Network Connectivity

In order to get registered and download patches from the server, 0patch Agent needs to be able to connect to 0patch Server. It initially connects to 0patch Server immediately after installation when you register the Agent, and then every 60 minutes when it »syncs« with the server to see if any new patches have become available.

Note that 0patch Agent is protecting you, and is applying all applicable patches it has previously downloaded from 0patch Server even when your computer is offline or otherwise unable to connect to 0patch Server. Being unable to connect to the server only means that the local patch database cannot be updated with new patches.

Encrypted Communication

0patch Agent connects to the server using encrypted HTTPS requests. It employs WinHTTP services that are part of the Windows operating system, and relies on a working WinHTTP system configuration.

Firewall

Your firewall, if you have one, must allow 0patch Agent to connect to host dist.0patch.com (52.28.163.251) on TCP port 443. In case you can set networking permissions for individual processes, you need to allow processes 0patchConsole.exe and 0patchService.exe to initiate the above connection.

Proxy Server

If you want 0patch Agent to establish connections via a proxy server, you need to configure that manually in the registry. As administrator, launch regedit.exe and open the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\0patch key. There are three values under this key that allow you to configure proxy server communication:

• ProxyHost – if empty, no proxy server will be used (the default setting); if non-empty, the proxy host in this value will be used, along with the proxy server port in the ProxyPort value
• ProxyPort – if proxy server is used, this value will be used as the proxy server port
• ProxyScheme – this value defines the proxy authentication scheme as follows
  • 0 – no authentication will be performed on the proxy server
  • 1 – BASIC authentication

If ProxyScheme is set to 1 (BASIC authentication), there are two additional values you have to set under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\0patch\ProtectedSettings key. Note that unless you run regedit.exe as administrator, you won't be able to even open this key because non-admin users are not allowed to read proxy server credentials.

• ProxyUsername – this value will be used as username
• ProxyPassword – this value will be used as password

Note that even after you configure a proxy server, 0patch Agent will still attempt to make a direct connection to the server if it fails to do so via the proxy server. This allows portable computers to stay up to date with patches both inside the corporate network and outside.

Troubleshooting Network Connectivity

See this article for troubleshooting connectivity problems with 0patch Agent.