Install the Linux thin agent to introspect network traffic. The network introspection driver will be used by NSX Malware Prevention functionality to introspect traffic for any malware.

Important: To protect guest VMs against antivirus, you do not need to install the Linux thin agent for network introspection.

The Linux thin agent driver that is used to introspect network traffic depends on an open-source driver.

Prerequisites

Verify and install the following packages on the Virtual Machine:

  • glib2

  • libnetfilter-conntrack3/ libnetfilter-conntrack

  • libnetfilter-queue1/ libnetfilter-queue

  • iptables

Verify glib2 is installed on the Linux VM using following commands:

  • Ubuntu: apt search glib2

  • RHEL: yum/dnf list glib2

  • SLES: zypper search glib2

  • CentOS: yum/dnf list glib2

If you do not find these packages, install distro specific packages. You must perform similar verification and installation for the rest of the packages.

Procedure

  1. (Ubuntu)
    1. To install the open-source driver provided by guest introspection, add following in /etc/apt/sources.list as the base URL for your operating system.

      For Ubuntu 16.04

      deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.vmware.com/guest-introspection-for-vmware-nsx/latest/ubuntu xenial main

      For Ubuntu 18.04

      deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.vmware.com/guest-introspection-for-vmware-nsx/latest/ubuntu bionic main

      For Ubuntu 20.04

      deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.vmware.com/guest-introspection-for-vmware-nsx/latest/ubuntu focal main
    2. Import the VMware packaging key. 
      curl -O https://packages.vmware.com/packages/nsx-gi/keys/VMWARE-PACKAGING-NSX-GI-GPG-RSA-KEY.pub 
apt-key add VMWARE-PACKAGING-NSX-GI-GPG-RSA-KEY.pub
    3. Update the repository and install the open-source driver. 
      apt-get update
apt-get install guest-introspection-for-vmware-nsx
    4. To install the Linux thin agent that is used to introspect file and or network traffic.
      • To install file and network introspection packages, select vmware-nsx-gi package in step g.

      • To install network introspection packages, select the vmware-nsx-gi-net package in step g.

    5. Create /etc/apt/sources.list.d/gi.list and add following URL as the base URL for your operating system depending upon the distro.

      For Ubuntu 16.04

      deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.vmware.com/packages/nsx-gi/latest/ubuntu/ xenial main

      For Ubuntu 18.04

      deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.vmware.com/packages/nsx-gi/latest/ubuntu/ bionic main
      For Ubuntu 20.04 
      deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.vmware.com/packages/nsx-gi/latest/ubuntu/ focal main
    6. Import the VMware packaging key. 
      curl -O https://packages.vmware.com/packages/nsx-gi/keys/VMWARE-PACKAGING-NSX-GI-GPG-RSA-KEY.pub 
apt-key add VMWARE-PACKAGING-NSX-GI-GPG-RSA-KEY.pub
    7. Install one of the following drivers. 
      apt-get update
apt-get install vmware-nsx-gi
apt-get install vmware-nsx-gi-net
  2. (RHEL)
    1. To install the open-source driver provided by guest introspection, create /etc/yum.repos.d/gi.repo file and add following in the file. 
      [nsx-gi] 
name=nsx-gi 
baseurl=https://packages.vmware.com/guest-introspection-for-vmware-nsx/1.2.0.0/rhel/x86_64/ 
enabled=1 
gpgcheck=1
    2. Import the VMware packaging key. 
      curl -O https://packages.vmware.com/packages/nsx-gi/keys/VMWARE-PACKAGING-NSX-GI-GPG-RSA-KEY.pub 
rpm --import VMWARE-PACKAGING-NSX-GI-GPG-RSA-KEY.pub
    3. Update the repository and install the open-source driver. 
      yum install Guest-Introspection-for-VMware-NSX
    4. To install the Linux thin agent that is used to introspect file and or network traffic.

      • To install file and network introspection packages, select vmware-nsx-gi package in step g.

      • To install network introspection packages, select the vmware-nsx-gi-net package in step g.

    5. Create /etc/yum.repos.d/vm.repo file and add following: 
      [vmware] 
name = VMware 
baseurl = http://packages.vmware.com/packages/nsx-gi/latest/rhel/x86_64 
enabled = 1 
gpgcheck = 1 
metadata_expire = 86400 
ui_repoid_vars = basearch
    6. Import the VMware packaging key. 
      https://packages.vmware.com/packages/nsx-gi/keys/VMWARE-PACKAGING-NSX-GI-GPG-RSA-KEY.pub
    7. Install drivers. 
      yum install vmware-nsx-gi
yum install vmware-nsx-gi-net
  3. (SLES)
    1. Obtain and import the VMware packaging public keys using the following commands.

      curl -O https://packages.vmware.com/packages/nsx-gi/keys/VMWARE-PACKAGING-NSX-GI-GPG-RSA-KEY.pub

      rpm --import VMWARE-PACKAGING-NSX-GI-GPG-RSA-KEY.pub

    2. Add the following repositories:

      zypper ar -f "https://packages.vmware.com/guest-introspection-for-vmware-nsx/latest/sles/x86_64/" Guest-Introspection-for-VMware-NSX

      zypper ar -f "https://packages.vmware.com/packages/nsx-gi/latest/sles/x86_64/" VMware

    3. Install the Guest Introspection and one of the thin agent packages.

      zypper install Guest-Introspection-for-VMware-NSX

      zypper install vmware-nsx-gi-net

      or

      zypper install vmware-nsx-gi

  4. (CentOS)
    1. To install the open-source driver provided by guest introspection, create /etc/yum.repos.d/gi.repo file and add following in the file. 
      [nsx-gi]
name=nsx-gi
baseurl=https://packages.vmware.com/guest-introspection-for-vmware-nsx/1.2.0.0/centos/x86_64/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
    2. Import the VMware packaging key. 
      curl -O https://packages.vmware.com/packages/nsx-gi/keys/VMWARE-PACKAGING-NSX-GI-GPG-RSA-KEY.pub 
rpm --import VMWARE-PACKAGING-NSX-GI-GPG-RSA-KEY.pub
    3. Update the repository and install the open-source driver. 
      yum install Guest-Introspection-for-VMware-NSX
    4. To install the Linux thin agent that is used to introspect file and or network traffic.

      • To install file and network introspection packages, select vmware-nsx-gi package in step g.

      • To install network introspection packages, select the vmware-nsx-gi-net package in step g.

    5. Create /etc/yum.repos.d/vm.repo file and add following: 
      [vmware] 
name = VMware 
baseurl = http://packages.vmware.com/packages/nsx-gi/latest/centos/x86_64 
enabled = 1 
gpgcheck = 1 
metadata_expire = 86400 
ui_repoid_vars = basearch
    6. Import the VMware packaging key. 
      https://packages.vmware.com/packages/nsx-gi/keys/VMWARE-PACKAGING-NSX-GI-GPG-RSA-KEY.pub
    7. Install drivers. 
      yum install vmware-nsx-gi
yum install vmware-nsx-gi-net