How to Install/Uninstall McAfee ePO Agent on Linux

In this tutorial,` we will provide the guidelines and describe the ways to install and uninstall to re-install the McAfee product and McAfee VirusScan Enterprise for Linux systems. The McAfee Agent is the distributed component of McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator (McAfee ePO) responsible for deploying McAfee VirusScan Enterprise (VSE) and keeping them up to date with current AntiVirus definitions.  The installed agent communicates with our  McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator (ePO) server, allowing ePO to centrally update and manage installed McAfee products on Windows or Linux hosts.

Installing McAfee Agent on Linux / CentOS

To install McAfee Agent on Linux first we have to download its Linux package using ePO GUI and upload it to the Linux server and follow with further steps to complete the installation.

STEP 1: Upload the Installers

Create a new directory with two subdirectories and upload the ePO Agent and Virus Scanner Enterprise packages into the particular directories.

[root@centos-7 ~]# mkdir -p /antivirus/epo
[root@centos-7 ~]# mkdir /antivirus/scanner
[root@centos-7 ~]# ls /antivirus/epo
agentPackages.zip

STEP 2: Extract and Run installer

Using unzip command extract the package and execute .sh file to start the installation as.

STEP 3: ePO Service Check

After successful installation of ePO agent we can check its status through different ways to verify the installation process. Mcafee agent runs as a cma service, so verify it with the following commands.

[root@centos-7 epo]# service cma status

cma (pid 19415) is running...

We can also checklist the logs of McAfee Agent from the following directory.

[root@centos-7 epo]# ls /opt/McAfee/cma/scratch/etc
cabundle.cer log sitecache.bin SiteListTemplate.xml SiteList.xml

STEP 4: Check status on ePU GUI

To confirm the successful epo agent installation, now we check through ePO GUI and it should have a new entry under system trees as shown.

Installing McAfee VirusScan Enterprise for Linux

McAfee VirusScan Enterprise for Linux detects and removes viruses and other potentially unwanted
software on Linux based systems. To set up its installation we start from extracting its already uploaded package and configure it with the help of the following steps.

STEP 1: Extract and Start Installer

Change the path to the directory where the VirusScaner Package is placed and extract it with unzip command and then run the installer by executing the configurations file.

STEP 2: Configure ePO VirusScaner

During the installation process of ePO virus scan you will be prompted with different configuration parameters. Choose the appropriate settings most of the options can be choose as default.

STEP 3: Login to McAfee Virus Scan

To connect to the McAfeeVSEForLinux web monitor, browse to https://localhost:55443 and logon as the Linux user 'nails' and supply the password entered during installation.

STEP 4: Managing McAfee VirusScan for Linux

After successful bogon we will be able to manage the Linux host, can check the summary of scanning objects and can schedule the scans at any time by using its graphical user interface.

Uninstalling McAfee VirusScaner and ePO Agent

In order to uninstall McAfee ePO agent we must be required to uninstall McAfee VirusScaner first and then we would be able to uninstall its ePO agent. Now we proceed with few further steps to know about the procedure to uninstall McAfee VirusScaner.

STEP 1: Removing VirusScaner Package

Point to the directory where the installation package is placed or type the exact installed package name and remove it with rpm command.

STEP 2: Remove ePO Agent

In the same way now we will be able to remove the ePO agent service using the rpm command to remove cma packages.

[root@centos-7 scanner]# rpm -e MFEcma
[root@centos-7 scanner]# rpm -e MFErt
Runtime uninstalled successfully

Conclusion

We learned the procedure to successfully install and setup McAfee ePO agent and VisrusScaner for Enterprise Linux. McAfee is one of the best antivirus solutions that provides us with its functionality to scan our systems and protect us from unknown viruses by alarming and sending us notifications about the detection of critical files in the systems.