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Introduction to ESET PROTECT Virtual Appliance

The ESET PROTECT Virtual Appliance (ESET PROTECT VA) is available for users who want to run ESET PROTECT On-Prem in a virtualized environment. Additionally, the ESET PROTECT Virtual Appliance simplifies deployment of ESET PROTECT On-Prem and is faster than using the All-in-one installer or component installation packages.

The ESET PROTECT VA can be deployed in most virtual environments. It supports native/bare-metal hypervisors (VMware vSphere/ESXi and Microsoft Hyper-V) as well as hosted hypervisors that usually run on desktop operating systems (VMware Workstation, VMware Player and Oracle VirtualBox), see Supported hypervisors for a complete list.

The ESET PROTECT Virtual Appliance runs out of the box:

It contains the ESET PROTECT Server running on a dedicated VM and contains a functional operating system (Rocky Linux).

It also includes other ESET PROTECT components—ESET Management Agent, ESET Rogue Detection Sensor and ESET Bridge (HTTP Proxy).

This guide describes in detail how to deploy and manage ESET PROTECT VA, including its features.


note

Due to the CentOS 7 End of Life, a new ESET PROTECT Virtual Appliance (VA) based on Rocky Linux 9 was released.

Versions 11.1 and later run on Rocky Linux. Versions 10.1 and earlier run on CentOS. If you have version 11.0, you can verify the operating system of your ESET PROTECT Virtual Appliance.

See the migration instructions for migrating to the new Virtual Appliance.

Deployment and configuration

1.ESET PROTECT VA deployment process—Actual deployment of ESET PROTECT Virtual Appliance .ova file on your hypervisor.

2.ESET PROTECT VA configuration—Post-deployment configuration done via web interface of the ESET PROTECT VA. It is a configuration page that allows you to choose appliance type and then type specific details and properties required for that specific ESET PROTECT VA type to run correctly.

Further configuration and management

ESET PROTECT VA Management Console is a simple text-based user interface based around a main menu. The interface will assist you with text commands by asking you to specify values when necessary. Even users who do not have advanced experience with Linux operating systems can use and manage ESET PROTECT VA with ease. Some important features include:

oSet static IP address—Manually specify the static IP address if your ESET PROTECT VA is not assigned an IP address by a DHCP server.

oPull database from other server—If you need to upgrade or migrate your ESET PROTECT VA.

oBackup and restore of ESET PROTECT database—These features are important for your disaster recovery strategy and are available in case of problems with ESET PROTECT VA.

oFactory reset—Restores the appliance to a freshly deployed state. This can be useful if you experience issues with ESET PROTECT VA. Have a backup of the database ready to avoid losing your data.

Webmin Management Interface—A third-party web-based interface that simplifies the management of a Linux system. It gives you the convenience of managing your ESET PROTECT VA remotely from your web browser using an intuitive interface. The most important Webmin modules are described in this document.

Upgrade, migration and disaster recovery procedures

ESET PROTECT VA upgrade/migration—If you want to upgrade your ESET PROTECT VA to the latest version, see this section for details and step-by-step procedure. Also, the same procedure applies if you need to migrate your ESET PROTECT VA.

ESET PROTECT VA disaster recovery—Follow this procedure if ESET PROTECT VA stopped working and you cannot fix the problem or if you are unable to recover a damaged ESET PROTECT VA instance.