New user questions :)

From: Graham Bentley (gbentley_at_uk2.net)
Date: 06/17/04

  • Next message: Jorn Argelo: "Re: New user questions :)" 
    Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 09:37:00 +0100
To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org

    Hello to all you FreeBSD guys (and girls:)

    I am new here and have some questions to ask and comments to invite.

    For the last year or so I have been using SME server (an optimised Linux
    based server / LAN server that provides in one distro Mail/Webmail/FTP/
    HTTP/Samba - all configurable from a Web browser on the LAN)

    This has proved very quick to install / deploy but since it has been 'handed
    over' to the community by the commercial company that sponsored the
    project updates have been very slow. Of course you can pay $ if you
    want the commercial version :)

    If I needed just an FTP server or a Webserver I have used Trustix Linux
    which seems very elegant / secure / minimal distro which is well maintained
    and easy to update. Everything is off (almost) unless you explicitly
    configure
    it. This seemed like a breath of fresh air compared to other Linux distros
    which
    installed all but the kitchen sink (or you spent alot of time picking over
    packages)

    I recently found out that the company selling the commercial version of
    Trustix
    is going to cease support of the community version and to get updates
    / security fixes you have to pay $.

    This seems fair enough and its a good distro. Some of my clients may want to
    pay for the reassurance of the backing of a commercial company.

    I however do not and only want some web services for my small co.

    So, I start to look for a distro that has a community roadmap that doesnt end
    in me paying for just the few things that I need. I am aware of Debian and
    have been told that it is secure / easy to update and people talk about it
    as the most 'pure version' of Linux. As yet I have not had chance to DL it
    or review it.

    In the meantime I decided to try FreeBSD and am dual booting into
    5.2.1 as an alternative desktop. I have to say that some things seem
    alot easier than in the Linux world whilst others issues have seemed
    difficult to resolve (MIDI Sound for example:) but these are minor desktop
    issues that I dont really care too much about.

    What I am interested in is replicating LAN / Web services that I
    have learnt to configre under Linux on FreeBSD.

    Heres my immediate shortlist :-

    Setting up DHCP for LAN Clients
    Synchronising time for LAN Clients
    Setting up Samba to Share Files on a Wingroup
    Setting up a print server for Winclients
    Using Samba as a Virtual CD-ROM Server
    Web Services (Apache / FTP)
    Admin access over ssh
    LAN Mail Hub (Postifx / Fetchmail?)
    Checking for security / software updates
    and updatig the system

    I am sure some of these tasks are fairly easy and very similar
    to that in the Linux world although I would welcome any advice / comments.

    I also wondered if there is a project based on FreeBSD that
    achieves similar goals to SME Server (ie all in one LAN server
    with Web config) or similar to Trustix (ie minimal config with
    series of scripts to configure server services.

    I would also welcome comments on FreeBSD security / frequency of updates
    and how to keep the installation updated ?

    Also, what is the roadmap / lifespan of FreeBSD ?

    Sorry about the length of this post :)

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  • Next message: Jorn Argelo: "Re: New user questions :)"

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