Agent Overview

What Is an Agent?

The HSS agent is a piece of software installed on cloud servers to exchange data between the servers and HSS, implementing security detection and protection. If no agent is installed, the HSS is unavailable.

Scans all servers at 00:00 every day; monitors the security and monitors status of servers; and reports the collected server and monitors information (including non-compliant configurations, insecure configurations, intrusion traces, software list, port list, and process list) to the cloud protection center. In addition, the agent blocks attacks targeted at servers and containers based on the security policies you configured.

Supported OSs

Currently, some mainstream OSs are supported. For details, see Supported OSs. To obtain better HSS service experience, you are advised to install or upgrade to an OS version supported by the agent.

Processes When the Agent Is Running

• Linux
  The account of the agent is root. Table 1 lists the running processes on a Linux server.

  Table 1 Agent running process on a Linux server

  Agent Process Name	Function	Path
  hostguard	Detects security issues, protects the system, and monitors the agent.	/usr/local/hostguard/bin/hostguard
  hostwatch	Monitors the agent process.	/usr/local/hostguard/bin/hostwatch
  upgrade	Upgrades the agent.	/usr/local/hostguard/bin/upgrade

• Windows
  The account of the agent is system. Table 2 lists the running processes on a Windows server.

  Table 2 Agent running process on a Windows server

  Agent Process Name	Function	Path
  hostguard.exe	Detects security issues, protects the system, and monitors the agent.	C:\Program Files\HostGuard\HostGuard.exe
  hostwatch.exe	Monitors the agent process.	C:\Program Files\HostGuard\HostWatch.exe
  upgrade.exe	Upgrades the agent.	C:\Program Files\HostGuard\upgrade.exe

Installing the Agent

1. Check the installation environment.

   Before installing the agent, perform the operations in Checking the Installation Environment.

2. Installing the Agent

   For details about how to install an agent, see Installing the Agent on Huawei Cloud Servers.