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ERA6 - how to upgrade agent?


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Hi

 

With the global release of ERA6, I see that there's also a new version of the agent. What's the correct way to push that to the client machines please?

 

All our machines are remote, and it was a real pain to manually deploy the live agent to 126 clients :-) Hopefully I don't need to do the same?

 

Many thanks

 

 

 

Jim

 

 

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I don't see a "deploy agent" task anywhere (I did look). As all our clients are remote, I had to use the live installer and run it mnaually via psexec and teamviewer.

 

I'd like to think the agents will connect to the server and say "hello, I see there's a new version, I'll update myself", but so far that's not happening. Our agents connect every 60 seconds at present, so I know they should have detected it by now.

 

 

Jim

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Deploy Agent tasks are Server Tasks. You'll need to go to either Server Tasks > Agent Deployment or simply click on a client and choose Deploy Agent from the dropdown list.

 

I tried upgrading an Agent to one of my sandbox computers but it failed due to "failure to synchronize package repository." Although, I don't know if that has to do with me NOT running version 6.1.128 yet. So I'm not going to think much about it. 

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Thanks bbraunstein.

 

Hmmm...the Deploy Agent needs a username and password, and various other things. That's not going to work for all my field-based laptops. Surely the agent can update itself?

 

I'm hoping there's either an Update Agent task that I'm missing, or the agents will simply update themselves. After all, it sounds like that's what the Remote Administrator Components Upgrade task is for, but perhaps I'm mistaken.

 

I'll await a response from ESET before I run anything.

 

 

Jim

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  • ESET Moderators

All I can offer at this time is a few links to the help content we have available for this topic:

 

Let us know whether any of these help, and/or if not, how they can be improved for your specific use cases. 

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Thanks, but...definitely not.

 

So, we have 120 remote users. Do you mean to say that the hours I spent manually deploying the agent via TeamViewer was a complete waste of time? Have I really to go through that every time there's a new release of the agent, rather than the agents simply updating themselves?

 

The deploy option you've referenced is fine if the ERA server is on the same network as all the clients, but sod all use if they are remote. As all ours are.

 

So, I'm faced with manually deploying a live installer script to all the clients again? Please tell me this is not the case.....

 

 

Jim

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Right, I think I've cracked it. Setting up a "run command" client task seems to work. My task is this:

 

msiexec /qr /i "hxxp://repository.eset.com/v1/com/eset/apps/business/era/agent/v6/6.1.365.0/Agent_x86.msi"ALLUSERS=1 REBOOT=ReallySuppress P_CONNECTION_CHOSEN=Host P_HOSTNAME=OurFQDN.com P_PORT=ourPort

 

It's a bit clunky, as the taskname has to include the x86 or x64 part, and the version number. But it does seem to work.

 

note that I've omitted many of the parameters that are normally included in live-installer generated .vbs file, but as we already have the agent installed this doesn't seem to matter, the agent still phones home.

 

I'll do some more testing, but this is encouraging.

 

 

Jim

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  • Solution

Perfect! Yes that works. ok for the benefit of anyone else, this is what I have done:

 

1) Create a new dynamic group template, where Application=ESET Remote Administrator Agent, Version=6.1.265.0, and OS.Platform = 64-bit

2) Created a dynamic group, based on the above template

3) Applied a "Run Command" OS task on the above group, with that command being this:

 

msiexec /qr /i "hxxp://repository.eset.com/v1/com/eset/apps/business/era/agent/v6/6.1.365.0/Agent_x64.msi"ALLUSERS=1 REBOOT=ReallySuppress P_CONNECTION_CHOSEN=Host P_HOSTNAME=Our.FQDN P_PORT=OurPort

 

I've created duplicates for the 32-bit machines.

 

When an agent checks in, and enters the dynamic group, it gets an immediate task to upgrade the agent. The task runs, and for a minute or two the "installed applications" lists two agents (gulp!) but at the next check-in only the later version shows.

 

I realise that I'll need to change the two tasks, and the two templates, whenever a new agent is installed. But that's a whole lot easier than manually deploying the live installer!

 

 

 

Jim

Edited by jimwillsher
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  • ESET Moderators

Hi jimwillsher,

I am glad you found a solution that suits your needs.

However, it should not make any difference whether your clients are on your local LAN or not. In both cases, they should be reporting to the same ERA server, whether locally or from outside your network, so the deployment task should run regardless of their connection - provided your ERA server is accessible from outside your network (by port forwarding or similar method).

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But that's just it, it doesn't work.

 

When you say "the deployment task" - which task is that please? If I try to deploy the agent to a computer that already has an agent, but where that computer is somewhere out on the internet, then the task fails as the server cannot resolve the computer name.

 

if you think I'm doing something wrong then I'd appreciate it if you'd spell out the steps in detail please.

 

Many thanks

 

 

Jim

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These are the steps that I took:

1. Download the Agents locally to a share on a server with Everyone read permissions to avoid security issues. (Go to www.eset.com, Downloads, Business, Remote Administrator 6, Standalone Installers, Select Agent, get both 32-bit and 64-bit)

2. Create a new Dynamic Template (Admin->Dynamic Templates). Under Expression, use Installed Software.Application Name = ESET Remote Administrator Agent AND Installed Software.Application version (not equal) 6.1.365.0

3. Create a new Dynamic Group (Computers -> gear -> New Dynamic Group)  Choose Template->Choose Existing and pick the template we just created.

4. Create a new Client Task (Admin->Client Tasks->Operating System->Run Command)  Choose Target->Dynamic Group just created in 3.  Choose Trigger->Trigger Type->Joined Dynamic Group Trigger.  Go to Settings->Command line to run->\\Server\share\ESETAgent.bat

 

Below is the contents of ESETAgent.bat.  It checks for 32-bit vs 64-bit and thus doesn't require separating computers.

@echo off
If defined ProgramFiles(x86) (
    msiexec /qr /i "\\server\share\Agent_64.msi" ALLUSERS=1 REBOOT=ReallySuppress P_CONNECTION_CHOSEN=Host P_HOSTNAME=Our_Hostname P_PORT=Our_Portnumber
) else (
    msiexec /qr /i "\\server\share\Agent_32.msi" ALLUSERS=1 REBOOT=ReallySuppress P_CONNECTION_CHOSEN=Host P_HOSTNAME=Our_Hostname P_PORT=Our_Portnumber
)

Replace Our_Hostname and Our_Portnumber with your values.

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Thanks Phydeauxdawg, I would have done something similar. But our problem is that 60-70 of the clients are field-based reps, who only visit the office once in a blue moon. So there's no fileshare for them to connect to.

 

I might create a new version of ESET's Licve Installer script that can take a version number as a parameter, and I can then put that version number into the agent download URL. I could then put a copy of the script onto everynes laptops.

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  • ESET Moderators

Hello,

 

we are preparing a new KB article covering the upgrade scenarios and taking the feedback we got into account.

I will let you know once it's ready.

 

Thank you.

 

P.R.

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  • ESET Moderators

Hello,

 

promised KB articles:

 

How do I upgrade ESET Remote Administrator 6.1.21 to version 6.1.28? (Windows)

 

How do I upgrade ESET Remote Administrator 6.1.21 to version 6.1.28? (Linux)

 

Please let us know if there is a scenario not described or something what does not work as described or expected.

 

Thank you.

 

P.R.

Edited by foneil
updated first link to new article
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  • 5 months later...

This seems to work for the agent.. but maybe i'm missing something here.. how do i deploy the endpoint antivirus.. i had assumed the agent would install then install the endpoint antivirus as a result.. is there a second step to be done in the console to make that happen?

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  • Administrators

You can have agent installed along with a competitive AV and deploy an ESET Endpoint product at a later time. To do that, create a software install task. You can create a dynamic group with Agent installed and Endpoint not installed and assign the software install task to it. Alternatively you can select the desired clients and simply send the task to them.

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  • 2 months later...

Jimwilsher and Pydeaudog both have the best answer on this issue, even though I'm using it for a different reason.

 

For some reason, the job function as posted by the moderators seems to skip proxy information to access the internet and the agents will never upgrade that way.

 

So, please point the way as to yet another proxy setup that needs to be made so that the Remote Administration Agent upgrade can find ESET.

 

NOTE: THE ANTIVIRUS UPDATES HAPPEN THROUGH THE SAME PROXY AND ARE UPDATING JUST FINE!!!

 

I have double-checked the Proxy configuration that is pushed to the agents, checked that the agents actually received it, manually downloaded the agent upgrade file through the proxy to prove that it works.

 

Rather than spend more time on a WOMBAT, it's easier to schedule the batch file, put the files on a share and let the dynamic group pull them up and install the RAA update.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Right, I think I've cracked it. Setting up a "run command" client task seems to work. My task is this:

 

msiexec /qr /i "hxxp://repository.eset.com/v1/com/eset/apps/business/era/agent/v6/6.1.365.0/Agent_x86.msi"ALLUSERS=1 REBOOT=ReallySuppress P_CONNECTION_CHOSEN=Host P_HOSTNAME=OurFQDN.com P_PORT=ourPort

 

It's a bit clunky, as the taskname has to include the x86 or x64 part, and the version number. But it does seem to work.

 

note that I've omitted many of the parameters that are normally included in live-installer generated .vbs file, but as we already have the agent installed this doesn't seem to matter, the agent still phones home.

 

I'll do some more testing, but this is encouraging.

 

 

Jim

 

Hello Jim,

 

I am not sure why this works for you, but for us id did not.

 

I have edited the command to be as follows, after which it works:

msiexec /qr /i "hxxp://repository.es.../Agent_x64.msi"ALLUSERS=1 /norestart P_CONNECTION_CHOSEN=Host P_HOSTNAME=Our.FQDN P_PORT=OurPort

Just the REBOOT=Reallysuppress has been replaced by /norestart. I think the first is meant to be used in the config of the .msi file itself? Also I am not giving a portnumber, just the fqdn.

 

Thank you for the help!

 

@ ESET: upgrading this via the remote administrator components upgrade tasks fails for me with a 1603: fatal error during installation. Also it is very messy since it tries to update components that are not installed. Not very clean and I would not recommend it!

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