Free Anti-Virus for Linux/Unix

Question

If I install the free Sophos anti-virus tool on some of my servers, can that later be upgraded to point to a centralized management console? 
 Thanks in advance!

QC · Accepted Answer

Hello InternationalPossumBrotherhood, 
 only the basic Endpoint Standard license - is this what you have? - does not include managed Linux. Now I don't know the difference between the Free and the Standalone versions - the latter can be upgraded to the manged one by just running the installer. Guess the former is more of a Cloud "precursor", thus an uninstall might be necessary (not really a toil though). 
 Christian

InternationalPossumBrotherhood · Answer

We currently use Sophos Server Protection and can't connect the enterprise console with a new datacenter right away, thus the reason for wanting to use at least the get the free AV on there until we can set up communication between the EC and the new datacenter. Once that communication is set up, we would then want to upgrade that AV so it can communicate with the EC correctly.

QC · Answer

Hello InternationalPossumBrotherhood, 
 if your Endpoint license already includes Linux I'd suggest either the standalone version (from your Downloads page) or create a deployment package on the main site (using mkinstpkg ). The managed version also works without connection to the management server (provided you have configured a reachable update location, Sophos if necessary). 
 Christian

InternationalPossumBrotherhood · Answer

I can see the standalone versions on my Downloads page, is there a way to configure the package so it updates from the Sophos servers instead of the management server? I'd hate to have to configure that on 80+ servers one-by-one. Thanks for all the information and help btw.

QC · Answer

Hello InternationalPossumBrotherhood, 
 configure [...] servers AFAIK you can't configure the SA packages, they are intended for exceptional circumstances. If the servers are more or less identical then mkinstpkg is the better method. Looks like the SA package contains more than everything (I see both RMS and MCS), mkinstpk is there (at least it's in the archive) so you could run mkinstpkg on one (or as many as needed) of the 80+ servers or on an appropriate server at the main site . In the latter case you don't have to do anything once the sites are connected, in the former you'd have to re-run mkinstpkg and all the installs. 
 Christian

InternationalPossumBrotherhood · Answer

QC, 
 
Thanks for all of your help, this has been great!!!