Self-Hosted Windows Agents

Learn how to install a self-hosted Grapes Agent on Windows and what software and hardware prerequisites are needed

Introduction to Agents

If you already know what an agent is and understand its operation, feel free to skip directly to the following sections. However, if you want to learn more about their role and how they work, check out Manage Agents and Agent Pools.

Software Prerequisites

Ensure that your computer meets the following prerequisites:

  • Operating System Version
    • Client Operating System
      • Windows 7 SP1 ESU
      • Windows 8.1
      • Windows 10
      • Windows 11
    • Server Operating System
      • Windows Server 2012 or later
  • The agent software installs its own version of .NET to avoid any .NET prerequisites.

Hardware Prerequisites

The hardware specifications of your agents vary depending on your needs, team size, database size and complexity, etc. It is not possible to provide general recommendations applicable to everyone.

Installation Procedure

1- Create a Personal Access Token

Agent authentication is based on Personal Access Tokens (PAT).

To create a Personal Access Token, refer to Create a Personal Access Token

2- Create an Agent Pool

Refer to the page Create an Agent Pool

3- Create an Agent and Download the Windows Version

Refer to the page Create and download an agent

4- Once the agent is downloaded, unzip it into the directory of your choice.

5- Open a command line window to the bin directory of the agent installation.

6- Then run the configuration command displayed on the agent configuration page, providing the token created in step 1.

Create an agent

Example

Grapes.Agent.exe config --id {{Agent ID}} --pat {{YOUR_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN_HERE}}

Several other non-mandatory parameters are available via the command line or through a configuration file to customize the behavior of the agent.

For more information, refer to the page Configuration of a self-hosted agent

7- Start the agent with the execution command displayed on the agent configuration page.

Execute agent command

8- Verify that the agent starts correctly.

Agent home window

9- Check the agent status on the Grapes graphical interface.

Agent status

10- The agent is ready to perform tasks.

Next Steps

Configure a Self-Hosted Agent