VerOps Machine Agent

A lightweight Rust agent for Linux and Windows servers — running as a native service on both platforms — heartbeat host metrics, on-demand log collection, command execution, optional software inventory and opt-in self-update — talking to the platform over a direct HTTP protocol, not OpenTelemetry. Current release: v0.5.0, with its connection key and inventory api_key unchanged.

Install the Machine Agent on Linux or Windows. Windows now ships a setup wizard that asks for your connection key up front and registers the service, with /KEY, /URL, /ENV and /NAME parameters for unattended GPO, Intune or SCCM deployment.

The direct HTTP/JSON protocol under /api/machine/agents/*, why it is not OpenTelemetry, the heartbeat as a control channel, the two authentication models, the separate inventory channel, and the X-Agent-Kind header that tells Scout and the Machine Agent apart.

Every setting across the TOML file, environment variables, and CLI flags, plus the precedence order and per-section keys and defaults — including the [inventory] auto_update switch.

Pull-based, command-driven log reads via READ_LOG — parameters, regex filtering, size limits, and least-privilege file permissions.

The CPU load, agent process memory, and uptime reported on each heartbeat, how they're read from /proc on Linux, the Windows 0.0 caveat, and heartbeat context fields.

The optional inventory module: one estate with servers included, enrollment and credentials (an ingest api_key is still supported here, unlike Scout), configuration, what it reports, its own endpoints, and the server activity model.

Opt-in self-update since Machine Agent v0.4.0: the two switches that must both be on, the channels and percentage rollouts, the verify-execute-swap-rollback sequence on the server, and how an admin watches or halts a rollout. Current release v0.5.0 needs no configuration change.

Machine Agent for servers, Scout for endpoints, one shared estate — purpose, activity ceiling, deployment and the one place the two now genuinely differ: Scout is enrollment-only, the Machine Agent still supports an ingest api_key.

Symptom-cause-fix for a host that won't connect, a Windows service that won't start, missing heartbeat metrics, empty log reads, inventory that doesn't appear, inventory that stopped after an api_key was wrongly removed, and automatic updates that stall, fail or roll back.

OpenTelemetry, inbound ports, the native Windows service, where to download, Machine Agent vs Scout, Windows 0.0 metrics, command latency, pull-based logs, connection-key handling, why the Scout api_key removal does not apply here, and opt-in automatic updates.