Server Based AV v. Workstation Installations

[Dollie]

With it being the beginning of a new year, I'm trying to make good on one of my resolutions by finding a simpler AV solution for our office. Currently, we have 3 W2K servers, a dozen NT 4.0(6a) workstations, a couple of 2000 and an XP workstations. All have Norton Antivirus installed (OEM software) right now, but trying to manage definitions that don't all renew at the same time (on different versions of the software on different OS's) is becoming a headache as our company grows. By the end of the year we're estimating that I will be managing another new server and double the number of workstations.

I've read through the posts here talking about which antivirus software is the best, but I haven't seen much on what type of application is better. I'm not sure whether server-based AV software will keep our network free of viruses, or if workstation installs are better. Once I determine the type of coverage we need, then I'm on to picking what vendor to use!

Thanks in advance!

 

[2ffat]

I can't day how other AV products work but this is how we set up our Sophos (I suspect other AVs are similar). On our main server, I have installed Sophos. It checks the server for virii. Also on this server, I have installed Sopho's install programs. I then installed Sophos on each workstation and server from this main install directory. (Sophos provides tools to automate this.) When installing on the workstations and servers, Sophos lets me say how often the workstation or server should look at the main server for updates. Thus Sophos is installed on both servers and workstations. When a new virus identity is released, I install it on the main server (which may be several times at day). Each server and workstation looks at that main server and updates itself with the same identities.

James P. Cottingham

When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute and it's longer than any hour. That's relativity.
[tab][tab]Albert Einstein explaining his Theory of Relativity to a group of journalists.

 

[SESaskDFC]

Howdy:

My place of work uses Norton AV Corporate Edition.. Setup is much the same as the Sophos program and upgrades and updates can be pushed to each client through the server.

Murray

 

[bfralia]

Using McAfee Active Virus Defense with all programs but web-shield in use.

Use Active scan on servers to check all incoming files and run virus scan every night.

Have client software checking internet and file downloads with Exchange Groupshield checking e-mail. Run nightly virus scan on machines left on over ngith.

Definition updates are pushed out to the clients and servers.

This is an international network - so far so good.