Setting up Octopus Tentacle on Windows Server 2012/2016 Core

For this tutorial I will be setting up Octopus Tentacle in a container running Server 2016 Core.

Let's firstly create our container with:

docker run -it --cpus 2 --memory 4G --network=<network-id> --name windowscore -h <your-hostname> microsoft/windowsservercore cmd.exe

Ensure that your computer name is correct and setup in DNS - so both Octopus and the server running the Tentacle can communicate with each other.

and for the purposes of this tutorial we will use a static IP and also join to to our domain with Powershell:

Get-NetIPInterface | FL # grab the relevant interface ID from here

Ensure DHCP is disabled on the NIC:

Set-NetIPInterface -InterfaceIndex 22 -DHCP Disabled

and assign a static IP address with:

New-NetIPAddress -InterfaceIndex 22 -IPAddress 10.11.12.13 -PrefixLength 24
Remove-NetRoute -InterfaceIndex 22 -DestinationPrefix 0.0.0.0/0
New-NetRoute -DestinationPrefix 0.0.0.0/0 -InterfaceIndex 22 -NextHop 10.11.12.1

and then DNS servers:

Set-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceIndex 22 -ServerAddresses {10.1.2.3, 10.3.2.1}

and join to the domain with:

$domain = "myDomain"
$password = "myPassword!" | ConvertTo-SecureString -asPlainText -Force
$username = "$domain\myUserAccount"
$credential = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential($username,$password)
Add-Computer -DomainName $domain -Credential $credential

and finally reboot the host:

shutdown -t 0
docker start <your-container>
docker attach <your-container>

Let's firstly get into powershell and download the latest version of Octopus tentacle:

powershell.exe
mkdir C:\temp
cd C:\temp
Start-BitsTransfer -Source https://download.octopusdeploy.com/octopus/Octopus.Tentacle.3.15.1-x64.msi -Destination C:\temp

and then perform a quite installation of it:

msiexec /i Octopus.Tentacle.3.15.1-x64.msi /quiet

We now need to configure the tentacle - so let's firstly create a new instance:

exit # exit out of powershell as service installation fails otherwise
cd "C:\Program Files\Octopus Deploy\Tentacle"
tentacle.exe create-instance --instance "Tentacle" --config "C:\Octopus\Tentacle.config" --console

and generate a new certificate for it:

tentacle.exe new-certificate --instance "Tentacle" --if-blank --console
tentacle.exe configure --instance "Tentacle" --reset-trust --console

and create the listener:

Tentacle.exe configure --instance "Tentacle" --home "C:\Octopus" --app "C:\Octopus\Applications" --port "10933" --console

add your Octopus Deploy server footprint in:

Tentacle.exe configure --instance "Tentacle" --trust "YOUR_OCTOPUS_THUMBPRINT" --console

Sort out the firewall exception:

"netsh" advfirewall firewall add rule "name=Octopus Deploy Tentacle" dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=10933

Finally register the tentacle with the Octopus Deploy server:

Tentacle.exe register-with --instance "Tentacle" --server "http://YOUR_OCTOPUS" --apiKey="API-YOUR_API_KEY" --role "web-server" --environment "staging" --comms-style TentaclePassive --console

Note: You will likely need to generate an API key - this can be generated from the Octopus web interface, clicking on your username >> Profile and then hitting the API tab.

and install / start the service with:

Tentacle.exe service --instance "Tentacle" --install --start --console

We can now verify this with:

sc query "OctopusDeploy Tentacle"