In order to protect itself from DDoS attacks, Microsoft is using the Akamai service to distribute its load. Ironically, as a result, the domain www.microsoft.com is now listed in the Netcraft report as being Linux running IIS. Netcraft has received so much mail asking about that, and the irony of Linux-bashing Microsoft now depending on “enterprise-class” Linux servers has generated so much discussion, Netcraft has posted a page explaining what’s happening.
This is very interesting.
If you can’t beat them join them.
🙂
Can’t they program some network app that acts similar to akamai and multiplex requests ? They sure have the manpower.
“For all your enterprise needs, use Linux, the enterprise-quality OS that saved Microsofts bacon!”
Yes I know MS just outsourced their servers to someone else who (happened) to be running Linux (and yes, it could have been BSD, Solaris, AIX, or maybe even Windows?), but the irony is delicious after they criticised Linux for being a “hobby” OS.
Hahahahahaha….phew….hahahahahahahaha….phew
/me continues to crack up
The only thing that can protect them is Linux… Ah, I love the irony…
If it was anyone else, it would be perfectly understandable… But after Microsoft’s bashing of Linux and open source, this just makes them look stupid. Not that they needed much help. lol
So I guess now all that evil anti-American open source stuff isn’t so bad after all eh?
lol
Because it seems that all of those crazy communist Linux renegade coders come up with something that Microsoft doesn’t have and needs…
Ah, I love it.
lol
I’m sure the MS zealots will try to think of another excuse to justify that “Linux sucks” and that Windows is all powerful.
I’m sure the MS zealots will try to think of another excuse to justify that “Linux sucks” and that Windows is all powerful.
Only thing I can say here is that even MS is smart enough to use the right tool for the job here. Doesn’t mean either Windows or Linix is superior, just that in this case, one worked better than the other.
More people should learn from this and learn to be more diverse in the tools they use, instead of being anti-this or anti-that, use whatever works best in any given situation.
i’m sure they’ll say it’s the service that helped them and the OS had nothing to do with it
Darius, You’re correct when you say “Only thing I can say here is that even MS is smart enough to use the right tool for the job here.”
But What’s Hilarious is that Microsoft launched an Anti-Linux Campaign with Unisys so that Companies switch to Windows.
If Microsoft didn’t bash Linux, then it’s a different Story.
“Can’t they program some network app that acts similar to akamai and multiplex requests ? They sure have the manpower.”
No. They can’t. Because their flagship operating system sucks at handling high loads.
Example; Anyone here have a Hotmail account? I’m sure I’m not the only person cursing about “The server is too busy”. and “Waiting for response” that lasts for up to a minute or even more when I try to get my Hotmail during peak hours (shortly after beginning of work day for example). I have literally waited for a minute or two for Hotmail to log me in during peak hours. I can’t remember that ever happening when Hotmail was still running FreeBSD.
But if you go and talk to MS about their opinion as to what computer system is the right tool for the right job, they will always say Microsoft is the answer. Every company they buy, they force to use MS software. Look at hotmail. Originally, hotmail was all BSD based. Then MS bought it and made them change it to a MS based system. IS it better for the change? Maybe, that’s debatable, but they enforce the policy of using their software even when it’s not the best tool for the job. So this seemingly minor transgression of policy is HUGE.
That’s the hypocracy of capitalism.
“Then MS bought it [Hotmail] and made them change it to a MS based system. IS it better for the change?”
It’s not better. It’s far worse. See my previous post about response times to logins and such. That didn’t happen when it was still running FreeBSD.
“See, MS has proper rigths to use Linux – they licensed it properly from SCO!”
“Example; Anyone here have a Hotmail account? I’m sure I’m not the only person cursing about “The server is too busy”. and “Waiting for response” that lasts for up to a minute or even more when I try to get my Hotmail during peak hours (shortly after beginning of work day for example). I have literally waited for a minute or two for Hotmail to log me in during peak hours. I can’t remember that ever happening when Hotmail was still running FreeBSD”
I don’t know what ISP you have but I never run into this problem….
“I don’t know what ISP you have but I never run into this problem….”
Hotmail will not generate a “The server is to busy” error messages because of my ISP. Also, all of the other sites I visit work.
Get a clue.
well… well…. akamai is known to be very reliable. and microsoft using them, no matter what kind of os is doing the job for akamai, is an good business move from microsoft.
in some weeks, no one will talk anymore about that
that is normal… and the business world will continue to use windows ;(
it is the way it is. windows will stay for long long way and slowly unix will get more market share. but it is an long way to change the desktop market. and as long, as people are not ready to change radicaly and microsoft windows does not have very big problems (i know… i know… virus, worms, trojans, crashes, instability, etc… but the windows user base is very used to have all that kind of problems. for them this is nothing special and therefore no reason to switch) nothing will change.
for hotmal: yes. i find it worse with windows. but for microsoft it is normal to switch the service to THEIR os. first it is their corporate product and second they are more people in the company knowing windows then knowing unix. if they would have an strong unix know-how, then they would probably stay on bsd. but since windows is their number one… what do you expect?
and as long windows is downloadable from the web (warez, whatever…) and easy to copy from the original cd you have in your office and to install, then windows will still have that strong user base. i would lie, if i would insist, that the private people i know have licenced windows. i would say that less then 10% of them have an valid windows, office, photoshop, whatever licence! sorry. that is bad, i know, but it is the sad sad reality. (when i buyed my two windows nt server with 5 clients licences each and serval office licences, everyone i knowed was telling me that i am stupid! this was more then 10 years ago and then you could not that easy download windows from the web. and imagine this today? phuuu… pure horror! but today i am mostly using linux and i have no problem with it. it serves me well and i can do may day to day job without any problem.)
cheers
SteveB
This story highlights the point made in an earlier article on OS News that having more than one OS improves reliability, security and robustness of IT systems.
As far as Hotmail’s move from BSD and Apache to Windows 2000 and IIS, see:
http://www.securityoffice.net/mssecrets/hotmail.html
?: By forcing Windows users to activate software, they will stop people’s migration to Windows, and stop their continual upgrading to new versions. I know handfulls of people who refuse to buy WinXP because of the activation requirements. People will stagnate on WinME and Win2K and only “upgrade” when they buy a new system.
Disclaimer: I personally own two licenses of Windows XP (one pro and one home), but they sit on two largely-dormant systems that get booted quarterly, at best. I run NetBSD and Mac OS X on remaining machines.
Karrick
MS using linux, hehe that is funny. maybe MS has seen the light. I hope The Screen Savers on Techtv has something about it.
Microsoft: so is still Linux a hobby OS? <G>
Microsoft make great OSs for home users and game consoles, but when it comes to heavyweight applications, hype and monopolistic practices are no longer enough to secure a user base. The product has to actually work.
We have seen this with IIs vs Apache, and we are seeing it again here. I also noted a story on Slashdot about a nuclear plant whose safety systems went off line due to the severe traffic caused by a worm infection in the plants less important Windows boxes. While many people use Microsoft products, please remember they are only for fun, leave the real work to real OSs.
Akamai has over 15,000 “ion” servers across the world. When you have that many servers at your disposal for serving up content – you could be running Win 3.1 and it would still be great
Akamai has over 15,000 “ion” servers across the world. When you have that many servers at your disposal for serving up content – you could be running Win 3.1 and it would still be great
Not if they all get infected by a worm. And how much do you think it costs Akamai to license the software for all those systems? More or less than it would cost for a Microsoft solution?
The only thing that can protect them is Linux… Ah, I love the irony…
Basically MS chose a 3rd party with an “edge network” in place to handle DoS attacks.
What OS that company runs is really of no concern. MS needed a solution and they found a company to provide it.
” What OS that company runs is really of no concern. MS needed a solution and they found a company to provide it.”
It is of concern to Microsoft, as people are starting to apply the same logic to their own products. The very last thing they want to hear is – “What OS that company runs is really of no concern.”, as that would signify that OSs in general have become a commodity.
What a bunch of hot air M$ is. I thought windows 2003 server was the best thing since the abacus. shesh what a farce all of this is with them.
By porting their huge we site to that linux server in just one day, they proved that they have the best and most portable web applications.
It also proves that there is no need to fear any lock.in with MS products.
You can move it anywhere within one day.
What OS that company runs is really of no concern. MS needed a solution and they found a company to provide it.
Of course thats of theyre concern. Micro$oft wants people to use theyre operating system. It’s not good advertising using another OS because that means theyre OS is not good enough. They should have choosed a Windows provider. When business leaders hear things like that they’ll probably think it like this: “Hmm…That Linux OS does more than Windows 2003…maybe I should go for Linux insted of Windows.”
Not that it matters to me if they use Linux… I’m a little zealot
By porting their huge we site to that linux server in just one day, they proved that they have the best and most portable web applications.
It also proves that there is no need to fear any lock.in with MS products.
You can move it anywhere within one day.
Sorry Mac… Your wrong there
The akamai servers are just caching the content on Microsoft’s webpage.
sorry! runing 15’000 servers with anything NOT free and not that stable as linux/bsd would mean just one thing: many many many $$$$
cheers
SteveB
By porting their huge we site to that linux server in just one day, they proved that they have the best and most portable web applications.
It also proves that there is no need to fear any lock.in with MS products.
You can move it anywhere within one day.
i think you don’t know what you are writing about!
they did NOT move their web applications! they just used akamai to cache and load balance the access to their internal system! nothing more and nothing less!
ohhh… and btw: this is NOT the first time they do that!
cheers
SteveB
to hmmm
Why don’t you communist hypocrites all go live in Cuba or North Korea where you can drive 50 year old cars and starve.
idiot.
“That didn’t happen when it was still running FreeBSD.”
Not to be a Microsoft apologist, but when HotMail ran FreeBSD, there was probably only 10% of the users and it faced only 10% of the spam load.
why don’t you capitalist morons all go work your butts off for enron before they screw you and leave you hanging so you can lose your car and house and starve.
idiot.
in the animal kingdom — Genetic Diversity is the key to long-term survival! It is known what happens with inbreeding . . . Genetic Extinction!
Before 1984, general computing ran varied hardware and OS’, and then TOO many were persuaded to ALL jump into the ONE IT BOAT!
The answer SHOULD have been COMMON DATA (exchange) Formats!
MS® + x86 ONLY? That’s the answer for those who breed with their mothers & sisters!!!
Originally, hotmail was all BSD based.
No, it never was all BSD-based. It used FreeBSD on the web-frontend only. The backend was always (and might still be) Solaris. Check out the link Mark Wilson gave.
If you can’t beat them join them.
🙂
Can’t they program some network app that acts similar to akamai and multiplex requests ? They sure have the manpower.
Within a couple of days to stay safe from MSBlast? Even with that amount of money, nobody on earth could do that. Akamai is just amongst the best service there is, and one that can handle the load Microsoft.com has. Now without duress would they go for a service using Linux over a service using Windows? I doubt that.
“in the animal kingdom — Genetic Diversity is the key to long-term survival! It is known what happens with inbreeding . . . Genetic Extinction!”
Well, as an ecologist I have to jump in and say that this is an overgeneralatiztion. In some cases, a population can be so well adapted to its environment that it can actually be harmful to the species if outside genes come in.
And besides that, the genetic diversity argument doesn’t apply to computers.
“Well, as an ecologist I have to jump in and say that this is an overgeneralatiztion. In some cases, a population can be so well adapted to its environment that it can actually be harmful to the species if outside genes come in.
And besides that, the genetic diversity argument doesn’t apply to computers.”
I think the important thing here is that monocultures are ecologically unstable and are more susceptible to being destabilized by infectious diseases such as viruses than complex ecosystems.
Since Operating Systems and other computer programs are replicators in Dawkins sense they therefore follow an evolutionary process similar to biological systems. So the genetic diversity arguement may well apply to them.
For games. I use a Mac but have a high end Dell for jsut games.
Thinking about it, it’s more likely that Microsoft does not have the hardware, rather than lacking the software to deal with this kind of DDos attack.
It would cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars to install the bandwidth and computers to deal with what is probably a short term threat. After the threat has passed, they would be left with piles of unused equipment.
When I worked at Microsoft, they had the server rooms organised so that the the computers were arranged in large circles, with the monitors on top.
The network admin would sit in the middle on a swivel chair, holding a long stick. This made it easy for him to continuously rotate the chair, and punch the reset buttons on the computers with the stick as they bluescreened. (Lies).
“Now without duress would they go for a service using Linux over a service using Windows? I doubt that.”
Dear rajan_r,
You’re very kind to justify what is nonetheless a weakness in Microsoft way of designing their operating system. Instead of sticking to the standards as proposed in the RFCs or other documents, they do whatever they can to foist botched implementations upon their customers. Networking with Windows is quite a chore compared to other OSes. Add to that the failure of Gates to grasp the real nature of the internet (he derided it as being “electricity”) and we arrive to the Akamai fiasco (that’s what it is, no matter what Netcraft says).
With all the ressources available to Microsoft, they shouldn’t wait until they’re under duress before thinking of a way to tame a nuisance such as a DDOS. They do whatever they can to market their products as superior alternatives to other offerings, yet, themselves are unable to rely on Windows when in trouble. They are so shameless they resort to linux to protect them, after insulting it relentlessly. Once more, after countless eye openers, the lesson for Redmond’s customers and fans should be simple : no matter what the Windows (2000, XP, 2003) ads show us, when comes the time to face script kiddies with all guns blazing, Microsoft chickens out and seeks refuge in open source territory.
What would be the words of salvation from Gates in this case : “Please, open source, forgive our trespassing and grant us mercy.” Just kidding 🙂
Linux should send a bill to Bill Gates !
Linux protecting windows ..
Bashing something doesn’t mean saying bad things about it. Bashing means saying bad things about something in a stupid dumb way. Like mac zealots talking about Microsoft or Linux zealots talking about Microsoft. What they say in general doesn’t make sense and also is stupid.
Microsoft officials do not talk like dumbs. They say things that make sense one way or another. When they say bad things, they have at least a point.
A few examples of what Microsoft executives have actually said about linux : linux is communist; it is socialist; it is anti-american; it is anti-capitalist; it is viral; it destroys intellectual property; it costs more than Windows; it is less secure than Windows; it is not reliable, …
Maybe some long time Microsoft customers will argue these comments are smart. However they must stick to facts, one of which is that since MS Blaster was served to them at lunch, Microsoft itself has been in dire need of protection. This is provided to them by Akamai through its linux servers. Unless guys like Serge want to “talk like dumbs”, I suggest they go to http://www.netcraft.com and get some real information, not rehashed propaganda.
Now, if Gates, Ballmer and their crew usually “say things that make sense one way or another”, how come we haven’t heard from them since last week ? Aren’t they going to explain why they rely on anti-capitalist software to stay in business ? If they aren’t stupid, what is the point of calling linux “a viral product” in light of the present situation ?
Serge, if yourself aren’t a Windows zealot talking nonsense, why are you trying to defend Microsoft ? After all, it’s because you bought their software (unless you stole it, like so many other Windows users) that right now you’re hoping your computer won’t display a nasty message before shutting down. I’m also sure you’re crossing your fingers, fearing your antivirus won’t be of any help in case another sibling of MS Blaster makes a sudden appearance on the scene. By the way, did you update it ? 🙂
It doesn’t matter how many commercials come from Redmond or how many people try to defend the company that treats them like suckers, the point is a 6,176 bytes virus enforced a very restrictive curfew on Microsoft own servers, period.
Maybe THIS is why they bought that unis license from SCO. 😉
Yeah, wasn’t it Craig Mundie who called linux anti american and anti business? I’m getting an linux alt for my next pc box, too bad still using the windows version that called with the pc I bought, oh well, at least the office version is counterfeit. Hehe. And yes, when it came to securing a domain as important and heavily utilized as microsoft’s they relied on their anti american anti business competitor. Apparently microsoft people cannot conceive a rival who is not like them, all big, self-obssesed, and cocky, like them. They should support linux, instead of spilling bad blood over their value.
By the way, where are you people regular posters moslty from?? Here, from Latin America.