SCO's OpenServer 6 picks up security, but needs polish

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: NETWORK PRODUCT TEST RESULTS
08/30/05

Dear security.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* Clear Choice test of SCO's OpenServer 6
* Links related to Network Product Test Results
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus:

SCO's OpenServer 6 picks up security, but needs polish

By Tom Henderson

The SCO Group's recently released OpenServer 6 leverages updates
to a newly minted Unix System V Release 5 kernel, performs
reasonably well in the 32-bit realm and supports new security
features. However, SCO needs to take some time to smooth out
some functionality details.

OpenServer contrasts with SCO's UnixWare (see test here ) in
that its memory requirements and CPU support are more akin to
the needs of small and midsize businesses. We found it odd that
OpenServer 6 is priced by the number of users, actual CPUs and
memory, instead of the industry standard per-user or per-CPU
core(s) model.

OpenServer 6 exhibited no difficulty in identifying the hardware
on any of the server platforms we used for testing. There is no
specific provision for 64-bit processors, but OpenServer 6 found
and used our dual and multi-CPU 64-bit machines, tapping those
processors via x86/32-bit emulation. USB printers aren't
correctly supported, but SCO says it is addressing that issue.
Not fully supporting a pxE boot or other network installation in
this version of the operating system is a shortcoming.

User administration initially struck fear into us, as we found
that a user can be created with any password length above three
characters. Subsequently, we found that when users change their
passwords, those selections can be highly constrained through
the SCO Security Profile Manager utility to suit high standards
for password dictionary attack prevention that the underlying
SVR5 supports. OpenServer 6 lets administrators force passwords
with added characters, numbers and randomness.

The only real change to the standard open source bundle (which
typically comprises Apache, Tomcat, Java, Java Server Pages,
Mozilla, SAMBA, PostGreSQL and MySQL) included with OpenServer 6
is that Apache 2.0.3 is installed to serve up help files that
are HTML representations of actual Open Server 6 system
documents. This annoying implementation, however, has
"localhost" references that tie the use of these HTML files to
those browsing the documents on the host only, therefore there
is no remote administrative access to them. The documents also
incorrectly describe how to get SCO's DocView, a help/file
viewer, to work.

For the entire story on the OpenServer 6 test, go to:
<http://www.networkworld.com/reviews/2005/082905-sco-test.html>

The top 5: Today's most-read stories

1. Google dives deeper into networking
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlprodrev6120>

2. 2005 salary survey
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlprodrev6121>

3. Intel-Cisco deal may be big for Wi-Fi
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlprodrev6122>

4. VoIP season about to heat up
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlprodrev6123>

5. Cisco aims to simplify switch mgmt.
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlprodrev6124>

Today's most-forwarded story:

Google dives deeper into networking
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlprodrev6125>

_______________________________________________________________
To contact:

Henderson is principal researcher for ExtremeLabs of
Indianapolis. He can be reached at thenderson@extremelabs.com .
Laszlo Szenes contributed to this story.
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Avocent
Network World Executive Guide: Reviewing Trends and Insights for
SMB Executives

Life is different for IT professionals at small and mid-sized
businesses, which don't have the luxury of hiring legions of
network experts. Read how network executives are keeping a firm
footing on an ever-shifting product landscape. Learn about
trends and insights surrounding VoIP and VPNs; plus get
commentaries from leading experts on storage strategies for
smaller businesses.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=111785
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ARCHIVE LINKS

Clear Choice Tests archive:
http://www.networkworld.com/reviews/index.html
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causing the shortage and what might need to be done to prevent
it? Click here:
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