Where Does Groove Store Information?

[mtbcpa]

I am researching Groove to use as a firm source for tracking our
collaborative resolutions to questions of law, etc. I don't want to
post this information to a server on the web somewhere that will go
away if the server goes away. Does Groove store the information on
our own internal network, or is this information on the internet
somewhere? Thanks

 

[mtbcpa]

I apologize for posting the same questions twice. My bad - please ignore.

 

[Joseph Geretz]

I've just started using Groove. When two (or more) computers are 'grooved'
the grooved documents are actually stored locally on each grooved computer.
Microsoft's Groove Server is used as the communications broker to exchange
file from computer to computer. If the Groove server ever goes down, your
grooved computers won't be communicating, but each computer will have its
local files. You won't lose anything.

What I'd be more concerned about is how secure are these Groove servers? Any
chance that Microsoft or any third party might be examining documents which
are pasing across its servers on the way from here to there and back again?

BTW, you can set up your own Groove server, however part of what I've found
appealing since I've started using this is the absolute ease in setting this
up. It's an absolute cinch. Setting up my own server would add to the
complexity and I'm more than happy not to have to do this. The only thing
I'm wondering about is the security and privacy of my documents. Can anyone
comment on this?

Thanks!

- Joseph Geretz -

 

[c1sbc]

Groove has an internal storage mechanism that is highly secure (albeit a
performance hog when there are one too many workspaces). Each Groove client
is a 'peer', i.e., a client and a server. Therefore, each workspace member
has its own copy of the workspace data (files, discussions, forms, etc.).

The Groove Server (presumably the DataBridge) mentioned Joseph includes
workspace archiving and integration point to external apps. It does not have
a client interface like the Groove client.

More info on the Groove client here -
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/groove/HA101650611033.aspx

SBC




--
weblog:
http://weblogs.asp.net/sbchatterjee

Pickup Groove Developer workspaces:
http://www.ctdotnet.org (bottom of page)

 

[bzrdhd]

Please bear in mind that the relay servers only come into play if Groove
clients are unable to exchange data directly with one-another, as might be
the case if they are on separate network segments, behind firewalls that
block communication over the ports used by Groove, or if one of the PCs is
simply not logged into Groove at the time.

Regarding security, the data at rest on the relay servers is, supposedly,
encrypted at rest and only accessible by members of the workspace.

 

[Donna Shaw \(Microsoft Program Manager\)]

The data that is sent through the relay server is encrypted both on the wire
and when it is stored (temporarily) on the relay. Only the recipient has
the keys that can decrypt it, and the relay server has no knowledge of the
contents that it is managing. Further, the relay never stores all of the
data for the workspace, it's only updates to changes made in the end
workspaces. This security model ensures that even though the relay is a
participant in the transfer of data, it has no knowledge about the data and
further can't have knowledge of the data due to the encryption that's
applied on the client before the updates are sent via the relay.



Hope that helps clarify...