| V-265870 | High | Microsoft SQL Server products must be a version supported by the vendor. | Unsupported commercial and database systems should not be used because fixes to newly identified bugs will not be implemented by the vendor. The lack of support can result in potential... |
| V-213952 | High | SQL Server software installation account must be restricted to authorized users. | When dealing with change control issues, it should be noted any changes to the hardware, software, and/or firmware components of the information system and/or application can have significant... |
| V-214028 | High | The SQL Server default account [sa] must be disabled. | SQL Server's [sa] account has special privileges required to administer the database. The [sa] account is a well-known SQL Server account and is likely to be targeted by attackers and thus more... |
| V-214022 | High | SQL Server must implement NIST FIPS 140-2 or 140-3 validated cryptographic modules to provision digital signatures. | Use of weak or untested encryption algorithms undermines the purposes of utilizing encryption to protect data. The application must implement cryptographic modules adhering to the higher standards... |
| V-214023 | High | SQL Server must implement NIST FIPS 140-2 or 140-3 validated cryptographic modules to generate and validate cryptographic hashes. | Use of weak or untested encryption algorithms undermines the purposes of utilizing encryption to protect data. The application must implement cryptographic modules adhering to the higher standards... |
| V-213968 | High | SQL Server must enforce authorized access to all PKI private keys stored/utilized by SQL Server. | The DoD standard for authentication is DoD-approved PKI certificates. PKI certificate-based authentication is performed by requiring the certificate holder to cryptographically prove possession of... |
| V-213969 | High | SQL Server must use NIST FIPS 140-2 or 140-3 validated cryptographic modules for cryptographic operations. | Use of weak or not validated cryptographic algorithms undermines the purposes of utilizing encryption and digital signatures to protect data. Weak algorithms can be easily broken, and not... |
| V-213966 | High | If passwords are used for authentication, SQL Server must transmit only encrypted representations of passwords. | The DoD standard for authentication is DoD-approved PKI certificates.
Authentication based on User ID and Password may be used only when it is not possible to employ a PKI certificate, and... |
| V-213967 | High | Confidentiality of information during transmission is controlled through the use of an approved TLS version. | Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption is a required security setting as a number of known vulnerabilities have been reported against Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and earlier versions of TLS.... |
| V-213964 | High | If DBMS authentication using passwords is employed, SQL Server must enforce the DOD standards for password complexity and lifetime. | Windows Authentication is the default authentication mode and is much more secure than SQL Server Authentication. Windows Authentication uses Kerberos security protocol, provides password policy... |
| V-213972 | High | SQL Server must protect the confidentiality and integrity of all information at rest. | This control is intended to address the confidentiality and integrity of information at rest in non-mobile devices and covers user information and system information. Information at rest refers to... |
| V-214045 | High | When using command-line tools such as SQLCMD in a mixed-mode authentication environment, users must use a logon method that does not expose the password. | To prevent the compromise of authentication information, such as passwords and PINs, during the authentication process, the feedback from the information system must not provide any information... |
| V-214046 | High | Applications must obscure feedback of authentication information during the authentication process to protect the information from possible exploitation/use by unauthorized individuals. | To prevent the compromise of authentication information, such as passwords and PINs, during the authentication process, the feedback from the information system must not provide any information... |
| V-213930 | High | SQL Server must integrate with an organization-level authentication/access mechanism providing account management and automation for all users, groups, roles, and any other principals. | Enterprise environments make account management for applications and databases challenging and complex. A manual process for account management functions adds the risk of a potential oversight or... |
| V-213932 | High | SQL Server must enforce approved authorizations for logical access to information and system resources in accordance with applicable access control policies. | Authentication with a DoD-approved PKI certificate does not necessarily imply authorization to access SQL Server. To mitigate the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive information by entities... |
| V-214008 | Medium | SQL Server must generate audit records when successful and unsuccessful attempts to delete privileges/permissions occur. | Changes in the permissions, privileges, and roles granted to users and roles must be tracked. Without an audit trail, unauthorized elevation or restriction of privileges could go undetected.... |
| V-214000 | Medium | SQL Server must generate audit records when successful and unsuccessful attempts to add privileges/permissions occur. | Changes in the permissions, privileges, and roles granted to users and roles must be tracked. Without an audit trail, unauthorized elevation or restriction of privileges could go undetected.... |
| V-214002 | Medium | SQL Server must generate audit records when successful and unsuccessful attempts to modify privileges/permissions occur. | Changes in the permissions, privileges, and roles granted to users and roles must be tracked. Without an audit trail, unauthorized elevation or restriction of privileges could go undetected.... |
| V-214004 | Medium | SQL Server must generate audit records when successful and unsuccessful attempts to modify security objects occur. | Changes in the database objects (tables, views, procedures, functions) that record and control permissions, privileges, and roles granted to users and roles must be tracked. Without an audit... |
| V-214006 | Medium | SQL Server must generate audit records when successful and unsuccessful attempts to modify categorized information (e.g., classification levels/security levels) occur. | Changes in categories of information must be tracked. Without an audit trail, unauthorized access to protected data could go undetected.
To aid in diagnosis, it is necessary to keep track of... |
| V-213948 | Medium | SQL Server must protect its audit configuration from authorized and unauthorized access and modification. | Protecting audit data also includes identifying and protecting the tools used to view and manipulate log data. Therefore, protecting audit tools is necessary to prevent unauthorized operation on... |
| V-213940 | Medium | SQL Server must initiate session auditing upon startup. | Session auditing is for use when a user's activities are under investigation. To be sure of capturing all activity during those periods when session auditing is in use, it needs to be in operation... |
| V-213941 | Medium | SQL Server must include additional, more detailed, organization-defined information in the audit records for audit events identified by type, location, or subject. | Information system auditing capability is critical for accurate forensic analysis. Reconstruction of harmful events or forensic analysis is not possible if audit records do not contain enough... |
| V-213942 | Medium | SQL Server must by default shut down upon audit failure, to include the unavailability of space for more audit log records; or must be configurable to shut down upon audit failure. | It is critical that when SQL Server is at risk of failing to process audit logs as required, it takes action to mitigate the failure. Audit processing failures include: software/hardware errors;... |
| V-213943 | Medium | SQL Server must be configurable to overwrite audit log records, oldest first (First-In-First-Out - FIFO), in the event of unavailability of space for more audit log records. | It is critical that when SQL Server is at risk of failing to process audit logs as required, it take action to mitigate the failure. Audit processing failures include; software/hardware errors;... |
| V-213944 | Medium | The audit information produced by SQL Server must be protected from unauthorized access, modification, and deletion. | If audit data were to become compromised, then competent forensic analysis and discovery of the true source of potentially malicious system activity is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. In... |
| V-214018 | Medium | SQL Server must generate audit records when concurrent logons/connections by the same user from different workstations occur. | For completeness of forensic analysis, it is necessary to track who logs on to SQL Server.
Concurrent connections by the same user from multiple workstations may be valid use of the system; or... |
| V-214012 | Medium | SQL Server must generate audit records when successful and unsuccessful attempts to delete categorized information (e.g., classification levels/security levels) occur. | Changes in categorized information must be tracked. Without an audit trail, unauthorized access to protected data could go undetected.
To aid in diagnosis, it is necessary to keep track of... |
| V-214010 | Medium | SQL Server must generate audit records when successful and unsuccessful attempts to delete security objects occur. | The removal of security objects from the database/DBMS would seriously degrade a system's information assurance posture. If such an action is attempted, it must be logged.
To aid in diagnosis,... |
| V-214017 | Medium | SQL Server must generate audit records showing starting and ending time for user access to the database(s). | For completeness of forensic analysis, it is necessary to know how long a user's (or other principal's) connection to SQL Server lasts. This can be achieved by recording disconnections, in... |
| V-214016 | Medium | SQL Server must generate audit records when unsuccessful attempts to execute privileged activities or other system-level access occur. | Without tracking privileged activity, it would be difficult to establish, correlate, and investigate the events relating to an incident or identify those responsible for one.
System... |
| V-214015 | Medium | SQL Server must generate audit records for all privileged activities or other system-level access. | Without tracking privileged activity, it would be difficult to establish, correlate, and investigate the events relating to an incident or identify those responsible for one.
System... |
| V-214014 | Medium | SQL Server must generate audit records when successful and unsuccessful logons or connection attempts occur. | For completeness of forensic analysis, it is necessary to track who/what (a user or other principal) logs on to SQL Server. It is also necessary to track failed attempts to log on to SQL Server.... |
| V-213959 | Medium | Access to Non-Standard extended stored procedures must be disabled or restricted, unless specifically required and approved. | Information systems are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services, provided by default, may not be necessary to support essential... |
| V-213958 | Medium | Access to CLR code must be disabled or restricted, unless specifically required and approved. | Information systems are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services, provided by default, may not be necessary to support essential... |
| V-213953 | Medium | Database software, including DBMS configuration files, must be stored in dedicated directories, separate from the host OS and other applications. | When dealing with change control issues, it should be noted any changes to the hardware, software, and/or firmware components of the information system and/or application can potentially have... |
| V-213951 | Medium | SQL Server must limit privileges to change software modules, to include stored procedures, functions and triggers, and links to software external to SQL Server. | If the system were to allow any user to make changes to software libraries, then those changes might be implemented without undergoing the appropriate testing and approvals that are part of a... |
| V-213950 | Medium | SQL Server must limit privileges to change software modules and links to software external to SQL Server. | If the system were to allow any user to make changes to software libraries, then those changes might be implemented without undergoing the appropriate testing and approvals that are part of a... |
| V-213957 | Medium | Access to xp_cmdshell must be disabled, unless specifically required and approved. | Information systems are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services, provided by default, may not be necessary to support essential... |
| V-213956 | Medium | Unused database components that are integrated in SQL Server and cannot be uninstalled must be disabled. | Information systems are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services, provided by default, may not be necessary to support essential... |
| V-213955 | Medium | Unused database components, DBMS software, and database objects must be removed. | Information systems are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services, provided by default, may not be necessary to support essential... |
| V-213954 | Medium | Default demonstration and sample databases, database objects, and applications must be removed. | Information systems are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services, provided by default, may not be necessary to support essential... |
| V-214029 | Medium | SQL Server default account [sa] must have its name changed. | SQL Server's [sa] account has special privileges required to administer the database. The [sa] account is a well-known SQL Server account name and is likely to be targeted by attackers, and is... |
| V-214026 | Medium | SQL Server must configure Customer Feedback and Error Reporting. | By default, Microsoft SQL Server enables participation in the customer experience improvement program (CEIP). This program collects information about how its customers are using the product.... |
| V-214027 | Medium | SQL Server must configure SQL Server Usage and Error Reporting Auditing. | By default, Microsoft SQL Server enables participation in the customer experience improvement program (CEIP). This program collects information about how its customers are using the product.... |
| V-214024 | Medium | SQL Server must implement NIST FIPS 140-2 or 140-3 validated cryptographic modules to protect unclassified information requiring confidentiality and cryptographic protection, in accordance with the data owners requirements. | Use of weak or untested encryption algorithms undermines the purposes of utilizing encryption to protect data. The application must implement cryptographic modules adhering to the higher standards... |
| V-214025 | Medium | The system SQL Server must off-load audit data to a separate log management facility; this must be continuous and in near real time for systems with a network connection to the storage facility and weekly or more often for stand-alone systems. | Information stored in one location is vulnerable to accidental or incidental deletion or alteration.
Off-loading is a common process in information systems with limited audit storage capacity.... |
| V-214020 | Medium | SQL Server must generate audit records when successful and unsuccessful accesses to objects occur. | Without tracking all or selected types of access to all or selected objects (tables, views, procedures, functions, etc.), it would be difficult to establish, correlate, and investigate the events... |
| V-214021 | Medium | SQL Server must generate audit records for all direct access to the database(s). | In this context, direct access is any query, command, or call to SQL Server that comes from any source other than the application(s) that it supports. Examples would be the command line or a... |
| V-213965 | Medium | Contained databases must use Windows principals. | OS/enterprise authentication and identification must be used (SRG-APP-000023-DB-000001). Native DBMS authentication may be used only when circumstances make it unavoidable, and must be documented... |
| V-213962 | Medium | SQL Server must be configured to prohibit or restrict the use of organization-defined ports, as defined in the PPSM CAL and vulnerability assessments. | In order to prevent unauthorized connection of devices, unauthorized transfer of information, or unauthorized tunneling (i.e., embedding of data types within data types), organizations must... |
| V-213963 | Medium | SQL Server must uniquely identify and authenticate organizational users (or processes acting on behalf of organizational users). | To assure accountability and prevent unauthenticated access, organizational users must be identified and authenticated to prevent potential misuse and compromise of the system.
Organizational... |
| V-213960 | Medium | Access to linked servers must be disabled or restricted, unless specifically required and approved. | Information systems are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services, provided by default, may not be necessary to support essential... |
| V-213961 | Medium | SQL Server must be configured to prohibit or restrict the use of organization-defined protocols as defined in the PPSM CAL and vulnerability assessments. | In order to prevent unauthorized connection of devices, unauthorized transfer of information, or unauthorized tunneling (i.e., embedding of data types within data types), organizations must... |
| V-214031 | Medium | SQL Server Mirroring endpoint must utilize AES encryption. | Information can be either unintentionally or maliciously disclosed or modified during preparation for transmission, including, for example, during aggregation, at protocol transformation points,... |
| V-214030 | Medium | Execution of startup stored procedures must be restricted to necessary cases only. | In certain situations, to provide required functionality, a DBMS needs to execute internal logic (stored procedures, functions, triggers, etc.) and/or external code modules with elevated... |
| V-214033 | Medium | SQL Server execute permissions to access the registry must be revoked, unless specifically required and approved. | Information systems are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services, provided by default, may not be necessary to support essential... |
| V-214032 | Medium | SQL Server Service Broker endpoint must utilize AES encryption. | Information can be either unintentionally or maliciously disclosed or modified during preparation for transmission, including, for example, during aggregation, at protocol transformation points,... |
| V-214035 | Medium | Ole Automation Procedures feature must be disabled, unless specifically required and approved. | Information systems are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services, provided by default, may not be necessary to support essential... |
| V-214034 | Medium | Filestream must be disabled, unless specifically required and approved. | Information systems are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services, provided by default, may not be necessary to support essential... |
| V-214037 | Medium | Remote Access feature must be disabled, unless specifically required and approved. | Information systems are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services, provided by default, may not be necessary to support essential... |
| V-214036 | Medium | SQL Server User Options feature must be disabled, unless specifically required and approved. | SQL Server is capable of providing a wide range of features and services. Some of the features and services, provided by default, may not be necessary, and enabling them could adversely affect the... |
| V-214039 | Medium | Allow Polybase Export feature must be disabled, unless specifically required and approved. | Information systems are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services, provided by default, may not be necessary to support essential... |
| V-214038 | Medium | Hadoop Connectivity feature must be disabled, unless specifically required and approved. | Information systems are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services, provided by default, may not be necessary to support essential... |
| V-213971 | Medium | SQL Server must maintain the authenticity of communications sessions by guarding against man-in-the-middle attacks that guess at Session ID values. | One class of man-in-the-middle, or session hijacking, attack involves the adversary guessing at valid session identifiers based on patterns in identifiers already known.
The preferred technique... |
| V-213970 | Medium | SQL Server must uniquely identify and authenticate non-organizational users (or processes acting on behalf of non-organizational users). | Non-organizational users include all information system users other than organizational users, which include organizational employees or individuals the organization deems to have equivalent... |
| V-213973 | Medium | The Service Master Key must be backed up and stored in a secure location that is not on the SQL Server. | Backup and recovery of the Service Master Key may be critical to the complete recovery of the database. Creating this backup should be one of the first administrative actions performed on the... |
| V-213975 | Medium | SQL Server must prevent unauthorized and unintended information transfer via shared system resources. | The purpose of this control is to prevent information, including encrypted representations of information, produced by the actions of a prior user/role (or the actions of a process acting on... |
| V-213974 | Medium | The Master Key must be backed up and stored in a secure location that is not on the SQL Server. | Backup and recovery of the Master Key may be critical to the complete recovery of the database. Not having this key can lead to loss of data during recovery. |
| V-213977 | Medium | Access to database files must be limited to relevant processes and to authorized, administrative users. | SQL Server must prevent unauthorized and unintended information transfer via shared system resources. Permitting only SQL Server processes and authorized, administrative users to have access to... |
| V-213976 | Medium | SQL Server must prevent unauthorized and unintended information transfer via Instant File Initialization (IFI). | The purpose of this control is to prevent information, including encrypted representations of information, produced by the actions of a prior user/role (or the actions of a process acting on... |
| V-213979 | Medium | SQL Server must prevent non-privileged users from executing privileged functions, to include disabling, circumventing, or altering implemented security safeguards/countermeasures. | Preventing non-privileged users from executing privileged functions mitigates the risk that unauthorized individuals or processes may gain unnecessary access to information or privileges.
... |
| V-213978 | Medium | SQL Server must reveal detailed error messages only to the ISSO, ISSM, SA, and DBA. | If SQL Server provides too much information in error logs and administrative messages to the screen, this could lead to compromise. The structure and content of error messages need to be carefully... |
| V-213988 | Medium | Windows must enforce access restrictions associated with changes to the configuration of the SQL Server instance. | Failure to provide logical access restrictions associated with changes to configuration may have significant effects on the overall security of the system.
When dealing with access... |
| V-213989 | Medium | SQL Server must produce audit records of its enforcement of access restrictions associated with changes to the configuration of SQL Server or database(s). | Without auditing the enforcement of access restrictions against changes to configuration, it would be difficult to identify attempted attacks and an audit trail would not be available for forensic... |
| V-213984 | Medium | SQL Server must provide a warning to appropriate support staff when allocated audit record storage volume reaches 75% of maximum audit record storage capacity. | Organizations are required to use a central log management system, so, under normal conditions, the audit space allocated to SQL Server on its own server will not be an issue. However, space will... |
| V-213985 | Medium | SQL Server must provide an immediate real-time alert to appropriate support staff of all audit log failures. | It is critical for the appropriate personnel to be aware if a system is at risk of failing to process audit logs as required. Without a real-time alert, security personnel may be unaware of an... |
| V-213986 | Medium | SQL Server must record time stamps in audit records and application data that can be mapped to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC, formerly GMT). | If time stamps are not consistently applied and there is no common time reference, it is difficult to perform forensic analysis.
Time stamps generated by SQL Server must include date and time.... |
| V-213987 | Medium | SQL Server must enforce access restrictions associated with changes to the configuration of the instance. | Failure to provide logical access restrictions associated with changes to configuration may have significant effects on the overall security of the system.
When dealing with access... |
| V-213980 | Medium | Use of credentials and proxies must be restricted to necessary cases only. | In certain situations, to provide required functionality, a DBMS needs to execute internal logic (stored procedures, functions, triggers, etc.) and/or external code modules with elevated... |
| V-213983 | Medium | SQL Server must allocate audit record storage capacity in accordance with organization-defined audit record storage requirements. | In order to ensure sufficient storage capacity for the audit logs, SQL Server must be able to allocate audit record storage capacity. Although another requirement (SRG-APP-000515-DB-000318)... |
| V-214040 | Medium | Remote Data Archive feature must be disabled, unless specifically required and approved. | Information systems are capable of providing a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services, provided by default, may not be necessary to support essential... |
| V-214041 | Medium | SQL Server External Scripts Enabled feature must be disabled, unless specifically required and approved. | SQL Server is capable of providing a wide range of features and services. Some of the features and services, provided by default, may not be necessary, and enabling them could adversely affect the... |
| V-214043 | Medium | SQL Server Replication Xps feature must be disabled, unless specifically required and approved. | SQL Server is capable of providing a wide range of features and services. Some of the features and services, provided by default, may not be necessary, and enabling them could adversely affect the... |
| V-213998 | Medium | SQL Server must generate audit records when successful and unsuccessful attempts to access categorized information (e.g., classification levels/security levels) occur. | Changes in categorized information must be tracked. Without an audit trail, unauthorized access to protected data could go undetected.
For detailed information on categorizing information,... |
| V-213995 | Medium | SQL Server must be able to generate audit records when successful and unsuccessful attempts to access security objects occur. | Changes to the security configuration must be tracked.
This requirement applies to situations where security data is retrieved or modified via data manipulation operations, as opposed to via... |
| V-213994 | Medium | Security-relevant software updates to SQL Server must be installed within the time period directed by an authoritative source (e.g. IAVM, CTOs, DTMs, and STIGs). | Security flaws with software applications, including database management systems, are discovered daily. Vendors are constantly updating and patching their products to address newly discovered... |
| V-213993 | Medium | When updates are applied to SQL Server software, any software components that have been replaced or made unnecessary must be removed. | Previous versions of DBMS components that are not removed from the information system after updates have been installed may be exploited by adversaries.
Some DBMSs' installation tools may... |
| V-213992 | Medium | SQL Server services must be configured to run under unique dedicated user accounts. | Database management systems can maintain separate execution domains for each executing process by assigning each process a separate address space. Each process has a distinct address space so that... |
| V-213991 | Medium | SQL Server must maintain a separate execution domain for each executing process. | Database management systems can maintain separate execution domains for each executing process by assigning each process a separate address space.
Each process has a distinct address space so... |
| V-213990 | Medium | SQL Server must disable network functions, ports, protocols, and services deemed by the organization to be nonsecure, in accord with the Ports, Protocols, and Services Management (PPSM) guidance. | Use of nonsecure network functions, ports, protocols, and services exposes the system to avoidable threats. |
| V-213929 | Medium | SQL Server must limit the number of concurrent sessions to an organization-defined number per user for all accounts and/or account types. | Database management includes the ability to control the number of users and user sessions utilizing SQL Server. Unlimited concurrent connections to SQL Server could allow a successful Denial of... |
| V-213939 | Medium | SQL Server must generate audit records when successful/unsuccessful attempts to retrieve privileges/permissions occur. | Under some circumstances, it may be useful to monitor who/what is reading privilege/permission/role information. Therefore, monitoring must be possible. DBMSs typically make such information... |
| V-213935 | Medium | SQL Server must protect against a user falsely repudiating by ensuring only clearly unique Active Directory user accounts can connect to the instance. | Non-repudiation of actions taken is required in order to maintain data integrity. Examples of particular actions taken by individuals include creating information, sending a message, approving... |
| V-213934 | Medium | SQL Server must protect against a user falsely repudiating by ensuring the NT AUTHORITY SYSTEM account is not used for administration. | Non-repudiation of actions taken is required in order to maintain data integrity. Examples of particular actions taken by individuals include creating information, sending a message, approving... |
| V-213937 | Medium | SQL Server must allow only the ISSM (or individuals or roles appointed by the ISSM) to select which auditable events are to be audited. | Without the capability to restrict which roles and individuals can select which events are audited, unauthorized personnel may be able to prevent or interfere with the auditing of critical events.... |
| V-213936 | Medium | SQL Server must be configured to generate audit records for DoD-defined auditable events within all DBMS/database components. | Without the capability to generate audit records, it would be difficult to establish, correlate, and investigate the events relating to an incident or identify those responsible for one.
Audit... |
| V-213931 | Medium | SQL Server must be configured to utilize the most-secure authentication method available. | Enterprise environments make account management for applications and databases challenging and complex. A manual process for account management functions adds the risk of a potential oversight or... |
| V-213933 | Medium | SQL Server must protect against a user falsely repudiating by ensuring all accounts are individual, unique, and not shared. | Non-repudiation of actions taken is required in order to maintain data integrity. Examples of particular actions taken by individuals include creating information, sending a message, approving... |
| V-214044 | Low | If the SQL Server Browser Service is specifically required and approved, SQL instances must be hidden. | The SQL Server Browser simplifies the administration of SQL Server, particularly when multiple instances of SQL Server coexist on the same computer. It avoids the need to hard-assign port numbers... |
| V-214042 | Low | The SQL Server Browser service must be disabled unless specifically required and approved. | The SQL Server Browser simplifies the administration of SQL Server, particularly when multiple instances of SQL Server coexist on the same computer. It avoids the need to hard-assign port numbers... |
