Topic: Recommended AntiVirus Software for SME5.1.2

[Graham]

Hi All,

Can anyone comment on Antivirus solutions for SME ?

I am looking for ease of install / use as well as cost considerations
and frequency of updates comparisons !

Also any problems that you might have come across

I have a niceley running server right now )

Thanks !

[Andrei Taylor]

Goto http://myezserver.com and checkout there RAV Antivirus solution which they have customized for the SME Server. Install is simple, it's regularly updated, supported by the myezserver crew and it catches viruses at the server level before they get to your users pc's.

[Peter]

Hi Graham

We are RAV agents here in Ormskirk in the UK

[brian read]

_Who_ are you? (this web based list only shows your name, not your email address)

[Darrell May]

Full information on RAV is available here:

http://myezserver.com/rav-faq.html

Pointing to this download area where you may download, install and evaluate RAV for 60 days:

http://myezserver.com/downloads/mitel/contrib/rav-8.3.2/

And then when you find it is just what you are looking for, you may purchase RAV here:

http://myezserver.com/store/agora.cgi?&product=rav

Regards,

Darrell

[Graham]

Why is it so expensive to install on the server as opposed
to just installing on the desktops ?

1 Server
480 CAD = 215.76 GBP

24-75 Desktops
29 CAD = 13 GBP

What are the dis / advantages of both ?

[Darrell May]

In brief they are two completely different products serving completely different purposes.  Read the PDF's available at http://myezserver.com for full details.

Regards,

Darrell

[NickR]

Graham, I'm always amazed at statements where people say "why is anti-virus so expensive".  Let's do a little calculation:

Say you have 50 workstations behind your server & say "only" 10 get infected.  If it takes 30 minutes to disinfect each one, that's 5 hours. Now say that it happens every 6 months.  Do you seriously value your time so cheaply that 200-odd quid doesn't make sense?  What about the cost of disruption, and the benefit of being able to sleep knowing that your users are protected?

RAV is a great solution & Darrell has done a great job of making it work seamlessly on the SME - I'm a single-person company (OK, I have 10 machines here) & even for me it's a no-brainer.

[Jean-Philippe]

I use AV Mailgate (http://www.vexins.com/downloads/VexINS-AVMailGate-1.0-4.noarch.rpm) to scan all the e-mails coming and going from my network (get subscribed at http://www.hbedv.com/private and copy the .key in usr/lib/Antivir then launch /usr/sbin/vdf-update and don't forget to run "/etc/init.d/avmgate start" when your server starts) and F-Prot (http://www.f-prot.com/f-prot/download/getfplinfree.html) to scan my users' folders (read the readme for easy install.)
These antiviruses are both free FOR PERSONAL USE and are both quite reliable. The only drawback is that you can't update F-Prot in cron : you've got to do it by hand (hey, that's no big deal, is it...)

[Len]

does antivir mailgate work with the procmail rpms?  I couldnt get mail after i installed mailgate.

[Steven Thomson]

The Avmailgate rpm mentioned previously is set for a qmail based standard setup. It even places a page for management in the server manager.  If you do get it running along with procmail make sure you get the latest tgz file from www.hbedv.com and extract and replace the avmgated avmgatefwd and antivir files on your server as without this engine update you will most likely miss klez viruses. After updating I have trapped every version of klez, but before updating they were getting through.

[Graham]

Amazed :-

I only have 6 workstations, thus 6 x £13 = £78

To install on the server £216

I was under the impression that *most* virus are going to be infecting
the WIndoze desktops and not touching Linux ? [Klez etc] hence asking
"What is the advantages / dis-advantages of each method" NOT "Is AntiVirus
protection worth the Money ?"

Is Linux itself vunerable to virus attacks ?

Excuse me for being ignorant of the facts !!!

[Dean Mumby]

Jean-Philippe

I installed the avgate but it does not seem to read the virtual doamins correctly, I saw there is a template for the avgate ctl and it mentions reading /home/e-smith/domains , however it is not allowing relaying for domains listed in there.

Are you the author of this rpm ?

I have maually added the virtual domians into the template fragment so it is working , I just thought I would tell you ?

Another thing , because avgate is intercepting mail before it gets to smtpdfwd it is effectively bypassing all email rules " /etc/smtp_checkrules" and mail has to be accepted and scanned before it could be bounced because of any rule that may be in place. I dont know if this is intentional but it means that alot more mail will be accepted in any case.

Regards
Dean

[enigma]

I recently purchased and use RAV for al my WIndows and Linux boxes.

Very easy to install and apparently i can point my windows updates to a local samba share, thereby, reducing bandwidth. (there is even an "Enterprise" version available)

The only downside i can see is it does not support macintosh computers - though I will stand to be corrected on this, because if it does i am buying more for my macs as well

Fantastic product and well worth the install...!1

Enigma

[chris meredith]

Just to throw my 2 cents in:

There are Linux virii, but they are less common.  The most recent is acutally a crossplatform virus:
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/linux.simile.html

Virus protection on the desktop is important, but it doesn't replace the need for a server antivirus.  You will always have a user who sets up their own machine, brings in a outside machine, or uninstalls their virus program.  A server solution also protects you from incomming virii, taking the end user out of the mix before they can panic at a virus pop warning.

Having protection on the server gives you one place to update and be sure that your network is protected.  I find that to be a lot easier than running around to 10 desktops and making sure that all the hotfixes and virus updates have been run as soon as a new virus is out.

Having said that, always run your network the way you see fit.  If you don't see a need for server side protection, don't get any.  It probably won't be a problem.  But in the end, how much is that "probably' worth?