Citrix Slow down

[SILLEYJ]

Hello,
I am wondering if the installation of Mcaffee Virus scan 4.5 is the cause of the slowdown of my Citrix Boxes. They both run terribly slow since the installation of the virus protection. Has Anyone else encountered this if so is there a virus protection package that is better for Citrix than another. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Jeff

 

[CitrixEngineer]

Most admins I know use Trend Micro's product.

Have you installed the server or client part - and how did you install it?

 

[CUSNET]

SilleyJ,

Try setting the scan for one way only. We only scan incoming files, then run a full scan over night when activity is low. If permissions are set a certain way on your system a virus can not run on Citrix do to read only settings. Has worked well for us and have had only one incident happen, the "I Love You" bug made it past, but that is it for now, knock on wood. We use:
CA's InoculateIT - Advanced Edition - Server
Verison 4.53
Build 627

Good luck,
Cusnet

 

[SILLEYJ]

The Network Admin Installed Mcaffee 4.5.0 Server. I am not sure how she installed it. I am in the middle of testing to see if that is the cause but it is the only addition to the servers and it is causing them to be so slow that you cannot use them.

 

[mrashburn]

I run a 1.8 server on W2K (sp1) and installed Mcaffee Virus scan 4.03a - Netshield (the server variant) with the latest DAT. The server doesn't slow down a bit! Occasionaly we have some workstations that have some run-away processes - uninstall and reinstall it and its great. We were haveing a slowdown when the nightly backups started so it was set to start later and the system is full speed again (until 11pm LOL)!

 

[mrashburn]

OK - guess I was wrong!!! Read the next thread.

 

[CitrixEngineer]

Remember that a Terminal Server is essentially a dumb box that delivers applications to clients.

It is not necessary to install an anti-virus package on a Terminal Server - although many admins I know have had good luck with Trend Micros product, and it has long been the anti-virus solution of choice on Citrix's website

http://www.antivirus.com

The best places for installing anti-virus software are:

Exchange server, or equivalent - especially with the recent proliferation of e-mail viruses.

Proxy server (internet filtering).

File servers

Fat client machines (PCs, or anything with a removable media interface).

In other words, anywhere that allows data onto the network from an outside location. All a terminal server does is to process existing information, so if a virus is trapped before it gets to the terminal server, there is little danger.

If your Network manager is insistent that all servers should have protective software, then I would suggest installing it to admins alone (ie don't put into change user /install mode when running setup). Both the McCaffee and Norton products seem to produce a very high overhead when installed to this environment.

 

[richcoll]

With respect, I do not agree that you shouldn't install AntiVirus on a Citrix server. There are many ways to introduce viruses onto a Citrix server, which can then spread throughout the rest of the network.
Example: User dialling in from home, using his home desktop PC (non-corporate, bought from a store with no AntiVirus on it, using Citrix drive mapping, copies some infected files up to the Citrix box
Example2: User running Internet Explorer as a published app on the Citrix server, downloads a virus from the Internet.

Incidently, I've found McAfee AV 4.5 and Norton AV v5.0 to work fine on Citrix. I'm sure that, from time to time, every AV product causes a problem, but (let's face it) you will always find some reason to have to reboot the Citrix server every night!

 

[CitrixEngineer]

With respect, richcoll, following my principle of virus-protecting the source would still protect the Citrix server in both these cases.

Scenario 1; install AV software on the user's home PC and/or the proxy/dial-in server.

Scenario 2; install AV software on the proxy and/or firewall.

AV products are becoming more Terminal Server aware, but, with the possible exception of Trend, most cause more headaches than they are worth, IME.

Thanks for your input