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Configuring GFI LanGuard to Check Updates from Alternative Locations

Author: Luis Fernandes Updated

Overview

GFI LanGuard can be configured to check for updates from alternative locations. This enables high-security environments to manage patches and deploy the necessary remediations without jeopardizing the security of the network. 
  • Typically, in such environments, machines have limited or no internet access, however, in order for GFI LanGuard to stay up-to-date and detect the latest threats, it requires an internet connection.
  • In this case, you can configure an alternate download location.
    For example, a hard drive, a web server or any other reachable device inside your network. 
This article guides you on how to configure GFI LanGuard to check updates from an alternative location.

 

Requirements

You are required to have two GFI LanGuard instances, configured as follows.
For this example, the two instances are called:
  • GFI LanGuard 1 – Have access to the following updates servers:
    • gfi-downloader-137146314.us-east-1.elb.amazonaws.com
    • *.download.microsoft.com
    • *software.gfi.com/lnsupdate/
    • *.windowsupdate.com
    • *.update.microsoft.com
    • All updates servers of Third-Party Vendors supported by GFI LanGuard.

  • GFI LanGuard 2 – Does not have internet access, but is used to scan the networked computers for vulnerabilities and to download updates from GFI LanGuard 1.

Process

Configuring GFI LanGuard 1

Use the following steps to successfully configure Instance 1 to download updates and prepare them for distribution:
 
Step 1 - Select the Files to Update from the GFI Website
  1. Launch GFI LanGuard.
  2. Go to Configuration > Program Updates.
  3. From the right pane, select the type of updates you want to download.
  4. Click Edit Program Updates Options, under the Common Tasks section.
  5. Select Download Updates from the GFI Website and click OK.

Step 2 – Create a Batch File so That Updates Occur Regularly
The batch created for this step communicates with the updates engine of GFI LanGuard. This engine is installed as part of the setup and it is located in the root directory of the Agent install folder; typically under C:\Program Files\GFI\LanGuard11 Agent\update.exe
  1. Open the folder where update.exe is stored.
  2. In the same folder, create a new Text Document.
  3. Key in: update.exe /s
  4. Save the document as a batch file .BAT using a recognizable name.
    Example: CheckForUpdates.bat
  5. Go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > SystemTools > TaskScheduler.
  6. From the left pane, right-click on Task Scheduler Library and select Create Basic Task.
  7. Follow the wizard steps to create a task to run CheckForUpdates.bat recursively.
    Example: every one hour
NOTE: update.exe can be executed using the parameter: /s. This parameter starts the application on a schedule.

 
Step 3 – Copy Files to an Alternate Location for Distribution

The downloaded updates files need to be made available on an internal repository, to be used by the second instance of GFI LanGuard.
These are ways in which you can achieve this:

  • Configure a virtual website.
    Example:  In IIS or Apache where the root directory of it is:  C:\ProgramData\GFI\LanGuard11\Update 
    This folder path is the repository where the selected updates from Step 1 are downloaded to.

  • Alternatively, create another batch file to copy the files from C:\ProgramData\GFI\LanGuard11\Update to the path used by your internal website.
    This location needs to be accessible by GFI LanGuard 2 through a path or URL such as:  http://mysite/languardupdates

  • Another alternative:
    1. Navigate to C:\ProgramData\GFI\LanGuard11\ and right-click on the Update folder.
    2. Select Properties > Sharing > Share and follow the wizard to create a share.
    3. Then on GFI LanGuard 2 in an alternative location, add the share you created.


Configuring GFI LanGuard 2

To check for updates from an alternate location:
  1. Launch GFI LanGuard.
  2. Go to Configuration > Program Updates.
  3. From the right pane, select the type of updates you want to download.
  4. Click Edit Program Updates Options, under the Common Tasks section.
  5. Select Download Updates from an Alternate Location and specify the address to the location. Example: http://mysite/languardupdates
  6. Click OK.

The second instance of GFI LanGuard checks updates in that location every time it is started.
Alternatively, you can check for updates manually:
  1. Launch GFI LanGuard.
  2. Go to Configuration > Program Updates.
  3. Click Check for Updates under Common Tasks.
  4. Select Alternative Location and specify the address to the internal updates repository.
  5. Click Next and follow the wizard steps.


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