Microsoft Is Using Linux To Protect Its Own Web Site

21st August 2003, 09:51 PM

http://www.internetweek.com/story/sh...cleID=13100775

Microsoft has made a big deal out of asserting that Linux is not fit for the enterprise. But Microsoft itself is using Linux to help protect its servers against denial-of-service attacks.

Diamond · 22nd August 2003, 12:29 AM

New irony-meters all round....

BobK · 22nd August 2003, 12:30 AM

I find that rather ironic.

heath · 22nd August 2003, 12:36 AM

nice story, [edit] more detail from the reg.

theregister.co.uk article

Jim_MDP · 22nd August 2003, 04:07 AM

Well, kinda. They're just dumping their problem on someone else (Akamai) by pulling the redirect. But the story will flourish.

--
"A computer is a lot like an air-conditioner, it works better without windows."
--

And you gotta love The Reg...from a couple years ago during the "Love Bug" outbreak...

Quote:

Gratuitous piece of Unix smuggery

You also may be interested in another variant of the virus currently running around linux user groups here (quoted below):

Subject: Unix variant of "love bug"

This virus works on the honor system:

If you're running a variant of unix or linux, please forward this message to everyone you know and delete a bunch of your files at random."

Segnosaur · 22nd August 2003, 02:06 PM

I don't know if this situation is related to a problem Microsoft had a few years ago... (can anyone fill in details? I don't have the time to research it right now)

Several years ago, microsoft's web servers got knocked off the internet. You could still access thier web sites if you knew the IP address, but you couldn't use the domain names.

The problem was due to several factors; a Denial of Service attack on their doman name servers (I think...), plus a very bad design where they had all their domain name servers on one network segment (so that if that one segment went down, all of the servers were inaccessible.)

Now, to provide robustness, Microsoft hired an external company to run redundant servers. This other company was supposedly running Linux.

So, can anyone fill in any details? Is this company the same as mentioned in this article?

shanek · 22nd August 2003, 04:42 PM

Not the first time. Microsoft's entire website used to be run on FreeBSD. And Hotmail used to run on Linux. After someone exposes this, it's not too long before they move it over to a Microsoft server...and it starts having a lot of problems.

Segnosaur · 22nd August 2003, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by shanek
Not the first time. Microsoft's entire website used to be run on FreeBSD. And Hotmail used to run on Linux. After someone exposes this, it's not too long before they move it over to a Microsoft server...and it starts having a lot of problems.

Are you sure about that? I've never heard that Microsoft used Linux on its web site (well, other than contracting out some DNS functionality), but as far as I know, Hotmail was running a combination of FreeBSD and Solaris

See:
http://www.exn.ca/Stories/1998/06/03/57.asp
http://www.hpcwire.com/dsstar/01/0619/103190.html
http://aa11.cjb.net/sun_managers/1998/05/msg00148.html

Yahweh · 23rd August 2003, 01:53 AM

Boohoo, Microsoft uses Linux servers. There is such a thing as "too much Microsoft" ya know....

shanek · 23rd August 2003, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Segnosaur
Are you sure about that? I've never heard that Microsoft used Linux on its web site

Its main website was FreeBSD, not Linux. Hotmail used to be run on Linux. And at the time, anyone could look at the HTTP headers (or, more easily, check it out with Netcraft.com) and see for themselves.

Quote:

but as far as I know, Hotmail was running a combination of FreeBSD and Solaris

As I recall, Linux was used for the home page site, FreeBSD and Solaris were used for back-end work.

shanek · 23rd August 2003, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Yahweh
Boohoo, Microsoft uses Linux servers. There is such a thing as "too much Microsoft" ya know....

Not to hear Microsoft talk about it.

Shadowhawk · 23rd August 2003, 11:54 PM

I seem to remember that Hotmail, before MS bought it, ran on a *nix or BSD platform.

Sometime after they acquired Hotmail, they decided to port it over to IIS.

I think the site was down for about a week.

Segnosaur · 27th August 2003, 09:07 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by shanek

As I recall, Linux was used for the home page site, FreeBSD and Solaris were used for back-end work.

I think your memory might be a bit wrong on this. I haven't found anything that ever mentioned Linux ever being used by Hotmail, and any source that I did see mentions FreeBSD (and Apache) for the web server and Solaris for the back end work.

As a side note: Here's yet another article on Microsoft's use of 'Linux', right from the Netcraft site: http://news.netcraft.com/archives/20..._a_point_.html
(It has some of the same information that was in the register article, but goes into some extra technical details about how Microsoft uses an outside company to cache their web pages, but uses Windows for the actual servers themselves.)

Checkmite · 29th August 2003, 06:40 AM

While Microsoft running Linux is somewhat humorous, I see no reason to get upset/worried/overworked/pompous about it and launch one's self into some kind of "exposure" campaign. Who cares?

21st August 2003, 09:51 PM	#1
evildave Guest Posts: n/a	Microsoft Is Using Linux To Protect Its Own Web Site http://www.internetweek.com/story/sh...cleID=13100775 Microsoft has made a big deal out of asserting that Linux is not fit for the enterprise. But Microsoft itself is using Linux to help protect its servers against denial-of-service attacks.
evildave Guest Posts: n/a

22nd August 2003, 12:29 AM	#2
Diamond SkepticWiki Founder Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: 'Stralia Posts: 4,748	New irony-meters all round....
	__________________ "The good thing about the Internet is that no matter how many repressed cretins with outmoded morals and religious fundamentalist idiots hate what you have to say, they cannot burn a website." -www.rinderpest.com

22nd August 2003, 12:30 AM	#3
BobK Muse Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: State of confusion Posts: 913	I find that rather ironic.
	__________________ A mind is like a parachute. It works best when open.

22nd August 2003, 12:36 AM	#4
heath Thinker Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 152	nice story, [edit] more detail from the reg. theregister.co.uk article
heath Thinker Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 152	__________________ <small>This space intentionally left blank</small>

22nd August 2003, 04:07 AM	#5
Jim_MDP Master Poster Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: N.Cal/S.Or Posts: 2,565	Well, kinda. They're just dumping their problem on someone else (Akamai) by pulling the redirect. But the story will flourish. -- "A computer is a lot like an air-conditioner, it works better without windows." -- And you gotta love The Reg...from a couple years ago during the "Love Bug" outbreak... Quote: Gratuitous piece of Unix smuggery You also may be interested in another variant of the virus currently running around linux user groups here (quoted below): Subject: Unix variant of "love bug" This virus works on the honor system: If you're running a variant of unix or linux, please forward this message to everyone you know and delete a bunch of your files at random."
	__________________ ---------------------- "Both cannot be simultaneously true, and so one may conclude neither is true, and if neither is true, then Apollo is fraudulent." -- Patrick1000.

22nd August 2003, 02:06 PM	#6
Segnosaur Philosopher Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Canada, eh? Posts: 6,068	I don't know if this situation is related to a problem Microsoft had a few years ago... (can anyone fill in details? I don't have the time to research it right now) Several years ago, microsoft's web servers got knocked off the internet. You could still access thier web sites if you knew the IP address, but you couldn't use the domain names. The problem was due to several factors; a Denial of Service attack on their doman name servers (I think...), plus a very bad design where they had all their domain name servers on one network segment (so that if that one segment went down, all of the servers were inaccessible.) Now, to provide robustness, Microsoft hired an external company to run redundant servers. This other company was supposedly running Linux. So, can anyone fill in any details? Is this company the same as mentioned in this article?
	__________________ Trust me, I know what I'm doing. - Sledgehammer I cheered when then the WTC came down. - UndercoverElephant (a.k.a. JustGeoff) I cheer Bin Laden... - JustGeoff (a.k.a. UndercoverElephant) Bin Laden delivered justice - JustGeoff (a.k.a. UndercoverElephant) Men shop for lingerie the way kids shop for breakfast cereal... they will buy something they know nothing about, just to get the prize inside. - Jeff Foxworthy

22nd August 2003, 04:42 PM	#7
shanek by Charles M. Schulz Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 15,990	Not the first time. Microsoft's entire website used to be run on FreeBSD. And Hotmail used to run on Linux. After someone exposes this, it's not too long before they move it over to a Microsoft server...and it starts having a lot of problems.
	__________________ "James Randi is awesome!" —Ian Bernard, primary host of Free Talk Live "It really does take people like Penn & Teller or James Randi to be able to see through these deceptions, and so those are perhaps the people we should be paying the most attention to." —Harry Browne, 4/10/2004 I know there is a lesson to be learned here somewhere, but I don't know what it is.

22nd August 2003, 08:53 PM	#8
Segnosaur Philosopher Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Canada, eh? Posts: 6,068	Quote: Originally posted by shanek Not the first time. Microsoft's entire website used to be run on FreeBSD. And Hotmail used to run on Linux. After someone exposes this, it's not too long before they move it over to a Microsoft server...and it starts having a lot of problems. Are you sure about that? I've never heard that Microsoft used Linux on its web site (well, other than contracting out some DNS functionality), but as far as I know, Hotmail was running a combination of FreeBSD and Solaris See: http://www.exn.ca/Stories/1998/06/03/57.asp http://www.hpcwire.com/dsstar/01/0619/103190.html http://aa11.cjb.net/sun_managers/1998/05/msg00148.html
	__________________ Trust me, I know what I'm doing. - Sledgehammer I cheered when then the WTC came down. - UndercoverElephant (a.k.a. JustGeoff) I cheer Bin Laden... - JustGeoff (a.k.a. UndercoverElephant) Bin Laden delivered justice - JustGeoff (a.k.a. UndercoverElephant) Men shop for lingerie the way kids shop for breakfast cereal... they will buy something they know nothing about, just to get the prize inside. - Jeff Foxworthy

23rd August 2003, 01:53 AM	#9
Yahweh Ayay ashay ayay Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 9,029	Boohoo, Microsoft uses Linux servers. There is such a thing as "too much Microsoft" ya know....
Yahweh Ayay ashay ayay Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 9,029

23rd August 2003, 07:48 AM	#10
shanek by Charles M. Schulz Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 15,990	Quote: Originally posted by Segnosaur Are you sure about that? I've never heard that Microsoft used Linux on its web site Its main website was FreeBSD, not Linux. Hotmail used to be run on Linux. And at the time, anyone could look at the HTTP headers (or, more easily, check it out with Netcraft.com) and see for themselves. Quote: but as far as I know, Hotmail was running a combination of FreeBSD and Solaris As I recall, Linux was used for the home page site, FreeBSD and Solaris were used for back-end work.
	__________________ "James Randi is awesome!" —Ian Bernard, primary host of Free Talk Live "It really does take people like Penn & Teller or James Randi to be able to see through these deceptions, and so those are perhaps the people we should be paying the most attention to." —Harry Browne, 4/10/2004 I know there is a lesson to be learned here somewhere, but I don't know what it is.

23rd August 2003, 07:49 AM	#11
shanek by Charles M. Schulz Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 15,990	Quote: Originally posted by Yahweh Boohoo, Microsoft uses Linux servers. There is such a thing as "too much Microsoft" ya know.... Not to hear Microsoft talk about it.
	__________________ "James Randi is awesome!" —Ian Bernard, primary host of Free Talk Live "It really does take people like Penn & Teller or James Randi to be able to see through these deceptions, and so those are perhaps the people we should be paying the most attention to." —Harry Browne, 4/10/2004 I know there is a lesson to be learned here somewhere, but I don't know what it is.

23rd August 2003, 11:54 PM	#12
Shadowhawk Scholar Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 55	I seem to remember that Hotmail, before MS bought it, ran on a *nix or BSD platform. Sometime after they acquired Hotmail, they decided to port it over to IIS. I think the site was down for about a week.
Shadowhawk Scholar Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 55	__________________ Shadowhawk "Sufficiently advanced technology is often indistinguishable from magic." -- Clarke's Third Law

27th August 2003, 09:07 AM	#13
Segnosaur Philosopher Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Canada, eh? Posts: 6,068	Quote: Originally posted by shanek As I recall, Linux was used for the home page site, FreeBSD and Solaris were used for back-end work. I think your memory might be a bit wrong on this. I haven't found anything that ever mentioned Linux ever being used by Hotmail, and any source that I did see mentions FreeBSD (and Apache) for the web server and Solaris for the back end work. As a side note: Here's yet another article on Microsoft's use of 'Linux', right from the Netcraft site: http://news.netcraft.com/archives/20..._a_point_.html (It has some of the same information that was in the register article, but goes into some extra technical details about how Microsoft uses an outside company to cache their web pages, but uses Windows for the actual servers themselves.)
	__________________ Trust me, I know what I'm doing. - Sledgehammer I cheered when then the WTC came down. - UndercoverElephant (a.k.a. JustGeoff) I cheer Bin Laden... - JustGeoff (a.k.a. UndercoverElephant) Bin Laden delivered justice - JustGeoff (a.k.a. UndercoverElephant) Men shop for lingerie the way kids shop for breakfast cereal... they will buy something they know nothing about, just to get the prize inside. - Jeff Foxworthy

29th August 2003, 06:40 AM	#14
Checkmite Skepticifimisticalationist Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Third in line Posts: 14,883	While Microsoft running Linux is somewhat humorous, I see no reason to get upset/worried/overworked/pompous about it and launch one's self into some kind of "exposure" campaign. Who cares?
	__________________ "¿WHAT KIND OF BIRD? ¿A PARANORMAL BIRD?" --- Carlos S., 2002