High CPU utilization or disk I/O during virus definition update on drive with multiple virtual machines.

Products

• Endpoint Protection

Issue/Introduction

When virus definitions are being updated from the parent server or LiveUpdate, and there are multiple virtual machines running on one drive, there are significant CPU resources being used.

Cause

Virus definition updates utilize a lot of disk I/O. Having multiple virtual machines on one drive compounds the resource load, especially when definition updates are occuring simultaneously.

Resolution

In Symantec AntiVirus the only way to vary the timing of virus definition updates across multiple virtual machines is to randomize the time they run LiveUpdate.

• In Symantec Endpoint Protection, you can set Download Randomization at any group level.