Server

As operating system we use Linux. Linux is known as a very stable and reliable operating system with high levels of security and therefore productivity. It is open source and even a basic Linux system provides already enough support to handle complex client-server applications. Linux is supported by a large community of developers that exchange their experience and software modules over the internet. As soon as a new bug or a lack of security in the operating system emerges the community tries to patch it and releases new software-updates that can be automatically installed. Moreover Linux is constantly optimized concerning speed of execution and multi-user access. The European Community officially recommends the use of Linux in e-government applications concerning security and reliability aspects.

The relational database management system we apply is MySQL. MySQL is also open source and offers the same advantages like Linux concerning stability, reliability and security. Compared to other database management systems it is extremely fast, even on complex tasks, because it has been designed for the use over the internet where the connection speed from a client to a server has been relatively slow in the past. It does support current standards like ODBC, JDBC, CLI, API, SQL, transactions, stored-procedures and sub-selects. There are a lot of tools offered by the open source community that support the work with Mysql and flexible interfaces to access and edit data that is contained in MySQL (sufficient authorization provided).

 

The Security of the system in respect of unauthorized data access or data manipulation is realized by encrypted data transfer (SSL) and the use of a secure base-system consisting of Linux and MySQL (see above for details). Cascading backups protect the system against the loss of data. The can be hosted at a provider that possesses multiple redundant internet connections and a high-availability hardware environment. This guarantees data availability almost at any time (99% uptime). See Business Hosting for details.