ClamAV - Antivirus Scanner on Fedora8
I’ve just spent the best part of two hours fighting with the set-up of clamav on a relatively new Fedora 8 Server. The documentation wasn’t the greatest so I’ve decided to do my bit to patch some of the holes.
Download clam
A number of instances of the clamd daemon can run concurrently. Each instance needs to be provided with a unique name. To keep things simple, we’re going to run one instance and call it ’server’. This name has implications for what is to follow.
Setting up the daemon up as running service involves the following steps:
Phase 1 - create a daemon user
When you install clamav using the yum utility, a new user is created automatically - The user is clamav. Most documentation uses this user as the daemon user - this isn’t a good idea. The clamav user has rights to update the database containig the list of known virii. Create a new user clamd with no login rights.
Phase 2 - Copying and renaming config files
Copy assorted files from /usr/share/doc/clamav-server-nn.nn.nn/ (where nn is the version number of your install) to assorted folders, renaming them and modifying their content.
Phase 3 - Editing the configuration files
Start by editing the /etc/clamd.d/clamd.conf file.
Firstly, comment out the line saying Example in file clamd.conf
Edit the LogSysLog setting LogSysLog yes
PidFile /var/run/clamd.server/clamd.pid
LocalSocket /var/run/clamd.server/clamd.sock
TcpAddr 127.0.0.1
User clamd
Phase 3 - Create the folders
Create the /var/run/clamd.server folder
#chown clamd.clamd /var/run/clamd.server
Create the clamd log folder
#touch /var/log/clamd/clamd.log
#chown clamd.clamd -R /var/log/clamd/
#chmod 0620 /var/log/clamd/clamd.log
Copy the clamd-wrapper to clamd.server
# cp /etc/init.d/clamd-wrapper /etc/init.d/clamd.server
Edit the CLAMD_SERVICE variable in the /etc/init.d/clamd.server file
CLAMD_SERVICE=server
Geez..this is getting complicated…one final step
Create a clamd.server file in /usr/sbin that links to the original clamd file
# ln -s /usr/sbin/clamd.server /usr/sbin/clamd
OK..all systems go…
now start the daemon
#etc/init.d/clamd.server start
If you want the daemon to start on reboot add it to the startup list using chkconfig
Hopefully you get the green light and have a running clamd daemon. If you don’t (check using ps auxw | grep clamd) please post a comment and let me know what grief you’re having.
