Servers: Are we there yet?

Interesting and thought-provoking post by Vicweast. To add some perspective, I’ll mention that the log of the SonicWall hardware firewall/router I mentioned that I use shows, on average, an unwanted and in most cases presumably illegitimate incoming connection attempt (that it throws away) approximately every two minutes, 24/7/365. With those requests originating from IP addresses in just about any country one could name, around the world.

I’d imagine, though, that the majority of those attempts would fail to get through even a very basic router, due to the network address translation function routers provide between the user’s external IP address and the internal addresses of each of the devices on the LAN. And while I have no specific knowledge of the Aurender products, I’d expect that more often than not such products are Linux-based, which I suppose is targeted by the bad guys much less frequently than Windows operating systems.

That said, and although I’ve never been accused of being particularly paranoid, I personally would not want to be without a SonicWall or something comparable.

Regards,
-- Al

"Why lack of internet updates should affect performance?  Performance is always the same if nothing is changing."

Upgrades need to occur, for both the Ipad and server operating systems.

Here's an analog analogy: There's a room in your house where you store all your LPs and CDs. The door is locked by default, so you need to use an electronic key fob every time you wish to enter. The charger for the key fob is a bit unreliable, so you don't always have access. Not many audiophiles would tolerate such an arrangement, but we have to accept it when a computer is involved.

System can work forever without internet access.  Software code doesn't change.  Unreliable charger is hardware and not the software.   People use PC computers controlling production without any access to internet.   Many of them still run Windows NT while some run Windows 98 or even DOS.  They don't have any updates since there is no updates.

Ok, in that case I will disconnect my system from the internet. Thanks for the help.

You're welcome.  It is s good decision if your computer is only used for playback.  It doesn't change the fact that you still need to make backup in case of any hardware failure.