Proactive IT Security
 

Installing Norman Endpoint Protection on Windows 2008 Server Core

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Date published: 2011-01-07       Date updated: 2011-03-09

Product:
Endpoint Protection

Module(s):
Installation, Distribution, Upgrade

Operations System(s):
Windows 2008 Server

Problem description

Server Core is a minimal server installation option available on the Windows Server 2008 platform or later. Server Core offers a server environment that requires less maintenance, but limited functionality. Server Core is a significantly scaled back installation where no Windows Explorer shell is installed. All configuration and maintenance are done entirely from the command line, also by remote access.

A primary motivation for deploying the Server Core variant of Windows Server 2008 in a network might be to keep a simple file server or web server solution available and to reduce the attack surface of the operating system.

Problem solution

If it is not possible to push install Norman Endpoint Protection (NPRO) from Norman Endpoint Manager (NEM), a good solution is using a remote connection for the initial install.

The following is a sample on how such an installation can be completed. It describes a situation where NEM is unable to push install NPRO onto the Server Core server.

  1. Within NEM, select Maintenance > Generate MSI.
  2. In the MSI path and file name field enter a name for the msi file, MyServerCore.msi. Then enter a name or an IP adress of the server that will later maintain this NPRO Server Core installation. Click Generate.

  3. Now copy the new MyServerCore.msi file to a share on the Server Core server. To access the Server Core server, start Remote Desktop by selecting Start | Run from Windows and then enter mstsc.exe in the Open field.  

  4. From the “Remote Desktop Connection” dialog, select the name or IP address of the Server Core server.
  5. Log on the Server Core with administrator’s credentials.
  6. After a successful logon, the Server Core desktop appears. From the command prompt, go to the directory where you originally copied the msi file (Step 3).

  7. From the command prompt, execute the command to run the msi file MyServerCore. Press Enter.
  8. Let the installation complete and wait for a couple of minutes.
  9. The ServerCore server should now be visible from the NEM console. Click Update client to make sure that NEM updates the Server Core components to the latest version.