Netify Agent v5 on Ubuntu

This guide is intended for evaluating Netify Agent v5 on Ubuntu. While Ubuntu is commonly used for servers and gateways, it is also a great choice for development environments and proof-of-concept (PoC) testing. You can quickly install Netify Agent on a desktop or personal device to explore its network analytics and monitoring features.

Requirements

More often, Ubuntu is used on baremetal hardware or inside a virtual machine (VM). In this role, the system will need at least 2 network interfaces:

Network Interface #1: used to access the operating system and Netify
Network Interface #2: used to ingest port mirror traffic from LAN segment 1
Network Interface #N: used to ingest port mirror traffic from LAN segment N (optional)

You will also need to know which version of Ubuntu you are running in order to add the correct repository. If you're not sure, use the lsb_release command:

Terminal - Netify

$ sudo apt update; sudo apt -y install lsb-release
$ lsb_release -a
Distributor ID:  Ubuntu
Description:     Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS
Release:         24.04
Codename:        noble

Installation

Netify Agent is distributed through the same packaging workflow as Netify plugins, allowing for a consistent installation experience using standard package manager syntax. Pre-compiled binaries are available for x86_64 architectures via our public mirrors. For ARM, MIPS, and other specialized architectures, please contact us.

Step 1 - Select your installation target:

Step 2 - Add Netify's package signing key and repository:

Terminal - Netify

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install curl gnupg2
sudo curl https://download.netify.ai/5/ubuntu/netify-archive-keyring.gpg -o /usr/share/keyrings/netify-archive-keyring.gpg
echo 'deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/netify-archive-keyring.gpg] http://download.netify.ai/5/ubuntu/noble/ /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/netify.list

Step 3 - Install the Netify Agent:

Terminal - Netify

sudo apt update
sudo apt install netifyd

Step 4 - Install plugins:

The Netify Agent provides only minimal functionality in the absence of plugins. To begin processing data, configure one or more feature plugins and/or sink (connector) plugins.

Step 2 - Add Netify's package signing key and repository:

Terminal - Netify

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install curl gnupg2
sudo curl https://download.netify.ai/5/ubuntu/netify-archive-keyring.gpg -o /usr/share/keyrings/netify-archive-keyring.gpg
echo 'deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/netify-archive-keyring.gpg] http://download.netify.ai/5/ubuntu/jammy/ /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/netify.list

Step 3 - Install the Netify Agent:

Terminal - Netify

sudo apt update
sudo apt install netifyd

Step 4 - Install plugins:

The Netify Agent provides only minimal functionality in the absence of plugins. To begin processing data, configure one or more feature plugins and/or sink (connector) plugins.

Step 2 - Add Netify's package signing key and repository:

Terminal - Netify

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install curl gnupg2
curl -fsSL https://download.netify.ai/5/ubuntu/apt-gpg-key-netify.asc | sudo apt-key add -
echo 'deb http://download.netify.ai/5/ubuntu/focal/ /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/netify.list

Step 3 - Install the Netify Agent:

Terminal - Netify

sudo apt update
sudo apt install netifyd

Step 4 - Install plugins:

The Netify Agent provides only minimal functionality in the absence of plugins. To begin processing data, configure one or more feature plugins and/or sink (connector) plugins.

Post Installation

After installing the agent, verify the installation and some path information using the -s (status) argument.

Terminal - Netify

$ netifyd -s
Netify Agent/5.0.62-1-HEAD-nnnn-aaaaaaaa (debian; linux-gnu; x86_64; conntrack; netlink; dns-cache; tpv3; tcmalloc; regex)
✗ agent is not running: PID 0
• persistent state path: /etc/netifyd
• volatile state path: /var/run/netifyd
! agent run-time status could not be determined.

The Netify agent is not configured to start post install. It will not be running by default and should expect to see the 'not running' and 'run-time status could not be determined' messages.

Plugins

With the core Netify Agent installed, you can now enable plugins to align with your technical requirements. The feature pages offer a high level overview of the agent's capabilities, while the technical reference documentation provides detailed implementation guidance for those ready to dive deeper.

Informatics

Netify Informatics is an optional, cloud based SaaS service that delivers web based visibility into network activity. To get started, follow the installation instructions to enable the subscription service.