Jump to content

Not happy with ERA 6


Recommended Posts

The ERA v6 OVA is not well designed. So far, we have "attempted" to deploy it at several clients. The product is very unpredictable, has no auto-update task feature, and is otherwise very slow and clunky. This product is really alpha software, not ready for deployment. Also, have you noticed that support is inundated with calls in the past several months? This is because this product is poorly documented and requires significant guesswork to deploy.

 

If I had to describe to someone what's new in latest ERA I would use these words.

They said two major releases until end of year, so all we can do is wait and see...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I work in a company with more than 6k installed ESET. This a big step back for ERA. In my experience, some interfaces should never go to WEB. It's like comparing checkpoint client to admin the firewall and the web admin interface from fortigate which lacks many features.

 

I used this thread as an exemple to ESET representatives my disapproval on the Era 6. As long as ERA 5 is supported and updated as it's clients, i will remain using ESET solution, but i am starting to look for alternatives.

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had the opposite experience with the latest version. The only thing that I needed to switch to ERA 6 is agent deployment behind proxy, which is solved with GPO install, and there is KB article for it. Once agent was set up, it was quite easy to switch all of the environment (100PCs) to newer versions, and update them to 6.1.2227 later. I must say that I really like policies, dynamic groups and tasks - I only had to update the task which was assigned to dynamic group to install the newer version of ESS, and all the stations got the upgrade automatically, and the policies were applied seamlessly - product activation was defined for a dymanic group which has "product not activated" problem. I must say that I consider this a huge improvement over the Windows version of ERA.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrators

This a big step back for ERA. In my experience, some interfaces should never go to WEB.

 

Please be more specific as to what issues you've run into while deploying ERA v6, what features or information you lack, etc. We listen to our customers and continually improve the product and also create new KB content and videos to cover topics that our users demand. I'm positive that knowing more about your requirements will help us tailor the product to your needs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had the opposite experience with the latest version. The only thing that I needed to switch to ERA 6 is agent deployment behind proxy, which is solved with GPO install, and there is KB article for it. Once agent was set up, it was quite easy to switch all of the environment (100PCs) to newer versions, and update them to 6.1.2227 later. I must say that I really like policies, dynamic groups and tasks - I only had to update the task which was assigned to dynamic group to install the newer version of ESS, and all the stations got the upgrade automatically, and the policies were applied seamlessly - product activation was defined for a dymanic group which has "product not activated" problem. I must say that I consider this a huge improvement over the Windows version of ERA.

 

May I ask how much time do you spend in ERA interface on daily basis?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

This a big step back for ERA. In my experience, some interfaces should never go to WEB.

 

Please be more specific as to what issues you've run into while deploying ERA v6, what features or information you lack, etc. We listed to our customers and continually improve the product and also create new KB content and videos to cover topics that our users demand.

 

 

Marcos, this thread sum almost all problems that we had. Some was solved. The interface, the way you handle it in the web is not as functional as in the windows application. The only way to list all the problem is doing a video comparison, maybe for someone who never used ERA before may like version 6.

 

If you compare how easy is to create a simple einstaller.exe and deploy silently, and compere for that .bat in Era6, where the user may cancel it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For me, I actually quite like the fact that it's web based, as it means I can access it from various places - I'm not always in the office. I hope ESET follow through on their promise to make it so it works on an iPad.

 

The two biggest issues I have are:

 

1) Multiple clicks to get things done, For example, if I want to run a specific task on a computer I have to go into Admin, Client tasks, find my task, edit it, click to add target, click to add target again, find the computer, save, save etc. All of this, when I already had the computer name on the screen in front of me! Yes, I can choose a new task by clicking the computer name, but I can't choose an existing task, one that I've lovingly customised, I cna only choose to create a new task - and then I end up with dozens of single-use tasks.

 

2) Seeing old information. All the way through the console I see red boxes, orange boxes, numbers of threats, warnings about things not working etc. But when I click the computer and view the detail, all is fine. The console really should be a "this is the current status" screen, not a "this is the status of all things that have hapenned in the last few hours and which may or may not need your attention.

 

Apart from that, I like it. It's easy to use, it's responsive, and it does the job. I particularly like the policies setup - I know this existed in V5 but for V5 I always pushed out config files instead. I also really like the fact that I can support multiple customers, each with multiple clients, all from a single server.

 

Just my 2p. Overall, I really like it.

 

 

 

Jim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I had the opposite experience with the latest version. The only thing that I needed to switch to ERA 6 is agent deployment behind proxy, which is solved with GPO install, and there is KB article for it. Once agent was set up, it was quite easy to switch all of the environment (100PCs) to newer versions, and update them to 6.1.2227 later. I must say that I really like policies, dynamic groups and tasks - I only had to update the task which was assigned to dynamic group to install the newer version of ESS, and all the stations got the upgrade automatically, and the policies were applied seamlessly - product activation was defined for a dymanic group which has "product not activated" problem. I must say that I consider this a huge improvement over the Windows version of ERA.

 

May I ask how much time do you spend in ERA interface on daily basis?

 

I spent a lot of time during the transfer of the PCs on the network. I suggest you try to learn what is new in this version and adapt, instead of complaining when you do not get another Windows console. I knew I did. First, I had problems with agent deployment - solved with GPO deploy. Second, I always used preconfigured packages - now I used polices to set up every computer. Policies and tasks are really strong concept.

Edited by high1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

I had the opposite experience with the latest version. The only thing that I needed to switch to ERA 6 is agent deployment behind proxy, which is solved with GPO install, and there is KB article for it. Once agent was set up, it was quite easy to switch all of the environment (100PCs) to newer versions, and update them to 6.1.2227 later. I must say that I really like policies, dynamic groups and tasks - I only had to update the task which was assigned to dynamic group to install the newer version of ESS, and all the stations got the upgrade automatically, and the policies were applied seamlessly - product activation was defined for a dymanic group which has "product not activated" problem. I must say that I consider this a huge improvement over the Windows version of ERA.

 

May I ask how much time do you spend in ERA interface on daily basis?

 

I spent a lot of time during the transfer of the PCs on the network. I suggest you try to learn what is new in this version and adapt, instead of complaining when you do not get another Windows console. I knew I did. First, I had problems with agent deployment - solved with GPO deploy. Second, I always used preconfigured packages - now I used polices to set up every computer. Policies and tasks are really strong concept.

 

 

My thinking is that if I pay for something I have right to complain. You know, like when you pay to car mechanic for repair your car, and you notice when you drive away something is not right on car. You come back to him and complaint that he didn't fix your problem. 

 

I used to spent around 30% time of my day in ERA console for my own reasons and I don't count production deployment and test lab. I have deployed this "solution" in test lab several times on Windows and Linux platform, so I don't need lessons on "try to learn". If you tried to deploy Linux platform (and I don't talk about ERA virtual appliance) you would know how horrible and incomplete documentation is. Now I have configured syslog which informs me on threats in network, instantly and I spend less time in ERA console. But when I do, when I connect to console I know that I will get consistent information in matter of seconds. I don't have to wait for part of web page to fetch data from http server, to refresh browser page. I don't have to worry about log off (which by default can't be changed on default account, and solution to create second account just to be able to change timeout if not funny is very sad). Regarding policies and tasks, I don't know if you used previous version of ERA, but this concepts exist there. And you know that you can't export v5 policies to v6? Right? I could agree on "adapt"(accept would sound better) part of your comment, as situation stands this is the only solution to problems, people using ESET v6 product have.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

 

I had the opposite experience with the latest version. The only thing that I needed to switch to ERA 6 is agent deployment behind proxy, which is solved with GPO install, and there is KB article for it. Once agent was set up, it was quite easy to switch all of the environment (100PCs) to newer versions, and update them to 6.1.2227 later. I must say that I really like policies, dynamic groups and tasks - I only had to update the task which was assigned to dynamic group to install the newer version of ESS, and all the stations got the upgrade automatically, and the policies were applied seamlessly - product activation was defined for a dymanic group which has "product not activated" problem. I must say that I consider this a huge improvement over the Windows version of ERA.

 

May I ask how much time do you spend in ERA interface on daily basis?

 

I spent a lot of time during the transfer of the PCs on the network. I suggest you try to learn what is new in this version and adapt, instead of complaining when you do not get another Windows console. I knew I did. First, I had problems with agent deployment - solved with GPO deploy. Second, I always used preconfigured packages - now I used polices to set up every computer. Policies and tasks are really strong concept.

 

 

My thinking is that if I pay for something I have right to complain. You know, like when you pay to car mechanic for repair your car, and you notice when you drive away something is not right on car. You come back to him and complaint that he didn't fix your problem. 

 

I used to spent around 30% time of my day in ERA console for my own reasons and I don't count production deployment and test lab. I have deployed this "solution" in test lab several times on Windows and Linux platform, so I don't need lessons on "try to learn". If you tried to deploy Linux platform (and I don't talk about ERA virtual appliance) you would know how horrible and incomplete documentation is. Now I have configured syslog which informs me on threats in network, instantly and I spend less time in ERA console. But when I do, when I connect to console I know that I will get consistent information in matter of seconds. I don't have to wait for part of web page to fetch data from http server, to refresh browser page. I don't have to worry about log off (which by default can't be changed on default account, and solution to create second account just to be able to change timeout if not funny is very sad). Regarding policies and tasks, I don't know if you used previous version of ERA, but this concepts exist there. And you know that you can't export v5 policies to v6? Right? I could agree on "adapt"(accept would sound better) part of your comment, as situation stands this is the only solution to problems, people using ESET v6 product have.

 

One of the remaining problems is the old information in web interface, I guess that will be solved in next major release. Linux deployment is hard without documentation, but can be done, as it is based on Tomcat, Apache and MySQL (PostgreSQL support needed). I cant say that I know what you need on your network, but if you need instant threat information,and there are a lot of attacks, staring at the console all the time looks like a bad option.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

 

 

I had the opposite experience with the latest version. The only thing that I needed to switch to ERA 6 is agent deployment behind proxy, which is solved with GPO install, and there is KB article for it. Once agent was set up, it was quite easy to switch all of the environment (100PCs) to newer versions, and update them to 6.1.2227 later. I must say that I really like policies, dynamic groups and tasks - I only had to update the task which was assigned to dynamic group to install the newer version of ESS, and all the stations got the upgrade automatically, and the policies were applied seamlessly - product activation was defined for a dymanic group which has "product not activated" problem. I must say that I consider this a huge improvement over the Windows version of ERA.

 

May I ask how much time do you spend in ERA interface on daily basis?

 

I spent a lot of time during the transfer of the PCs on the network. I suggest you try to learn what is new in this version and adapt, instead of complaining when you do not get another Windows console. I knew I did. First, I had problems with agent deployment - solved with GPO deploy. Second, I always used preconfigured packages - now I used polices to set up every computer. Policies and tasks are really strong concept.

 

 

My thinking is that if I pay for something I have right to complain. You know, like when you pay to car mechanic for repair your car, and you notice when you drive away something is not right on car. You come back to him and complaint that he didn't fix your problem. 

 

I used to spent around 30% time of my day in ERA console for my own reasons and I don't count production deployment and test lab. I have deployed this "solution" in test lab several times on Windows and Linux platform, so I don't need lessons on "try to learn". If you tried to deploy Linux platform (and I don't talk about ERA virtual appliance) you would know how horrible and incomplete documentation is. Now I have configured syslog which informs me on threats in network, instantly and I spend less time in ERA console. But when I do, when I connect to console I know that I will get consistent information in matter of seconds. I don't have to wait for part of web page to fetch data from http server, to refresh browser page. I don't have to worry about log off (which by default can't be changed on default account, and solution to create second account just to be able to change timeout if not funny is very sad). Regarding policies and tasks, I don't know if you used previous version of ERA, but this concepts exist there. And you know that you can't export v5 policies to v6? Right? I could agree on "adapt"(accept would sound better) part of your comment, as situation stands this is the only solution to problems, people using ESET v6 product have.

 

One of the remaining problems is the old information in web interface, I guess that will be solved in next major release. Linux deployment is hard without documentation, but can be done, as it is based on Tomcat, Apache and MySQL (PostgreSQL support needed). I cant say that I know what you need on your network, but if you need instant threat information,and there are a lot of attacks, staring at the console all the time looks like a bad option.

 

 

It certainly isn't my only point of inspecting attacks. However it's one that alerts me first when there is infection or other misbehaviour on client.

I will wait for major releases, then I will do test again and report back.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Moving to Apache HTTP Server has many advantages compared to the small http server included in previous versions of ERA that couldn't serve many clients at a time. Also with the increasing number of modules used by new versions of ESET's products, the volume of update files downloaded with each update to a mirror would continue to grow.

If one needs a local mirror it can still be created by Endpoint v6.

 

Marcos, I have 900 clients and I see no critical load on our ERA 5 server. If ESET thinks that installing Apache (and permit Internet access, which may be prohibited by Security Team) is much better - ok, add Apache as additional package, but let us make a choice. Please.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Former ESET Employees

This will be fixed in new version. Apache HTTP Proxy will be installed, but configured access to ESET servers only.

Edited by Timos
Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a brand new ESET customer, I appreciate all the information in this thread. I wish I had read it a few days ago before downloading and installing the V6 ERA. Since I have yet to successfully deploy a singe agent to test, would anyone recommend that I download the V5 versions and start over?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrators

As a brand new ESET customer, I appreciate all the information in this thread. I wish I had read it a few days ago before downloading and installing the V6 ERA. Since I have yet to successfully deploy a singe agent to test, would anyone recommend that I download the V5 versions and start over?

 

It'd be great if you could create separate topics for issues you're unable to deal with so that we can help you . When you create one for the agent deployment issue, also include information if you have tried deploying Agent Live installer via GPO as this should work perfectly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Would anyone recommend that I download the V5 versions and start over?"

 

Absolutely not. V6 has a few quirks, yes, but it's very stable and very easy to use once you find your way around. There are defininite improvements to be made, espefially around threat detail visibility and rerunning of existing tasks, but it does the job. I doubt V5 will be getting any further enhancements, all effort will be going into V6, so I'd stick with v6 if I were you.

 

 

Jim (167 clients, across four licenses, managed by a single ERA6).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Would anyone recommend that I download the V5 versions and start over?"

 

Absolutely not. V6 has a few quirks, yes, but it's very stable and very easy to use once you find your way around. There are defininite improvements to be made, espefially around threat detail visibility and rerunning of existing tasks, but it does the job. I doubt V5 will be getting any further enhancements, all effort will be going into V6, so I'd stick with v6 if I were you.

 

 

Jim (167 clients, across four licenses, managed by a single ERA6).

 

Absolutely yes. V6 is not bad, it's just unfinished product.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

I am a big fan of the ESET products for several years. I am using them at home, recommending them to my friends and even convinced my boss to buy business version of ESET for the company. Unfortunately I just should agree with most people on this treat - ERA 6 is not a final product, it is not even beta. I spent approximately 4 weeks trying to make it work and I gave up.
What I did not find:
1. Clean procedure how to setup office under 100 computers with 1 server getting updates from ESET sever and distributing them to client computers in the local network
2. Clean procedure how to setup customized installation package which I can deploy to client computers. (Client computers should not download anything from the internet)
3. Clean and comprehensive documentation with practical examples, where I can follow instructions and have predictable results
4. I don't want to mess up with 3-rd parties technology like proxies and web servers. We already have them and i don't want to have multiple installations. Those just give an additional holes for intruders (may be you need different products for different size of business)
Now we are going to keep version 5 until end of the license or until you will have an acceptable product and search for an alternatives. I don't have neither time nor resources to setup a test lab and play with your alpha
 
Regards
Alex

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrators

ERA 6 is not a final product, it is not even beta. I spent approximately 4 weeks trying to make it work and I gave up.

Like in many other cases, your frustration seems to be stemming from not understanding the new concept of ERA v6.

 

What I did not find:

1. Clean procedure how to setup office under 100 computers with 1 server getting updates from ESET sever and distributing them to client computers in the local network

ERA v6 does not support creation of a local mirror. The feature was replaced by Apache HTTP Proxy which caches downloaded installers and update files. You may choose not to install it if you plan to use another http proxy or create a mirror using ESET Endpoint Antivirus, ESET Endpoint Security or another v6 ESET product, such as ESET File Security.

Let us know what you'd need to help with specifically.

 

2. Clean procedure how to setup customized installation package which I can deploy to client computers. (Client computers should not download anything from the internet)

As of ERA v6, it's not possible to create custom packages. Basically you need to:

1, Create a dynamic group that will contain computers that don't have ESET Endpoint installed (e.g. create a rule based on application's name).

2, Bind a software install task to that dynamic group that will install Endpoint (point the task to use a locally stored msi if you don't want agent to be downloaded from ESET's repository).

3, Bind an activation task to the dynamic group with non-activated clients.

4, Deploy agent on clients. You can deploy Agent Live installer through GPO for instance, with the path to the msi installer set to point to a locally stored agent msi installer.

Let us know if you need to clarify something, add some screen shots for better understanding, etc.

 

4. I don't want to mess up with 3-rd parties technology like proxies and web servers. We already have them and i don't want to have multiple installations. Those just give an additional holes for intruders (may be you need different products for different size of business)

You don't need to use Apache HTTP Proxy that is bundled in the ERA v6 all-in-one installer. You can use your existing proxy server and existing database.

 

ERA 6.2 with further improvements is going to be available within a couple of weeks so you could consider waiting with upgrade to ERA v6 until then. As always, we recommend testing ERA v6 in a testing environment first to get familiar with the new concept of how ERA v6 works.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ERA 6.2 with further improvements is going to be available within a couple of weeks so you could consider waiting with upgrade to ERA v6 until then. As always, we recommend testing ERA v6 in a testing environment first to get familiar with the new concept of how ERA v6 Works.

 

Do you have any resource as to what areas are changed / improved?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

ERA 6 is not a final product, it is not even beta. I spent approximately 4 weeks trying to make it work and I gave up.

Like in many other cases, your frustration seems to be stemming from not understanding the new concept of ERA v6.

 

What I did not find:

1. Clean procedure how to setup office under 100 computers with 1 server getting updates from ESET sever and distributing them to client computers in the local network

ERA v6 does not support creation of a local mirror. The feature was replaced by Apache HTTP Proxy which caches downloaded installers and update files. You may choose not to install it if you plan to use another http proxy or create a mirror using ESET Endpoint Antivirus, ESET Endpoint Security or another v6 ESET product, such as ESET File Security.

Let us know what you'd need to help with specifically.

 

2. Clean procedure how to setup customized installation package which I can deploy to client computers. (Client computers should not download anything from the internet)

As of ERA v6, it's not possible to create custom packages. Basically you need to:

1, Create a dynamic group that will contain computers that don't have ESET Endpoint installed (e.g. create a rule based on application's name).

2, Bind a software install task to that dynamic group that will install Endpoint (point the task to use a locally stored msi if you don't want agent to be downloaded from ESET's repository).

3, Bind an activation task to the dynamic group with non-activated clients.

4, Deploy agent on clients. You can deploy Agent Live installer through GPO for instance, with the path to the msi installer set to point to a locally stored agent msi installer.

Let us know if you need to clarify something, add some screen shots for better understanding, etc.

 

4. I don't want to mess up with 3-rd parties technology like proxies and web servers. We already have them and i don't want to have multiple installations. Those just give an additional holes for intruders (may be you need different products for different size of business)

You don't need to use Apache HTTP Proxy that is bundled in the ERA v6 all-in-one installer. You can use your existing proxy server and existing database.

 

ERA 6.2 with further improvements is going to be available within a couple of weeks so you could consider waiting with upgrade to ERA v6 until then. As always, we recommend testing ERA v6 in a testing environment first to get familiar with the new concept of how ERA v6 works.

 

 

Marcos,

He and most of us did understand the new concept, the problem is that we cannot believe why key features like custom installation is gone and accept that now we need to do multiple tasks just to do what once were one click away.

 

In my option this is a screaming sign that ESET should plan to implement what Never should have been removed in the first place.   

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not trying to pick a fight, just add some balance.

 

For me, I've replaced eight or nine "custom install tasks" in V5 with one install task in V6. What can be better than that? One install, the client goes to the right group, and all the appropriate settings get applied. Need to change a setting? Simple, change it in the group, and all clients in that group get the new setting within a few minutes.

 

*So* much better than having to create and maintain separate installers.

 

 

Jim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not trying to pick a fight, just add some balance.

 

For me, I've replaced eight or nine "custom install tasks" in V5 with one install task in V6. What can be better than that? One install, the client goes to the right group, and all the appropriate settings get applied. Need to change a setting? Simple, change it in the group, and all clients in that group get the new setting within a few minutes.

 

*So* much better than having to create and maintain separate installers.

 

 

Jim

 

That sound really nice. But for my company almost nothing worked. From activation to detect agents and so on. ESET lab engineers even tried to make it work without success(remote access). 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What I did not find:

1. Clean procedure how to setup office under 100 computers with 1 server getting updates from ESET sever and distributing them to client computers in the local network

ERA v6 does not support creation of a local mirror. The feature was replaced by Apache HTTP Proxy which caches downloaded installers and update files. You may choose not to install it if you plan to use another http proxy or create a mirror using ESET Endpoint Antivirus, ESET Endpoint Security or another v6 ESET product, such as ESET File Security.

Let us know what you'd need to help with specifically.

If your customers like a feature in your previous version and telling you about it directly, why don't you listen to them and give them at least choice how they want to handle updates in their networks? It is OUR network and we want to handle updates delivery according OUR rules and regulations (sometimes created not even by us). Your product is doing a great job! But it is just part of OUR network. And if I, personally wouldn't be able to find the way how to use your product in my network, you will lose a customer with 100 licenses, which is really sad, because I do like your software

Alex

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...