Install Connect on Windows Server 2012 R2

Warning

The Connect UI is not supported on Windows Server 2012 R2. Please see Configuring the service for more details.

Failure

Connect will not install correctly if Windows Server 2012 R2 is not completely up to date.

Tip

Download links for CyberHive Connect client installers can be found on the Release notes page.

Tip

We recommend rebooting the machine after Connect is installed and configured, or upgraded.

System requirements

Before starting, review the system requirements and ensure that your system meets them.

Installing the client

This short video shows the simple steps needed to install the software package and configure a new Endpoint to join a CyberHive Connect fast and resilient software-defined mesh network.

The steps shown may not reflect the current release of Connect.

To install the client, run the installer executable cyberhive-connect_ver_sha1.exe and select the directory where you would like to install the Connect client.

Once installation is completed you are given the opportunity to open the online documentation.

Select 'Next' and the installation is now complete.

Note

Any existing installation will be replaced by the new version. See Upgrade Connect.

Configuring the service

The Connect user interface component, "connectui.exe", is not compatible with Windows Server 2012 R2.

Configuration changes cannot be made using the graphical user interface, as with other Windows versions, and authentication is only possible using authentication tokens.

Tip

To prevent "connectui.exe" from attempting to load at startup, right click on Start and select Run from the menu.

Type shell:common startup, click OK and the Startup folder will open. Delete the "CyberHive Connect" shortcut from the folder.

Configuring the Connect client

To use Connect on Windows Server 2012 R2, you must create a user with an access token and, after installation, configure Connect via either the Command Prompt or Registry.

You will need the three pieces of required configuration:

• The URL of the Connect Control Service.
• Your username.
• Your authentication token.

From a Command Prompt with Administrative privileges

Within an Admin Command Prompt, change to the directory where you installed the Connect client.

For example:

> cd "\program files\cyberhive connect"

The configuration can be entered into the Connect client as follows:

• Connect control service

> cyberhive-connect set vpn_server https://connect.yourcompany.com

• Username

> cyberhive-connect set username [email protected]

• Authentication token

> cyberhive-connect set auth_token 19e6c772c1b7e69650a494bcc2c903598f2cbf9c

From the Registry

As the Connect client keeps its configuration in the Registry, you can use regedit.exe to edit it or export etc.

The Connect client stores its configuration in the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\CyberHive\Connect.

Then use the Service Control Manager to stop and restart the client so the settings take effect.

Activating and deactivating the VPN

The Connect client can be controlled using the built-in Windows tools, for example:

> sc.exe query cyberhiveconnect
> sc.exe stop cyberhiveconnect
> sc.exe start cyberhiveconnect

The Services UI can also be used by pressing Win+R to open the Run Command dialog and entering services.msc and pressing Return.

Note

To test the functionality of Connect using ping, you will first need to enable ICMP within the Windows Firewall.

Tip

It is also possible to pre-generate keys for the Endpoint.

Logs

Info

This section refers to clients running version 3.2 or above. For older supported clients, see the deprecated Windows Logs documentation.

A "Save Logs" option is available via the Connect UI, which is not supported on Windows Server 2012 R2.

To access the logs from within an Admin Command Prompt, change to the directory where the client logs are stored.

> cd C\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\CyberHive\Connect
> dir cyberhive-connect.log*
 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is 8AC8-8161

 Directory of C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\CyberHive\Connect

09/04/2024  10:23        61,442,588 cyberhive-connect.log
09/04/2024  03:31        67,109,247 cyberhive-connect.log.0
08/04/2024  21:20        67,109,387 cyberhive-connect.log.1
08/04/2024  15:11        67,109,494 cyberhive-connect.log.2
               4 File(s)    262,770,716 bytes
               0 Dir(s)  126,104,592,384 bytes free

Setting the logging level

The logging level defines the verbosity of the logging generated by the Connect client; when a log message is logged at a lower level than the defined logging level, it is discarded and not written to the Event Log.

The logging levels are defined as:

• error
• warn
• info
• debug
• trace

The logging level is read from the Registry when the Service starts. To change the values you will need to use the Windows Registry Editor:

• Press Win+R and type regedit into the text field.
• Navigate to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\CyberHive\Connect.
• Add or edit the string value called LoggingLevel and set the level as defined in the list above. The case of string is unimportant, so you can use either info or Info. When an invalid value is set, the default level of info will be used.