Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Should Hosting Companies Have Change Freezes?
AngryDad writes "Today I received a baffling email from my hosting provider that said, 'We have a company-wide patching freeze and we will not be releasing patches to our customers who utilize the patching portal for the months of November and December.' This means that myself and all other customers of theirs who run Windows servers will have to live with several critical holes for at least two months. Is this common practice with mid-tier hosting providers? If so, may I ask Eastern-EU folks to please refrain from hacking my servers during the holiday season?"
If so, may I ask Eastern-EU folks to please refrain from hacking my servers during the holiday season?
At least 10 countries have just been given the green light for hacking.
Using windows to provide an internet facing service was the first mistake.
I am Eastern European, and strangely I feel offended by that :)
But to be honest, yeap, you're pretty much asking for it...
Just reply to this message with the IP addresses of any servers you want to make sure will not be hacked and I will make sure the list gets to the right people.
Happy to help.
If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
I work for a company with 1200+ VMs and the change freeze concept is nothing new. For us, it's only 1 month around new years and mainly due to staffing issues if something goes wrong.
The server will be spending 50% of its life rebooting to apply minor updates and install software, reducing the risk of a security breach.
Under any shared hosting, or control-panel-abstracted hosting, you're at the mercy of your provider for things like this. I realize they offer stuff on the cheap, but it's times like these when you realize you're getting what you've paid for. Many more hosting companies have hypervisors amongst their offerings than did just five years ago, and you can get a basic ESXi server for $50/month or thereabouts. Add memory, disk space, IPs, and bandwidth to suit.
This is for automated patching, you may certainly request to be patched by the support teams. Typically these two months are the busiest for online shopping sites and a botched patch could cost the business tons of money. Since you know your business the best, you make the call. Better safe than sorry in my opinion.
Translation: "Dear Slashdot, I'm looking for a good Windows host. Any suggestions?"
As company using a hosted service you do have a redeployment plan should movement to another hosting service be required, don't you ?
Now would be a good time to exercise that plan.
While I think its rather unacceptable for this to be done, its not all that surprising and you kind of deserve the result.
When you outsource you sacrifice things. Why are you letting them patch for you anyway? Its not like they are going to do anything special. All the do is release patches from their own internal WSUS server (or whatever its called now) rather than you have to do it yourself or letting the machine auto-patch on its own.
Realistically, if you're going to have someone else auto-patch, you might as well just turn automatic updates on fully and be done with it. They only thing they are going to 'save' you from is if a patch happens to interfere with something locally on their network which is going to be pretty damn rare.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
This ("change moratoriums") is a common practice around the holiday season. A number of the datacenters and other vendors I work with implement similar policies starting right before "black friday" and ending a week after new years. The logic is that changes could have undesirable consequences and the volume of e-commerce around this time would result in a potentially detrimental impact on operations. However, I have never heard of a company that holds out on security updates and other critical fixes due to such a moratorium.
You could always stipulate this in your contract. I'm on the fence about this since you consciously made the decision to have managed equipment. It's not like they're a Colo... with the advantage these services provide, they're some downside revolving around control.
You could politely ask your lawyer to review the contract to look for liability should you get hacked while the change window is frozen.
( hint: it's your liability )
Two months is a looong time. 17% of the year not getting full fidelity on your contracted services seems excessive. Usually, changes freezes are a few hours in the middle of the night, once a week.
They're probably also hosting someone in the POS business and, historically, despite oodles of testing, applying patches during critical sales periods results in outages that lose a lot of moola... the freeze periods get born and propagated across all customers they host via management... just the way the cookie often crumbles...
You're with a managed services provider? Consider yourself duly managed.
It's just too late. No more Twinkies.
And if you are concerned about freezing them, as the article seems to state? Don't bother. The shelf-life is astronomical!
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Is this something to do with global warming?
Real (TM) IT shops have change freezes all the time. It's called release management. Perhaps you should a) host on some more stable platform, or b) co-lo your own gear where you can run daily patches and reboots and only affect your own stuff.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
I'd vote with my virtual feet. Of course, I wouldn't serve from Microsoft software anyway. I'm not a MS basher. I love it on the desktop. I just wouldn't use it as a server. It wasn't designed as one from the ground-up, the culture surrounding it is not as proficient. It shows.
When you fall off that high horse.
What is the reason for an anti-outsourcing rant in this thread? To me, it sounds like the guy has his own website and that's what he's talking about. Do you host your own website? By that I mean do you have your own server, on your own property? If not, then you are outsourcing it. Even if you do, you are still probably outsourcing your Internet access and power generation.
If you don't like outsourcing that's fine and there's plenty of arguments against it, but save it for when it is relevant. Don't just go off on it.
Most individuals outsource their webhosting, and for good reason.
How are they "your" servers if you cannot patch them whenever you deem necessary?
Having change freezes is standard practice. Most places I've worked have a short month-end freeze, and a couple of month year-end freeze.
However, critical security vulnerabilities are exempt from these freezes. Those still get done using whatever emergency protocols are in place.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is kinky.
Yes! If your company does not have a change freeze in effect for at least some portion of December or November it should. Nearly all countries and religions observe significant national holidays during this time. It also tends to be a very significant or the most significant time of the year economically for many countries and companies. That said non-functional security patching and security related activities would be good exceptions to this rule. Large hosting providers, not wanting to single out customers, often have blanket change freezes in effect including patching.
There is or can be built a machine that can simulate any physical object. -Church-Turing principle
If you read the email properly, they are not doing automatic patching of these releases, but nothing to stop you applying them yourself.. or getting them to apply them if you specifically ask for them.
Time to change hosts.
You didn't get this email from your hosting company. You got it from the company managing your servers. The fact that it's the same company is largely irrelevant.
If the server management company isn't flexible enough to meet your needs, do it yourself. You keep track of the patches, you decide when they're ready for release, you release them, you test them. If you don't have the skills for that, or the money to hire someone with the skills, then get another company to do it. If you're using a dedicated server, there's nothing stopping you giving someone else the access to manage and patch it.
If you yourself don't have root/Administrator access, then you don't have a server; you have access to a server. Fork out a little bit extra, and get a dedicated box that you control.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
It is standard practice for a lot of retailers (Big Box and E-tailers) to institute this type of freeze. If the host also offer co-location services, there are a couple big e-retailers, that require these types of holds for anything and everything in the building during the holiday season. They are fierce about it to, one time a co-lo provider was making changes to a door in the DC, the customer freaked out, and tried to fine (per the contract) the co-lo provider. A lot of providers cave and don't do anything for nov-dec.
You can't put up a sign that says "only a few people allowed beyond this point". And you can't put up a sign that says "very little loitering accepted". So you put up signs that read "no access beyond this point" and "no loitering", and then you simply don't enforce it for the first few people.
If this company has a reduced staff, or wants to ensure that large problems don't happen during sensitive times, then they might want the freeze. And saying that there will be a freeze is the way to do that. But calling them and saying "hey, I know there's a freeze, but I'd really appreciate this patch when it's convenient." won't likely be met with a solid "no, screw you, we're in a freeze".
Ice is usually still a little wet. Not every molecule freezes at the same instant.
Look at it as an opportunity for you to be nice. They said "we'd really like to ease the harsh environment of christmas IT", and you can optionally say "I'll help you out by not patching for a while". It's an opt-out instead of an opt-in scenario, but it's the same.
You're complaining about the default, not the final. And you can override the default with a phone call. Don't sweat it.
I spent 2 years working for a utility company in Australia where we had an annual change freeze to core systems during the bushfire season. We couldn't afford for systems to be down for non-essential changes when there was the possibility of a 'real world' emergency breaking out. This went doubly so for anything involved in the SCADA network.
Sara
Designer, Gamer, Macgrrl in an XP World
Also host with them, good luck :)
If so, may I ask Eastern-EU folks to please refrain from hacking my servers
If so, may I ask the Slashdot editors to please refrain from letting people post trolls.
we lock down from about mid december to mid jan.. partially because of staffing, but mostly because our enviornment needs to be stable for year end processing (I work for a bank). no elective changes are allowed during this time.. only fixes if something breaks.
we don't run our shit in thrid party datacenters, so it's not exactly the same scenario, but it's understandable that no changes are allowed. what if your stuff breaks and you don't have staff due to the holidays? if we fuck up, we only fuck up our shit... if a hosting outfit fucks up, they fuck up a lot of other people's shit..
maybe they host a lot of retail outfits who need to be up for the holiday shopping season.
Yes you can (or even better with mono), but your application may not like it, so it depends on what you are running. Some do run as well that way as on an MS system and I'm using it so users can get to a single licence application using dotnet (fucking stupid name you can't use in a sentence) remotely via X instead of hotseating. Yes I know a lot about VNC but it sucks in comparison on a decent local network for several reasons, and that linux box in the server room has far more memory and CPU power than any of the available MS Windows workstations.
Whatever you do, don't take down 216.34.181.45.
I used to work for YSB and they have patching freezes around this time of year on their e-commerce platform. They want to make sure everything is as stable as possible for the influx of business.
I know which host and to which announcement this refers. All this is is a suspension of fully automated patching during the holiday season. If you want patching performed anyway, jut contact your support team. They prefer to make patching opt-in during this period to avoid site outages due to patching miscommunications.
may I ask Eastern-EU folks to please refrain from hacking my servers during the holiday season?
Sure, just provide me with your domain name, provider and root password and I'll add you to my do-not-hack list.
"It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
if you dont like the service from the minimum wage gardeners you hired, get someone else
or just weed your own fucking flower beds
dont whinge about it here
I'm sorry to say that OP seems to be nationalistic about his "hacker countries" conception, promoting negative stereotypes, not to mention that he confused EU with Europe.
Top hacking countries are very different from Eastern Europe countries: USA (yup, still number 1 spot), China (Eastern, but not European), Russia (not Europe, just Eastern), Brazil, Germany (Europe and EU, but not Eastern), UK (an island off Europe coast), India (totally away from Europe)...
With your attempt at "humour" you basically allowed all those people right to hack your servers over the next two months ;-)
What have you got against sys admins anyway that you go out of your way to make them cry like that?
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
And block everybody else at the firewall.
There's no reason to let any of China, Pacific Rim, Middle East, Former Soviet Bloc, Africa, etc. onto my servers.
So they don't get on, and nothing of value was lost.
Know what else? My log files don't fill up with useless shit anymore, and the numbers of automated attacks and form spams have dropped dramatically.
Last time I checked, you can download fixes for your servers. Just FTP them up or whatever and install them manually. Get a new web host over the long term, but this is just an annoyance, not some big rights-violating controversy as you make it out to be.
2012:
New Linux Rootkit Emerges:
https://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/new-linux-rootkit-emerges-112012
"A new Linux rootkit has emerged and researchers who have analyzed its code and operation say that the malware appears to be a custom-written tool designed to inject iframes into Web sites and drive traffic to malicious sites for drive-by download attacks. The rootkit is designed specifically for 64-bit Linux systems."
---
'FIRST ever' Linux, Mac OS X-only password sniffing virus spotted:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/29/linux_mac_trojan/
---
Medicaid hack update: 500,000 records and 280,000 SSNs stolen:
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/medicaid-hack-update-500000-records-and-280000-ssns-stolen/11444
So, what's dts.utah.gov running everyone?
LINUX (and yes, it got HACKED) -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=dts.utah.gov
What's health.utah.gov running too??
YOU GUESSED IT: LINUX AGAIN -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=health.utah.gov
* Ah, yes - see the YEARS OF /. "BS" FUD is CRUMBLING AROUND THE PENGUINS EARS HERE & 2012's starting out just like 2011 did below!
===
2011:
KERNEL.ORG COMPROMISED - The Cracking of Kernel.org: (that's VERY bad - do you trust it now?)
http://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/2321232/Kernelorg-Compromised
---
Linux.com pwned in fresh round of cyber break-ins:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/12/more_linux_sites_down/
---
Mysql.com Hacked, Made To Serve Malware:
http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/09/26/2218238/mysqlcom-hacked-made-to-serve-malware
What's that site running? You guessed it - Linux -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=mysql.com
---
London Stock Exchange serving malware:
http://slashdot.org/submission/1484548/London-Stock-Exchange-Web-Site-Serving-Malware
(I mean hey - NOT ONLY DID LINUX FALL FLAT ON ITS FACE less than a few minutes into the job http://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/02/19/0147232/London-Stock-Exchange-Price-Errors-Emerged-At-Linux-Launch, & crash not only ONCE, but TWICE there? You see "Linux 'fine security'" in motion @ the LSE too!)
---
DUQU ROOTKIT/BOTNET BEING SERVED FROM LINUX SERVERS:
http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/11/30/1610228/duqu-attackers-managed-to-wipe-cc-servers
---
Linux Foundation, Linux.com Sites Down To Fix Security Breach:
http://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/09/11/1325212/linux-foundation-linuxcom-sites-down-to-fix-security-breach
---
Linux's showing in CA's breached recently too? Ok: (very, Very, VERY BAD for ecommerce, online shopping, banking, etc./et al)
2012:
New Linux Rootkit Emerges:
https://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/new-linux-rootkit-emerges-112012
"A new Linux rootkit has emerged and researchers who have analyzed its code and operation say that the malware appears to be a custom-written tool designed to inject iframes into Web sites and drive traffic to malicious sites for drive-by download attacks. The rootkit is designed specifically for 64-bit Linux systems."
---
'FIRST ever' Linux, Mac OS X-only password sniffing virus spotted:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/29/linux_mac_trojan/
---
Medicaid hack update: 500,000 records and 280,000 SSNs stolen:
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/medicaid-hack-update-500000-records-and-280000-ssns-stolen/11444
So, what's dts.utah.gov running everyone?
LINUX (and yes, it got HACKED) -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=dts.utah.gov
What's health.utah.gov running too??
YOU GUESSED IT: LINUX AGAIN -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=health.utah.gov
* Ah, yes - see the YEARS OF /. "BS" FUD is CRUMBLING AROUND THE PENGUINS EARS HERE & 2012's starting out just like 2011 did below!
===
2011:
KERNEL.ORG COMPROMISED - The Cracking of Kernel.org: (that's VERY bad - do you trust it now?)
http://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/2321232/Kernelorg-Compromised
---
Linux.com pwned in fresh round of cyber break-ins:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/12/more_linux_sites_down/
---
Mysql.com Hacked, Made To Serve Malware:
http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/09/26/2218238/mysqlcom-hacked-made-to-serve-malware
What's that site running? You guessed it - Linux -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=mysql.com
---
London Stock Exchange serving malware:
http://slashdot.org/submission/1484548/London-Stock-Exchange-Web-Site-Serving-Malware
(I mean hey - NOT ONLY DID LINUX FALL FLAT ON ITS FACE less than a few minutes into the job http://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/02/19/0147232/London-Stock-Exchange-Price-Errors-Emerged-At-Linux-Launch, & crash not only ONCE, but TWICE there? You see "Linux 'fine security'" in motion @ the LSE too!)
---
DUQU ROOTKIT/BOTNET BEING SERVED FROM LINUX SERVERS:
http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/11/30/1610228/duqu-attackers-managed-to-wipe-cc-servers
---
Linux Foundation, Linux.com Sites Down To Fix Security Breach:
http://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/09/11/1325212/linux-foundation-linuxcom-sites-down-to-fix-security-breach
---
Linux's showing in CA's breached recently too? Ok: (very, Very, VERY BAD for ecommerce, online shopping, banking, etc./et al)
2012:
New Linux Rootkit Emerges:
https://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/new-linux-rootkit-emerges-112012
"A new Linux rootkit has emerged and researchers who have analyzed its code and operation say that the malware appears to be a custom-written tool designed to inject iframes into Web sites and drive traffic to malicious sites for drive-by download attacks. The rootkit is designed specifically for 64-bit Linux systems."
---
'FIRST ever' Linux, Mac OS X-only password sniffing virus spotted:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/29/linux_mac_trojan/
---
Medicaid hack update: 500,000 records and 280,000 SSNs stolen:
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/medicaid-hack-update-500000-records-and-280000-ssns-stolen/11444
So, what's dts.utah.gov running everyone?
LINUX (and yes, it got HACKED) -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=dts.utah.gov
What's health.utah.gov running too??
YOU GUESSED IT: LINUX AGAIN -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=health.utah.gov
* Ah, yes - see the YEARS OF /. "BS" FUD is CRUMBLING AROUND THE PENGUINS EARS HERE & 2012's starting out just like 2011 did below!
===
2011:
KERNEL.ORG COMPROMISED - The Cracking of Kernel.org: (that's VERY bad - do you trust it now?)
http://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/08/31/2321232/Kernelorg-Compromised
---
Linux.com pwned in fresh round of cyber break-ins:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/12/more_linux_sites_down/
---
Mysql.com Hacked, Made To Serve Malware:
http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/09/26/2218238/mysqlcom-hacked-made-to-serve-malware
What's that site running? You guessed it - Linux -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=mysql.com
---
London Stock Exchange serving malware:
http://slashdot.org/submission/1484548/London-Stock-Exchange-Web-Site-Serving-Malware
(I mean hey - NOT ONLY DID LINUX FALL FLAT ON ITS FACE less than a few minutes into the job http://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/02/19/0147232/London-Stock-Exchange-Price-Errors-Emerged-At-Linux-Launch, & crash not only ONCE, but TWICE there? You see "Linux 'fine security'" in motion @ the LSE too!)
---
DUQU ROOTKIT/BOTNET BEING SERVED FROM LINUX SERVERS:
http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/11/30/1610228/duqu-attackers-managed-to-wipe-cc-servers
---
Linux Foundation, Linux.com Sites Down To Fix Security Breach:
http://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/09/11/1325212/linux-foundation-linuxcom-sites-down-to-fix-security-breach
---
Linux's showing in CA's breached recently too? Ok: (very, Very, VERY BAD for ecommerce, online shopping, banking, etc./et al)
367++ TOP FORTUNE 100/500 (or best 100 to work for per CNN Money) COMPANIES, EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS, &/or GOVERNMENT AGENCIES USING WINDOWS (over other solutions like Linux) both in HIGH TPM ENVIRONS, & FROM "TOP 100 COMPANIES TO WORK FOR" (per CNN Money 2011):
---
38 HIGH TPM & 99.999% "uptime" examples:
---
XEROX: Managing 7++ million transactions a day for office devices for its customers using Windows Server 2003 + SQLServer 2005 64-bit with 99.999% uptime!
NASDAQ: The U.S.' LARGEST STOCK EXCHANGE, Since 2005 has had Windows Server 2003 + SQLServer 2005 in failover clusters running the "official trade data dissemination system" for them in 24x7 fabled "5-9's" 99.999% uptime, doing 64,000 transactions PER SECOND (compare London Stock Exchange using Linux @ 3,000 per second)
FUJIFILM GROUP: Tracks data for its imaging, information, & documentation for its products & services using Windows Server 2003 w/ a custom SAP solution on SQLServer 2005, achieving 99.999% uptime.
HILTON HOTELS: Manages 1.4 Billion records a day for customers in 1000's of their hotels worldwide - for 370,000 rooms & catering services forecasts (switching from 6 *NIX systems to 1 Windows Server 2003 + SQLServer 2005 clustered failover system using a data warehouse with 7 million rows & 99.998% uptime).
MEDITERRANEAN SHIPPING COMPANY: Manages & Tracks 7 million containers out of 116 countries daily using Windows Server 2003 + SQLServer 2005 in failover clusters with 99.999% uptime.
SWISS INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES: Serves 70 airport destinations worldwide, with 6,500 employees + 110 branch offices via Windows Server 2003 & Active Directory with 99.95% uptime (all while growing their business 30% per year). THEIR PREVIOUS LINUX SYSTEM COULD ONLY HANDLE 250 concurrent users - the Windows one handles over 500++ users concurrently/simultaneously!
UNILEVER: Global consumer good leader, migrated to mySAP on SQLServer 2005 + Windows Server 2003 & scaled UP their operations by over 200% & yet saved money + have 99.999% uptime!
MOTOROLA: Using System Management Server, Windows Server 2003 & SQLServer 2005 to conduct inventory of 65,000 desktops from a single location (e.g. for system updates corporate & worldwide).
NISSAN: Uses Windows Server 2003 to manage 50,000 employees' email & calendaring (w/ out VPN, & using Exchange Server 2003) for local AND remote + mobile users.
TOYOTA MOTOR SALES: Reduced the # of techs needed per dealership (1,000's worldwide) from 7, to 1 using Windows Server 2003.
SIEMENS: 420,000++ people, 130 business units over 190 countries managed in Windows Active Directory
REUTERS: Managing 3,000 servers worldwide @ customer sites internationally (using only 4 managers to do so, remotely).
DELL COMPUTER: Managing 130,000 servers & 100,000 PC's worldside using Windows Server 2003 + 40 million customers' data worldwide.
LEXIS NEXIS: Searches BILLIONS of documents each second delivering news, legal, & business information.
HSBC: Deploys System Center solutions to 15,000 Servers worldwide & 300,000 desktops using Windows Server 2003.
RAYOVAC: Chose Windows Server 2003 over Linux to manage their infrastructure - saving 1 million dollars estimated in software, staffing, & support costs.
JETTAINER/LUFTHANSA/U.S. AIRWAYS: managing shipping to 3,000 flights to 400 airports every day.
CONTINENTAL AIRLINES: Manages crew communication systems, log on/log off, schedules, & shifts using Windows Server 2008 worldwide.
JET BLUE AIRWAYS: Managing 12 million flights & their data annually + ticketing, finance, & personnel too.
TIMEX: Using Windows + Exchange Server for remote personnel & executives (for their ENTIRE workforce)
7 ELEVEN STORES: Chose Windows Server 2003 over Li
Since all the evidences I posted won't FIT into a single /. post I originally did here:
http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3266485&cid=42066039
Here are the rest:
---
TOP 50/200++ RANKED SOUTHERN REGIONAL UNIVERSITIES USING Windows (from -> http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/regional-colleges-north )
---
The Citadel: Runs their domain on Windows -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=www.citadel.edu
Mercer University: Runs their domain on Windows -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=mercer.edu
Marymount University: Runs their domain on Windows -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=www.marymount.edu
University of North Carolina - Wilmington: Runs their domain on Windows -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=uncw.edu
Elon University: Runs their domain on Windows -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=www.elon.edu
Samford University: Runs their domain on Windows -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=www.samford.edu
Belmont University: Runs their domain on Windows (mix) -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=www.belmont.edu
Bellarmine University: Runs their domain on Windows -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=www.bellarmine.edu
Union University: Runs their domain on Windows -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=www.uu.edu
Converse College: Runs their domain on Windows -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=www.converse.edu
Spring Hill College: Runs their domain on Windows (mix) -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=www.shc.edu
Lipscomb University: Runs their domain on Windows -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=www.lipscomb.edu
Harding University: Runs their domain on Windows -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=www.harding.edu
Queens University of Charlotte: Runs their domain on Windows -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=www.queens.edu
Winthrop University: Runs their domain on Windows -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=www.winthrop.edu
University of Tampa: Runs their domain on Windows -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=www.ut.edu
Murray State University: Runs their domain on Windows -> http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=www.murraystate.edu
Christopher Newport University: Runs their domain on Windows (mix) -> http://up
major companies generally require a change standstill during holiday seasons, as well as certain accounting-rules critical times. so do outfits like the FAA, which for some ungodly reason doesn't want its comm channels flipping like fish at all hours of the day and night. some damn silliness about "life safety" or some other freakin nonsense.
I work for a telco, and this is very very old hat to us. "why are our lines down, we have 30 planes stacked up for landing?" "uh, backhoe party on the front lawn ripped up all our stuff?" "you must get this up immediately, and we do NOT authorize any downtime to fix it!"
I'll call the fairies in immediately. wish real hard.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Phishers/Spammers FAVOR attacking LAMP: (Linux, Apache, mySQL, PHP)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/10/domains_lamped/
PERTINENT QUOTE/EXCERPT:
"Phishers compromise LAMP-based websites for days at a time and hit the same victims over and over again, according to an Anti-Phishing Working Group survey. Sites built on Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP are the favoured targets of phishing attackers"
---
* There you go...
APK
P.S.=> Linux is no more 'secure' vs. attack, nor is Apache (or sites built on "LAMP") - In fact, care to see more?
Look here -> http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3266485&cid=42065829
Linux "infrastructure" isn't better -> http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3266485&cid=42065985
* You MAY want to look @ the evidences posted there, regarding my subject-line above then...
APK
P.S.=> You Linux "FUD" spreaders - your days of b.s.'ing people are done, & the above link only shows a small partial list of what's actually GOING ON, for real...
... apk