Antivirus on a SQL Server VM

  • hi guys, my vm admin wants to run AV at the host and not at the guest level. what do i need to ask the vm admin to make sure he is adhering to sql server best practices?

    cheers

  • You need to exclude many things...

    .bak

    .mdf

    .ndf

    .ldf

    .log

    .trc

    sqlsrvr.exe

    IF Vscan starts to scan your live database files it will bring sql server to its knees.

  • Here some info from MS.

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309422

  • Ask how an antivirus running on the host is going to catch malware running inside a guest? If you get a reasonable sounding answer, ask for a test to be run - many AV products also default to not scanning excessively large files, like virtual guest disks.

  • We were looking at this and stopped when we figured out that exclusions are at the host level and are not customizable at the guest level. (With the product we were looking at) This will work fine if all of your databases are on the same hosts but I fear for your I/O subsystem if that is the case.

    It looked good on paper but we didn't want to be on the bleeding edge.

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