Quick Start: Avast Business On-Premise Console

This Article Applies to:

Avast Business On-Premise Console

Avast Business offers two different management consoles: Business Hub (recommended) and On-Premise Console. The Hub is hosted and maintained by Avast and can be accessed from anywhere, whereas the On-Premise Console is installed and maintained by the administrator.

To learn more about Avast Business Management Consoles and differences between them, see Hub vs. On-Premise Console.

With the Avast Business On-Premise Console, adding critical protection to every PC, Mac, and server has never been easier. Flexible management provides the most convenient way to protect businesses. The On-Premise Console provides:

Complete control over the behavior of Antivirus on endpoint devices
Centralized management of multiple devices, situated locally
A complete overview of the current status of entire environment with immediate alerts
Automatic and seamless updates

The On-Premise Console integrates seamlessly with Antivirus to:

Leverage virtualization to protect confidential information
Protect multiple platforms - PCs, Macs, and servers
Update to the latest version automatically or manually
Add extra firewall protection for remote endpoints
Provide complete server protection
Secure your e-mail client

When you install Avast Business products on devices through the On-Premise Console, you can control those products remotely. This means you can change and apply settings to each device individually, without having to visit each device or recall them from the field.

Verifying System Requirements

Before setting up your On-Premise Console or installing Antivirus on end devices, make sure all System Requirements are met.

Verifying Firewall Requirements

For overall functionality, and to enable the Antivirus clients and/or the Management Consoles to authenticate/update, you must allow certain ports and URL addresses through your Firewall or Proxy Server. For more information, refer to the Firewall Requirements article.

Setting Up Your Console

Navigate to https://www.avast.com/installation-files
Under the Business tab, click on one of the following to download:
- Console Installer for Windows (recommended for Microsoft Windows Server operating systems)
- Console Image for Docker (recommended for all other server operating systems, such as macOS or Linux)
Follow the installation process for your operating system as detailed in:

Managing Subscriptions

Activating Subscriptions

The first time you access your On-Premise Console, you will need to enter your activation code when prompted so that the subscription you purchased can be activated. For more information on how to perform subscription activation, see Activating Subscriptions.

Viewing and Altering Subscriptions

In your On-Premise Console, you can easily check information such as which subscriptions are active, when they expire, or how many devices they are assigned to. You can also see how many seats are available (unassigned) so you can buy additional ones in time or free up some of the used ones. Read the Viewing and Altering Subscriptions article for a more detailed overview.

Adding Users

You can add desired users to your On-Premise Console as administrators or viewers. For more details on how to invite and manage console users, see Managing Users.

Configuring Settings and Policies

The main way you manage your devices is through policies, which are groups of security rules that determine how Avast Business products work on the endpoints. Any changes to a policy are applied to the devices and groups the policy is assigned to. For more information, see Managing Policies.

Configuring Components

Via the policies, you will be able to enable/disable various Antivirus components and customize their settings straight from your Avast Business Management Console. To see which components are included in each subscription type and how to configure and manage them, refer to the Component Overview article.

Note that a business environment's needs differ from those of consumers. Therefore, certain components are not recommended for use in such a network even though they are available. To see which components you should avoid, go to Recommended Components for Servers and Workstations.

Configuring Exclusions

The policies also offer the option of excluding specified files, folders, or websites from being scanned by Antivirus (usually done to speed up scans and prevent false-positive detections). To add and configure standard and component-specific antivirus exclusions, see Configuring Antivirus Exclusions.

Configuring Updates

In your policy settings, you can set your devices to manually or automatically update the Antivirus program and virus definitions. For detailed instructions, go to Configuring Virus Definitions and Antivirus Program Updates.

Adding Devices

After setting up your Avast account, creating your company profile, and configuring your settings and policies, you need to add your devices to your network in order to keep them protected from threats and manage their security straight from your Avast Business Management Console. For instructions on how to bring desired devices into your network (including the steps to share the installer download link or deploy the installer remotely), see Adding Devices to On-Premise Console.

Assigning Policies to Devices

Once you add desired devices to your network, you can assign a policy to an individual device or a group of devices. For detailed instructions, see Changing Devices' Assigned Policy.

To create a device group first if needed, refer to Managing Device Groups.

Assigning Subscriptions to Devices

To assign activated subscriptions to your previously added endpoint devices, follow the steps described in Managing Subscriptions.

Installing Antivirus on End Devices

Once you have sent the installer file or download link from the Avast Business Management Console to desired end devices, you will need to install Antivirus on those devices. The quick and simple installation process is described in Installing Managed Antivirus.

Setting Up Update/Master Agents

You can set up devices to act as Update/Master Agents for other devices. These Agents store identical copies of update files that reside on Avast's update servers, which means that other devices managed via the console can download update files from the Agents instead of contacting the Avast Update Servers. They can also act as Local Update Servers for Program and Virus Definition updates.

To find out how to set up devices as Update Agents or Local Update Servers, refer to the Setting Up Master Agents and Local Update Servers article.

Performing Tasks

Avast Business On-Premise Console offers the possibility of creating several types of tasks that can be propagated across your network or applied to specific devices only. Via these tasks, you can:

Scan devices (see Scanning Devices)
Update devices (see Updating Antivirus Program and Virus Definitions)
Shutdown/restart devices (see Shutting Down and Restarting Devices)
Send messages to devices (see Sending Messages to Devices)

To learn how to manage tasks in the console, see Managing Tasks.

Setting Up Antivirus Scans

The above mentioned device scans are a key component to the protection of your devices. The more often you perform scans, the more likely you will catch malicious threats before they do damage to your devices and networks. To see which scan types are available in the On-Premise Console and how to set them up, go to Configuring Files and Programs Scanned by Antivirus.

There are many more features and options available in Avast Business On-Premise Console. For more information, please see the rest of our Knowledge Base.