[ale] OpenBSD, FreeBSD

Mike Smith masmith at bsat.com
Tue Dec 14 12:33:36 EST 1999


	Before you say that Linux doesn't cut it, you might want to try one of the
BSD's.  I currently run OpenBSD 2.6 as my firewall and I like the security
but it does lack certain tools that I am used to in Linux.  I could probably
compile the kernel to include linux support but my goal is to keep the
kernel small.

	In comparison, the installation procedure is much better in Linux(my
experience is with slackware and redhat).  There is a bit of guesswork that
goes into setting up your drives in OpenBSD.  Make sure you read the faq
carefully.

	The thing that I like most about OpenBSD is its filtering firewall.  The
syntax for ipnat is much more intuitive than ipchains or ipfwadm.  OpenBSD
security is mainly due to its defualt settings.  After I installed Redhat, I
noticed that I had about 20 ports open(after sniffing with nmap).  With
OpenBSD, I only had 5 ports open.

	As far as speed goes, I haven't noticed any network speed differences
between Slack 7's firewalling / routing and OpenBSD 2.6's firewalling /
routing. Another thing to consider is hardware support.  Linux supports much
more hardware than OpenBSD.

	Anyhow, make your own decision.  I still like Linux but it doesn't hurt to
know multiple OS's.





-----Original Message-----
 From: owner-ale at ale.org [mailto:owner-ale at ale.org]On Behalf Of
jj at spiderentertainment.com
Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 1999 11:47 AM
To: ale at ale.org
Subject: [ale] OpenBSD, FreeBSD


I just purchased OpenBSD and FreeBSD, since Linux just doesn't cut it
anymore I'm looking for a different flavour. From what I read OpenBSD is
alot more secure. But does that make it slower ? and if it does how slow
?. FreeBSD is mostly used by ISP's I would assume that FreeBSD is faster
or is it just more flexible ?

Any respone is greatly appriciated.

Thx.

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