Protection Engine for Network Attached Storage

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Introduction to Symantec Protection Engine for Network Attached Storage 

Aug 25, 2013 10:46 AM

Symantec™ Protection Engine for Network Attached Storage replaces Symantec AntiVirus™ for Network Attached Storage.

Symantec Protection Engine provides virus scanning and repair services for a number of network-attached storage (NAS) devices. Symantec Protection Engine for Network Attached Storage features the Symantec™ Protection Engine, a carrier-class virus scanning and repair engine. The Symantec Protection Engine features all of the virus-scanning technologies that are available in Symantec antivirus products, making the Symantec Protection Engine one of the most effective virus solutions available for detecting and preventing virus attacks.

You can scan files for viruses automatically as they are accessed from storage before the requesting user gains access to it. Based on a configurable virus scan policy, when a virus is found in a file, the file is repaired. The clean file is stored on the NAS device and only then is the requesting user granted access.

Symantec Protection Engine uses the following protocols to interface with network attached storage devices:

  • The Internet Content Adaptation Protocol (ICAP), version 1.0,as presented in RFC 3507 (April 2003)
  • A proprietary implementation of remote procedure call (RPC)
  • The Protection Engine native protocol

Each NAS device maintains a connection with Symantec Protection Engine to request scanning and repairing of files.

About software components

In most cases, adding virus scanning to a supported NAS device requires installation and configuration of the following components:

  • Symantec Protection Engine, which provides the virus scanning and repair services
  • Connector, which lets the NAS device communicate with Symantec Protection Engine

The connector handles the communication between the Protection Engine and the NAS device and interprets the results that are returned from the Protection Engine after scanning. The manufacturer of the NAS device develops and provides support to the connector. The connector typically is installed and configured on the NAS device. (In some cases, the manufacturer pre-installs the connector.)

The figure below shows a typical integration of a network attached storage device with Symantec Protection Engine.

Introduction_To_Symantec_Protection_Engine_for_NAS.png

  1. The client tries to access a file on the network attached storage device.
  2. The network attached storage device, by means of a connector, sends the file to the Symantec Protection Engine for scanning.
  3. Symantec Protection Engine scans the file, repairs it if it is infected, and returns the clean file to the network attached storage device.
  4. The network attached storage device writes the cleaned file to disk, caches the fact that the file has been cleaned, and sends the file to the client.

About the connector

The connector handles the communication between the Protection Engine and the NAS device and interprets the results that are returned from the Protection Engine after scanning. The manufacturer of the NAS device develops and provides support for the connector. The connector typically is installed and configured on the NAS device. (In some cases, the manufacturer pre-installs the connector.)

In some cases, no connector is necessary. The NAS device handles the communication with the Protection Engine, and any configuration options are available directly on the device.

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Comments

Aug 31, 2013 07:55 AM

For SAN, I think the customer need to develop a connector to transfer the data to SPE for scan.

Aug 29, 2013 09:22 AM

Good to know. Does it work with SAN as well?

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