Is Anti-Virus needed on a dedicated server host?

Janus · Post by **Janus** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 7:41 pm

I am currently running Avast! on the host machine for Starport 6. I am just curious, do I really need any anti-virus program? (for the host machine).

For the machine I'm on now, sure, but the server host machine runs only EMServer. I don't use it to surf the internet and it is not set to update Windows. (I can just see a couple of players in a dogfight and the thing shuts down for an extended period to update). Not good at all.

So do I really need an AV program on the SP6 Host machine?

Janus

[Edited on 6-22-2012 by Janus]

Post by **DaveK** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 7:59 pm

I'm sure someone with more certain knowledge will answer soon.

I'm no longer a systems administrator and haven't been for several years, but as I understand things . . .

The Internet and the WWW are different things;

The Internet is a massive network of networks. It connects millions of computers together throughout the planet, forming a network in which any computer can communicate with any other computer as long as they are both connected to the Internet. Information that travels over the Internet does so via a variety of languages known as protocols.

The World Wide Web, or simply Web, is a way of accessing information over the Internet. It is an information-sharing system that is built "on top of" the Internet. The Web uses the HTTP protocol, only one of the languages spoken over the Internet, to transmit data. Web services, which use HTTP to allow applications to communicate in order to exchange business logic, use the the Web to share information. This includes browsers. Email uses a different protocol but the info still passes through the internet. When a player talks to the MP server or the server talks to the individual player, the information is transferred via the web. The information packets are open to being hijacked and the sending and receiving machines are open to being infiltrated.

I've always had my PC's in stealth mode so that if any threat was routinely attempting to spot networked PC's they would be invisible. The minimum you need is a firewall to protect and hide your PC. The virus and anti-malware stuff is intended to catch anything that sneaks through the firewall

Hope this helps

Capt_Caveman · Post by **Capt_Caveman** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 8:38 pm

i dont run antivirus on my private server, just wirewall.
i cant see any reason to use it, the server is'nt downloading web content.
just dont browse the web with it and there should be no problem.

unless a hacker targets your server.

[Edited on 6-22-2012 by capt_cronic]

Post by **Marvin** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 10:32 pm

From post: 139099, Topic: tid=9460, author=capt_cronic wrote:unless a hacker targets your server.

Ergo, if you're the guy who always comes up with the short straw, then take precautions. As Pratchett said, one-in-a-million is the same as a sure thing.

mcspedfreak · Post by **mcspedfreak** » Sat Jun 23, 2012 1:19 am

avast doesnt take a lot of resources and its allways better to be safe than sorry and it leaves your options open to do other things without later regretting not bothering

i run avast on my dedicated box which hosts an arma2 server and a ts3 server this is where avast comes in handy due to the filesharing option ts3 has.

Janus · Post by **Janus** » Sat Jun 23, 2012 2:19 am

Thanks for the advice. I'll keep it running then. I dont have to worry about teamspeak, I rent a server so any files are hosted on the machine the rented server resides on.

Thanks again.

Janus