Next message: Welch, John C.: "[WinMac] HP OmniBook 3000 and WIndows 2000"
A few days ago we talked about using a Mac as a Web server; and one of the
interesting "pros" was the security; while one of the "cons" was the lack
of robust database connectivity (such as ODBC).
After sifting through a whole bunch of stuff at MacInTouch on ODBC
connectivity, I stumbled across AUGSOFT's "Open Database Connectivity Router."
Specifically, there is a white paper at:
http://odbc.net/router/orwhitepaper.htm
<http://odbc.net/router/orwhitepaper.htm> that talks about this specific
issue. If you need to connect a Web server into a large database, this is
the ticket *provided that the records are not large graphics files*
Interestingly (and with a bit of tweaking the NIC bindings!), the
AppleTalk stack is leveraged (and TCP/IP is disabled!) to provide the
security between the NT/Win2k server running Open Database Connectivity
Router and the MacOS Web server, specifically at
http://odbc.net/router/orwhitepaper.htm#_ODBC_and_the
<http://odbc.net/router/orwhitepaper.htm#_ODBC_and_the>:
ODBC and the Macintosh
Macintosh ODBC Drivers
One of the primary issues faced by database users on MacOS is that the
selection of available ODBC drivers is not as broad as on other platforms.
Those ODBC drivers that are available for MacOS typically depend on
database-specific client libraries that are not maintained well and
generally do not offer the same level of server compatibility or stability
as their counterparts on Windows. The solution provided by AUGSOFT is our
ODBC OverDriver for MacOS that enables remote access to the broad selection
of well-supported ODBC32 drivers (such as MS-SQLServer 7 and ORACLE 8)
available for Windows NT/2000.
AppleTalk® Database Firewalls
Because the simpler technologies of MacOS web servers are inherently less
vulnerable to “hackers” than web servers based on Windows, NT/2000 and Unix
operating systems, Macintosh is an excellent platform to host high-profile
web sites. (In fact, the U.S. Army recently switched from NT to MacOS
based web servers for precisely this reason.) However, when connecting web
servers to database servers, a secondary firewall must generally be
installed to prevent “hackers” from bypassing the secure MacOS web server
altogether and directly attacking the database server.
But secondary firewalls are expensive and can be difficult to maintain so
that they remain effective. By taking advantage of the AppleTalk® protocol
built-in to MacOS, a more reliable and cost effective solution is available
when the secure MacOS web server is connected to the database by using the
special AppleTalk® feature of the AUGSOFT ODBC OverDriver and ODBC ROUTER.
In this way, Internet based “hackers” can only attack the database server
if they can first gain control of the highly secure MacOS based web server.
Further, because the Windows NT/2000 Server is only exposing the AppleTalk
protocol on its “public” Ethernet adapter, it is not vulnerable to the
numerous TCP/IP based security exploits documented on
http://www.microsoft.com/security/default.asp and therefore does not
require a secondary firewall.
Cheers!
Dan Schwartz
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While you're spamming me, don't forget to include these guys:
Chairman Reed Hundt: rhundt@fcc.gov Comm. James Quello: jquello@fcc.gov
Comm. Susan Ness: sness@fcc.gov Comm. Rachelle Chong: rchong@fcc.gov
US Postal Service: customer@email.usps.gov Fraud Watch: fraudinfo@psinet.com
Federal Trade Commission: consumerline@ftc.gov
Oh, and while you're at it, pound some sand too!
admin@loopback $LOGIN@localhost $LOGNAME@localhost $USER@localhost
$USER@$HOST -h1024@localhost root@mailloop.com
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: Thu Mar 23 2000 - 07:28:54 PST