This morning whilst deploying a modified version of the Symantec Anti-Virus check from MonitoringExchange.org I noticed that on my 64-bit hosts that the check was not returning the correct data and instead of the expected output I was receiving the following error code:

check_av.vbs(51, 1) Microsoft VBScript runtime error: Type mismatch: 'strValue'

Initially I thought this could be a change due to the new installs being Symantec Endpoint Protection compared to the previous times I had implemented this using Symantec Anti-Virus 10.x but the SEP installs on the 32-bit systems were working fine however the 64-bit versions were not.

A quick look in the registry showed me that the value that is read by the script is not there on the 64-bit version and has been moved to another location (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Symantec\SharedDefs\DefWatch). I sat down with the script and quickly wrote in some extra code that would allow me to change the search path depending on the Operating System Architecture. I also added in some more error checking so if the key didnt exist then rather than exiting with an OK status it returns an UNKNOWN status and a relevant error message.

As I use NSClient++ to enable me to monitor my Windows servers I simply save the script to the NSClient++\scripts folder and add the following line into my NSCI.ini under [NRPE Handlers]

check_av=cscript.exe //NoLogo scripts\check_av.vbs /W:$ARG1$ /c:$ARG2$

Then from within Nagios or Opsview define the command for check_nrpe

check_nrpe -H $HOSTADDRESS$ -c check_av -a 2 3

The full script is listed below and is also available on Monitoring Exchange (link):

' Script: check_av.vbs
' Author: Matt White
' Version: 1.1
' Date: 01-03-2010
' Details: Check the current definitions for Symantec AntiVirus are within acceptable bounds
' Usage: cscript /nologo check_av.vbs -w:<days> -c:<days>

' Define Constants for the script exiting
Const intOK = 0
Const intWarning = 1
Const intCritical = 2
Const intUnknown = 3

' Create required objects
Set ObjShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set ObjProcess = ObjShell.Environment("Process")

const HKEY_CURRENT_USER = &H80000001
const HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = &H80000002

Dim strKeyPath, strSymantecVer
Dim intWarnLevel, intCritLevel, intYear, intMonth , intDay, intVer_Major, intDateDifference
Dim year, Month , Day, Ver_Major
Dim arrValue

' Parse Arguments to find Warning and Critical Levels
If Wscript.Arguments.Named.Exists("w") Then
intWarnLevel = Cint(Wscript.Arguments.Named("w"))
Else
intWarnLevel = 2
End If

If Wscript.Arguments.Named.Exists("c") Then
intCritLevel = Cint(Wscript.Arguments.Named("c"))
Else
intCritLevel = 4
End If

' Determine CPU architecture for correct location of the registry key
strCPUArch = objProcess("PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE")
If InStr(1, strCPUArch, "x86") > 0 Then
strKeyPath = "SOFTWARE\Symantec\SharedDefs\DefWatch"
ElseIf InStr(1, strCPUArch, "64") > 0 Then
strKeyPath = "SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Symantec\SharedDefs\DefWatch"
End If

' Query Registry using WMI to obtain the definition value
Set oReg=GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\.\root\default:StdRegProv")
oReg.GetBinaryValue HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,strKeyPath,"DefVersion",arrValue

' If the query doesnt return an array Quit - Unknown
If isArray(arrValue) = vbFalse Then
Wscript.Echo "UNKNOWN - Unable to read Definitions from the Registry"
Wscript.Quit(intUnknown)
End If

' Generate output from the registry value
intYear = CLng("&H" & hex(arrValue(1)) & hex(arrValue(0)))
intMonth = CLng("&H" & hex(arrValue(3)) & hex(arrValue(2)))
intDay = CLng("&H" & hex(arrValue(7)) & hex(arrValue(6)))
intVer_Major = CLng("&H" & hex(arrValue(17)) & hex(arrValue(16)))
strSymantecVer= intYear & "-" & intMonth & "-" & intDay & " rev. " & intVer_Major
intDateDifference = DateDiff("d", intYear & "/" & intMonth & "/" & intDay, Date)

' Output current version and definition age as Performance data
Wscript.Echo("Current Definitions: " & strSymantecVer & " Which are " & intDateDifference & " days old" & "|age=" & intDateDifference)

If intDateDifference > intCritLevel Then
Wscript.Quit(intCritical)
ElseIf intDateDifference > intWarnLevel Then
Wscript.Quit(intWarning)
ElseIf intDateDifference <= intWarnLevel Then
Wscript.Quit(intOK)
End If
Wscript.Quit(intUnknown)

Anti-Virus · nagios · NRPE · opsview · Symantec

I thought that this deserves a special mention.

Backup Exec backs up the DFSr Replicated Folders using the shadow copy components and in the past to perform a restore you were unable to redirect the files to an alternate location. This could cause issues if you wanted to keep both versions of the file as Backup Exec would overwrite the file and then perform an inital replication of that DFSr folder to the other servers in its replication group.

Whilst you could also perform an Authoritative restore of the DFSr folder this has recently caused me even more issues which resulted in support calls to Symantec and Microsoft to follow up on why this happens and what state my DFS is now in as a result of these restores.

During the inital support call to Symantec they advised me that for the first time in Backup Exec you can redirect the files you restore from the Volume Shadow Copy of the DFSr folders. Simply select the server and location in the File Redirection tab in Backup Exec and you will be able to dump the folder structure to whereever you want it and then copy the relevant files back into your DFS structure as you want it.

Backup · Backup Exec · DFS · Microsoft · Replication · Restore · Symantec