Question

Internet Access on Production Servers

Asked by: JulioChabarria

I just wanted everyone's input on best practices for servers.  Besides updating the OS and browsing, what benefit is it to have internet access on your servers?  The negative's of having internet access could be that a tech, could download a virus, or browse innapropriately etc.  Sorry guys CIO is breating down my neck on this one and I just want to find out what you guys think.  Internet access or no internet access on servers is the question and why.

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Asked On
2005-07-14 at 14:17:52ID21492157
Topic

Windows 2000 Operating System

Participating Experts
3
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    Answers

     

    by: sreeraoPosted on 2005-07-14 at 14:38:29ID: 14445692

    Hi JulioChabarria,
    As a part of our Intranet policy, there is NO Internet access at all for the production servers (for obvious reasons that you stated). Secondly, when it comes to patch updates for OS and other software, you can always have a centralized patch management server (which can have restricted access to the Internet -- using firewall rules).
    The servers I manage are purely for Intranet purposes (web-based application servers), hence almost all of the software vendor have a little update check utility running in the background. Unless you are very methodical in your install/maintenance, it might go to the Internet and download something off-hours and install (which is not what you wanted in the first place). Hence it is only prudent to not have Internet access on the production boxes (be it Web based servers or otherwise).
    But again, this is just my opinion.
    -Sree

     

    by: 2hypePosted on 2005-07-14 at 16:52:49ID: 14446458

    Depends on what you are using the server for?

    A Internet Connection is handy when you want to run updates on your servers (assuming you dont have a WSUS/SUS Server in place).

    If the Server is the SUS/WSUS then you would need internet access for downloading updates, etc
    If your server for Users to Dial into your network for VPN, then it would need internet access.
    If your server is the central server for your Antivirus, it would need to have internet to retrive updates

    I would not use my servers for gerneral Internet browsing, but there are times when it comes in handy.

     

    by: fotdPosted on 2005-07-14 at 22:49:18ID: 14448010

    IMHO internet access from a production server is fine as long as it can be controlled. As stated above, you don't want some application connecting in the middle of the night and updating itself.  The only type of internet access you should have is web browsing through a proxy that requires a l/p.  You should also make sure you have up to date antivirus and OS patches.  Ofcourse you should only be using the internet on a production server in the event of a problem or looking to download an update (which comes in very handy in some situations).  Also there are just some servers that are too sensitive for it, but those servers should already be behind a firewall to your local lan (banking applications,internet facing machines, etc).  The most important thing you need to have is a locked down system, and trustworthy admins!

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