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Eset Software NOD32 Enterprise EditionEset Software introduced the NOD32 product in 1997. Originally based in Czechoslovakia, the company took the product's name from a popular Czech TV show.Eset has since relocated to San Diego and has built a worldwide sales and support presence. Eset is also a Microsoft partner and has teamed up with Dell to bundle NOD32 with some of its Network Attached Storage (Nas) devices. In the UK, NOD32 products are sold through Aspect Systems, which provided the software for our tests.
Windows is a key platform for NOD32, with support for all versions from Windows 95 upwards. The same software is installed on both workstations and servers, and a memory-resident monitor intercepts file requests in real time and prevents infected files being opened. You can also perform on-demand scanning. A separate memory-resident module is run at Winsock level to scan incoming SMTP email traffic. Exchange users get an optional monitor to check client Mapi traffic.
Infected files can be cleaned, quarantined or deleted, and you can handle compressed and archived files and scan for viruses in encrypted and password-protected databases and documents. The Windows scanner can examine mapped network drives and local Outlook/Outlook Express email databases.
NOD32 modules can work on Dos machines and to protect x86-based Linux workstations and servers. There?s an NLM (Netware Loadable Module) implementation for use on Novell servers, and modules to add anti-virus protection to a range of email servers, such as NOD32 for Exchange Server (Exchange 5.5 and 2000) and NOD32 for Lotus Domino. There are also modules for the Kerio Windows mail server as well as Red Hat, Suse and other Linux mail servers.
An updated module to support Exchange Server 2003 should be available by the time you read this. Extra features include the ability to delete infected emails entirely from the Exchange message store.
Facilities to update virus signatures and the anti-virus software are available, with the ability to schedule updates as often as needed. You can also get updates from online Eset servers or from local servers on the Lan. The latter eliminates the need for every workstation and server to connect to Internet-hosted servers. No extra software is needed and you get a choice of direct updates using HTTP or indirect access using a mirrored directory on a Lan server.
Centralised management is provided for by deploying one or more Remote Administration (RA) servers, accessed using a custom RA console utility. Together these provide tools that allow you to search for unprotected workstations and servers and remotely install the NOD32 software. Centralised monitoring and reporting are also possible, and you can push custom anti-virus policies out to managed NOD32 nodes. Hierarchical management of the anti-virus network is also useful.
Unfortunately, the current release of the NOD32 Remote Administration software only supports Windows servers and workstations. There are plans to include other platforms, starting with Linux, but no release date has been announced.
We found the Eset software easy to use, and online and telephone support are both available. There's flexible licensing too, on a per node basis rather than having to buy large block licences. We tested the Enterprise Edition, whose price includes licences for Windows servers, workstations and RA.
Eset claims never to have missed a virus in the wild since NOD32 was introduced. It also boasts one of the fastest scanner technologies around. We can?t vouch for the first of these claims, but the Windows scanner was certainly one of the quickest in our tests. Updates were completed quickly, too, and the company was very much on the ball during the recent Netsky and Bagle outbreaks, which occurred while we were evaluating the anti-virus products. There's no automatic reporting of new viruses and the package will be better for the inclusion of non-Windows platforms in the RA option.
Contact: Aspect Systems 0800 138 0802
www.nod32uk.com
Price details:
£9.85 (£8.38 ex VAT) per node (500+ nodes)
Back to corporate anti-virus group test
See also:
The business version of Symantec's well known anti-virus tool. 11 May 2004
A corporate anti-virus solution from Kaspersky. 11 May 2004All Antivirus & Firewalls
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