NXLog User Guide

131. MSI for NXLog Agent Setup

This add-on can be downloaded from the nxlog-public/contrib repository according the license and terms specified there.

This add-on provides an example for building an MSI package which can be used to bootstrap an NXLog agent on a Windows system. Normally this would be used to set up the agent for management by NXLog Manager—it installs a custom configuration and a CA certificate. The package can be installed alongside the NXLog MSI.

The Windows Installer XML Toolset (Wix) is required to build the custom MSI. Wix is free software available for download from wixtoolset.org.
Install Wix. Make a note where the binary folder of Wix is located (containing the candle.exe and light.exe executables, typically C:\Program Files (x86)\WiX Toolset v3.11\bin).
Save the add-on files in a folder of your choosing and make sure the path to the binary folder is correct in the pkgmsi32.bat (or pkgmsi64.bat) script by editing the WIX_BUILD_LOCATION variable.
Add the custom agent-ca.pem and log4ensics.conf files in the folder.
The files to be deployed can be customized by editing nxlog-conf.wxs.
Finally, execute either the pkgmsi32.bat or the pkgmsi64.bat script, depending on the targeted architecture. While both the resulting MSIs include platform independent files, we strongly advise to build and install the appropriate custom configuration MSI that matches the NXLog installation.
The script will proceed to build the MSI. Depending on the architecture selected, the result will be either nxlog-conf_x86.msi or nxlog-conf_x64.msi.
The custom configuration MSI can now be deployed alongside the NXLog installer, using one the same methods (interactively, with Msiexec, or via Group Policy).