Morpheus Agent Key Features

While optional, Morpheus Agent provides many benefits and features in areas of log aggregation, security, automation, monitoring, and more. This page contains the complete summary of its key features and benefits.

Logging

The installed Morpheus Agent captures application logs and sends them back to the Morpheus appliance. The Agent buffers and compresses logs, sending them in chunks to minimize packet transfers. If desired, users may set up forwarding to an external syslog platform though for most users Morpheus internal logging functionality is sufficient. Agent logs can be viewed in the UI at Monitoring > Logs. Filtering and search tools are available, even supporting Lucene search query syntax. Logs may also be exported.

Monitoring and Guidance

Morpheus provides robust monitoring into the workloads it manages. For example, from Instance detail pages, usage metrics are tracked on the Summary and Monitoring tabs. The available metrics are significantly improved when Morpheus Agent is installed on the workload. Morpheus will make a best effort to gather this information in the absence of an installed Agent but for some Cloud types this is not possible. The table below shows the usage metrics Morpheus can gather with and without the Agent.

Category	Statistic	With Agent	Without Agent
Memory	Max Memory	Yes	Yes
Memory	Used Memory	Yes	No
Memory	Cache Memory	Yes	No
Storage	Max Storage	Yes	Yes
Storage	Used Memory	Yes	No
Processing	System CPU %	Yes	Yes
Processing	User CPU %	Yes	No
IOPS	Total IOPS	Yes	No
IOPS	IOPS Read	Yes	No
IOPS	IOPS Write	Yes	No
Networking	Net TX Rate	Yes	No
Networking	Net RX Rate	Yes	No
Other	Agent Command Bus	Yes	No
Other	Log Aggregation	Yes	No
Other	Health & Monitoring	Yes	No

In addition to usage and monitoring, Morpheus also provides a useful guidance feature (Operations > Guidance). Guidance analyzes your managed workloads and makes cost-saving or performance recommendations. The effectiveness of this feature is greatly enhanced when Morpheus Agent is installed on your workloads.

Script Execution

The Morpheus Agent initiates an outbound connection from the managed workload to the appliance over TCP port 443. This establishes a bidirectional command bus which allows Morpheus to orchestrate automation on managed machines without stored credentials. Many different Task types are supported and Tasks can be stacked into Operational or Provisioning Workflows to create logical automation routines. SSH or WinRM connectivity, as well as credentials, are required for Task execution when Morpheus Agent is not installed.

Setting File Templates

File Templates are stored templated text files, primarily config files (for example, my.cnf or morpheus.rb). Users have access to the full map of Morpheus variables for injecting values custom to the specific workload at provision time. Morpheus Agent can transfer files generated from templates to managed nodes.

Firewall Management

When “Local Firewall” is enabled for a Cloud (see the Advanced Options section on the Add/Edit Cloud modal), the Morpheus Agent can manage host or VM IP Table (firewall) rules for Linux workloads.

Summary and Additional benefits:

• Installation is optional for provisioned and managed VMs

• The Linux agent can be shrunk and should be less then 0.2% peak

• Provides a command bus such that Morpheus doesn’t need credentials to access a box

• Can still manage workflows if credentials are changed

• SSH agent can be disabled and still get access to the box

• Agent can be installed over Cloud-init, Windows unattend.xml, VMware Tools, SSH, WinRM, Cloudbase-Init, or manually

• Makes a single, persistent connection over HTTPS websocket and runs as a service

• Buffers and compresses logs, then sends them in chunks to minimize packets

• Supports syslog forwarding

• Accepts commands, executes commands, writes files, and manipulates firewalls

• Significantly enhances Guidance recommendations through enhanced statistics

Note

The Morpheus Agent is required for managed Docker, Kubernetes, SCVMM, Hyper-V, KVM, and ESXi Hosts (for ESXi-only Cloud, not vCenter Clouds).