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Adding Devices to CloudCare

This Article Applies to:

  • Avast Business CloudCare

 

To add devices to your network, log in to the CloudCare portal. On the Dashboard page, click Add: Device. Choose from one of three options for deploying CloudCare to devices on your network. Partners can add devices on behalf of their customers; these devices will then show up in the company's CloudCare portal for management by the admin(s) of that company.

Adding Devices from the Portal

Installation Package

This option allows you to create an installation package that can be downloaded to removable media—which must be provided to the computer users or installed through Active Directory.

  1. In the Dashboard tab, click Add: Device and select Installation Package
    • Partners must select a customer in the Customer Drop-down Menu before performing this step
  2. Select installation package options:
    • Installer Type: choose between Windows .exe for manual installation, Windows .msi for deployment via GPO, or macOS .dmg.
      • For Windows .exe, you can select Allow Silent Install as an additional option
    • Installer Size Light: choose to create an installer package with only the CloudCare Agent for a smaller download. The other selected services will be downloaded upon installation of the agent
      • This option is not recommended if you are installing CloudCare on multiple devices at the same time, as each machine will individually contact Avast servers to download the other services
    • Installer Size Full: choose whether you would like the chosen services to be included in the installation package
  3. Select which policy the added devices will be using
  4. Check each service to install and select whether to activate using a 30-day trial or a paid subscription plan
  5. Click Download and specify where to save the installation package—such as on a CD, flash drive, or on the network

Email Invitation

When deploying clients using this option, users receive an email message that contains a link to download and install the client software.

  1. In the Dashboard tab, click Add: Device and select Email Invitation
    1. Partners must select a customer in the Customer Drop-down Menu before performing this step
  2. Check each service to install and select whether to activate using a 30-day trial or a paid subscription plan
  3. Select which policy the added devices will be using
  4. Click Send Email Invitation or Generate Link 
    • If sending an email invitation through CloudCare, enter the email addresses in the space provided then click Send Email. To specify multiple email recipients, type a comma after each email address. Optionally, you can edit the email content or use the default message provided
    • To send a link from your email client, click Generate Link

To view the status of sent invitations, generate an Email Device Deployment report by navigating to Reports ▸ Generate Reports ▸ Operational.

Remote Deployment

The remote deployment option is only available after you have added at least one device to the network using another install method, and can only be used on Windows devices. Below is a summary of the remote deployment process:

The device detection process uses Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) to ping all IP addresses within the subnet in order to get their MAC address. This process can take up to 15 minutes, possibly longer depending on the network. If a response is received with a MAC address, a reverse DNS lookup occurs to get the host name for the IP. If a host name is received, a device record is created and stored in a list—which is transmitted to the web service when detection is complete. Once the initial authentication is completed, the process will scan for host devices periodically and compare it to the list already stored. From this point on, the process will only add new host devices and will not delete any.

During remote deployment, a list of administrator credentials—e.g., YOUR_DOMAIN\user_name and password—are passed to the remote deployment process until one successfully provides access to the target computer. If none of the credentials work, the process will quit and return an error message. The client waits for changes made to the devices/login tables to see if anything is marked for deployment—based upon the host computer’s MAC address.

  1. Before attempting deployment, please ensure all Remote Deployment CloudCare System Requirements and Firewall Requirements are met
  2. Set up your Scanning Agent
  3. From the Dashboard tab, click Add: Device and select the Remote Deployment option
    • Partners must select a customer in the Customer Drop-down Menu before performing this step
  4. Choose which services you would like to install on the target device(s)
  5. Select the policy to have assigned to the newly installed device(s)
  6. Select devices for Remote Deployment. The Scanned Devices list contains all WANs and devices detected by the CloudCare agent
  7. Provide Domain Credentials and add the names and passwords of all possible network administrators to the list of accounts
  8. When using administrator credentials that are part of the domain, you must include the domain in the user name field of the remote deployment wizard—e.g., DOMAIN_NAME\username
  9. Click Deploy & Close to complete the device deployment process

To view the status of remote installs, generate a Remote Device Deployment report by navigating to Reports > Generate Reports > Operational.

During installation, you are asked to choose the services to be included with the installation, i.e., Essential/Premium/Ultimate Business Security, Firewall, Content Filtering, Premium Remote Control and Cloud Backup. The Antivirus and Content Filtering services are subscription based services, payable monthly, yearly, or every 24 or 36 months. Cloud Backup is currently only available to partners and partner-managed accounts for monthly billing periods. The Premium Remote Control service is included with your subscription at no additional cost.

The option to remove competitive Antivirus products is checked by default. We recommend that you leave this option checked if installing the Antivirus service.

Installing on the End Device

For the Installation Script and Email Link options, CloudCare Antivirus will still need to be installed on the end device(s).

  1. Copy the installer file to a location accessible by the end device
  2. Double-click on the installer file to run it
  3. If asked to allow the application to make changes to your device, click Yes
  4. Wait while Antivirus is installed on the device
  5. When prompted, restart the device
  6. The device should now be visible in your CloudCare Portal

Client Tray Icon

Unless you selected a policy that hides the tray icon on the end device(s), your network devices will display the Avast logo in the computer tray near the date and time.

The Avast system tray icon indicates the current status of your CloudCare software and displays informative pop-ups regarding the program, such as an automatic scan launching. You can use the icon as a shortcut to log in to the CloudCare Portal. Other actions that can be performed using the icon's right-click menu are:

  • Open Local User Interface: opens Avast local client interface
  • Support Information: displays partner's contact information for support
  • Premium Remote Control: opens the Premium Remote Control console
  • Cloud Backup: opens the Cloud Backup console
  • Avast Business CloudCare Web: opens the default browser to the CloudCare login page
  • End User License Agreement: displays a copy of the Avast license agreement
  • About: displays the program name, version, and copyright information
  • Exit: closes the system tray icon

The Exit option does not stop the service from running—it only removes the icon from the system tray. To add the icon back to the system tray, go to Start > Programs > CloudCare > Show Tray Icon.

 

Other Articles In This Section:

Removing Devices From CloudCare

Command-Line Installation Parameters

Device Cloning

Understanding Updates and Reboots

CloudCare Services EoL

Related Articles:

CloudCare System Requirements

Firewall Requirements

Configuring Virus Definitions and Antivirus Updates

Installing Avast Agent on Deprecated Windows Systems