How to Install the DigitalOcean Metrics Agent Using the Metrics Agent Repository

To add the metrics agent repository, open a new file using a text editor of your choice (for example, nano) to define the DigitalOcean repository source:

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/digitalocean-agent.list

This command opens a blank file in the nano editor. Then, add the following line to the file.

deb https://repos.insights.digitalocean.com/apt/do-agent/ main main

This line adds the DigitalOcean APT repository to your package sources so your system can locate the do-agent package.

Afterwards, save the changes and exit the file.

After creating the configuration file, download and add the DigitalOcean GPG key for the DigitalOcean repository. This verifies the authenticity of the packages you install:

curl https://repos.insights.digitalocean.com/sonar-agent.asc | sudo apt-key add -

The command returns output confirming the key was added:

| sudo apt-key add -
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100  1688  100  1688    0     0  34163      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 34448
Warning: apt-key is deprecated. Manage keyring files in trusted.gpg.d instead (see apt-key(8)).
OK

To confirm that the GPG key is present, run the following command to see if your key is listed:

sudo apt-key list | grep -i digitalocean

If you see similar output like below, then the GPG key is present in your Droplet:

uid           [ unknown] DigitalOcean Insights Engineering <[email protected]>

Restart your system’s package list so that it includes the DigitalOcean repository and its available packages:

sudo apt-get update

You should see output confirming a successful connection to the repositories. If you see warnings about duplicate entries, it means the same repository is listed more than once. These warnings are safe to ignore as long as your .list file contains the correct, non-duplicated entry, which you confirmed earlier.

Hit:1 http://mirrors.digitalocean.com/ubuntu oracular InRelease
Hit:2 http://mirrors.digitalocean.com/ubuntu oracular-updates InRelease          
Hit:3 https://repos.insights.digitalocean.com/apt/do-agent main InRelease  
...
Reading package lists... Done
W: Target Packages (main/binary-amd64/Packages) is configured multiple times ... 
...

Lastly, install the metrics agent by installing the do-agent package from the DigitalOcean repository using your system’s package manager:

sudo apt-get install do-agent

The command returns output confirming the agent was successfully downloaded, installed, and enabled to start automatically using systemd like below:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  do-agent
...
Selecting previously unselected package do-agent.
(Reading database ... 76045 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../do-agent_3.17.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking do-agent (3.17.1) ...
Setting up do-agent (3.17.1) ...
Detecting SELinux
SELinux not enforced
useradd: user 'do-agent' already exists
enable systemd service
Created symlink '/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/do-agent.service' → '/etc/systemd/system/do-agent.service'.
...

To create the repository configuration file, open a new .repo file using a text editor of your choice (for example, nano) where you define the DigitalOcean package repository:

sudo nano /etc/yum.repos.d/digitalocean-agent.repo

This command creates and opens a blank file in the nano editor. Add the following contents to define the repository configuration, like this:

[sonar]
name=do agent
baseurl=https://repos.insights.digitalocean.com/yum/do-agent/$basearch
failovermethod=priority
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://repos.insights.digitalocean.com/sonar-agent.asc

This configuration block defines the DigitalOcean repository:

• baseurl: where your system fetches the package
• gpgcheck=1: ensures that package signatures is verified
• gpgkey: location of the key used for verification

After pasting the contents of the config file, save and exit the file.

Then, download and add the DigitalOcean GPG key to ensure that the install package is trusted and not tampered with:

sudo rpm --import https://repos.insights.digitalocean.com/sonar-agent.asc

This command does not produce any output if successful. To confirm the key was added, run the following command, which lists all installed GPG keys and filters for one associated with DigitalOcean, like this:

rpm -qa gpg-pubkey --qf "%{NAME}-%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE}\n" | xargs -I{} rpm -qi {} | grep -i digitalocean

If the key was added successfully, the command outputs a confirmation that the DigitalOcean GPG key is present and trusted by your system:

Summary     : DigitalOcean Agent Signing Key

Lastly, install the metrics agent via the do-agent package from the DigitalOcean repository using your system’s package manager:

sudo yum install do-agent

You should see output showing the system is ready to install the do-agent package, listing its size and origin. When prompted with Is this ok [y/N]:, type y, and then press ENTER to confirm you want to proceed with the installation.

Updating and loading repositories:
 do agent                                                        100% | 105.7 KiB/s |   7.8 KiB |  00m00s
Repositories loaded.
Package                           Arch      Version                           Repository             Size
Installing:
 do-agent                         x86_64    3.17.1-1                          sonar              12.5 MiB

Transaction Summary:
 Installing:         1 package

Total size of inbound packages is 5 MiB. Need to download 5 MiB.
After this operation, 13 MiB extra will be used (install 13 MiB, remove 0 B).
Is this ok [y/N]: 

After you confirm the installation, the system completes the remaining steps. The output shows the agent being installed and prepared to run:

[1/1] do-agent-0:3.17.1-1.x86_64                                 100% |  44.6 MiB/s |   4.8 MiB |  00m00s
...
[3/3] Installing do-agent-0:3.17.1-1.x86_64                      100% |   2.3 MiB/s |  12.5 MiB |  00m05s
Complete!