From owner-freebsd-newbies Wed Feb 14 9:20:42 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org Received: from falcon.scana.com (falcon.scana.com [161.156.101.7]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AD84737B491 for ; Wed, 14 Feb 2001 09:20:37 -0800 (PST) Received: by falcon.scana.com; id MAA03143; Wed, 14 Feb 2001 12:20:35 -0500 (EST) Received: from maildmis.scana.com(161.156.252.90) by falcon.scana.com via smap (V5.5) id xma003078; Wed, 14 Feb 01 12:19:46 -0500 Received: from msg21.scana.com [161.156.252.90] by MSG21.SCANA.COM [161.156.252.90] (CMSPraetor 4.1.3395) with ESMTP id 4CB947E8029711D5B09A0002A507E1C8 for plus 1 more; Wed, 14 Feb 2001 12:19:03 -0500 Received: by maildmis.scana.com with Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) id <1T73TJ4W>; Wed, 14 Feb 2001 12:19:03 -0500 Message-ID: From: "SILVER, MICHAEL A" To: "'henry@ammons.net'" Cc: "'freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG'" Subject: RE: Windows2000 to FreeBSD encouragement needed Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 12:18:56 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain Sender: owner-freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org > (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