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Adding Devices to On-Premise Console

This Article Applies to:

  • Avast Business On-Premise Console

 

After setting up your Avast account and creating your company profile, you can start adding devices to the On-Premise Console so you can easily manage them directly from the console. Devices are added to the console during the Business Agent setup on the endpoints using one of the available installation methods.

The Business Agent is the endpoint agent deployed in order to manage the devices and the installed services. It is responsible for the communication with the console, deployment of the services, and synchronization of statuses/settings.

Antivirus Deployment Options

To add devices to your network, on the Dashboard or the Devices page of your console click Download Installer. Choose from one of three options for deploying Antivirus to devices on your network:

  • Downloaded installer
  • Download link via email
  • Remote Deployment

Downloading Installer

  1. Select which type of installer you need:
    • Windows .exe (for workstations and servers)
    • Windows .msi (for deployment using GPO)
    • macOS .dmg
  2. Select the subscription products
  3. Click Advanced Settings to access the following configuration options:
    • Choose the group and the policy the device will use
      1. If desired, you can activate your devices and select the subscriptions to use after installation by checking the box with that option.
    • Choose whether to automatically remove competitive antivirus products on the device
      1. The option to remove competitive antivirus products is checked by default. We recommend that you leave this option checked when installing the Antivirus service. 
    • Select the installer size (Light vs Full)
      1. If you select Light, the other services will be downloaded upon installation of the Antivirus agent. This option is not recommended if you are installing Antivirus on multiple devices at the same, as each machine will individually contact Avast servers to download the other services. 
  4. Ensure you have defined the correct Proxy Server, if any, in the policy you are applying to the device
  5. Click Download now and specify where to save the installation package–such as on a flash drive or network drive

Adding Clients from Offline Console

  1. Download the installer (avast_business_agent_setup.zip) as usual following the above guidelines
  2. Unzip the folder and run avast_setup.bat on the end devices
  3. When prompted after installation, restart the device

Sending Download Link via Email

Before you can send download links from the On-Premise Console, you will need to define your SMTP server. See Configuring Your SMTP Server.

  1. Enter the email addresses for the target users in the Send To box, separated by commas
  2. If desired, alter the Subject line of the email that will be sent
  3. To configure the message you send in the email, check Include your custom message and type a message in the space provided
  4. Select the subscription products
  5. Click Advanced Settings to view the following options
  6. Choose the Group and Policy the device will use
    1. If desired, you can activate your devices and select the subscriptions to use after installation by checking the box with that option.
  7. Choose whether to automatically remove conflicting antivirus products on the device
    1. The option to remove competitive antivirus products is checked by default. We recommend that you leave this option checked when installing the Antivirus service. 
  8. Select the installer size (Light vs Full)
    1. If you select Light, the other services will be downloaded upon installation of the Antivirus agent. This option is not recommended if you are installing Antivirus on multiple devices at the same, as each machine will individually contact Avast servers to download the other services. 
  9. Ensure you have defined the correct Proxy Server, if any, in the settings template you are applying to the device
  10. Click Send

Deploying Installers Remotely (Remote Deployment)

The Remote Deployment option is only available after you have added at least one device to your network using another install method. You must also designate a Master Agent (see Setting Up Master Agents). Thus, it is best if the first device you add to your network is the device you will use as the Master Agent. 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.

To automatically deploy Antivirus to multiple devices remotely, you must have:

  • On-Premise Console 6.0 or higher
  • Antivirus 18.6 or higher
  • At least one device installed and activated
  • A working Master Agent
  • File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks enabled
  • A Microsoft Windows operating system supported by Active Directory
  • Valid Credentials for Active Directory with Administrator rights
  • All necessary ports open (7074)

Deployment

Before attempting deployment, refer to the Remote Deployment Requirements section of the System Requirements page to verify the recommended settings are in place.

IMPORTANT: If any devices in your network are running legacy OS (e.g. Windows XP, Vista, 2003, or 2008 SP2) and you attempt remote deployment with those devices included, the deployment will fail for all devices selected. Therefore, please ensure you do not select and attempt deployment to devices with legacy OS installed.

For devices that are not connected to Active Directory, you will need to change restrictions on remote UAC (User Account Control): open Windows Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System, then add/edit the DWORD value "LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy", setting it to 1. For more information, see Microsoft’s article on UAC remote restrictions.

  1. Click Begin Deployment Process
    • If you do not have a Master Agent available, click Add new Master Agent and follow the process for setting up a Master Agent (see Setting Up Master Agents).
    • If you do have a Master Agent or Agents available, select the one you would like to use
  2. In the Active Directory Credentials section, enter the following information:
    • Domain
    • Username
    • Password
  3. Click Scan your network and wait until the device detection process is complete
  1. In the Active Directory Groups section, navigate to a folder that contains unprotected devices and select the check boxes next to the devices you would like to deploy to
  2. Click Define installer settings
  3. In the Select a license section, choose one of your available Antivirus subscriptions
  4. In the Deploy to a group in Avast Business Console section, do any of the following:
    • Select a group
    • Select Copy Active Directory group structure into the selected group in order to use your Active Directory’s existing group structure
    • Select a policy
  5. Choose whether to automatically remove conflicting antivirus programs on the device
  6. Click Start deployment to devices
    • Wait while Antivirus is deployed to devices. You can navigate to other pages during this process and use the Remote Deployment button on the navigation menu to return and view the progress of your Remote Deployment.
  7. Click Finish Remote Deployment

Once you have downloaded the installer file from your console to a desired device, you can proceed to install the Business Agent and any included services by following the instructions provided in Installing Managed Antivirus.

 

Other Articles In This Section:

Removing Devices From On-Premise Console

Installing Managed Antivirus

Command-Line Installation Parameters

Deploying on macOS With Jamf

Deploying on Windows Using Group Policy Object

Device Cloning

Related Articles:

Installing Avast Agent on Deprecated Windows Systems

Migrating On-Premise Console to Business Hub

Managing Subscriptions