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Microsoft's Model of Swiss Cheese software security is killing my Server

Whenever I set up a server, I always make sure that the operating system is on one disc or partition and that the data or applications are on another. When I set up our Domino server, Domino went on D: drive and Windows went on C: drive.

In the past, I have had the space problems with Domino because it contains data such as mail which grows explosively. I made absolutely sure that I bought a server with a very large hard drive. I look at the Microsoft recommendations for Windows 2003 server partition size and tripled it. The remaining space I allocated to Domino.

A year and a half later, Domino is still going strong with plenty of room left on the partition. Windows however is starting to run out of disk space because of all the Microsoft updates. There's only 15% free space on the drive.

I only run the critical updates not the "nice to have" ones and I don't run any of Microsoft's worst patching offenders, such as exchange and sharepoint.

Why is it then, that since February 2005, there have been 200 updates, replacing 3,563 files and taking up over 700MB of bandwidth? Surely the world's largest software company can afford to employ people to check the security of the operating system and any patches before they release them.

Comments

Asad Quraishi said…
You should consider using AIX. I'll be posting a slideshow on my itstrategies blogger blog within the next week that represents my business case to senior management to migrate from Exchange 5.5 to Notes/Domino (instead of Exchange 2003). One of my justifications is security and the need for heterogeneity, AIX vs. Windows, Notes vs. Exchange 2003. Take a look later next week if you're interested.

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