McAfee Agent 4.6 Released
Release notes are available as a PDF download here, and the release notes addendum is here. The updated Agent supports ePolicy Orchestrator 4.5 (Patch 2 or later) in addition to ePolicy Orchestrator 4.6, and includes the following new features:
Run now - You can now run client tasks on demand. ePolicy Orchestrator software 4.6.0 includes a Run Client Task Now action which, when using version 4.6.0 of McAfee Agent, queues the selected task to run immediately on the selected systems. If there is a network address translation layer (NAT) between the ePolicy Orchestrator server and the agent client, the task sent with Run Client Task Now runs the next time the agent communicates with the ePolicy Orchestrator server.
SuperAgent lazy caching - SuperAgent repositories now only pull content when needed from ePolicy Orchestrator servers instead of receiving all content on push replications. This reduces the bandwidth required to distribute content to SuperAgent repositories. The SuperAgent repository also caches any packages it has pulled, so subsequent requests by endpoints are served locally without pulling from the master repository. In previous versions, SuperAgent repositories pulled all content from the master repository regardless of whether it was actually needed.
Performance improvements - The Agent now uses less CPU time, and allows you to reduce Agent process priority to improve performance of your other applications.
Repository policy refactored - A new Repository policy category allows you to configure repository policies independently from general policies. You can now set your general policies globally and your repository policies locally. In addition, you can now use drag-and-drop to reorder the repository list.
Default policy type for large organizations - McAfee Agent now provides a default policy type specifically designed for large organizations called Large Organization Default. This policy is intended as a starting point from which large organizations can create their own custom policies, and includes policies in the General category.
Agent event refinements - The level of detail included in events that are generated in response to a failure has been enhanced. Property collection and
policy enforcement failure events are now reported on first instance only. Additionally, events generated from product update and product deployment failure events are more precise.
Endpoint language selection - McAfee Agent 4.6 allows you to configure, through policy settings, the language used by the agent. This is useful when your administrators or support personnel speak a different language that the one used by the endpoint users. This language selection overrides the local settings. It is used for both the agent user interface on the client, and the agent log files generated by that client. Note If you configure the agent to use a language other than the users' selected language, the text displayed in the agent user interface on their system will be in the language you selected, and not the same as the rest of the users' interface. Also, regardless of language selection, some detailed log text remains in English for troubleshooting purposes by McAfee.
Improved cluster awareness - The agent is now more aware of the network cluster environment in which it resides, and sends additional cluster and node properties back to ePolicy Orchestrator.
Agent deployment to UNIX-based systems - You can now deploy agents to some UNIX-based systems using push deployment. Push deployment is currently supported for Macintosh OS versions 10.5 (Leopard) and 10.6 (Snow Leopard), and Red Hat Linux Enterprise versions 4, 5, and 6.
UNIX-based Command Agent tool - The Command Agent tool (cmdagent) is now available on all operating systems supported by McAfee Agent 4.6. The Command Agent allows you to control the agent on the endpoint by invoking actions such as policy enforcement, collecting and sending properties, and checking for new policies and tasks on the server.
You can download the new Agent from the McAfee Downloads website here.