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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
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    94

    FreeBSD vs. Linux

    Hello, I've used a few different Linux distros (CentOS, and Fedora Core 2 and 3 i think) but i've never used FreeBSD. Im fairly comfortable with Linux, will FreeBSD be too hard? From my understanding, FreeBSD is the way to go over most other RH Operating Systems, is this correct?

    Back to the original question, is FreeBSD much different than Linux?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    Indiana, US
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    1,355
    Hey zhs, glad to see your still doing your research. FreeBSD is based on the UNIX distribution, so many things will be completely different. CentOS/RHE are both VERY stable Linux distros. We use CentOS on multiple servers and it is nothing short of exceptional.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
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    94
    So out of CentOS 3.4. FreeBSD, Fedora 1/2/3, RH9, you would recommend CentOS since im not familiar with FreeBSD?

    ^^ Windows was also in that list, but i refuse to use it so i just removed it :-p

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    Indiana, US
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    Nothing against FreeBSD, but if you are familiar with Linux, then choose Linux. Put it this way, if you were familiar with UNIX, I would recommend FreeBSD, but since you already have some experience with Linux, I'd stay with CentOS or Redhat Enterprise. On a side note, Fedora, as stable as people say it is, IMO is not fit for production servers.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Posts
    335
    If you actually take the time to learn the OS rather than just install and go, the learning curve going from linux to Freebsd isnt that bad. Most of the people I know who use both much prefer freebsd for various reasons, and personally it just feels "right" to use. What exactly will the server be running? if you are going to want to install certain bits of software you may do better with one or the other, so it might help a bit to mention what you would be doing with the machine.

  6. #6
    I have tested Debian, Red Hat, Fedora, SlackWare, Gentoo, and FreeBSD. Needless to say, I prefer to run FreeBSD for any web server that I have. If not FreeBSD I would run Debian. Install FreeBSD on a test box at home and learn how to use the ports collection. I think FreeBSD puts Red Hat to shame. I don't know about CentOS because I have never used it. I have never used it because it is based on Red Hat. Should you ever have any questions just pm me and I will help you. Also playing dumb in #freebsdhelp on efnet works great as well.

  7. #7
    I use FreeBSD on most of our servers for 3 simple reasons:

    1. More secure. You'll find 100 exploits for linux for each exploit for FreeBSD. It's way of doing things is also safer.

    2. The ports tree. The easiest way to install new software without broken installs or missing deps.

    3. sysinstall. An "almost graphic" menu-driven interface that assists you while setting up your FreeBSD box.

    We used linux in our servers for over 8 years, then switched to OpenBSD as we were looking for something more secure, however it was harder for our customers and admins to use, the we started using FreeBSD about 2 years ago and I really don't think we'll be moving back to OpenBSD nor Linux.
    Fabio A. Calderon
    C.E.O.
    SEATi

  8. #8
    This really depends on what you will be running on it. If you are running cpanel, I would still recommend linux of any flavor over BSD. If you will no be running a control panel, I would recommend whichever you are more comfortable with. I personally prefer FreeBSD, and use it mainly because I know with much more confidence how to secure a FreeBSD box versus a linux one.

    That said, the point that SEATi brought up about 10 linux exploits for every 1 FreeBSD exploit is, to my awareness, not true. Most exploits are actually problems with installed software, not the bas distribution. In other words, when Apache has a exploit, it is usually cross-platform, not just linux.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Posts
    94
    im talking about performance though. im going to be hosting game servers, no control panel on it at all (well maby a low-resource one for my gameserver clients to edit there server with, but thats all). i want to use the best OS (not windows) that will run game servers the fastest, and run with the most stability. which OS, FreeBSD or Linux, with no CP installed, for running gameservers, would you recommend?

  10. #10
    For a game server Linux is the way to go. If you use FreeBSD you will probably wind up using Linux Compat mode and that can have an impact on performance. For a gaming server FreeBSD is not the way to go.

  11. #11
    And what you'll recomend for a Web Server mainly used for serving pages with apache+php+mysql, what's will give more performence and reliability, FreeBSD or Linux ?

    p.s: the use of a control panel is not very imortant for me ...

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    England
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    1,200
    I would reccomend centos because firstly it is the best and you are used to linux so stick with linux.
    Custom Cloud Solutions - innoix.com

  13. #13
    Do they come at the same or comparable price ?
    Hotmail runs or used to run on freebsd.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    England
    Posts
    1,200
    Hotmail runs or used to run on freebsd.
    I never knew that.
    Custom Cloud Solutions - innoix.com

  15. #15
    Hotmail runs or used to run on freebsd.
    Entirely true, Hotmail used to run on FreeBSD until the press found out and starting pushing Microsoft on how they said that Windows NT/2000 was powerful and stable when they had to use an open source OS to run the world's most widely used email system.

    Do they come at the same or comparable price ?
    Yup, both are free

    That said, the point that SEATi brought up about 10 linux exploits for every 1 FreeBSD exploit is, to my awareness, not true. Most exploits are actually problems with installed software, not the bas distribution. In other words, when Apache has a exploit, it is usually cross-platform, not just linux.
    Not true, there've been a lot of exploits for sendmail/apache/bind/whatever that under linux became a root compromise, while on *BSD resulted in just a DoS or something smaller. Also, in FreeBSD you have tools to prevent the impact of an exploit, for an instance the jail() function, which let's you run services on a completely chrooted environment. So if I am running Bind in a jailed environment and there's a new exploit for bind, they will be able to get root... but inside the chrooted jail and not on the main server.

    FreeBSD is widely used for servers, and you can visit almost every digital attacks archive and see the stats, you'll see that there are more than 10 root compromises/mass defacements done to linux boxes for each FreeBSD box.
    Fabio A. Calderon
    C.E.O.
    SEATi

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