Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 11:02:10 +0200 From: Sheldon Hearn <sheldonh@uunet.co.za> To: Wise Son <ptcdoes@sr.net> Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: QUERY Message-ID: <98642.942829330@axl.noc.iafrica.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 16 Nov 1999 03:55:39 -0200." <3830F1DB.C342530D@sr.net>
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On Tue, 16 Nov 1999 03:55:39 -0200, Wise Son wrote: > 1. The server(s) will be the main machines for the ISP; providing the > basic internet access, pop, ftp, services. > Is BSD up to this? Yes, although you'd need to be more specific about "services". The biggest problem you're going to have on your hands is choosing the software to offer each service. :-) There are loads of POP3, SMTP and FTP server packages available and everyone's got opinions. I'm not going to give you my opinions because that'll give everyone else license to give you theirs and it'll never end. Rather, let me give you the names of some big players and you can dig through newsgroups and mailing list archives to find out what people have said in the past: POP3: Qualcomm Popper IMAP UW (University of Washington) Cubic Circle Popper (cucipop) SMTP: Sendmail (in the FreeBSD base system) Exim Postfix Qmail FTP: Berkeley FTPD (in the FreeBSD base system) UW-FTP (University of Washington) ProFTPD All I'll say here is: of the listed POP3 daemons, the Qualcomm Popper is the slowest; of the SMTP daemons, Sendmail is the slowest; of the FTP deamons, Berkeley FTPD offers the smallest set of features. > 2. What type of configuration (hardware/software) would you reccomend > for about 15000 users? Phew, that _really_ depends on how many of those users are doing how much at a time. Do you have any more detail on the expected usage? The most important thing when purchasing hardware for use with FreeBSD is to make sure FreeBSD supports it. A couple of general recommendations: Gigabyte or Asus motherboards. Adaptec SCSI controllers. SCSI hard drives. Don't try to cut costs on these, nor on memory. Specifically, stay away from IDE hard drives if at all possible. They're a cost alternative that isn't appropriate to the of application you have on your hands. > 3. Is there anything else I should bear in mind while seting up the > system? That depends on your experience with UNIX in general. :-) Suffice it to say that the single most important thing when setting up a box to offer services like these is to READ THE DOCUMENTATION that comes with the packages you choose to use. There's a big difference between skimming documentation for just enough information to get things running, and actually reading it. :-) Good luck! Ciao, Sheldon. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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