On Thu, 22 Oct 1998, Neil Moore-Smith wrote:
> I am recommending that a client use Linux to implement a firewall. His
> techie (who I have little time for) has asked "a friend" what distribution
> he uses, and come back to tell me that RedHat is undoubtedly the market
> leader and we should use that, all because his friend says so.
>
> OK, I use Slackware, and I know it does the job. It also gets a good
> write-up in the distribution HOWTO as a robust commercial setup.
>
> Does anyone have any comments on the merits or otherwise of each
> distribution?
I don't think it makes a lot of difference. Slackware 3.5 has the
shadow password suite by default, RedHat 5.1 does not. RedHat has
PAM, but that is more a help to developers than users. RedHat also
has glibc-2 by default, but that's not ready for prime time.
Slackware's easier to install, but RedHat's probably easier to
maintain once installed, if you want to do everything the RedHat
way.
Probably what is more important is the kernel version.
Rather than recommending your client to implement a firewall, you
might assist it to develop a security policy, and more generally,
help it to specify the business needs that must be met by its IT
function and budget.
application/ms-tnef
