After purchasing many licenses, I installed Avast for Servers on a Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, SP2 (Microsoft Windows [Version 5.2.3790]). The primary functions of this server are: network print server; short-term backup for recently-changed, project files; SonicWALL Single-Sign-On Agent (essentially a connector between AD and the firewall); and Blackberry Professional Services software for around 10 users.
A couple nights back, the server became unresponsive; the SonicWALL agent did not work and the BB software did not send/receive messages. When I arrived at work, I also found that the printing services were off line and that the CONSOLE WOULD NOT OPEN; I physically had to shut power off to kill the hung process(es) and restart the server. After restarting, I figured that Avast was probably creating the problem (since I previously have never observed similar circumstances with this server); accordingly, I disabled all of the Avast services EXCEPT the Standard Shield (thinking that the other functions were not typically in use in our environment).
Two days later (2pm local time), I received notice from a user that printing services were not available on this server. Upon checking the console, I found the server to be unresponsive to the keyboard & mouse, and had to physically power-cycle the server to return to normal operations. After the system restarted, as was the case in the previous incident, I was not able to note anything particularly unusual in the system Event Log files; there did not appear to be a “smoking gun” indicating why the system went unresponsive.
I have searched the system drive on the server and there is no DMP file being created (presumably because there is not a triggering crash event). In addition, I note that the System process is using >95% of processor time (two processors, each hyperthreaded; one of the hyperthread processors is nearly fully utilized while the other three are typically available).
As a result, I have DISABLED ALL Avast Anti-Virus SERVICES on this server; in its present state, there is no functioning AV software installed on the computer. I would like to what steps may be taken to identify why the system is locking up and restore protected status on this server.