Troubleshoot virus scanning

03/12/2025 Contributors

For common virus scanning issues, there are possible causes and ways to resolve them. Virus scanning is also known as Vscan.

Issue	How to resolve it
The Vscan servers are not able to connect to the clustered ONTAP storage system.	Check whether the scanner pool configuration specifies the Vscan server IP address. Check also if the allowed privileged users in the scanner pool list are active. To check the scanner pool, run the `vserver vscan scanner-pool show` command on the storage system command prompt. If the Vscan servers still cannot connect, there might be an issue with the network.
Clients observe high latency.	It is probably time to add more Vscan servers to the scanner pool.
Too many scans are triggered.	Modify the value of the `vscan-fileop-profile` parameter to restrict the number of file operations monitored for virus scanning.
Some files are not being scanned.	Check the on-access policy. It is possible that the path for these files has been added to the path-exclusion list or that their size exceeds the configured value for exclusions. To check the on-access policy, run the `vserver vscan on-access-policy show` command on the storage system command prompt.
File access is denied.	Check whether the scan-mandatory setting is specified in the policy configuration. This setting denies data access if no Vscan servers are connected. Modify the setting as needed.

Issue

How to resolve it

The Vscan servers are not able to connect to the clustered ONTAP storage system.

Check whether the scanner pool configuration specifies the Vscan server IP address. Check also if the allowed privileged users in the scanner pool list are active. To check the scanner pool, run the vserver vscan scanner-pool show command on the storage system command prompt. If the Vscan servers still cannot connect, there might be an issue with the network.

Clients observe high latency.

It is probably time to add more Vscan servers to the scanner pool.

Too many scans are triggered.

Modify the value of the vscan-fileop-profile parameter to restrict the number of file operations monitored for virus scanning.

Some files are not being scanned.

Check the on-access policy. It is possible that the path for these files has been added to the path-exclusion list or that their size exceeds the configured value for exclusions. To check the on-access policy, run the vserver vscan on-access-policy show command on the storage system command prompt.

File access is denied.

Check whether the scan-mandatory setting is specified in the policy configuration. This setting denies data access if no Vscan servers are connected. Modify the setting as needed.

Related information

Troubleshoot virus scanning

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