Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 08:36:03 -0900 From: Brian Raynes <brian_raynes@dnr.state.ak.us> To: henry@ammons.net, freebsd newbies <freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: Windows2000 to FreeBSD encouragement needed Message-ID: <3A8AC203.644820B6@dnr.state.ak.us> References: <20010214165933.4002.qmail@web5406.mail.yahoo.com>
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Henry Ammons wrote: > >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? FreeBSD does all those things quite well. There are, in case you didn't know, 3 major BSD development groups that are free software. NetBSD & OpenBSD would also be stable OS's for these functions. OpenBSD is especially nice for setting up a firewall, their emphasis is largely on "secure by default" installation and integration of cryptography. FreeBSD, configured similarly, would presumably do virtually as well, security wise, but OpenBSD comes that way by default. OpenBSD requires you to turn on most (if not all) of the services you listed, thus their claims of no remote exploits against the default install for the last 3(?) years. Still, for security, they make a secure setup easier than any of the other BSD or Linux flavors I have tried. It depends on what your priorities are. I haven't tried NetBSD, but they have incredible numbers of platforms that they run on, and a fairly good reputation for stability and quality. This being a FreeBSD list, though, I should say that I have mostly gone with FreeBSD as my favorite because of more extensive documentation, broader hardware support on i386 and a larger selection of third-party ports & packages. If time is a limiting factor, FreeBSD seems to be the easiest of the BSDs to get up to speed with quickly. >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)? Most of the FreeBSD security advisories have been for third-party software. If you choose that well, you should see a minimum of critical updates, at least that's my observation. FreeBSD also has extensive mailing lists for things like security updates and announcements that meets or beats the other BSDs, in my opinion. > > Thank you for your input, > Henry Brian Raynes To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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