vsbabu.org

Hotmail backend design

Sanjay: “Another leaked MS document has hit the net describing the changeover of Hotmail from a Unix/FreeBSD system to a WinNT/W2K system. Putting the religious/political issues of Unix vs. W2K aside, the article is a good read for anyone who wants insight into the type of issues a very popular web service like Hotmail needs to deal with. ”

I must say, though a bit biased here and there, it is an excellent document. Gives an insight to what all is required in running a huge server farm.

On a related note, a comment posted on a Slashdot article about mothballing international space station:
“You’ve got Microsoft on the brain. It’s not the IIS, its the ISS. There is a huge difference. One crashes and is susceptible to worms. The other can’t crash and the worms are experimental. Can’t remember which is which. ”

1. The link above is dead. The correct link now is
   http://www.securityoffice.net/mssecrets/hotmail.html

   Posted by: Sanjay on May 2, 2003 11:07 PM