Install the CXDOT Collector on Windows

Install the CXDOT Collector on Windows to collect telemetry data and send that telemetry data to Palo Alto Networks Cortex XCOR.

​

Supported environments and versions

The CXDOT Collector supports Windows environments with either x86_64 (AMD64) or ARM64 architecture, on Windows 10 version 1803 or later or Windows Server 2019 or later.

​

Prerequisites

Before installing the CXDOT Collector on Windows, you must meet these prerequisites:

• tar.exe must be available on your PATH.
• You must have Windows PowerShell 5.1 or later installed.
• You must have an API token from a restricted service account with a write-only scope.

​

Install

To install the CXDOT Collector on Windows, follow these steps.

1. Run the following command to download and install the CXDOT Collector:
   $CxdotCollectorVersion = "VALUE"
   $EncodedVersion = [Uri]::EscapeDataString($CxdotCollectorVersion)
   $InstallerUrl = "https://artifactregistry.googleapis.com/download/v1/projects/chronosphereio/locations/us/repositories/release-binaries/files/cxdot-collector%3A$EncodedVersion%3Acxdot-collector-install.ps1:download?alt=media"
   $InstallDir = Join-Path $PWD "cxdot-collector"
   
   $Installer = (Invoke-WebRequest -UseBasicParsing -Uri $InstallerUrl).Content
   & ([ScriptBlock]::Create($Installer)) -InstallDir $InstallDir
   
   Replace VALUE with the version of the CXDOT Collector to use (for example, 1.4.0+otel-0.157.0). This script creates cxdot-collector.exe, cxdot-admin.exe, an example configuration file, and a software license in .\cxdot-collector.
2. Run the following command to make a copy of the example configuration file:
   $InstallDir = Join-Path $PWD "cxdot-collector"
   Copy-Item (Join-Path $InstallDir "config-example.yaml") (Join-Path $InstallDir "config.yaml")
   notepad.exe (Join-Path $InstallDir "config.yaml")
   
3. In the environment where the CXDOT Collector is deployed, create an environment variable named XCOR_API_TOKEN, and set its value to your Cortex XCOR API token.
4. Add the api_token key to your YAML configuration file, and set its value to ${env:XCOR_API_TOKEN}:
   config.yaml

   cxdot:
     egress:
       tenant:
         api_token: ${env:XCOR_API_TOKEN}
   
5. Set the name of your Cortex XCOR tenant by adding the following key to your YAML configuration file:
   config.yaml

   cxdot:
     egress:
       tenant:
         org_name: TENANT
   
6. Run the following command to start the CXDOT Collector:
   $InstallDir = Join-Path $PWD "cxdot-collector"
   & (Join-Path $InstallDir "cxdot-collector.exe") `
     --config (Join-Path $InstallDir "config.yaml") `
     --set cxdot.debug.enabled=false
   
   The CXDOT Collector writes logs to stdout. To confirm that the Collector is running, look for the message Everything is ready. Additionally, you can confirm whether host metrics appear in your Cortex XCOR tenant. The CXDOT Collector’s default configuration collects telemetry data from your host environment, like information about memory, network activity, and uptime. If these metrics appear in your tenant, that means the Collector started up successfully.

After you install the CXDOT Collector, the Collector uses the Host and Windows integrations to collect operating system metrics from your Windows host. Configure these integrations to customize or disable their behavior.

​

Upgrade

To upgrade the CXDOT Collector to a new version, follow these steps:

1. Stop any active Collector processes.
2. Run the same command that you used to install the Collector:
   $CxdotCollectorVersion = "VALUE"
   $EncodedVersion = [Uri]::EscapeDataString($CxdotCollectorVersion)
   $InstallerUrl = "https://artifactregistry.googleapis.com/download/v1/projects/chronosphereio/locations/us/repositories/release-binaries/files/cxdot-collector%3A$EncodedVersion%3Acxdot-collector-install.ps1:download?alt=media"
   $InstallDir = "DIRECTORY"
   
   $Installer = (Invoke-WebRequest -UseBasicParsing -Uri $InstallerUrl).Content
   & ([ScriptBlock]::Create($Installer)) -InstallDir $InstallDir
   
   Replace the following values:
   • VALUE: The new version of the CXDOT Collector to use (for example, 1.4.0+otel-0.157.0).
   • DIRECTORY: The directory where you originally installed the CXDOT Collector.