Cloud Agent Installation for Agentless Tracking

When you install Cloud Agent on a host asset for which agentless tracking is enabled, it might create a duplicate host record in your Qualys account. To avoid this, use the same host ID as it was for the agentless tracking. Following this practice does not create a duplicate host record for the same host.

You can configure the location of the host ID file installed on your Linux hosts with the recommended default of /etc. (the agent creates/uses a 'Qualys' directory under /etc.). This is recommended best practice if you are interested in using Linux Agent and Agentless Tracking to evaluate the same host.

Once configured, the same file with the same host ID tag is accessed by our service when the host is evaluated using

1. Agentless Tracking AND
2. Cloud Agent

Steps to Install Cloud Agent for Hosts with Agentless Tracking

1. Check your Unix Authentication Record
   
   This is the record you are using to access the system using Agentless Tracking. In this record you can get the location of host ID file for the authentication record.
   
   If you want help with Agentless Tracking, log in to the Qualys Cloud Platform, go to Help > Contact Support, and search for Agentless Tracking.
   
2. Install Cloud Agent
   
   Use the agent configuration tool (qualys-cloud-agent.sh) and the HostIdSearchDir option to install the Linux Agent and configure the location of the host ID file, respectively.
   
   Be sure this location matches the location defined in your authentication record. By default, HostIdSearchDir is set to /etc/.
   
   To stay consistent with the Agentless Tracking location, Qualys appends /qualys/hostid to the path provided.
   
   Example - Install as root user and set host ID file to /mydir/qualys/hosted

$ /usr/local/qualys/cloud-agent/bin/qualys-cloud-agent.sh ActivationId="022224c8-31c7-11e5-b4f7-0021ccba987e" CustomerId="146556fa-31c7-11e5-87b6-0021ccba987e" HostIdSearchDir="/mydir/