Anti-malware scan management in high-availability virtualization environments

Abstract

A computer system for high-availability virtualization environment includes an originating host machine hosting several virtual machines. Anti-malware scanning on a virtual machine may be initiated in the originating host machine. Prior to completion of the anti-malware scanning, the virtual machine may be migrated to another, destination host machine. The anti-malware scanning on the virtual machine may be resumed in the destination host machine based on a scan state of the virtual machine. The anti-malware scanning of the virtual machine may be suspended and scheduled for execution in the destination host machine. A scan cache of the virtual machine may be preserved depending on information from the scan state. For example, the scan cache may be preserved and employed in the destination host machine when the originating and destination host machines use the same scan engine and pattern version.