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Plug-n-Play Server And Network
shyster writes: "The IMASS is a server for the technophobes. Built on a Linux OS, it autodetects network segments in less than 5 minutes, and sets up DHCP, DNS, FTP, Email, file sharing, firewall, NAT, internet access, dial-up, etc. almost automagically.
Pluses include a solid state drive for the OS, so the hard drive is only used for file storage and backup (seperate 120GB hard drive for backups.)
seems to be just what some of my clients need to finally convince them that Linux CAN be easier to use than Windows, and they can, for the most part, manage the network themselves! Check out a review from PCMagazine."
How's the security on such a device that automagically sets up everything and then some?
(Remember, it was the automatic detection of network services (UPNP) that compromised WinXP..)
"sets up DHCP, DNS, FTP, Email, file sharing, firewall, NAT, internet access, dial-up, etc. almost automagically"
As we all know - that can be more annoying than not doing anything at all. Do what microsoft etc do - just miss out the almost.
It's not Plug and (mostly) Play is it?
It's nice to see that they have under the traditional listing a server with every possible expensive option, while the opposite is true for the iMass.
Honestly, if you're going to have an IDE disk in the iMass, then clearly the "traditional" server you're comparing it to should also have an IDE disk. And what network of 2-150 users needs 25 mail servers? Clearly having a tape backup and a hard drive backup are vastly different in scope as well. They don't seem to be providing a way to keep the last year of daily backups on a shelf; or even the last week of backups plus the monthly.
They're just looking for the idiots who don't know what a CAL is or maybe once have seen the IBM linux commercials and look solely at the provided bottom-line.
My worries would be upgrades etc. if someone hasn't the ability to set up a regular server, they probably don't have the full nous to keep everything up-to-date and secure. Scalability may never be a problem to most of their market - there would be tens of thousands of small businesses with say, less than ten staff. The security as it comes with standard may equal anything already in place, but that's always a temporary situation...
Sorry, but this product does not demonstrate any such thing. Using any OS in this kind of device makes it an embedded OS and therefore invisible to the end user. If it's invisible then by definition it has no usability, good or otherwise.
I'm sure Linux was a good choice for the OS in this product, as it's cheap and infinitely configurable. But the OS's inherent ease of use to the customer is not on the list.
But the iMass software page says:
* Hardened & ruggedized Linux based UNIX kernel
* SMB & AppleShare IP compatible file services
* SMTP, POP3, & IMAP4 mail protocols supported
* WebMail support
[blah blah blah]
So either the general statement doesn't apply in this instance, or the servers also include a copy of NT's kernel for no particular reason.
By the way, how does one "harden and ruggedize" a Linux-based kernel? Expose it to gamma radiation? Take it to see really violent movies? Make it do push-ups?
More interestingly, how does one do this, and then sell it with a computer, without releasing the source? I'm having trouble telling whether this is a "real" computer or an embedded device.
You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!
The biggest problem with this sort of system is going to be the lazy factor. WinNT/2000 with IIS is great in some regards, because it allows the average peon with a year of experience using 98 to set up an Internet server, without much thought. However, that same peon hasn't a clue how to maintain it, so his box is one of the first infected by Code Red, and one of the last cleaned.
Now, make it even easier, by making something an even lesser peon (one with virtually no computer experience) can just plug in and let run without ANY suggestions of maintenance of the beast, and it starts to form a pretty massive DDoS system, if you ask me.
IDE for the hard drive?
An additional hard drive for doing backups?
Geez... What if the "backup" drive fails with the last six months of critical accounting data on it? Data-recovery services are -not- cheap, and the cost of having to employ one would likely exceed the cost of a good DLT or DAT tape system AND a disaster-recovery plan many times over.
IDE is bad enough (though I will freely admit to being a SCSI bigot). Using a drive with non-removable (and safely stashable) media for backup, on what will likely be a primary server, is darn near worse than no backup plan at all!
Bruce Lane, KC7GR,
Blue Feather Technologies