Tape backups are the most common form of fault tolerance.

• Mean Time Between Failures MTBF • offline • online • RAID • removable media • stateless protocol

Chapter 10: Windows Security

This chapter will provide you with all the information you need to understand the major Windows security mechanisms in the Windows NT2000XP family, along with some management advice and practical walkthroughs. But no single chapter, and perhaps not even a single book, could cover the wide array of Windows security mechanisms in complete detail. Once you’ve read this chapter and used the information presented herein to design a security architecture for your network, consult the Internet RFCs upon which most of these standards are based for technical details of their operation. Microsoft’s Resource Kits and Training Kits are the authoritative source for the Microsoft implementation of these mechanisms and should be consulted for configuration- specific information. Windows Local Security Windows security is based on user authentication. Before you can use a Windows computer, you must supply a username and a password. The logon prompt provided by the WinLogon process identifies you to the computer, which then provides access to resources you are allowed to use and denies access to things you aren’t. This combination of a user identity and password is called a user account. logon prompt The interface through which users identify themselves to the computer. user account The association between a user account name, a password, and a security identifier. Note Windows 9598Me has no significant security mechanisms to speak of, and these systems are not in themselves secure, so no information in this chapter applies to them. It is possible for a computer to be set up to automatically log on for you, using stored credentials or an account that has an empty password as is the case by default in Windows XP Home, but an account is still logged on, and the security that applies to that account is used to manage permissions for that user session. Windows also provides Security Groups. When a user account is a member of a security group, the permissions that apply to the security group also apply to the user account. For example, if a user is a member of the “Financial” security group, then the permissions of the Financial security group are applied to the user account. User accounts may be members of