Selecting a boot partition security

Selecting a boot partition security

Selecting a boot partition security
Adesh Rampat

When you set up a boot partition on a network servers, chances are you may use NTFS, as opposed to FAT, for the following major reasons:

  • Security

     

  • Assigning Disk Quotas

     

  • Encryption features

     

  • Transaction logging

     

But even though it seems counter-intuitive, when you install either Windows NT or Win2k, consider partitioning the hard drive in two separate partitions, making the boot partition FAT and the reminder NTFS.

This may seem to be a risky procedure, since FAT partitions contain no measure of security. The reason for using FAT as the boot partition, though, is that in the event of a boot failure, it is much easier to apply recovery procedures to a FAT partition than an NTFS partition.

Because the FAT partition offers the least security you can get, it must contain only the operating system. In no circumstance should the FAT partition contain any applications or data pertaining to the organization's operations. This information should be stored on the NTFS partition.

Whether you're using FAT or NTFS partitions, you should have the server in a secure environment, protecting it from unauthorized personnel at all times.

Adesh Rampat is a member of the Association of Internet Professionals, the Institute

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for Network Professionals and the International Webmasters Association. He has also lectured extensively on a variety of topics.

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Related Book

Windows 2000 Security Handbook
Author : Tom Sheldon and Phil Cox
Publisher : McGraw-Hill
Published : Dec 2000
Summary :
Deploy and administer bullet-proof Windows 2000 security policies. This book explains how to safeguard intranet, Internet, and e-commerce transactions with IPSec, defend against hacking, spoofing, sniffing, and DDS attacks, and secure your network with firewalls, proxy servers, and VPNs.


This was first published in April 2001

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