Agents

Overview

The Copia Agent is a small client-side application that enables DeviceLink to back up the code running on customer Devices to Copia's Git-Based Source Control product.

NOTE: Agents currently have a 1GB (zipped) limit on the data it can transfer to the Copia server for a given Job.

Creating an Agent

To create a new Agent, navigate to your Site and select the Agents tab. Click either of the Add an Agent buttons.

Fill out the Agent Name and Agent Description fields. You may want to add the PC name (or FQDN) of the Agent for later reference. Click on the Create Agent button.

You new Agent show show in a setup state, displaying a 4-digit Agent Code and instructions to download the Copia Agent.

Click on the download link and install the Copia Agent (ideally with Administrator privileges) onto the PC you plan to use for backups. If you were already signed in to Copia through your browser, Copia will recognize that connection and launch you into the Copia Agent. Otherwise, you may need to first sign in to your Copia account. Enter the 4 digit Agent Code from the previous step and press the Enter Code button to register the Agent.

Your Agent should show in a "Connected" state and display the Agent Code you just entered.

When installed, a task is created in the Windows Task Scheduler to check and restart the Agent in case it is not running. This is to prevent backups from failing. If you would like to disable the Agent for a period of time, this task should be disabled.

If you navigate back to the Copia Web App and refresh the page, you should see the Agent status update as an "Active" green chip. The Agent Code should also display in the top right of the Agent card, followed by the Agent version underneath.

There are 3 possible status types for an Agent -- each of which are shown as a chip within the Agent card:

Agent Status	Description
⚪ Setting Up	Copia server is waiting for the Agent to link to the local machine
🟢 Active	Agent is connected to the Copia server
🔴 Disconnected	Agent is unable to communicate with the Copia server

An Agent might become disconnected for a variety of reasons. The Agent could be blocked by IT restrictions (firewall, port, etc), or the Agent might not be actively running. One other possibility is that the Agent is no longer logged in to Copia. Agent connectivity issues will likely impact Projects and Jobs that are associated with the problematic Agent.

Linking an Agent to a Project

Your final step is to connect the Agent to the Project so that when you initialize a backup of a Project the system knows which Agent to utilize.

If an Agent was created before Project setup, you could also link the Agent at the end of the Project setup flow.

Navigate back to the Project tab and find the Project you want to link to your new Agent. Click on the card's caret and select the Edit Project option.

Assign the Agent to your Project using the Supporting Agent dropdown.

Press the Save Changes button after making your selection.

The selected Agent will now be used to perform any backups for the Project. The Agent will automatically check for updates and self-install when applicable or available.

The status color on the left of the Project card shows if the Agent is online and able to perform a backup.