Installation manual

3.2 Antivirus and antispyware settings

You can enable antivirus and antispyware mail server protection by selecting the Enable antivirus and

antispyware server protection option. Note that antivirus and antispyware protection is turned on automatically

after every restart of the service/computer. ThreatSense engine parameter setup is accessible by clicking on the

Setup… button.

3.2.1 Microsoft Exchange Server

When it comes to antivirus and antispyware protection, ESET Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange Server uses two

types of scanning. One type scans messages via VSAPI and the other uses Transport Agent.

Protection using VSAPI scans messages directly within the Exchange server store.

Transport Agent protection scans SMTP traffic instead of the Exchange server store itself. If this type of

protection is enabled, it means that all the messages and their components are being scanned during

transportation, even before it reaches the Exchange server store or before it is sent out via SMTP. SMTP server-

level filtering is secured by a specialized plugin. In Microsoft Exchange Server 2000 and 2003, the plugin in

question (Event Sink) is registered on the SMTP server as a part of Internet Information Services (IIS). In Microsoft

Exchange Server 2007/2010, the plugin is registered as a transport agent on the Edge or the Hub roles of the

Microsoft Exchange Server.

NOTE: Transport agent is not available in Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5, however it is available in all newer

Microsoft Exchange Server versions (from version 2000 onwards).

You can have VSAPI and Transport agent antivirus and antispyware protection working at the same time (this is the

default and recommended configuration). Alternatively, you can choose to use only one type of protection (either

VSAPI or Transport agent). They can be enabled or disabled independently of each other. We recommend using

both types to ensure maximum antivirus and antispyware protection. We do not recommend having both disabled.