[SOLVED] Installing BitDefender GravityZone

[Markverhyden]

Once you have GZ up you need to add a company and purchase license(s). I've not done self hosted so I'm not sure if you have to create an account with BD to link the self hosted solution with BD.

When you create a company it allows you to create a link to installation source for all 3 major OS's. You can also start them with a Trial, 30 day, license. But I'm pretty sure you have to get the product keys from a reseller. And I'm pretty certain they do not have some standalone installer because it's a server. You may find that with other options as well.

 

[Kitten Kong]

As @Markverhyden mentions. You need to have some licences purchased from your distributor.

Create your company, download a relay version of BDGZ. This will allow you to automatically install this on other systems within 'the company'/network.

 

[GTP]

it seems impossible to actually get someone to answer questions, whether it be sales or support.

When my AV vendor was aquired by AVG, my supplier talked me into going with BitDefender.
Getting licence keys, installation issues, support, etc, etc was just so shoddy and haphazard that I just gave up!
It took 8 days for a rep to ring me back about an issue!
Email support was dreadful, even though I was communicating through the supplier Bitdefender were useless!
I am amazed that they are still in business with this type of support for their resellers!

 

[trevm999]

Create your company, download a relay version of BDGZ. This will allow you to automatically install this on other systems within 'the company'/network.

I'm pretty sure he's only installing it on one system.

Where are you stuck? If it is not somewhere specific to the self hosted version, we can tell you what you need to do. How far did you get?

 

[AndyM]

As @Markverhyden mentions. You need to have some licences purchased from your distributor.

Create your company, download a relay version of BDGZ. This will allow you to automatically install this on other systems within 'the company'/network.

@Nige I think @Kirby is installing plain Gravity Zone, not Gravity Zone MSP. Gravity Zone is available as a single product - GravityZone Business Security or Bitdefender GravityZone Advanced Business Security

I'd personally install the console, set the server as the Relay, then get it to discover the network, then install the agents on the desired endpoints. By using a relay, you only need to download updates to one device, which then feeds those updates to the endpoints. Don't forget that the Gravity Zone Console is not the AV product. The Relay is not AV. You will need to install the AV on the machine that also hosts the console and the relay.

Andy

 

[Markverhyden]

When my AV vendor was aquired by AVG, my supplier talked me into going with BitDefender.
Getting licence keys, installation issues, support, etc, etc was just so shoddy and haphazard that I just gave up!
It took 8 days for a rep to ring me back about an issue!
Email support was dreadful, even though I was communicating through the supplier Bitdefender were useless!
I am amazed that they are still in business with this type of support for their resellers!

My experience with my BD distributor has been great so far. But I've run into a problem which will require real support so I'll have to see what happens.

The problem is not just with BD. Other companies that we like also leave a lot to be desired. When Ubiquiti launched their home wireless system, which was mentioned on here, I ordered it the same day I saw the post. A few months later, forgetting but thinking I might have ordered one, I logged in and could not find anything related to an order. So I ordered it, again. A few weeks later I see both orders and emailed Ubiquiti to cancel one. Never heard back and got both. Of course their returns are not very friendly, 15% restocking fee.

In regards to BD. My distributor has an employee dedicated to BD support with a chunk of her payroll being paid by BD. She has been very responsive to questions up to this point.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

I appreciate that, but they just sent me a 158 page PDF for installation of this thing and I'm ready to just throw it in the garbage and buy a "normal" antivirus for the thing myself. At this point I'm probably throwing this **** in the trash and just buying a new antivirus.
So, does BitDefender make an ordinary "download and install" antivirus for a file server? The workstations all have individual antivirus on them and don't need monitored (that's all her too, it's not going to change, I have no control over it). At this point I'll just spend my own money on a new antivirus and throw this license away. .

Yes they do, however, depending on what reseller you go through, there may be a "minimum license purchase" of something like 5x licenses for the business edition. This isn't "bitdefender unique"....this is common with many brands of antivirus. Also...the price of a server install client is usually higher than for a single workstation client. Again..this is common with most, if not all brands...before you go m'fin the name BitDefender again.

The smart/professional thing to do is read up on installation manuals when it comes to servers, and research "how to's" properly. The wrong thing to do is to treat a server install like some workstation, run setup, complete, reboot, and walk away assuming it's done. With servers, there are tons of exclusions to do, certain files, folders, all varying greatly and depending on how the server is setup. There is a long list of exclusions if the server is a domain controller, and if it's running any sort of database, those folders too, especially accounting software, and if it's running Exchange...even more folders to exclude.

I realize you don't want to spend time with it,, and if you don't want to progress in the profession..that's fine, it's your right to do that. But perhaps it may be in this clients best interest to get an IT person comfortable/knowledgeable with servers and that has the tools to support them. As I have a feeling you're just going to toss you hand up in the air over this and install AVG free on this server and walk away.

 

[Kirby]

I am in a small town. I work with exactly one client with a server. I just don't have the time or resources to become a server expert for one client to purchase a single server every 10 years.

No, I'm not going to install AVG free on the server and walk away. The customer want's BitDefender, the customer will get some BitDefender solution. If you had any idea the hoops I jump through for this customer you might be a little more understanding. There was a MONTH of conversations which went like this:
Customer: You need to come get the new server connected to the Internet today.
Me: I'll be right over. I'll connect your two networks together because you have one Internet connection and 2 servers that need to be on the Internet.
Customer: NO! You CAN NOT connect both networks together because viruses or hackers or something!
Me: Then you need to get a second Internet connection.
Customer: ???, babble of non-understanding, conversation ends without resolution, process repeats next week
At one point I recommended getting 2 more routers to separate the networks, but then she found out they would be connected at the main router/modem. I finally just did it and when she complained I responded with a very long "I've been doing this a long time, please just trust me" speech.

I'm burned out on this job. The customer has been demanding things and fighting me on them for months and I just want this job over with. I'm sure you've been there. I NEED to get it done and I don't have a week to pour over a, frankly, ridiculously weird installation manual to figure out how to install one damned antivirus on a "free installation" ticket for an antivirus I bought for her and then just recovered my actual cost on, and one which I am never going to actually sell. So forgive me if the 30+ hours I've spent installing 8 computers, a server and 2 switches, all while dealing with a customer who thinks technology should always and forever work like it did in 1989 (literally, that is not a stretch) has my nerves a little frayed. You may see this as me not giving a crap about my customer, but I assure you, that is not the case. I spent TWO MONTHS just trying to FIND the antivirus she wanted. Two damned months of nobody returning calls only to finally end up with some antivirus solution that I have to learn pointless, unrelated technologies to install. So yeah, I'm a little sick of dealing with it. It has been the install from Hell. I promised her that installation would include "anything she needed", a mistake I will not repeat, but a promise I will not break.

The bottom line, she wants it done now, I want it done now, GravityZone can't get it done now. From a chat I'm having with someone here I may not be able to actually install it at all since I don't have a partner and nobody wants to partner with someone for one antivirus.

Sorry for the long rant, but you have no idea the stress this job has caused and will continue to cause until the day I can say, "Your installation is finished." Hell, I had one employee there ****** at me all day yesterday because her computer wasn't working. She wasn't there when I installed the new one, so I asked another person where to put it. That was the wrong place, so she took it down. She hadn't been there much and I refused to install it a second time until she told me where she wanted it. I got it installed yesterday, started the BitDefender install and left. I get a call back an hour later, neither computer can get on the Internet. I go back, the new computer is off. She turned it off when BitDefender finished DOWNLOADING and installing. It was on the Internet. Then I realize it is only her OLD computer she is having trouble with. A loose cable, easy to fix. She had been stewing, ****** at me all day because her OLD computer didn't work, but nobody bothered to tell me that's what the problem was. THIS has been this install in a nutshell.

 

[Kirby]

FYI, I ended up going with BitDefender's BEST on this. WAY easier to install, up and going with no issues. Thanks for the help guys.