As your business grows, you may find that your Web serving needs quickly outpace simple single-server arrangements. If that's the case, you need to start planning a server farm. Part of that planning is security. From physical access to secure connections and data integrity, managing a server farm is all about controlling who has access to what. This includes allowing only secure connections, maintaining controlled access to the physical servers and data, as well as creating tight boundaries around the roles that users can take when logged in to the servers.
Control Physical Access to Your Farm
If someone can access a computer physically, he will have no problem breaking into that computer. Therefore, managing physical security is paramount. This begins with simple things, such as securely locking the server environment and preventing unknown people from having unsupervised access. Furthermore, you should have protocols in effect that dictate who has access to the room, and when that access is allowed. Keep log sheets of who enters and exits the room that also detail their reasons for being there. Even people who perform maintenance such as cleaning the room should have only monitored access. Consider installing security cameras as well.
Control Access to Your Data
Data is the core of a server form, its reason for existing -- so it needs protection. The first step in protecting data from outside users is by limiting access to it. You should create a "data store" -- a secure set of computers that store data redundantly. Users who access the farm should not have direct access to the store: rather, a single administrative credential should serve as a data gatekeeper. By keeping data separate from user access to the farm, you can control who requests data and in what contexts. A secure server farm must maintain separation of users and data.
Control Root Access
When users access the computer, they should not have access to root login. Only people physically at the server should be able to log in directly as an administrator. This limits the possibilities of server hijacking or code tampering from remote locations. This means that you can forbid administrative log in completely for networked users or force them to log in as standard users who can then use particular administrative commands within specific contexts provided that they have administrator credentials.
Limit Insecure Connections
Force connections to servers in the farm to conform to high security standards. Disallow insecure transactions over protocols such as Telnet or FTP in favor of SSH and other encrypted connections. Also, when users are connected they should not have access to insecure programs that allow them to modify code on the server, such as compilers or interpreters. A user's time spent on the server should always be in an encrypted and safe environment.
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