Need two people to respond to the following two students discussion post for this week with at least 150 words each. Below in the bold are the questions the students are answering.

• Why would you perform a silent installation?
• What is the purpose of a password complexity policy?
• Oracle offers a free download of all editions of the Oracle Database. How does the company derive benefits from this approach?

Student one:

Hey everyone,

• Why would you perform a silent installation?

A silent install is the installation of a software program that requires no user interaction. It is a convenient way to streamline the installation process of a desktop application. Silent installs are performed by many legitimate software programs, but they are also used by malware and PUPs to hide the installation process from the user. (TechTerms, n.d.)

Silent installs are useful for simple programs that have limited installation options. They are also helpful for installing software on several machines at once. For example, a network administrator may prefer to distribute a software program via a silent installer to ensure all users within the network have the same installation settings. Even though silent installers run without any user interaction, legitimate programs typically require you to manually initiate the installation process. (TechTerms, n.d.)

• What is the purpose of a password complexity policy?

Good passwords are critical to information security. Lack of thought in creating password policies increases the chances of unauthorized access or compromised data. Correctly implemented, these additional access requirements act as an extra layer of security protecting accounts even when hackers have been able to obtain a user’s password.

• Oracle offers a free download of all editions of the Oracle Database. How does the company derive benefits from this approach?

This approach to free, downloadable, software that Oracle Databases uses allows them derive benefits from putting their software in the hands of a community that can provide feedback on their products. This open-source approach also allows customers to choose the Oracle software that meets their individual needs. This also allows Oracle to do things such as free cloud platform trials, which eventually can turn into sales of their products. Try before you buy is huge in the software industry and people will pay for products that they like and use.

Best,

Chris

References

TechTerms. N.d. Retrieved from https://techterms.com/definition/silent_install

https://www.digicert.com/blog/3-reasons-for-strong-password-policy/

Student two:

Why would you perform a silent installation?

A silent installation of Oracle lets an administrator install Oracle without requiring input from the user on the machine or the server. A silent install uses the response file, which includes all the necessary prompts, switches, and user input required during the installation so that the install process can run without user intervention. This is extremely helpful when working in an Enterprise environment where an administrator may have to install Oracle for a large number of machines (workstations or servers) without requiring input from the end user or another administrator. Using a response file to do the silent installation also ensures that the same process is followed each time the install is completed, which reduces the risk of human error and enforces a standard installation configuration across the environment. (Basta, Zgola, & Bullaboy, 2012)

What is the purpose of a password complexity policy?

A password complexity policy enforces the creation and maintenance of strong passwords across the environment. The complexity policy can require a minimum password length, specific character requirements (uppercase, lowercase, special characters, etc.), and can prevent users from using common character combinations or words from the dictionary. The purpose of the policy is to ensure that these passwords are difficult for attackers to guess or crack. (Basta, Zgola, & Bullaboy, 2012) Applying a password complexity requirement at a policy level also enables easy management of the password requirements. Rather than enforcing password complexity at the user level or through verbal communication, a policy applies a technical standard across the board which can be easily modified or strengthened across the environment with a few clicks.

Oracle offers a free download of all editions of the Oracle Database. How does the company derive benefits from this approach?

Offering free downloads of the Oracle database editions actually encourages database administrators to educate themselves, test out new things, and conduct new development on the Oracle platform. (Basta, Zgola, & Bullaboy, 2012) This subsequently increases the demand for the Oracle software, which ultimately increases their revenue. Since Oracle is expensive, most people will not invest in it if they cannot be assured that it will meet their business needs. However, since Oracle provides their databases for free for testing, consumers can play around with the software and test it out before pulling the trigger on a purchase. This encourages development and ultimately creates a happy customer for Oracle.

References

Basta, A., Zgola, M., & Bullaboy, D. (2012). Database security. Boston, MA: Course Technology/Cengage Learning.

-Leah