From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Sep 9 11:38:29 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8562C16A4BF for ; Tue, 9 Sep 2003 11:38:29 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mailhub.yumyumyum.org (dsl092-171-091.wdc2.dsl.speakeasy.net [66.92.171.91]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D4F2D43F85 for ; Tue, 9 Sep 2003 11:38:27 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from culverk@yumyumyum.org) Received: by mailhub.yumyumyum.org (Postfix, from userid 80) id C68E3823; Tue, 9 Sep 2003 14:37:49 -0400 (EDT) Received: from 141.156.69.109 ([141.156.69.109]) by mailhub.yumyumyum.org (Horde) with HTTP for ; Tue, 9 Sep 2003 14:37:49 -0400 Message-ID: <1063132669.5944b88889359@mailhub.yumyumyum.org> Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2003 14:37:49 -0400 From: culverk@yumyumyum.org To: "Leonard, Harry" References: <2F335745DF2B9D409FB4D2BAE67F178822562C@az-04010-exch02.az.ngb.army.mil> In-Reply-To: <2F335745DF2B9D409FB4D2BAE67F178822562C@az-04010-exch02.az.ngb.army.mil> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit User-Agent: Internet Messaging Program (IMP) 4.0-cvs X-Originating-IP: 141.156.69.109 cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Questions about FreeBSD Versions X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 09 Sep 2003 18:38:29 -0000 Quoting "Leonard, Harry" : > Hello FreeBSD, > > My name is Harry Leonard and I'm very interested in using FreeBSD. I work > in a small shop, outside of Flagstaff, Arizona for the State of Arizona, in > a half Microsoft, half open source environment. I'm the resident programmer > and I've used Perl/PHP/MySQL here for almost four years. My boss has set up > servers running OpenBSD and I get to use them creating our website and > running intranet applications. My problem now is that my boss is in Iraq > and we're in need of a new server or two. > > I've researched the subject and have found myself getting a little squeamish > with the thought of installing/tweaking an OpenBSD box. FreeBSD seemed like > the next viable option and I did get a thumbs up from my boss. I also saw a > segment on TechTv's Screen Savers which gave me the confidence that I could > pull this off. I started looking at versions and decided to purchase the > latest and greatest. > > I bought the four disk set of FreeBSD 5.0 w/ the handbook and thought I was > on a roll. Surely, I installed it several times before I got it right and > then I began to run into problems and loose some confidence. My problems > started with the installation of Apache. I'm going back after it today > though and I hope that I'll have some success. Yes, I am a newbie but a > driven one. I very much want to have two FreeBSD boxes in-house and I am a > hard one to quit. I did quit on FreeBSD 5.0 though and I also think this is > where my troubles really began. > > I figured that I would do some more reading and found that 5.0 might not be > the best version for newbie's (in cases of trouble). So, I figured that I > would go to FreeBSD 5.1. A newer version shouldn't hurt huh? Well, I think > something went awry in the download and I never got this version to work > correctly for me either. Well, now I'm figuring that I'll just move > backwards to FreeBSD 4.8 Stable and this will just alleviate all my > problems. This has not worked yet for me either and my confidence is > further eroding. But, my tenacity is still in there and I'd rather go down > in flames than let my office mate turn this office into a full Microsoft > shop and me running Apache/PHP/MySQL on an IIS box. My boss expressed his > dismay of this happening and I told him I would not let him down. Newbie I > may be but I'm not a quitter. > > This email is about: Which version of FreeBSD should I be using for > production? I need to set up an in-house web server for our website and > another box for my few intranet applications. In the near future I might > have the opportunity to create a firewall box and I really need to get on > top of things. Today, I'll go back to FreeBSD 5.0 (which I've had the most > success with) and read the errata over again and make sure there's nothing > that I'm missing. I'd appreciate it if you could give me a stamp of > approval on which version I can/should use for my small production needs. > Sorry, if I've gotten a little windy with my explanation but I wanted to > give you some background. I also Thank You for reading this email and for > any help that you can provide me in this matter. Please let me know what > you think? > Most likely you should use FreeBSD 4.8-STABLE for any kind of production server. I run FreeBSD 5.x-CURRENT on all of my machines without a problem (with apache, mysql, php, etc...) but I still don't recommend that people do that. What kind of problems are you having? I doubt that your problems are FreeBSD specific... they are probably more specific to the server apps you are running (apache, etc...). Ken