Adding Devices to 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:

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.

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.