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Back when I mainly wrote programs, magazine columns, and technical books for a living, Windows NT looked like the most hopeful development for PCs since the integrated circuit. Even in the earliest alpha test versions, Windows NT was so much more stable and powerful than DOS and so much easier to install than OS/2 that it made software development a joy. Of course, in those days, I used Windows NT in its Workstation incarnation, and gave little thought to Windows NT Advanced Server. Now that I am involved in building networks, setting up file and application servers, and helping to support hundreds of naive end-users on a daily basis, I am much more conscious of the unwieldy aspects of Windows NT.
Frankly, Windows NT is a royal pain to administer. Each installation of a server must be followed up by the application of the latest service pack, a host of hot-fixes, and scrupulous adherence to a checklist of tweaks that close various security loopholes. It's quite routine for service packs to break applications, and vice versa, which lends a certain flavor of mystery and suspense to the process. The system registry is a can of worms, support for multiple domains is hardware-expensive and labor-intensive, and the behavior of the security system in a complex environment is often difficult to predict. Add the various components of BackOffice to the picture -- particularly Microsoft Exchange with its own hierarchy of organizations, sites, servers, connectors, directories, and service packs -- and you've got a real witch's brew.
Windows NT wouldn't be quite as difficult to cope with if it came with a proper set of manuals. Unfortunately, as Microsoft's stranglehold on the software industry has increased, its commitment to comprehensive, accurate documentation -- which never went too deep to begin with -- has gone down the tubes along with most of Microsoft's rivals. When Microsoft does bother to throw together any non-trivial documentation, it is packaged as separate "Resource Kits" so that the public can be bled for a few more dollars to prop up the Microsoft Press profit center. The Developer Network and TechNet CD-ROMs are other Microsoft ploys to squeeze additional revenue out of hapless customers for bug fixes and information that ought to be delivered with the base system.
Mother Nature and book publishers scorn an unpopulated ecological niche, and there are plenty of third-party Windows NT books out there to try and fill the needs created by Microsoft's software defects and slovenly manuals. But too many of the authors follow Microsoft's lead, rehashing the same material in much the same order, and, more importantly, omitting or glossing over the same problem areas. This is, I strongly suspect, because most of these authors are NT mavens on the lecture circuit, hit-and-run NT consultants, or born-again OS/2 promoters, and they do not have the foundation of years of practical, real-world experience to understand what is really needed.
O'Reilly and Aeleen Frisch to the rescue! Essential Windows NT System Administration breaks the mold and closes the information gap for NT administrators. Ms. Frisch has been responsible for a variety of VMS, UNIX, and Windows NT systems for some 15 years, and she clearly has an unusually thorough understanding of what it takes in the way of skills, knowledge, and resources to keep a industrial-strength network of servers and clients running smoothly over a long period of time. How fortunate for us all that she appears to have a generous allotment of writing and organizational talent as well.
By the time I had finished the first chapter, it was evident to me that Frisch approached Windows NT from a completely different perspective than most NT book authors. Instead of browsing Microsoft's sorry excuses for documentation and trying to figure out how she could cover the same ground using different words, she drew up a list of things she had to know and tasks she had to accomplish based on her VMS and UNIX background, and then set out to find their Windows NT counterparts. A startlingly adult strategy!
The result is an eminently practical book that is light-years beyond its competitors in usability and credibility. The security chapter, which organizes its discussion from the standpoint of what is needed rather than what Windows NT most easily does, is an outstanding example of the strength of Frisch's approach. Throughout the book, Ms. Frisch's methods are eclectic and ecumenical. Her goal is to get the job done quickly and reliably, and she will use whatever tool works best, whether it be graphically-based, command-line, custom script, or third-party utility.
Among biologists, there is discussion of an evolutionary theory called punctuated equilibrium. Epochs of apparent stability are interrupted by episodes of rapid change, with the emergence of new species and capabilities over a relatively short period. Perhaps the technical book market is similar. During an apparently stagnant interval, a certain critical mass of information and techniques accumulates, and then the right author and publisher come together at the right place and time to hatch a book that is unlike any of its predecessors. Essential Windows NT System Administration is such a book.
-- Ray Duncan (duncan@cerf.net)
1. Administering Windows NT Systems
2. Startup, Shutdown, and Server Configuration
3. User Accounts
4. Managing Processes
5. Disks and Filesystems
6. Files and Directories
7. Backups
8. Network Configuration
9. Print Services
10. Security
11. Performance Optimization
12. Automating System Administration
A. Quick Start for Experienced UNIX Administrators
B. Useful Windows NT Resources
C. Windows NT Scripting Language Summary
Glossary
Index
Security discussions often begin by considering the kinds of threats facing a system. I'd like to come at this issue from a slightly different angle by focusing first on what needs to be protected. Before you can address any security-related issue on your system, you need to be able to answer the following questions:
If you can answer these questions, you go a long way toward identifying and solving potential security problems. One way to approach them is to imagine discovering one morning that your entire computer system or network had been stolen during the previous night. Having this happen would upset nearly everyone, but for many different reasons.
Of course, there are many other causes of all three kinds of losses besides theft. For example, data can also be stolen by copying it electronically or by removing the medium on which it is stored, as well as by stealing the computer itself. There is also both physical and electronic vandalism. Physical vandalism can mean broken or damaged equipment (as when thieves break into your office, get annoyed at not finding any money, and pour the cup of coffee left on a desk into the vents on the computer and onto the keyboard). Electronic vandalism can consist of corrupted or removed files, or a system overwhelmed by so many garbage processes that it becomes unusable.
Which concerns are relevant to you govern the threats you need to be prepared for. Physical threats include not only theft but also natural disasters (fire, pipes bursting, power failures from electrical storms, and so on). Data loss can be caused by malice or accident, ranging from deliberate theft and destruction, to user and administrator errors, to program bugs wreaking havoc. Thus, preventing data loss means taking into account not only unauthorized users getting on to the system and authorized users doing things they're not supposed to do, but also authorized users doing things they're allowed to, but didn't really mean or want. And, occasionally, it means cleaning up after yourself.
Once you've identified what needs to be protected, as well as the people, acts, and events from which it needs to be protected, you'll be in a much better position to determine what concrete steps to take to secure your system or site. For example, if theft of the computer itself is your biggest worry, then you need to think more about locks than about how often to make users change their passwords. Conversely, if physical security is no problem but data loss is, then you need to think about ways to prevent it, from both accidental and deliberate acts, and to recover it quickly should it occur despite all of your precautions.
The final complication is that security inevitably varies inversely with convenience: the more secure a system, the less convenient it is to use, and vice versa. You and your organization need to find the right set of tradeoffs for your situation. For example, isolated systems are easier to make secure than those on networks, but few people want to write a tape to transfer files between two nonnetworked systems.
Threats can come from a variety of sources. External threats range from electronic joy-riders who stumble into your system more-or-less at random, to purposeful hackers who have specifically targeted your system (or another system that can be reached by a path including your system). Internal threats come from legitimate users attempting to do things they aren't supposed to, with motivations ranging from curiosity and mischievousness, to malice and industrial sabotage. You'll need to take different steps depending on which kind of threats are most applicable to your site.
In the end, good security, like successful system administration in general, is largely a matter of planning and habit: designing responses to various scenarios in advance and faithfully, scrupulously carrying out the routine, boring, daily actions required to prevent and recover from the various disasters you've foreseen (or failed to foresee). Although it may seem at times like pounds, rather than ounces, of prevention are needed, I think you'll find that they are far less burdensome than even grams of cure.
-- Essential Windows NT System Administration, Chapter 10, "Security," pages 281-283.
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