How to change Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange RapidRelease updates to use HTTP for download instead of FTP

Products

• Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange

Issue/Introduction

 

Resolution

By default, Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange (SMSMSE) version 7.5.5 and earlier utilizes the native Windows FTP.exe client to perform Active FTP connections to ftp.symantec.com in order to download Rapid Release Packages.  After installing the attached hotfix, SMSMSE will utilize the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) instead.

 

Considerations prior to deploying hotfix

Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange (SMSMSE) versions prior to 7.5.2 did not have the capability of utilizing Rapid Release v5 packages.  If you are currently utilizing a version prior to 7.5.2 see the following KB article before continuing.

Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange 7.5.1 and earlier will no longer be able to utilize version 4 (v4) Rapid Release (RR) or Intelligent Updater (IU) definition packages after April 15th, 2016.

 

Hotfix Instructions

There are two methods to apply the hotfix, either automatically using a script, or manually.

To automatically deploy the hotfix

1. Download the attachment 4064506_HF.zip available on this article.
2. Extract the content of 4064506_HF.zip to a temporary location
3. Inside of the extracted 4064506_HF.zip locate ApplyHF.ps1
4. Right-click ApplyHF.ps1 and choose "Run with PowerShell"
5. If prompted with "Execution Policy Change" choose [Y] to proceed.
6. When prompted to Continue choose [Y] to run the script deploying the hotfix.

 ApplyHF.ps1 will create a backup directory called SMSBackup* in the same directory the script was run from.  To revert the changes manually copy the file RapidRelease.bat to <Install Path>\SMSMSE\<Version>\Server.

To deploy the hotfix manually

1. Download the attachment 4064506_HF.zip available on this article.
2. Extract the content of 4064506_HF.zip to a temporary location
3. Navigate to <Install Path>\SMSMSE\<Version>\Server
4. Locate and create a backup copy of RapidReleasex64.bat
5. Inside of the extracted 4064506_HF.zip locate "RRDefs.exe", "RRDefs.exe.config", and "RapidReleasex64.bat"
6. Copy these three files to <Install Path>\SMSMSE\<Version>\Server

After completing these steps SMSMSE will use HTTP to download RapidRelease updates instead of FTP.  No service or server restarts are required.

 

Note for Symantec Endpoint Protection users:

Under some circumstances customers utilizing Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) may receive an Insight warning when attempting to download symrapidreleasedefscore15-v5i32.exe.  If this occurs add http://definitions.symantec.com into trusted sites within Internet Properties>Security>Trusted sites from the control panel or through Internet Explorer.  Http sites listed as trusted will not be monitored by Insight.