FreeBSD Decision
Dennis Glatting
freebsd at penx.com
Fri Jan 14 20:09:56 UTC 2011
On Fri, 14 Jan 2011, Alessandro Baggi wrote:
> Hi list, I don't want make a flame post but I would ask an objective
> opinion, then not a camp opinion, about using FreeBSD or Debian Linux in
> a production environment for solution as such as cluster of some
> service, proxy, SAN, performance, smp with an high number of cpu, PDC,
> Mail Server (qmail), raid software, security support and hardware
> support. I'm using Slackware Linux but in production environment there
> are problem with packages and distro update and other support. Then for
> you, what is the best for those solutions?
>
FreeBSD, Debian, and Slowaris are my key components. FreeBSD RELENG_8
composes most of my WAN services from DNS, SENDMAIL, Cacti, and more. I
have at least nine servers across the USA. In another life (different job)
Debian is primary but there are two FreeBSD servers.
I choose FreeBSD because I have source and if necessary recompile the
whole OS with debug to traipse down a (perceived) bug. The same isn't as
easy under Debian.
When I (often) come across some behavior I don't understand I almost
always go to the source. Documentation is almost always less useful when
it comes to applications. I have also found FreeBSD applications tend to
be more recent versions or more easily replaced than Debian or CentOS.
I find the FreeBSD handbook useful but when it comes to Debian the
ErrorNet isn't as... helpful... and often wrong. I spend more time
tracking things down under Debian than FreeBSD, usually because I go to
source.
For Wireless there is more functionality under FreeBSD without
augmentation but for a specific function I had to recompile the source
with an additional flag. Under Debian I had to replace several modules
because the drivers did not support AP mode, which included building a
custom kernel and stripping out conflicting modules -- that was an...
interesting... exercise.
I prefer the competence of the FreeBSD lists, though I have none myself.
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