Overview

This page outlines the basic features of the Datadog Agent for Windows. If you haven’t installed the Agent yet, see the installation instructions below or follow the instructions in the app.

See Supported Platforms for the complete list of supported Linux distributions and versions.

Installation

To install the Datadog Agent on your Windows hosts, follow the guided in-app flow within Fleet Automation, then copy and run the installation command. The Datadog Agents run under the ddagentuser. See Datadog Windows Agent User documentation for more information.

Alternative installation methods

Install with the Agent Manager GUI

1. Download the Datadog Agent installer to install the latest version of the Agent.
2. Run the installer by opening datadog-agent-7-latest.amd64.msi. When prompted, enter your Administrator credentials.
3. Follow the prompts, accept the license agreement, and enter your Datadog API key.

When the install finishes, you are given the option to launch the Datadog Agent Manager.

Installation configuration options

Each of the following configuration options can be added as a property to the command line when installing the Agent on Windows. For additional Agent configuration options, see more Agent configuration options.

Notes

• The /qn option runs a quiet install. To see the GUI prompts, remove it.
• Some Agent versions may cause a forced reboot. To prevent this, add the parameter: REBOOT=ReallySuppress.
• Some Agent components require a kernel driver to collect data. To know if a kernel driver is required for your component, see its documentation page or search for kernel driver in the associated Agent configuration files.
• If a valid datadog.yaml is found, that file takes precedence over all specified command line options.

More Agent configuration options

Each of the following configuration options can be added as a property to the command line when installing the Agent on Windows.

Note: If a valid datadog.yaml is found, that file takes precedence over all specified command line options.

Installation log files

Set the /log <FILENAME> msiexec option to configure an installation log file. If this option is not set, msiexec writes the log to %TEMP%\MSI*.LOG by default.

Configuration

The main Agent configuration file is located at C:\ProgramData\Datadog\datadog.yaml. This file is used for host-wide settings such as the API key, selected Datadog site, proxy parameters, host tags, and log level.

There is also a datadog.yaml.example file in the same directory, which is a fully commented reference with all available configuration options, useful for reference and copying specific settings.

Configuration files for integrations are in: C:\ProgramData\Datadog\conf.d\ There may also be an alternative legacy location: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Datadog\conf.d\.

Each integration has a subdirectory <INTEGRATION>.d\ that contains:

• conf.yaml: The active settings for the integration

• conf.yaml.example: A sample file showing what configuration keys are supported

When making configuration changes, be sure to restart the Agent to ensure the changes take effect.

The Datadog Agent Manager GUI can be used to enable, disable, and configure checks. You must restart the Agent for your changes to take effect.

Note: ProgramData is a hidden folder.

Agent commands

The execution of the Agent is controlled by the Windows Service Control Manager.

• The main executable name is agent.exe.
• The configuration GUI is a browser-based configuration application (for Windows 64-bit only).
• Commands can be run from the elevated (run as Admin) command line (PowerShell or Command Prompt) using the syntax <PATH_TO_AGENT.EXE> <COMMAND>.
• Command-line options are below:

Examples:

• PowerShell (powershell.exe)

  & "$env:ProgramFiles\Datadog\Datadog Agent\bin\agent.exe" status
  & "$env:ProgramFiles\Datadog\Datadog Agent\bin\agent.exe" launch-gui
  & "$env:ProgramFiles\Datadog\Datadog Agent\bin\agent.exe" flare
  

• Command Prompt (cmd.exe)

  "%ProgramFiles%\Datadog\Datadog Agent\bin\agent.exe" status
  "%ProgramFiles%\Datadog\Datadog Agent\bin\agent.exe" launch-gui
  "%ProgramFiles%\Datadog\Datadog Agent\bin\agent.exe" flare
  

Uninstall the Agent

There are two different methods to uninstall the Agent on Windows. Both methods remove the Agent, but do not remove the C:\ProgramData\Datadog configuration folder on the host.

Add or remove programs

1. Press CTRL and Esc or use the Windows key to run Windows Search.
2. Search for add and click Add or remove programs.
3. Search for Datadog Agent and click Uninstall.

PowerShell

Note: Enable WinRM to use the commands below.

Use the following PowerShell command to uninstall the Agent without rebooting:

$productCode = (@(Get-ChildItem -Path "HKLM:SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall" -Recurse) | Where {$_.GetValue("DisplayName") -like "Datadog Agent" }).PSChildName
start-process msiexec -Wait -ArgumentList ('/log', 'C:\uninst.log', '/q', '/x', "$productCode", 'REBOOT=ReallySuppress')

Troubleshooting

For troubleshooting steps, see the Agent Troubleshooting documentation .

Agent status and information

To verify the Agent is running, check if the DatadogAgent service in the Services panel is listed as Started. A process called Datadog Metrics Agent (agent.exe) should also exist in the Task Manager.

To receive more information about the Agent’s state, start the Datadog Agent Manager:

• Right click on the Datadog Agent system tray icon -> Configure, or
• Run launch-gui command from an elevated(run as Admin) command line
  • PowerShell: & "<PATH_TO_AGENT.EXE>" launch-gui
  • cmd: "<PATH_TO_AGENT.EXE>" launch-gui

Then, open the status page by going to Status -> General. Get more information on running checks in Status -> Collector and Checks -> Summary.

The status command is available for PowerShell:

& "$env:ProgramFiles\Datadog\Datadog Agent\bin\agent.exe" status

or cmd.exe:

"%ProgramFiles%\Datadog\Datadog Agent\bin\agent.exe" status

Logs location

The Agent logs are located in C:\ProgramData\Datadog\logs\agent.log.

Note: ProgramData is a hidden folder.

Use cases

Monitoring a Windows service

On your target host, launch the Datadog Agent Manager and select the “Windows Service” integration from the list. There is an out-of-the-box example; however, this example uses DHCP.

To get the name of the service, open services.msc and locate your target service. Using DHCP as the target, you can see the service name at the top of the service properties window:

When adding your own services, be sure to follow the formatting exactly as shown. If formatting is not correct the integration fails. Note: Special characters in a service name must be escaped. For example, the name MSSQL$BILLING can be added with MSSQL\$BILLING.

Also, whenever you modify an integration, the Datadog service needs to be restarted. You can do this from services.msc or from the UI sidebar.

For Services, Datadog doesn’t track the metrics—only their availability. (For metrics, use the Process or WMI integration). To set up a Monitor, select the Integration monitor type then search for Windows Service. From Integration Status -> Pick Monitor Scope, choose the service you would like to monitor.

Monitoring system load for Windows

The Datadog Agent collects a large number of system metrics by default. The most commonly used system metrics are system.load.* but these metrics are Unix specific.

While Windows does not offer the system.load.* metrics, an equivalent option that’s available by default is system.proc.queue.length. This metric shows the number of threads observed as delayed in the processor ready queue that are waiting to be executed.

Monitoring Windows processes

You can monitor Windows processes with Live Process Monitoring. To enable this on Windows, edit the Agent main configuration file by setting the following parameter to true:

datadog.yaml:

process_config:
  enabled: "true"

After configuration is complete, restart the Agent.

Further reading

추가 유용한 문서, 링크 및 기사:

Collect your logsDOCUMENTATION Collect your processesDOCUMENTATION Collect your tracesDOCUMENTATION Find out more about the Agent's architectureDOCUMENTATION Configure inbound portsDOCUMENTATION Learn more about the Datadog Windows Agent UserDOCUMENTATION