The bottom line is that there are a million ways to make any server insecure, and a million more ways to make a windows server insecure. ntfs will help with security if and only if your users are set up with only the permissions they should have, and only if your server is not able to be accessed locally. If any user account that has proper admin privileges is able to be compromised, then ntfs isn't going to mean jack shit. NTFS offers some features that make the job of the administrator a little bit easier, but it's not going to prevent anything that could happen to a FAT32 filesystem if everything else about the server isn't rock-solid secure. FAT32 is perfectly fine for a system that has either only one user, or if the users that the system has all need the same 'root' access to the box. If you are using FAT32, then any user that has access to the box may as well be a full administrative user.
As far as corruption is concerned, that isn't a function of the filesystem, it's a function of the drivers for whatever filesystem you are using. If the FAT32 fs drivers are good, but the NTFS fs drivers are bad, then you are going to have problems with NTFS. If you care about the integrity of the filesystem, then it doesn't matter what filesystem you're using, what matters is how you back the data up. Anything relating to the security or stability of your system is pretty much solely determined by the skill level of the people who admin your box. It's all well and good to have an admin who installs the security patches for your servers in the form of metamod or sourcemod plugins, but if the admin doesn't have the ability to read the source code and understand it then you are just blindly trusting the coder, which adds another possible level of issues. System security is a very organic sort if issue, with situations changing on a constant basis, and if your admins can't keep up, then you are looking at problems. So, I really don't know why people are even arguing over this. Just argue about how good your admins are in comparison to everyone else... arguing over what tools they use is pointless. Mike Fleener wrote: > LOL none of my servers or my customer servers have a floppy drive!! > Security is not just one thing it is layers of protection which include > locking up the servers in a secure room, NTFS permissions, real password > settings, layered firewalls, etc. Like I tell my customers, the only > truly safe system is completely unplugged :) > > Oh and you must not have taken a cert test lately or you would know that > they do mean something. But I think what shows that I do have some > abilities is the fact that I have been in business since 1996 and still > have customers. I do find that messing around with HL servers takes a > lot more time and effort than the BF series or even CoD series of games. > > Mike > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ook > Sent: Saturday, December 05, 2009 11:43 AM > To: Half-Life dedicated Win32 server mailing list > Subject: Re: [hlds] Left 4 Dead 2 Update Available > > I remember a while ago one of our "certified" techs bragging about how > bullet proof his box was because he was using ntfs. At the time I kept a > DOS > boot disk with me that had ntfs drivers on it so I could boot from > floopy > and still access ntfs partitions. It took less then five minutes to wipe > the > smug grin off of his face. I think he learned an important lesson in > what > security really means :-) > > Out here in the real world, I find three types of people. People with > certs, > people that can get stuff done, and very rarely someone with certs that > can > actually get stuff done. Certs are good for impressing management and > getting jobs. They don't mean squat when it comes to actually knowing > what > you are doing. > > None of which has squat to do with running a server. Except maybe I've > run > my HL server on a fat32 partition for years and years and never once has > > anything happened that made me wish I would have been using ntfs. I've > even > run my server from a shared drive that was ext2 for a while and that > worked > surprisingly well. File corruption problems went away when I stopped > using > Win98. > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Blood Letter" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Saturday, December 05, 2009 10:38 AM > Subject: Re: [hlds] Left 4 Dead 2 Update Available > > > >> There is no reason FAT32 would be less secure than NTFS. >> >> The built-in security permissions of NTFS are pointless, and the OS >> > can > >> ignore them at any time. >> The only "security" NTFS has is encryption, which no one uses, is weak >> > > >> compared to non-file system-based methods, and in general is a >> > pointless > >> overhead. >> >> NTFS is bloated and has lots of overhead. >> >> FAT32 is great, but the limitations on depth, file size, and number of >> > > >> files are a problem. >> Fragmentation and corruption are also a problem. >> >> This is why we have FAT64 (exFAT). >> >> >>> Date: Sat, 5 Dec 2009 10:05:21 -0800 >>> From: [email protected] >>> To: [email protected] >>> Subject: Re: [hlds] Left 4 Dead 2 Update Available >>> >>> I always convert fat32 to NTFS on portable drives. I transfer or >>> > backup > >>> files that are over 4GB all the time, can't do that with a fat32. >>> > Fat32 > >>> fragments much more than NTFS, has many other features missing. No >>> Windows server should be running on a fat32 partition for security >>> reasons alone, not even counting on performance issues. For OS's I >>> > only > >>> run windows system and I no longer support anything older than 2000 >>> > so I > >>> have no compatibility problems. FAT is a very old spec, maybe it is >>> > time > >>> to get into the new stuff :) >>> >>> Mike >>> >>> -----Original Message----- >>> From: [email protected] >>> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Matthew >>> Gottlieb >>> Sent: Saturday, December 05, 2009 7:05 AM >>> To: Half-Life dedicated Win32 server mailing list >>> Subject: Re: [hlds] Left 4 Dead 2 Update Available >>> >>> If you are running steam off a portable drive, it is most likely >>> fat32. Also, people running multiple operating systems still >>> generally will have at least one fat32 partition for compatibility >>> reasons. >>> >>> On Sat, Dec 5, 2009 at 1:04 AM, Mike Fleener <[email protected]> >>> > wrote: > >>>> I am a real world certified tech and there is no reason for using >>>> > fat32 > >>>> on a windows systems and many reasons for using NTFS. >>>> >>>> Mike >>>> Macaw Enterprises >>>> >>>> -----Original Message----- >>>> From: [email protected] >>>> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ook >>>> Sent: Friday, December 04, 2009 7:55 PM >>>> To: Half-Life dedicated Win32 server mailing list >>>> Subject: Re: [hlds] Left 4 Dead 2 Update Available >>>> >>>> Because ntfs isn't the only file system in the world? Because many >>>> > of > >>>> us >>>> >>>> keep some partitions fat32 because there is no reason to use ntfs? >>>> Because >>>> we haven't got around to it? It may offend the purist, but out >>>> > there in > >>>> the >>>> real world a lot of people use fat32 for a variety of reasons. >>>> >>>> >>>> ----- Original Message ----- >>>> From: "Jonah Hirsch" <[email protected]> >>>> To: "Half-Life dedicated Win32 server mailing list" >>>> <[email protected]> >>>> Sent: Friday, December 04, 2009 6:57 PM >>>> Subject: Re: [hlds] Left 4 Dead 2 Update Available >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>>> My thoughts exactly. But because that was fixed, SOMEONE is using >>>>> >>>> FAT32. >>>> >>>>> The >>>>> question is: why? >>>>> >>>>> Jonah Hirsch >>>>> ----------------------- >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 7:54 PM, msleeper >>>>> <[email protected]>wrote: >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>> If you are using a computer that still has a FAT32 partition, you >>>>>> deserve to have your games crash. >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> On Fri, 2009-12-04 at 18:50 -0800, Ook wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>> I'm guessing the crash on startup fix is for the client, not >>>>>>> > the > >>>>>>> server? >>>>>>> >>>>>> My >>>>>> >>>>>>> server has always run fine on fat32, but there is NTFS WTF >>>>>>> > VALVE? > >>>> being >>>> >>>>>>> screamed from one side of steam support to the other over what >>>>>>> >>>> happened >>>> >>>>>> to >>>>>> >>>>>>> the client a week or so ago :) >>>>>>> >>>>>>> ----- Original Message ----- >>>>>>> From: "Jason Ruymen" <[email protected]> >>>>>>> To: <[email protected]>; "'Half-Lifededicated Linux >>>>>>> >>>> server >>>> >>>>>> mailing >>>>>> >>>>>>> list'" <[email protected]>; >>>>>>> <[email protected]> >>>>>>> Sent: Friday, December 04, 2009 6:32 PM >>>>>>> Subject: [hlds] Left 4 Dead 2 Update Available >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> A required update for Left 4 Dead 2 is now available. Please >>>>>>>> > run > >>>>>>>> hldsupdatetool to receive the update. The specific changes >>>>>>>> >>>> include: >>>> >>>>>>>> - Fixed crash on startup when using FAT32 file system >>>>>>>> - Fixed in-game chat input where the local encoding differs >>>>>>>> > from > >>>> the >>>> >>>>>> input >>>>>> >>>>>>>> language's >>>>>>>> - Fixed bug where Survivor Bots would sometimes become >>>>>>>> >>>> unresponsive >>>> >>>>>>>> in >>>>>>>> Scavenge games >>>>>>>> - Updated subtitle localization files for Hungarian, >>>>>>>> > Portuguese, > >>>>>> Romanian >>>>>> >>>>>>>> and Russian >>>>>>>> - Fixed exploit that allowed players on the Infected team to >>>>>>>> >>>> spawn >>>> >>>>>>>> directly next to the Survivors >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Jason >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>>>>> To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list >>>>>>>> archives, >>>>>>>> please visit: >>>>>>>> http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds >>>>>>>> >>>>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>>>> To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list >>>>>>> >>>> archives, >>>> >>>>>> please visit: >>>>>> >>>>>>> http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds >>>>>>> >>>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>>> To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list >>>>>> >>>> archives, >>>> >>>>>> please visit: >>>>>> http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list >>>>> > archives, > >>>>> please visit: >>>>> http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds >>>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list >>>> > archives, > >>>> please visit: >>>> http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list >>>> > archives, > >>>> please visit: >>>> http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds >>>> >>>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list >>> > archives, > >>> please visit: >>> http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list >>> > archives, > >>> please visit: >>> http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds >>> >> _________________________________________________________________ >> Windows Live Hotmail gives you a free,exclusive gift. >> >> > http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowslive/hotmail_bl1/hotmail_bl1.asp > x?ocid=PID23879::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-ww:WM_IMHM_7:092009 > >> _______________________________________________ >> To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, >> > > >> please visit: >> http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds >> > > > _______________________________________________ > To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, > please visit: > http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds > > _______________________________________________ > To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please > visit: > http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds > > _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlds
