The CeRTNA APEX client software can be run on either a physical Windows workstation or on a Windows Virtual Machine. The sections below describe the requirements for both.
The following workstation specifications are designed to satisfy the requirements for running APEX and are current as of July 10, 2023:
Notes:
CeRTNA does not specifically support Virtual Machine (VM) configurations. These are dependent on the Virtualization Platform that is in use in your organization. This said, CeRTNA currently uses Microsoft's Hyper-V platform and we are able to create VM's for various types of testing. We have successfully tested the APEX client running on a Windows 10 VM, Windows 11 VM, Server 2012 VM, and Server 2016 VM. In each case the APEX client software works as expected.
The only method that CeRTNA can directly support for connecting to a virtual machine (VM) is using a Microsoft Remote Desktop Client. If you are using our ERDS platform, you will need to have your Remote Desktop Client configured for USB Passthrough and/or support for Smart Cards. Two factor authentication using a SafeNet e-Token is required on the CeRTNA ERDS platform and this is why the USB Passthrough configuration is required. On the CeRTNA G2G platform, USB passthrough does not need to be configured because the G2G Platform is a closed platform that does not use USB tokens.
There are several benefits to using a Virtual Machine for your ERDS & G2G workstations:
If your organization decides to use a Virtual Machine for your ERDS/G2G workstation, your organization will be expected to provide support for the VM.
CeRTNA will certify and support the CeRTNA ERDS software (APEX) and the required tools on the following Microsoft Windows platforms:
Important: Home Editions of Microsoft Windows operating systems are not supported because they do now have support for Local Security Policy.
ERDS users will be provided with a SafeNet USB token that fulfills the requirement for two-factor authentication. You will need to download and install the SafeNet Authentication Client 10.7 token drivers. The driver installation program can be downloaded from the following URL:
https://support.certna.org/Downloads/SAC107.zip
When installing the driver software, you can accept all the default settings.