McAfee VirusScan for Linux Trial Installation & Walkthrough

VirusScan Enterprise for Linux (VSEL) detects and removes viruses and other potentially unwanted software on Linux-based systems. VirusScan Enterprise for Linux uses a web browser interface and a powerful McAfee scanning engine — the engine common to all our antivirus products. A few years ago, the Linux operating system was considered a secure environment, but there are now more occurrences of software specifically written to attack or exploit security weaknesses in Linux-based systems. Increasingly, these systems interact with Windows-based computers. Although viruses written to attack Windows-based systems do not directly attack Linux systems, a Linux server can harbor these viruses, ready to infect any client that connects to it..

Data Sheet

Trial Installation Requirements

During the installation of this McAfee endpoint suite, the VirusScan Enterprise for Linux client and associated management files were checked into your McAfee ePO server. A deployment task was automatically created for you as well.

The McAfee Agent for Linux
Before you can utilize VSEL, you will need to deploy the McAfee Agent for Linux to provide communication with the McAfee ePO server. On most Linux systems, the agent can be installed manually using an installation script (install.sh) that McAfee ePO created when the agent was checked into the McAfee ePO Master Repository. The agent can also be installed from McAfee ePO on Red Hat Enterprise and Ubuntu client systems. Once the agent is in place on client systems, you can run the deployment task to install the software, and schedule updates and scans.

Manual Installation of the McAfee Agent
The install script (install.sh) for the McAfee Agent for Macintosh is in the following directory on the McAfee ePO server:

  • C:\Program Files (x86)\McAfee\ePolicy
    Orchestrator\DB\Software\Current\EPOAGENT3700LYNX\Install\0409 Instructions for manual installation of the Agent are located in the McAfee Agent Product Guide.

McAfee Agent Deployment
The following operating systems support installing the agent from McAfee ePO:

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 4 and later
  • Ubuntu Linux 8.04 and later

Note: Enable SSH on the Linux systems before installing agent from McAfee ePO.
*** Comment the following line in the /etc/sudoers file on Red Hat operating systems. Default required

  1. Click Menu | Systems | System Tree, then select the group to which you wish to deploy the agent.
  2. Click Actions | Agent | Deploy Agents.
  3. Select the appropriate Agent version drop-down list given the target operating system, and select an agent version from that list. You can only install one version of the agent onto one type of operating system with this task. If you need to install it on multiple operating systems or versions, repeat this task for each additional target operating system or version.
  4. Select Install only on systems that do not already have an agent managed by this ePO server.
  5. Type valid credentials in the User name, Password, and Confirm password fields. If you want these entries to be the default for future deployments, select Remember my credentials for future deployments.
  6. If you do not want the defaults, enter appropriate values into the Number of attempts, Retry interval, and Abort after options.

Deploying VirusScan Enterprise for Linux
In this section you will assign the deployment task for VirusScan for Linux.

  1. Click the System Tree button, select the group containing your Linux systems, and then click Assigned Client Tasks.
  2. Click Actions, then click New Client Task Assignment.
  3. Under Product, select McAfee Agent.
  4. Under Task Type, select Product Deployment.
  5. Under Task Name, select the POC - Deploy VirusScan for Linux, and then click Next.
  6. On the Schedule page, set the following options:
    1. Schedule status Enabled
    2. Schedule type Run Immediately
  7. Click Next.
  8. On the Summary page, click Save.

Clients will retrieve and run this task the next time they poll the server and install VirusScan Enterprise for Linux.