Installation manual

8. ESET Security system update

8.1 ESETS update utility

To maintain the effectiveness of ESET Gateway Security, the virus signature database must be kept up to date. The esets_update

utility has been developed specifically for this purpose. See the esets_update(8) man page for details. To launch an update, the

configuration options ‘av_update_username’ and ‘av_update_password’ must be defined in the [global] section of the ESETS

configuration file. In the event that your server accesses the Internet via HTTP proxy, the additional configuration options

‘proxy_addr’, ‘proxy_port’ must be defined. If access to the HTTP proxy requires a username and password, the ‘proxy_username’

and ‘proxy_password’ options must also be defined in this section. To initiate an update, enter the following command:

@SBINDIR@/esets_update

To provide the highest possible security for the end user, the ESET team continuously collects virus definitions from all over the

world - new patterns are added to the virus signature database in very short intervals. For this reason, we recommend that

updates be initiated on a regular basis. To be able to specify the frequency of updates, you need to configure the ‘@update’ task

in the ‘scheduler_tasks’ option in the [global] section of the ESETS configuration file. You can also use the Scheduler to set the

update frequency. The ESETS daemon must be up and running in order to successfully update the virus signature database.

8.2 ESETS update process description

The update process consists of two stages: First, the precompiled update modules are downloaded from the ESET server. If

‘av_mirror_enabled’ is set to yes in the [global] section of the ESETS configuration file, copies (or mirrors) of these update

modules are created in the following directory:

@BASEDIR@/mirror

‘av_mirror_pcu’ allows you to download Program Component Update (PCU) modules for Windows-based ESET security products.

These modules can be mirrored from the ESET server.

Note: To enable the mirror and download PCUs for ESET NOD32 Antivirus, ESET Smart Security, ESET Endpoint Antivirus or ESET

Endpoint Security, you have to:

set your Username and Password for update purposes (as described in the topic above),

import a license for your specific ESET product.

The second stage of the update process is the compilation of modules loadable by the ESET Gateway Security scanner from those

stored in the local mirror. Typically, the following ESETS loading modules are created: loader module (em000.dat), scanner

module (em001.dat), virus signature database module (em002.dat), archives support module (em003.dat), advanced heuristics

module (em004.dat), etc. The modules are created in the following directory:

@BASEDIR@

This is the directory where the ESETS daemon loads modules from and thus can be redefined using the ‘base_dir’ option in the

[global] section of the ESETS configuration file.

8.3 ESETS mirror http daemon

The http mirror daemon in ESET Gateway Security allows you to create copies of update files which can be used to update other

workstations located in the network. Creation of the "mirror" – a copy of the update files in the LAN environment is convenient,

since the update files need not be downloaded from the vendor update server repeatedly and by each workstation. They are

downloaded centrally to the local mirror server and then distributed to all workstations, therefore avoiding the potential risk of

network traffic overload. This is also a typical feature of ESET Remote Administrator.

The http mirror daemon needs to be properly configured to start and enable the mirror. In the example below esets_mird is

configured to listen on port 2221 of a computer with the local network IP address 192.168.1.10. The following parameters in the

[mird] section of the ESETS configuration file need to be specified:

agent_enabled = yes

listen_addr = "192.168.1.10"

listen_port = 2221

Options ‘listen_port’ and ‘listen_addr’ define the port (default 2221) and address (default: all local tcp addresses) where the http

server listens. If you set the value of the ‘auth_mode’ switch from 'none' to 'basic', the mirror will require authentication. The

options ‘username’ and ‘password’ allow the administrator to define the login and password required to access the Mirror.