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Version: 0.18.9

Deploy the GX Agent

To use GX Cloud features and functionality, you need to deploy the GX Agent. The GX Agent is an intermediary between GX Cloud and your organization's data stores. GX Cloud does not connect directly to your data, all data access occurs within the GX Agent. GX Cloud sends jobs to the GX Agent, the GX Agent executes these jobs against your data, and then sends the job results to GX Cloud.

To test GX Cloud, you use a self-hosted deployment to run the GX Agent with Docker, connect the GX Agent to your target Data Sources, and use the GX Cloud web UI to define your Data Assets, create Expectations, and run Validations. When you've finished testing GX Cloud, you move to an org-hosted deployment and deploy the GX Agent to your organization's development, staging, or production cloud services environment. The GX Agent serves all GX Cloud users within your organization. It can be run as part of your development or production workflows. To learn more about the GX Agent and deployment patterns, see About GX Cloud.

Prerequisites

Get your access token and organization ID

You need your access token and organization ID to deploy the GX Agent. Access tokens shouldn't be committed to version control software.

If you've used GX Cloud previously, you have your access token and organization ID, and you need to restart the GX Agent, see Deploy the GX Agent.

  1. Sign in to GX Cloud.

  2. Complete the survey and then click Continue to GX Cloud.

  3. Copy and then paste the Access token and Organization ID values into a temporary file. You'll need them to deploy the GX Agent.

  4. Click Deploy the GX Agent and deploy the GX Agent.

Deploy the GX Agent

The GX Agent allows you to securely access your data without connecting to it or interacting with it directly. To learn more about the GX Agent and deployment patterns, see About GX Cloud.

Prerequisites

You can deploy the GX Agent container in any deployment environment where you can run Docker container images.

To learn how to deploy a Docker container image in a specific environment, see the following documentation:

You can deploy the GX Agent in any environment in which you create Kubernetes clusters. For example:

  1. Download the GX Agent Docker container image from Docker Hub.

  2. After configuring your cloud service to run Docker containers, run the following Docker command to start the GX Agent:

    Terminal input
    docker run -it \
    -e GX_CLOUD_ACCESS_TOKEN= YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN \
    -e GX_CLOUD_ORGANIZATION_ID= YOUR_ORGANIZATION_ID \
    greatexpectations/agent:latest

    Replace YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN and YOUR_ORGANIZATION_ID with the values you copied previously.

  3. Optional. If you created a temporary file to record your user access token and Organization ID, delete it.

  4. Optional. Run the following command to use the GX Agent image as the base image and optionally add custom commands:

    Terminal input
    FROM greatexpectations/agent
    RUN echo "custom_commands"
  5. Optional. Run the following command to rebuild the Docker image:

    Terminal input
    docker build -t myorg/agent
  6. Optional. Run docker ps or open Docker Desktop to confirm the agent is running.

Next steps

Want to continue testing GX Cloud features and functionality?

Ready to connect GX Cloud to your deployment environment?