Abstract

Server and desktop virtualization are essential elements of any IT strategy that seeks to decrease capital and operational expenditures . In the rush to implement virtualization technologies, many organizations simply deploy the same anti-virus solution that is in use on their physical server and desktop systems. Because these traditional anti-virus solutions are not designed specifically for virtual environments, they can create significant operational issues such as anti-virus (AV) storms, resource wastage and administrative overhead, and hamper the organization’s objective of maximizing VM densities.

Trend Micro, Inc. commissioned Tolly to benchmark the performance within virtual environments of the Trend Micro Deep Security solution vs. McAfee Total Protection for Endpoint and Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0. Specifically, this testing evaluated the impact each solution had on host system (physical server) resources especially as guest machine density increased to up to 100 virtual machines simultaneously running in a VMware ESX 4.1 environment.