Using SEP or other AV program on a Netbackup 5220 appliance

[MWFolsom]

I am working in an environment where all systems, workstations and servers alike, must run some sort of antivirus program.  We have recently deployed a 5220 running the latest version of Netbackup and need to either install something like SEP for Unix/Linux on the box or ClamAV.  We are already running SEP on our windows systems so it seems logical to use it on our Linux systems too. 

In the broadest sense I am curious if anybody has or does run an AV program on their appliance or has tried to do so and what challenges they faced.  In a more specific sense I am curious if anybody has put SEP on their appliance.

Re: my system:

/etc/SuSE-release

     SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 (x86-64)

     VERSION = 10

     PATCHLEVEL = 4

/etc/nbapp-repease

     nbapp-release 2.5.2

     builddate = 20130221

     system-product-name = S5520UR

     model = 5220

 /etc/pdos-release

     6.6.0.329

Thanks -

Michael

[Mark_Solutions]

I have the feeeling that Symantec will not support installing any software onto an appliance without invalidating its support / warranty.

The appliances do integrate with Symantec Critical System Protection so maybe that is what you need to look at.

Before doing anything please log a call with Symantec Support for an official answer but I cannot see it being allowed unless Symantec create a package specifically for the appliance.

Hope this helps

[Brook_Humphrey]

Mark is correct. Installing other software on the system is not supported.

On a side note I have seen plenty of MSDP media servers running on windows with AV running. We usually see a couple issues with this:

1. Performance impact is severe causing the MSDP to get behind and not able to keep up with garbage collection.

2. The AV actually deletes the storage containers and can cause unrecoverable dataloss.

3. The AV will lock the containers for writing causing write failures.

When AV is in use we recommend to exclude all NetBackup folders as well as the drive were the dedupe storage is located. I suppose you could allow basic disk and advanced disk storage to run with AV on it but there would still be a performance impact on this.

None if these situations are pleasant to deal with afterwards.

If you have any other questions please ask.

Thanks