Process conduit.exe constantly consumes at least 50% of CPU cycles at all times and antispam rule sets are not updating

Article:TECH172825

Created: 2011-10-25

Updated: 2012-06-04

Article URL http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH172825

Article Type
Technical Solution

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Problem

Server performance is severely impacted when Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange (SMSMSE) is enabled with Premium AntiSpam also enabled. In the task manager, conduit.exe is constantly using at least 50% of the CPU, and frequently spikes to 100% CPU utilization and antispam rule sets are not updating.

Conditions

In the stats folder, there are hundreds, potentially thousands of files with the extension .xml

The stats folder can be found in one of the following locations depending on the operating system:

32 bit systems: <install drive>\Program Files\Symantec\SMSMSE\<version>\Server\stats
64 bit systems: <install drive>\Program Files (x86)\Symantec\SMSMSE\<version>\Server\stats

Cause

Conduit.exe is unable to automatically delete one of these temporary stats files, and as a result is goes into a loop attempting to delete the file in question, causing a high constant level of CPU utilization and buildup of these stats files and possibly unable to update antispam rule sets.

Solution

Stop the Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange and Symantec Mail Security Utility services.
Navigate to one of the following locations:
32 bit systems: <install drive>\Program Files\Symantec\SMSMSE\<version>\Server
64 bit systems: <install drive>\Program Files (x86)\Symantec\SMSMSE\<version>\Server\stats
Delete the existing stats directory.
Create a new directory and name it "stats"
Start the Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange and Symantec Mail Security Utility services.

There should be an immediate noticeable difference in CPU utilization of the conduit.exe process after completing these steps. In most cases, this type of issue is a one time occurrence. If this issue reoccurs, it is likely another process is holding these files and preventing conduit.exe from completing the stats cleanup process. If this is the case, please verify the \Server directory is excluded from any real time virus scanner such as Symantec Endpoint Protection.