Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 12:18:56 -0500 From: "SILVER, MICHAEL A" <MSILVER@scana.com> To: "'henry@ammons.net'" <henry@ammons.net> Cc: "'freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG'" <freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: RE: Windows2000 to FreeBSD encouragement needed Message-ID: <DBB3921EFE2AD211A81500A0C9B5FE7607175F16@msg04.scana.com>
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> (Mandrake). My desire is to run a server that > provides the following: dhcp, ip routing, mail, ftp, > web, firewall and proxy (and I want to do this > reliably and securely). I don't need gui and all the > extra packages that Mandrake loaded up by default--so > I guess my question is: am I heading the right > direction with FreeBSD? To those of you who know it > well: is it what I read (i.e. the most stable and > secure *nix)? Can I set it up and let it run with > only minimum maintenance and not have to update it > constantly (Linux)? I have never updated my server, although I should depending on security advisories. I have found FreeBSD to be extremely stable and highly reliable. My servers only go down for two reasons, power loss (no-ups) or I turn it off. One server is going on 64 days of uptime, the other 62. I simply don't have to worry about them. As for the software, such as qmail etc, sometimes I run into configuration problems, but usually by following directions a *little* more closely I can resolve these issues. I have found FreeBSD to be more picky about hardware, but usually it is the rotgut, cheap hardware that it doesn't agree with. This isn't really a problem, since I no longer buy extra-cheap hardware, and because these issues bubble up to the top quickly, often I can't install, or I get constant reboots. I would HIGHLY recommend taking a look at FreeBSD, as I have been real pleased with it. Once Kylix is available and I can write Apache modules as easy as slicing butter, I will truly be in heaven. BTW, I don't use X windows on any of my servers, I just don't see the need. Even once Kylix is available, I will probably develop on Suse and transfer my executables to the server. I am a firm believer that FreeBSD is a great server platform (perhaps the best), but only mediocre on the desktop. Others, of course, may have differing opinions. ...Michael... To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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