Antivirus on VMs or on Host only?

Question

Hi,
We use Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) on our host machines. Do you also install antivirus software on each VM, or do you reckon SEP will protect the running VMs as well? Will SEP even be able to scan into a shut down VM file system?
By running SEP on both the host machine and all the powered up VMs I fear a fight between mulitiple scanning processes, not to speak of the license cost.
Cheers,
Steen

Answer 1

Hi,
I am Chetan Savade from Symantec Technical Support Team.
Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager and clients operate with the same functionality in virtual environments as they do in physical environments. Symantec Endpoint Protection provides the features that improve performance in virtual environments. Deploying the management server and clients in virtual infrastructures is identical to physical deployments. Every operating system let it be Physical or virtual it must have SEP installed.
SEP 12.1 has many new features.
It provides advanced virtualization support with the help of following features:
1) Virtual Image Exception – Allows to exclude all the files on a baseline image from scanning.
2) Shared Insight Cache – A stand alone server that enables clients to share scan results.  This allows clients to skip scanning files that have already been scanned by another client.
3) Virtual Client Tagging – Makes the clients virtualization aware and sends back the hypervisor vendor to SEPM.  That data can be used in client searching and reporting.
4) Offline Image Scanner – A stand alone tool to scan offline VMware image (VMDK) files.
Best practices for virtualization with Symantec Endpoint Protection 12.1.2
http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH197344
Managing Symantec Endpoint Protection in virtual environments
http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO55356
Best Regards,
Chetan