Norton AntiVirus and Symantec AntiVirus

The LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service has been tested with Norton AntiVirus and Symantec AntiVirus (from Symantec) and LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service is known to run successfully with these products on a computer.

The tested Norton AntiVirus for Windows NT versions include 5.0, 6.0, 2000.00.02, 7.5, and 2003, and Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition version 8.0. If you are using another version and require assistance, contact Customer Service.

There are additional configuration steps that you need to perform to run Norton or Symantec AntiVirus software and LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service on the same Agent computer.

Exclude LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service directories from the anti-virus scan

When configuring Norton or Symantec AntiVirus software, you need to exclude the following LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service directories from the virus scanning; otherwise, the computer could hang:

  • Journal files (default is \LiveVault\Journals\)

  • Database files directories, both protected and unprotected (default is \LiveVault\Databases\ containing both subfolders \Protected and \Unprotected)

To identify the LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service directories paths

To identify the full path of the directories to exclude on your computer:

  1. Using REGEDT32.EXE, open the registry key:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\LiveVault Corporation\LiveVault\2.0

  2. Locate the JournalRoot value (for example, this is usually similar to E:\LiveVault\Journals)

  3. Locate the ProtectedDatasetDirectory value (for example, this is usually similar to E:\LiveVault\Databases\Protected)

  4. Locate the UnprotectedDatasetDirectory value (for example, this is usually similar to E:\LiveVault\Databases\Unprotected)

Exclude the anti-virus temporary files/directories from backup

Anti-virus software products generate temporary files or use temporary directories, for example, to unpack archives such as zipped files.

We identified the following Norton AntiVirus and Symantec AntiVirus temporary files/directories to exclude; exclude the appropriate directories based on your installation:

  • C:\Temp

    If this is the value of the computer's %TEMP% environment variable, then LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service Agent version 3.1.2 and later automatically excludes this temporary folder. Otherwise, you need to manually exclude this temporary folder from LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service backup.

  • C:\Program Files\NAV\I2_LDVP.TMP\dec

    If this directory exists, you need to manually exclude this temporary folder from LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service backup.

  • C:\WINNT\Profiles\All Users\Application Data\Symantec\Norton AntiVirus\Corporate Edition\7.5\* (plus subdirectories)

    This is the common path for 7.5 and 8.0 Corporate editions on Windows NT 4.

    LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service Agent version 4.0 and later automatically excludes the version 7.5 and 8.0 Corporate edition temporary directory and its subdirectories (as specified above). To get the path for the temporary files directory, LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service uses an API to get the computer's application data path, then appends \Symantec\Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition\7.5 to that path. LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service uses this path to create the exclusion for this directory and its subdirectories. If you are running an earlier Agent version, you must manually create this exclusion.

  • C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Symantec\Norton AntiVirus\Corporate Edition\7.5\* (plus subdirectories)

    This is the common path for 7.5 and 8.0 Corporate editions on Windows 2000/2003.

    LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service Agent version 4.0 and later automatically excludes the version 7.5 and 8.0 Corporate editions temporary directory and its subdirectories (as specified above). To get the path for the temporary files directory, LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service uses an API to get the computer's application data path, then appends \Symantec\Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition\7.5 to that path. LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service uses this path to create the exclusion for this directory and its subdirectories. If you are running an earlier Agent version, you must manually create this exclusion.

In the tree view on the Files to Backup tab, you will see the icon for the automatically excluded directories. Parent directories of the automatically excluded directories are marked in MyLiveVault with one of the "partially excluded" icons, either (if a parent directory is selected), or (if a parent directory is not selected).

Check the Norton AntiVirus and Symantec AntiVirus vendor documentation for whether the product uses other temporary files and directories.

Exclude additional anti-virus files/directories from backup

The following files and directories must also be excluded from LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service backup:

  • NAV backup directory
  • Anti-virus debug logging file

NAV backup directory

To avoid unnecessarily high data change rates and excessive use of network bandwidth, the NAV logon backup directory and its subdirectories must be excluded from LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service backup if you are using NT Backup.

You must manually create this exclusion.

The NAV installation directory is specified in the registry key:

HKLM\Software\Symantec\InstalledApps value NAV

This is commonly:

\Progra~1\NAV

Append the Symantec default share for VPLOGON and the Windows NT Backup backup subdirectory (\logon\backup) to the installation directory. For example, if the NAV value is C:\Progra~1\NAV, convert it to the longname C:\Program Files\NAV, and append these subdirectories to create the exclusion:

Exclude C:\Program Files\NAV\logon\backup\* (plus subdirectories)

Anti-virus debug logging file

The anti-virus debug logging file also needs to be excluded from LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service backup. This file is only created when you turn on the anti-virus debugging trace logging.

LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service Agent version 4.0 and later automatically excludes the debug logging file (if debugging is turned on). If you are running an earlier Agent version, you must manually create this exclusion.

Important: LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service only checks for this value at initialization. After you turn on debug logging, you must restart the LiveVault service (nisvc) to have LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service create the exclusion.

In the tree view on the Files to Backup tab, you will see the icon for the automatically excluded file. Parent directories of the automatically excluded file are marked in MyLiveVault with one of the "partially excluded" icons, either (if a parent directory is selected), or (if a parent directory is not selected).

The anti-virus home directory is specified in the registry key:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\INTEL\LANDesk\VirusProtect6\CurrentVersion value Home Directory

By default, this is C:\Program Files\NavNT

Whether debug logging is turned on is specified in the registry key:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\INTEL\LANDesk\VirusProtect6\CurrentVersion\ProductControl value Debug.

If this value is an empty string, debug logging is not turned on. When the value contains text, such as VL (for verbose, logging) then debug logging is turned on and the debug logging file needs to be excluded.

The file is located in the anti-virus home directory, and it has a fixed name. For example, if the specified home directory path is C:\Program Files\NavNT, create the exclusion:

Exclude C:\Program Files\NavNT\vpdebug.log

Anti-virus processes in LiveVault "suspect process" registry setting

The anti-virus processes navwnt.exe, rtvscan.exe, and navw32.exe (for Norton AntiVirus 2003) modify a file's attributes. When LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service recognizes that the file attributes are changed, it would determine that the file was changed and back up the file changes. This would result in unnecessarily high continuous backup activity which will negatively impact your computer operations.

To prevent this problem, these processes must be part of a LiveVault "suspect process" registry setting that enables the LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service replication technology to identify the files whose attributes are modified by these processes, and thus avoid replicating the files unnecessarily. LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service Agent versions version 3.3.1 and later automatically includes navwnt.exe and rtvscan.exe in the LiveVault registry setting, and Agent version 4.0 and later includes navw32.exe. LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service will continue to identify when the file content has actually changed and back it up appropriately.

If you are running an earlier Agent version, contact Customer Service for assistance.

Related Information

Anti-virus Software
Excluding Files from Backup
Automatic and Recommended Backup Exclusions
Symantec Shared Application Files
 
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