Scheduling Updates and Scans

HelpSystems recommends updating the Powertech Antivirus DAT files daily to ensure the latest virus definitions are always being employed for On-Access scans. Updating daily also ensures all On-Demand scans are using the latest virus definitions. HelpSystems recommends weekly scans for systems that depend on On-Demand scanning. The following instructions describe how to schedule these events so they occur automatically.

NOTE: You can use HelpSystems One to schedule virus definition updates on connected endpoints. See Updating Virus Definitions.

Scheduling Scans with HelpSystems One

Powertech Antivirus makes it easy to schedule recurring On-Demand scans. To do so:

  1. On the Powertech Antivirus Navigation Pane, choose Scheduled Scans.

  2. Click Add. The New Scheduled Scan pane appears.

  3. Where prompted, enter a name and description for the scheduled scan, and select the desired Configuration.

  4. In the Endpoints section, enter the endpoint aliases of the endpoints you would like to include in the scheduled scan, separated by a semicolon.

  5. Click the Scheduler toggle to display the schedule settings.

  6. Select the desired day/time/month that the scan should occur. For example, to scan daily at noon, you would select the following:

  7. Click Save to confirm your settings and enable the scheduled scan.

Scheduling Scans on the Endpoint

  1. Make sure Powertech Antivirus for Linux is licensed and installed.
  2. Run the command crontab -e
  3. Cronjobs work as follows: (minute) (hour) (day) (month) (day of the week) command to execute.

    EXAMPLE:
    The following command will run every Saturday at 1 am.
    0 1 * * 6 /opt/sgav/avscan

  4. Write the cronjob that you would like followed by the command you would like to execute.

    • The command to update the DAT is /opt/sgav/avupdate

    • The command to run the scan is /opt/sgav/avscan

      NOTE: You can add any of the parameters for avscan to the command. See avscan command for a the list of avscan options.

  5. Save the file.

  6. The cron log is located at:
    • Linux: /var/log/syslog
    • AIX: /var/adm/cron/log
      EXAMPLE:
      Cronjob for DAT file update at 7 pm everyday
      0 19 * * * /opt/sgav/avupdate

      Cronjob for Avscan that runs on Sunday at 1 pm and Quarantines files in /opt/sgav/log/avscan.log
      0 13 * * 7 /opt/sgav/avscan --quar > /opt/sgav/log/avscan.out