Package Installation

The OSSEC project has made RPM and deb packages available. Links to the packages can be found on the OSSEC download page

RPM Installation

OSSEC’s RPMs are made available by AtomiCorp.

The RPMs can be installed by adding the AtomiCorp yum repository:

# wget -q -O - https://updates.atomicorp.com/installers/atomic | sh

Next use yum to install the specific packages. For an OSSEC server run:

# yum install ossec-hids ossec-hids-server

And for an agent run:

# yum install ossec-hids ossec-hids-agent

Deb Installation

OSSEC’s DEB packages are made available by Atomicorp.

Run the Repo installer:

# wget -q -O - https://updates.atomicorp.com/installers/atomic | sudo bash

Update the repository:

# apt-get update

Install OSSEC HIDS server/manager:

# apt-get install ossec-hids-server

Or install OSSEC HIDS agent:

# apt-get install ossec-hids-agent

pkg Installation

Some of the BSD operating systems offer OSSEC packages you can use. Here you have FreeBSD and OpenBSD as example.

  • FreeBSD

You are going to work together with pkg here. Just choose which type of setup you need (agent, local monitoring, or server/manager) and install the respective OSSEC package.

Should you opt to install an OSSEC Server/Manager:

# pkg install ossec-hids-server

If you want to install an OSSEC Agent:

# pkg install ossec-hids-agent

Note

These steps also work for DragonFlyBSD. It also uses pkg, just like FreeBSD. You can read more about it here.

  • OpenBSD

Here you must work with pkg_add instead of pkg, but no worries it’s the same concept.

As it only offers one package, here is how to install OSSEC HIDS on OpenBSD:

# pkg_add ossec-hids