingests custom logs into the Logging service. |
Management Agent | Collects data from resources such as OSs, applications, and infrastructure resources for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure services that are integrated with Management Agent. Data can include observability, log, configuration, capacity, and health data. |
Oracle Autonomous Linux | Manages autonomous updates and collects data associated with events, including logs and stack traces, for instances managed by the Autonomous Linux service. |
Oracle Java Management Service | Monitors and performs Java Development Kit (JDK) lifecycle management for Java deployments on instances managed by the Java Management service. |
OS Management Service Agent | Manages updates and patches for the operating system environment on the instance. OS Management |
Vulnerability Scanning |
Scans the instance for potential security vulnerabilities like OS packages that require updates. |
Further Reading about Oracle Cloud Agent
Further Reading about Oracle Management Agent
Further Reading about Oracle Unified Monitoring Agent
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure agents are the unsung heroes of cloud management and monitoring. While they empower you with unprecedented control and visibility, selecting the right agent for your specific needs requires careful consideration. By understanding the types of agents available, assessing your environment, and evaluating features against your use cases, you can confidently navigate the agent landscape and make informed decisions that drive operational excellence within your Oracle Cloud environment.
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Royce Fu is the Principal Database Solution Architect of the North America Cloud Technology and Engineering Team. Royce's area of specialty is core Database Technology and OCI O&M especially in Database Platform Engineering, Architecture, and Integration. He started his career as Java software engineer and spent over a decade in database engineering and architecture.
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