I have SBS premium version 4.7 of Avast antivirus installed on my sbs 2003 server premium (exchange, ISA and sharepoint that come with it have been installed)
It’s been updating without problems for more than a year, but since december 3rd I’ve been getting error messages in my logs.
System info:
HP Proliant server ML350 G5
OS: MS SBS 2003 Premium, with ISA, Exchange and Sharepoint installed from the beginning.
Avast information:
Avast SBS server premium edition antivirus 4.7
Build 4.7.878
Extreme toolkit 1.9.4.0
Active skin 4.2.7.3
VPS file with compilation date 11-12-2008 (I think antivirus file does update somehow?)
VPS file version 081211-0.
If I manually update(because of the error logs) I the the following message:
License for the following products are missing or invalid:
Avast! SharePoint Server Edition
Please make sure you are using the correct license file.
I’ve checked the license file info in the license manager of avast and it shows the following:
Product / Type / Count / Valid to / Update to / Issued
avast! SBS Edition - Premium / Release / 5 / -unlimited- / Nov 30. 2010 / sep 30. 2007
Avast! Network Client / Release / 1 / -unlimited / nov 30. 2010 / sep 30. 2007
As far as I know I have all my lisences in order and in place.
So the questions are:
Why does it give the above error message while I have Sharepoint installed for more than a year and everything worked fine before??? Might it be that it tries to update to 4.8?
Appearantly all we have to do is uninstall the Sharepoint 2003 plug-in as it is not covered by the SBS license.
I for God cannot understand why not as Sharepoint 2003 is an integral part of SBS 2003, but accoring to Pavel Mourek, this is the case.
I am now changing the installation, but it updates immediately to version 4.8 so I hope I do not end up in the same problems with Exchange…
I have questioned him on why Sharepoint is not part of the SBS license.
Bas
Here is the message from Pavel:
Hello,
thanks for the files, yes the issue is avast! SharePoint plug-in, as no version of avast! Small Business Server Edition (or Suite) contains the license for avast! SharePoint plug-in (based on the setup.log the error was caused by missing license for avast! SharePoint plug-in); this kind of error should be reported during the update if you have SharePoint plug-in (or any other avast! Server Edition plug-in which is not covered by your license - its name is included in the error message) installed. Please see the specifications of avast! Small Business Server Edition/Suite (http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_small_business.html or http://www.avast.com/eng/buy-avast-antivirus-sbs-suite.html) - only the license for MS Exchange (both Standard and Premium versions) and MS ISA Server (Premium version only) is included. So please just uninstall this plugin from your avast installation.
I don’t agree to this completely. I agree additional licenses are needed if you look at the license scheme now.
But the situation is as follows
Sharepoint 2003 plugin was installed when I used add/remove programms to modify the installation today. I did NOT install the plug-in anytime recently, as a matter of fact I haven’t installed anything from avast since first installation more than a year ago.
As I see it there are two possibilities:
Sharepoint plug-in was installed from the beginning (when I installed 4.6 first) and has not been a problem for more than a year. (I never noticed it being installed)
The updater recently (meaning DAYS ago) installed the plug-in WITHOUT asking permission and so causing the problem.
Either way the problem was caused by what Avast did in this update or changed something in the licensing.
Still a little strange though that Sharepoint would not be included as it is a part of SBS2003 (premium).
Furthermore, looking at the pages you mentioned The sharepoint plugin is not even offered for the Avast SBS (premium) versions. It is only mentioned with the Full server versions.
Well, you are right that something has changed - the previous versions didn’t correctly verify the licenses for some products. This omission has now been fixed.
So yes, it must have been installed from the beginning, the update certainly didn’t add any new plugins by itself.
Anyway, I’ve used add/remove program to modify the installation (taking out the sharepoint 2003 plug-in) and it not only removed the plug-in but automatically updated to 4.8.
Another strange thing. Anyway I’ve disabled the " scan at transport level" option as per the other hot topic with 4.8 “Exchange crashes after 4.8.1049 program update”, just to be on the safe side.
(procedure for this:
Open Avast (right click on a-symbol and choose “start Avast! Antivirus”,
Go to tasks after the program has finished scanning memory,
Right click on "resident protection and choose “Properties”
Click on “scanning” under “Exchange 2000/2003” and remove the check in fromt of "Scan at transport level (Exchange 2003 only)
)
I hope avast will review the SBS packages urgently because SBS 2008 does not include ISA server (either in Standard or Premium editions) but always includes Sharepoint for CompanyWeb - this was also included in SBS 2003 (both editions).
Could you update us on how avast will handle this?
