Correct me if I'm wrong, but if the 140 servers are operating as a VM, they act as basically one machine, correct? Doesn't that mean it just pushes one image?
Anyway, this is Crowdstrike's business, I'm sure they know how to pull a copy quickly and efficiently. Crowdstrike is highly respected, in fact being used by the RNC for their security as well. Comey acknowledged they were highly respected if I recall correctly.
In the end, maybe the DNC hasn't publicly stated such, but wouldn't you agree that there are many plausible explanations for why they didn't produce the hardware? It seems rather standard for businesses to hand over images to the FBI but keep the hardware so they can get back to work.
no. you'd have 140 VMs each doing it's own server function.
active directory
printing
file shares
websites
sql/database
e-mail
redundancy
it can go on and on. you'd usually stand up a VM with say Windows Server 2010 (for example) on it. then setup that server for the desired functions as you see above. while you can combine some roles, for many you just don't.
and if a "cloud" configuration there is no server to hand over, much less hardware to get back to work with. Amazon, Microsoft, Rackspace and many more provide cloud environments for while people can set all this up and from a local machine, you just access it, log in and it more or less acts as if it's on premise.
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as for the file copy - yea that one can go many different ways. but again w/o actual access to the logs, you're taking people at their word and i know of no one who does that these days. and if we do, then assange himself said no russians handed him anything at all.
easy to call him a liar and serves a purpose to boot. but what if he didn't lie? what if the DNC did? if you were lying what would you do to cover your tracks?
we have the pakastani brothers and their role and that can't really be explained what they were doing in it all to begin with.
FBI investigating smashed hard drives from Wasserman Schultz IT worker's home, Pakistani brothers: Report
why are all these people smashing hard drives and destroying evidence? to me that alone causes the need for a lot of questions that need solid answers, NOT speculation and NOT defense and excuses by the very people you're investigating.
none of what the DNC made sense. hiding something would make sense but no one on the left wants to even pretend that could be what they were doing - hiding their activities.