Avira FAQ Details

This article explains the upgrade of Avira Security Management Centers (SMC) from version 2.3 to 2.4, as well as parallel operation of AV8 and AV9 products, and the upgrade from AV8 to AV9 via SMC.

To use the new version of AntiVir Professional in your network, you have to update the Security Management Center and the Agents first. SMC 2.4 contains a new Agent, which supports installation and operation of both AntiVir Professional version 8 and version 9.

Thus, you can test the migration by installing AV9 on certain computers or groups in your network, and then upgrade the entire network gradually.

Ways to upgrade SMC to version 2.4:

Update

• Right-click on Avira Security Management Center Frontend
• Select Start update - Server - Start update
• Then select Start update - Frontend
  
• Right-click a computer or group and select Commands - Avira SMC Agent - Start Update

Note: After updating SMC Server and Frontend, the connection to the Frontend is interrupted, so you have to login again.

Please check if the update of all SMC components (Server, Frontend and Agent) was successful. You can check the version numbers for Server and Frontend under Help - About Avira Security Management Center Frontend. The version number for the Agent is displayed for every client in the Product version view or in the report "Managed products".

Note: If the Agent's upgrade does not work as described, you can upgrade the Agent through a new installation:
Right-click a group or computer and select Installation - Avira SMC Agent - Uninstall/ Install.

Installation

Download the current SMC version from our website and extract the setup files for Server and Frontend. Both have to be up to date.

Then start the setup file for SMC Server. The setup will detect the existing version 2.3 on your computer and will prompt to uninstall it. Confirm the uninstallation and specify in the next window, that you want to save your user data.

Afterwards, carry out the setup of SMC Server and Frontend as usual and upgrade the Agents on the client computers to version 2.4, as described above.

Managing AV8 and AV9

After upgrading SMC Server, Frontend and Agents, you can install AV9 remotely, if you add the necessary software package.

You have to uninstall AV8, before trying to install AV9 remotely.

Note: After uninstalling AV8, the clients have to be restarted, before installing AntiVir Professional 9. Else, the installation terminates with an error.

If you want to restart your clients after uninstalling AV8, you can use the following batch file, which you can share via SMC over the entire network and the clients will restart in 2 minutes.
Download the signed batch file to share via SMC and force a restart

To share the file, save the zip file and unpack it, then select every group in the Security Environment, in which you want to restart the clients, right-click and go to Installation - Avira SMC Agent - Copy files.

In the window press add and browse to select the batch file. Activate the option Run the selected file after copying, so that the restart process begins immediately on the selected computers.

With a click on Copy the file is distributed to all PCs and they will restart in 2 minutes. As soon as their status is active in SMC Frontend again, you can begin the installation of AV9.

If after upgrading SMC Agent on a client, the setup file for AntiVir Professional 9 starts, it will uninstall version 8 and install the new version after a restart.

In this way, you can manage both AV8 and AV9 on different groups or clients and successively upgrade your network.