How to Install SSL on the ServiceOps Poller

Secure your ServiceOps Poller and protect all monitoring data in transit by enabling HTTPS with a valid SSL certificate.

This guide walks you through installing an SSL certificate on the Motadata ServiceOps Poller. The configuration approach is identical on Windows and Linux. The only difference is the path syntax used in appsettings.json and the service restart command.

Prerequisites

Requirement	Description
SSL Certificate	A valid certificate file with the .crt extension.
Private Key	The matching private key file with the .key extension.
Admin Access	Local administrator rights on Windows, or root/sudo access on Linux.
Poller Installed	The Motadata ServiceOps Poller must be installed and running before you configure SSL.

How It Works

The poller reads the certificate and key file paths from appsettings.json at startup. By default, the CertificateFilePath and KeyFilePath keys carry a leading underscore (_), which disables them. To activate SSL, you remove the underscore from both keys, supply the file paths, and restart the poller service.

The poller automatically serves HTTPS on the port that is one higher than the configured HTTP port. If the HTTP port is 8080, HTTPS runs on 8081. If the HTTP port is 8090, HTTPS runs on 8091.

Poller Port Logic

HTTP port + 1 = HTTPS port. This applies to both Windows and Linux pollers. Confirm your configured HTTP port in appsettings.json before verifying the HTTPS port.

Windows

Step 1: Place the SSL Files on the Local Disk

Copy your certificate and key files to a local folder on the poller machine.

1. Create the directory C:\NEWFILE\ if it does not already exist.
2. Copy your .crt file into C:\NEWFILE\.
3. Copy your .key file into C:\NEWFILE\.

Use a Local Directory

Do not place the certificate and key files on a shared or network drive. The poller service must read them locally at all times. A network path that becomes unavailable will prevent the poller from starting.

Step 2: Navigate to the Poller Installation Directory

Open the directory where the Motadata Poller is installed on the Windows machine. This folder contains the appsettings.json file.

Step 3: Open appsettings.json

Open appsettings.json in a text editor with administrator privileges (for example, Notepad++).

The default file contains entries that look like this:

{
  "ServerIp": "",
  "_CertificateFilePath": "",
  "_KeyFilePath": ""
}

Note that _CertificateFilePath and _KeyFilePath are prefixed with an underscore. The underscore acts as a placeholder or comment, which means the property is currently inactive. The poller ignores it until the underscore is removed.

Step 4: Update the Configuration

Make the following edits to appsettings.json:

1. Set ServerIp to the IP address of the poller machine.
2. Remove the leading _ from _CertificateFilePath so it reads CertificateFilePath.
3. Remove the leading _ from _KeyFilePath so it reads KeyFilePath.
4. Enter the full path to your .crt file as the value for CertificateFilePath. Use double backslashes as path separators.
5. Enter the full path to your .key file as the value for KeyFilePath. Use double backslashes as path separators.

After your edits, the file should look like this:

{
  "ServerIp": "192.168.1.100",
  "CertificateFilePath": "C:\\NEWFILE\\STAR.crt",
  "KeyFilePath": "C:\\NEWFILE\\STAR.key"
}

6. Save the file.

Step 5: Restart the Poller Service

1. Open Services (services.msc).
2. Locate the Motadata Poller service in the list.
3. Right-click the service and select Restart.

The poller now serves HTTPS on the port that is one higher than the configured HTTP port (for example, port 8081 if the HTTP port is 8080).

Verify the SSL Installation on Windows

Open a Command Prompt with administrator privileges and run the following commands. Replace 8080 and 8081 with your actual HTTP and HTTPS ports.

Check the HTTP port:

netstat -ano | findstr :8080

Check the HTTPS port:

netstat -ano | findstr :8081

Both commands must return at least one row with the state LISTENING. Cross-check the PID with the poller service using:

tasklist /FI "PID eq <pid>"

Linux

Step 1: Place the SSL Files on the Local Filesystem

Copy your certificate and key files to a directory on the poller machine's local filesystem.

1. Create a directory for the certificate files, for example /root/ssl/.
2. Copy your .crt file into that directory.
3. Copy your .key file into that directory.
4. Confirm the user account that runs the poller service has read access to both files.

Step 2: Navigate to the Poller Installation Directory

cd /opt/MotadataPoller/

Step 3: Edit appsettings.json

Open appsettings.json in a text editor:

sudo nano appsettings.json

The default file contains entries that look like this:

{
  "ServerIp": "",
  "_CertificateFilePath": "",
  "_KeyFilePath": ""
}

Step 4: Update the Configuration

Make the following edits:

1. Set ServerIp to the IP address of the Linux poller machine.
2. Remove the leading _ from _CertificateFilePath so it reads CertificateFilePath.
3. Remove the leading _ from _KeyFilePath so it reads KeyFilePath.
4. Enter the full path to your .crt file as the value for CertificateFilePath. Use single forward slashes as path separators.
5. Enter the full path to your .key file as the value for KeyFilePath. Use single forward slashes as path separators.

After your edits, the file should look like this:

{
  "ServerIp": "192.168.1.200",
  "CertificateFilePath": "/root/ssl/STAR.crt",
  "KeyFilePath": "/root/ssl/STAR.key"
}

6. Save the file.

Step 5: Restart the Poller Service

sudo systemctl restart ft-poller-server

The poller now serves HTTPS on the port that is one higher than the configured HTTP port (for example, port 8091 if the HTTP port is 8090).

Verify the SSL Installation on Linux

On the Linux poller, log in as root user (or use sudo) and confirm that the poller is listening on both ports. Replace 8090 and 8091 with your actual HTTP and HTTPS ports.

Check both ports using ss (recommended):

ss -tulpn | grep -E ':8090|:8091'

Or use netstat:

netstat -tulpn | grep -E ':8090|:8091'

Both commands must return two entries, one for the HTTP port and one for the HTTPS port, with the process name pointing to the poller binary.

Confirm the poller service is active:

systemctl status ft-poller-server

The service must show active (running).

Troubleshooting

The HTTPS port is not in the LISTENING or active state after restart

Re-open appsettings.json and confirm that the leading underscore is removed from both CertificateFilePath and KeyFilePath, the file paths point to the actual certificate and key files, and the path separator style matches the OS (double backslashes on Windows, single forward slashes on Linux). Save the file and restart the poller service, then run the verification commands again.

The poller service fails to start after the configuration change

The certificate path or key path is incorrect, or the poller service account cannot read the files. Confirm the files exist at the specified paths and that the service account has read permissions. On Linux, run journalctl -u ft-poller-server --no-pager -n 50 to view the error details.

`ServerIp` was not updated

The poller may bind to the wrong interface. Set ServerIp to the actual IP address of the poller machine, save appsettings.json, and restart the service.

Quick Reference

Item	Windows Poller	Linux Poller
Installation directory	Default Windows poller install path	/opt/MotadataPoller/
Default HTTP port	8080	8090
HTTPS port	HTTP port + 1 (e.g., 8081)	HTTP port + 1 (e.g., 8091)
Path separator in JSON	Double backslash \\	Single forward slash /
Example certificate path	C:\\NEWFILE\\STAR.crt	/root/ssl/STAR.crt
Activate cert keys	Remove leading _ from _CertificateFilePath and _KeyFilePath	Remove leading _ from _CertificateFilePath and _KeyFilePath
Restart service	Services (services.msc) > Motadata Poller > Restart	sudo systemctl restart ft-poller-server

Related Topics

• How to Install SSL on the File Server
• How to Configure SSL Between the Application and PostgreSQL Database Server
• How to Enable HTTPS