[GENERAL_SMILEY]

http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?...submit=Examine

I wonder why thet don't use IIS?

[milhous]

that's awesome. but i wonder what webstar does that apache can't.

good to see that they're still using macs to do webhosting.

[Gul Banana]

Security through obscurity. When was the last time you heard of an exploit for WebSTAR?

[absmiths]

Originally posted by Gul Banana:
Security through obscurity. When was the last time you heard of an exploit for WebSTAR?

If that's true, then using Apple Mail or Mac OS X in general is security through obscurity since they aren't Outlook or Windows 2K.

For what it's worth, security through obscurity implies no real security and I am quite certain that WebStar have taken credible steps to secure their product. Does anybody remember the Crack-A-Mac challenge?

The most likely (real) reason they use WebStar is that they have developed plugins or an AppleScript workflow that works in WebStar and has not been rewritten for Apache. In this scenario I don't really see any incentive for them to transition to Apache if WebStar integrates and it doesn't, especially in OS X where AppleScript is so dang powerful.

[Art Vandelay]

Originally posted by GENERAL_SMILEY:


I wonder why thet don't use IIS?

Because they got hacked badly several years ago and immediately switched to a Mac OS solution.

[GENERAL_SMILEY]

Originally posted by Art Vandelay:
Because they got hacked badly several years ago and immediately switched to a Mac OS solution.

I was being a touch ironic.

Webstar is a good solution on 9 but yet to be fully proved on X, we shall see...

[Art Vandelay]

Originally posted by GENERAL_SMILEY:
I was being a touch ironic.

Missed that touch of irony.

Webstar is a good solution on 9 but yet to be fully proved on X, we shall see...

Yeah, I would have thought they would have moved to Apache on OS X.

[Graymalkin]

WebSTAR uses Pascal-style strings which have length arguements IIRC. It is damn near impossible for decent code to have a buffer overflow. C strings just look for an endline character and will keep going and going until they find one. WebSTAR is pretty secure if you don't do anything stupid with it.

[Sarc]

From The W3C Consortium FAQ, Qustion 3:

Q3: Are some operating systems more secure to use as platforms for Web servers than others?

"The safest Web site is a bare-bones Macintosh running a bare-bones Web server."

Meaning Classic Mac OS, of course.

[dole]

Pretty cool that the army switched to OS X, but this is taken from netcraft.
"www.army.mil has recently moved to MacOS X in its first switch since 1999, when it migrated to the Apple platform in the aftermath of a successful attack on its then Microsoft based web site. Ironically, Apple has recently replaced Mac OS X with Solaris for its own Knowledge Base site." You can read the rest of the story here

[booboo]

I'm always interested in what the government's mercenaries are using.

[MasonMcD]

Originally posted by dole:
Pretty cool that the army switched to OS X, but this is taken from netcraft.
"www.army.mil has recently moved to MacOS X in its first switch since 1999, when it migrated to the Apple platform in the aftermath of a successful attack on its then Microsoft based web site. Ironically, Apple has recently replaced Mac OS X with Solaris for its own Knowledge Base site." You can read the rest of the story here

Actually, it looks like Apple has swapped back and forth with Kanisa (sp?) in the entire month of May every 1-7 days with Darwin and Solaris. Perhaps they are merely testing a new version of Apache on stable hardware rather than <conspiracytheory>brand new 64 bit hardware </conspiracytheory>

[Cipher13]

They've upgraded from OS9 to OSX. Hmm.

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by milhous:
that's awesome. but i wonder what webstar does that apache can't.

It runs on OS 9, which is what they used to use. Consequently, they're used to WebSTAR.

[Graymalkin]

IIRC Apple used to run its entire website off Solaris systems. I'm not terribly suprised they're still using them somewhere on the site. Also if they are outsourcing some of the hosting for Knowlege Base the hosting company is usually going to provide hardware they work best on.

[Arkham_c]

Originally posted by Graymalkin:
IIRC Apple used to run its entire website off Solaris systems. I'm not terribly suprised they're still using them somewhere on the site. Also if they are outsourcing some of the hosting for Knowlege Base the hosting company is usually going to provide hardware they work best on.

A lot of it has to do with the fact that Apple serves up a TON of dnamically generated pages in the knowledgebase, and you can't get a 64-processor Mac right now like you can a Sun.

[TheTraveller]

Yeah, WebSTAR on OS 9 was damn secrure. If you didn't want to get hacked (which the Army had been), WebSTAR was a great choice. The amazing thing is that the Army chose to migrate to OS X and stick with WebSTAR. WebSTAR V on OS X has nothing in common with WebSTAR 4.x on OS 9, except for the name. However, I think it's still very secure. But even if it isn't, it's got a cool Admin client.

[GENERAL_SMILEY]

Originally posted by TheTraveller:
Yeah, WebSTAR on OS 9 was damn secrure. If you didn't want to get hacked (which the Army had been), WebSTAR was a great choice. The amazing thing is that the Army chose to migrate to OS X and stick with WebSTAR. WebSTAR V on OS X has nothing in common with WebSTAR 4.x on OS 9, except for the name. However, I think it's still very secure. But even if it isn't, it's got a cool Admin client.

True enough, my theory is that once you've got a bunch of Apple adimns so ingrained in your organisation, that it's hard to delouse.

They probably read MacNN so maybe we'll hear from them.

[absmiths]

Originally posted by booboo:
I'm always interested in what the government's mercenaries are using.

People like you should have to fight for their own freedom.

[exa]

Or the Army wanted faster Macs and seeing that they don't boot OS 9, they had to move to X.

Why else would they go to a less secure system?