Networks

In a corporate environment, is it necessary or even recommended to run anti-virus scanning software on a system that is a firewall. The computer is a Windows 2003 server that runs Checkpoint firewall. My manager wants to install our anti-virus software on this system.

I can see where this may help because it is a Windows based system (instead of a stripped down version of Linux or an appliance), however I still have my reservations on doing this. I think it may slow down the system if on-access scanning is enabled. Or even if it doesn't slow it down, it may cause other problems as it scans the incoming packets. Even if we turn off on-access scanning by the time a schedule scan runs, something may already be installed and the damage is done.

Does anyone have any thoughts on whether or not this is a good idea. We are looking into purchasing an appliance-based firewall but that won't be for a few more months. Also does anyone have any recommendations for running anti-virus software on systems in a DMZ?

Thank you in advance for any advice.