FreeBSD or OpenBSD

[Kirk Strauser]

On Sunday 05 December 2004 03:47 pm, Damien Hull wrote:

> 3. Firewall and routing support is built in

I've never messed with non-basic routing under either OS, but you're surely 
aware that FreeBSD has several built-in firewall systems (including OpenBSD's 
own "pf")?

> Should I make the switch from FreeBSD to OpenBSD for my servers?

There's nothing inherently wrong with the idea, but I personally wouldn't.  
Unless you have a hardware crypto accelerator installed, FreeBSD seems to be 
several times faster than OpenBSD on the same hardware.  That's not a 
criticism of OpenBSD, but an observation that all that nifty crypto 
functionality does come at a measurable cost.

I would consider replacing FreeBSD with OpenBSD if:

  1) I could afford faster hardware, including a crypto accelerator.
  2) I don't mind hand-compiling software that hasn't made it into OpenBSD's 
ports tree.
  3) I value security above all else, including performance and easy access to 
lots of software.

I can certainly imagine scenarios where I'd make that choice (credit card 
databases, domain controllers, etc.) but for the stuff I work with more 
commonly, FreeBSD is my pick.
-- 
Kirk Strauser
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