On Aug 1, 2006, at 11:26 AM, Titan wrote:
I have quite a predicament. I have been tasked with setting up an FTP
server for the research group I'm involved with. The problem is once
I'm gone someone with no *NIX experience will be maintaining the
server. I've been considering using OpenBSD because it looks like it
can go far longer without updates than Windows and Linux servers and
looks to be very secure.
In your experience, would it be possible for someone with no *NIX
experience to maintain a simple FTP server?
How long would you trust an unpatched OpenBSD server to go unhacked?
Thanks for your help.
If the person maintaining the server has no *nix experience then
maybe you
should consider using technology that they are familiar with. Of
course using
openbsd has advantages but there's no point using it if you know the
server
won't get proper care and feeding.
If using something the future maintainer can handle is out of the
question
(maybe they only know windows Me? I'm not sure ;)) then maybe you can
get paid a little or do some pro bono remote maintenance?
If the server will never get taken care of then you really should
consider
paying for some remote ftp hosting. At least then the management of
the server
is off your hands. It may not be an option if you have sensitive data
but it might
be more secure than leaving a server to get old.
Personally, I don't think it will be *too* bad if you leave it
running... as long as
it doesn't get popular and/or people don't start poking at it to see
if it will break.
Mike
