SMS + VirusScan = HELL

Posted by joelgibby on May 25, 2006 · View Comments 

We’re experiencing the following symptoms:

  • Very high CPU utilization
  • Vitrually unresponsive systems
  • Violent end-users
  • Vicious finger pointing (not really, but it was a good V-word!)

While doing research, we’ve noted that the 2 things common on systems with these symptoms was that SVCHOST.EXE (Automatic Updates in this case) or CCMEXEC.EXE were the main CPU hogs. Killing CCMEXEC, running ccmclean.exe, or sometimes killing the Automatic Updates service would bring the system back from the brink.

Googling for “ccmexec cpu” and similar phrases came up with a few places to start looking:

SMS Admin newsgroup
MyITForum Discussion

Hopefully we’ll get this nailed down and have:

  • Responsive systems
  • Readiness for update deployments (we’re temporarily suspending them until we get this worked out)
  • Really happy customers
  • Raises (maybe not).

Filed under Desktop Deployment, Desktop Support, Remote Administration, System Administration, Systems Management Server 2003 · Tagged with