Planning Virus Protection for File Servers

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

To protect file servers from viruses, plan to take the following precautions:

  • Use Windows Server 2003–compatible antivirus software, and regularly update virus signature files.

  • Back up files regularly so that damage is minimized if a virus attack does occur.

  • With clustered file servers, you must use an antivirus program that is cluster aware. If it is not, failover might not occur correctly. If your organization does not have cluster-aware antivirus software, you can install antivirus software on a nonclustered server and use that server to periodically scan the drives that are mapped to the clustered file server. For more information about running antivirus software on server clusters, see article Q250355, "Antivirus Software May Cause Problems with Cluster Services," in the Microsoft Knowledge Base. To find this article, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base link on the Web Resources page at https://www.microsoft.com/windows/reskits/webresources.

  • For FRS-replicated content, you must use antivirus programs that are FRS compatible and that do not change the security descriptor of files. For more information about FRS compatible antivirus programs, see article Q815263, "Antivirus, Backup and Disk Optimization Programs That Are Compatible with the File Replication Service." To find this article, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base link on the Web Resources page at https://www.microsoft.com/windows/reskits/webresources.