Revisiting the GUI Admin Debate

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There is nothing in the slightest bit wrong with using a GUI to configure and administer your systems - even server systems. The problem is when you end up running the GUI code *on* those systems... even when you're not administering them.

Ideally, you want a remote GUI scenario, where the server has no GUI at all, but uses the administrator's workstation to handle the interface; this reduces the potential for harm considerably. If you can't do that, then fine, use GUI tools on the server... but *shut them off* when you're done.

The GUI - the windowing system, font rendering, image manipulation, all the graphics primitives, the video driver itself, plus anything else brought in via a typical GUI is going to be at least many tens of thousands of lines of code - any one of which may contain that flaw that opens the system to exploits, and not a single one of which needs to be running *at all* for the server's normal operation.

That's the problem with Windows; it's not that you have to use GUI tools, nor is it that GUI tools are inherently bad; it's that you cannot disable them when you're through, in order to reduce risks and maximize reliability.