Why FreeBSD Is My Favorite *nix OS

Why FreeBSD Is My Favorite *nix OS

Posted In: *nix, Hosting, Reviews, Webmaster by
Scott Spear

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Installation

FreeBSD provides a very easy installation process; it uses Sysinstall
as an automated installation package to do it for you. All you have to
do is answer some questions to create users and tell it which software
to install and you are on your way to being up and running in a matter
of minutes. The full installation takes longer that a few minutes to
complete, but using Sysinstall to set the installation parameters is
very quick. This installer takes care of everything needed to have
FreeBSD installed and functioning correctly on your system, including
user creation, software/application installations, network and
peripheral setup, and much more.

Security

FreeBSD is one of the most secure operating systems available. There
are a number of security features built into the system that deal with
user and file system security. There are also a number of applications
compatible with FreeBSD that offer added security beyond the default
features. Besides the basic user permissions modified through CHMOD,
FreeBSD offers the ability to use ACL and MAC.
These options allow user permissions on a more specific level than the
basic Unix permissions. You can also use a firewall to secure your
system. FreeBSD has two options built in, altq and dummynet, as well as
a number of applications available for install like IPFILTER (IPF),
IPFIREWALL (IPF), and PacketFilter (PF). Another way to secure your
system is change the default password hash from md5 to blowfish in
login.conf.

Another great security feature that comes with FreeBSD is the
ability to jail a process. This allows for separate environments for
processes that are completely locked off from others. These jails
function as almost a separate installation of FreeBSD allowing for its
own user processes, user accounts, and files. Using a jail helps for
testing software and often used by web hosts to give their users
control over a virtual server.

Compatibility

There are numerous hardware compatibilities listed on the hardware notice
for each release of FreeBSD. It is compatible with all the major
processors the most popular being Intel and AMD. There are also
thousands of applications available for installation on a FreeBSD
system. As well as having all of those application ports available, you
can run Linux applications on FreeBSD with the Linux Binary
Compatibility system. This allows you "to run about 90% of all Linux
applications without modification" (Linux Binary Compatibility).

Ports

The port system is a collection of software that is packaged and
ready for installation on a FreeBSD system. You can download the source
and install them very quickly and easily. Ports are available from the
installation disc, online at the ports collection, or at FreshPorts.
Once you have chosen a port to install and have followed the
installation procedures, you can stay up to date with the ability to
download and compile the updates easily from within the ports system.
There are currently over 19,000 ports within 63 categories available
for download and use (FreshPorts Stats).

Documentation

FreeBSD has many different options for documentation. They offer
eight different kinds of documentation on their website including FAQ, Manual Pages, and the FreeBSD Handbook.
There is also a web resources section, a for newbies section, and books
and articles. The handbook is in my opinion the the best resource
available and can be viewed online in multiple formats and downloaded
as a local copy. There are a number of books dedicated to FreeBSD as
well; a search on Amazon.com will demonstrate this. You won't have to
browse the web for basic command questions; you can use the man pages
on your installation of FreeBSD so you can have general command help
locally whenever needed.