SOLVED - email alerts in BP

[sky101]

Just installed the BP console on our 2008 R2 server, we are not able to configure any email alerts if a machine caught/got a virus or something thru the console. this feature existed in Avast Pro 4.8. Is there any ways we can configure SMTP email alerts for all computers in a group? Thanks.

[Bio]

I would like to know about this also. We used the email alerts in 4.8 and need them in this new version.

[Paul Rodgers]

After some trial and error I figured this out.

Edit the group settings

Go to Expert settings

Find avastcfg://avast5/Common/NetAlert Property Path

For the value enter (; followed by your email address

[lukas.hasik]

there is no action in the administration console that would inform you "that you've caught a virus". To be honest, you shouldn't need it. Either the avast! client already catched the virus(default action on scans) or an attack had been stopped by a shield.
Then you can receive an information (report) about the stopped threads. Either regularly (Job - Report) or on demand (Reports tab)

hth
Lukas.

[wpn]

well the whole point of an alert is for the administrator to stop the user from what the user is doing.
So i believe that an alert would be wanted.

If the user is visiting infected sites i can take action by disabling the network connection from that user (yes i mapped the patchpoint from every computer in my network to the switchport it is connected to and i can turn the ports on and off at my liking) preventing them from receiving more malicious traffic into my network.
If a shield is activated on the computer itself, then it means that the malious traffic has passed my firewall and my proxy server already, hence action is wanted by the administrator.



so to be honest    yes we would need it

[sky101]

there is no action in the administration console that would inform you "that you've caught a virus". To be honest, you shouldn't need it. Either the avast! client already catched the virus(default action on scans) or an attack had been stopped by a shield.
Then you can receive an information (report) about the stopped threads. Either regularly (Job - Report) or on demand (Reports tab)

hth
Lukas.

maybe you need to read carefully before you post something. This feature existed in 4.8 which is why we purchased many Avast licenses for our clients. There is no point in running report, we need to know as soon as a shield stop something.

well the whole point of an alert is for the administrator to stop the user from what the user is doing.
So i believe that an alert would be wanted.

If the user is visiting infected sites i can take action by disabling the network connection from that user (yes i mapped the patchpoint from every computer in my network to the switchport it is connected to and i can turn the ports on and off at my liking) preventing them from receiving more malicious traffic into my network.
If a shield is activated on the computer itself, then it means that the malious traffic has passed my firewall and my proxy server already, hence action is wanted by the administrator.



so to be honest     yes we would need it

Right on, couldn't have said it better.

[Bio]

I agree with WPN and Sky, nothing personal against Lukas, but it is hard enough getting official answers from Avast without a "moderator" stepping in and making a comment that makes no sense from a clients point of view.
We need to know right away if Avast picks up something because Avast (like all products) does not stop 100 percent of the attacks. Many times Avast blocks one file that has been created when the computer is attacked but does not pick up on another file that was created at the same time. A lot of times, files are not found until there is a virus definition update.

Our procedure where I work is to check a computer as soon as Avast notifies us that something has happened, even if Avast says the threat was blocked by a shield.
Amoung other things, we will check the date/time stamp of the file that was found and see if any other files have been created on the computer at that same time.

I will also add that..not being able to get email alerts working is keeping us from deploying the new version to our computers. Lucky for Avast, we bought 3 year licenses and are stuck now.

[wpn]

@bio  check the unofficial FAQ i made
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=82548.0
one of my points there is how one of the users here got it working.

From Avast point of view its logical not to include e-mail alerts.
From the administrator (the customer/user) point of view its really wanted to have those alerts again.

Lukas is just defending the point of view of Avast, we are here to argue about it and convince the need to have alerts return.

[Vlk]

After some trial and error I figured this out.

Edit the group settings

Go to Expert settings

Find avastcfg://avast5/Common/NetAlert Property Path

For the value enter (; followed by your email address

Well, this is how it should be done "officially":

avastcfg://avast5/Common/NetAlert	SMTP:yourname@domain.com
avastcfg://avast5/Communication/SMTPFrom	from_address@domain.com
avastcfg://avast5/Communication/SMTPPort	25
avastcfg://avast5/Communication/SMTPServer	yoursmtpserver.domain.com

Please note that this change becomes effective only after the shields are restarted (e.g. computer rebooted).

Just tested it here, and it works good.


Hope this helps,
Vlk

[wpn]

thank you Ondrej for this info, its appreciated

[Bio]

From Avast point of view its logical not to include e-mail alerts.
From the administrator (the customer/user) point of view its really wanted to have those alerts again.

Lukas is just defending the point of view of Avast, we are here to argue about it and convince the need to have alerts return.

[/quote]


We checked your FAQ, thanks for putting that all together for Avast. But, some of it was not completely accurate, not your fault though.
There is nothing logical about Avast not including email alerts and in fact it looks like it was included. Lukas was not defending Avast point of view since Avast included a way to setup alerts. Your comments make no sense.

[Paul Rodgers]

After some trial and error I figured this out.

Edit the group settings

Go to Expert settings

Find avastcfg://avast5/Common/NetAlert Property Path

For the value enter (; followed by your email address

Well, this is how it should be done "officially":

avastcfg://avast5/Common/NetAlert	SMTP:yourname@domain.com
avastcfg://avast5/Communication/SMTPFrom	from_address@domain.com
avastcfg://avast5/Communication/SMTPPort	25
avastcfg://avast5/Communication/SMTPServer	yoursmtpserver.domain.com

Please note that this change becomes effective only after the shields are restarted (e.g. computer rebooted).

Just tested it here, and it works good.


Hope this helps,
Vlk

Nice to know. I will implement that.

Any idea why I was able to get it to work my way?

[sky101]

Thanks, I will try that!


I shouldn't have to post this question here for this basic setting if Avast has some kind of documentation on all of "expert settings"!!!!

[Laneg004]

I can't seem to get email alerts working. I am able to get reports by email but not alerts. I put in the settings specified by Vlk for the computer group and then rebooted my workstation which is a member of that group. I then pointed my browser at a known infected url and avast detected and blocked it. But I don't get an email. With avast 4.8 I used to get an email telling me exactly what URL a specific machine had tried to visit within moments of their attempt.