Re: Hosting, in or out?

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Holz wrote:
Our client has an SBS 2003 with a SQL server installed, 40 users, the proprietary SQL based application is the core of the business.
A new requirement calls for a report only server, one that will obtain the data from the SQL server and allow outside customers to pull their own status reports. The server will run ASP, .NET framework 3.5, all built with Visual Studio.
I suggested we host it outside on their ISP (he offers dedicated Windows hosting) rather then inside, their developer insists on inside hosting, i guess for ease of development. There is a good Cisco perimeter, however my concern is bandwidth and overall security.
I would like to hear more opinions.


I don't think you really need to, do you? It sounds as if the client's business stands or falls with the server, so they need to start by asking the developer how much insurance he carries to cover his work, and to decide whether that is sufficient to recover the business in the worst-case scenario.

My preference would be to not only host the web part of the application outside, but also to feed it from a slave database on the same server, synchronised to the master by push, so that the SBS SQL Server never needs to be exposed either to the Net or to a web application.

It is reasonable for the developer to have confidence in the security of his own designs, but it is not reasonable for him to assert that he never makes mistakes, nor to expect the whole basis of the client's business to rest on the integrity of his work. SBS is inevitably very much an all-the-eggs-in-one-basket system already: the least you can do is to carry the basket as carefully as possible.
--
Joe
.

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