On Thu, 16 Nov 2000, Mike Wyer wrote:
> On Thu, 16 Nov 2000, John Gold wrote:
>
> >Hi, I am in the process of setting up a web/database server and was
> >wondering if anyone had any comments regarding the operating system. I
> >was all set to use linux but have heard that freebsd is pretty good -
> >has anyone had any experience in this area?
>
> Depends what you mean by "good". As far as I can tell, the best OS is
> the one you feel most comfortable with and can admin most effectively-
> all the technical superiority of a system is worthless if you can't use
> it. If you feel more comfortable in Linux, the chances are that you will
> admin a Linux server better than you would a FreeBSD one, irrespective
> of whether any random BSD guru could do better- they're not you.
>
> Our best servers are the ones we understand best and can therefore
> configure and update properly. Our last manager loved FreeBSD but no-one
> else did- while he was here the FreeBSD servers worked well. Now,
> because there is no-one to admin them, they are the most unstable and
> least popular.
> Likewise, at the time our Sun servers were awful, but having taken on
> a Solaris nut, they're now doing a lot of the work the BSD boxes were
> doing before. It all depends on the people and their experience, much
> more than the technical specs of the OS.
>
> That said, our web and database servers both run on Linux, because I
> admin them, and I'm waaay better at Linux support than anything else.
> Despite what the FreeBSD folks would have you believe, it is much easier
> to get support and software for Linux than freebsd, excellent though the
> ports system may be.
I'd agree with the above. However having more Linux than FreeBSD
experience I had to build some FreeBSD and RH7 kernels recently and the
former was a lot less painful. RH7 seemed to be missing an assembler to
begin with so the kernel wouldn't compile at all (as86?)! I could only
find it in a RH6.2 rpm. Maybe I'm using the wrong distribution thesedays.
If you've used a few different flavours then the transition to FreeBSD
is pretty painless. Unless you want to use Java.
my 2p
--
Paul Sharpe Tel: +44 (20) 7407 5557
Miraclefish Ltd. Fax: +44 (20) 7378 8711
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