Building Internet Firewalls, 2nd Edition

Chapter 12. Windows NT and Windows 2000 Bastion Hosts

This chapter discusses the details of configuring Windows NT for use in a firewall environment, building on the principles discussed in Chapter 10. You should be sure to read both chapters before attempting to build a bastion host. This chapter is not a complete introduction to Windows NT security, which is a complex subject. Instead, it attempts to cover those issues that are specific to bastion hosts, and that are not covered in most Windows NT security texts. As usual, we use the term “Windows NT” for both Windows NT and Windows 2000, except where we explicitly say otherwise.

Just as with Unix, it’s impossible to give complete instructions on how to configure any given machine; the details vary greatly depending on what version of Windows NT you’re running and exactly what you intend to do with the machine. This chapter is intended to give you an outline of what needs to be done, and how to figure out how to do it.

Approaches to Building Windows NT Bastion Hosts

There are two major approaches to building bastion hosts under Windows NT. As usual, people hold very strong opinions about which one is correct.

One method of building Windows NT bastion hosts is to take the same approach that we recommend for Unix machines: you disable all normal administration tools, remove the machine from all forms of resource and information sharing, and run it as an island unto itself, where nothing is quite the same as it is on the mainland. ...