*BSD News Article 78476


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From: jsloan@LiveNet.Net (Jim Sloan)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: FreeBSD VS BSDI, INC.
Date: Mon, 16 Sep 96 22:16:46 GMT
Organization: LiveNet, Inc.
Lines: 45
Message-ID: <51kjke$js_002@Valhalla.LiveNet.Net>
References: <51963f$2dr4@news-s01.ny.us.ibm.net>
NNTP-Posting-Host: valhalla.livenet.net
X-Newsreader: News Xpress 2.0 Beta #0

In article <51963f$2dr4@news-s01.ny.us.ibm.net>, drhumph@ibm.net wrote:
>I've installed FreeBSD and am involved in getting up to speed in learning
>UNIX (BSD) system administration, learning how to navigate, etc.
>
>I wonder if anyone has had experience with FreeBSD and also BSDI, Inc.
>product, and could therefore comment on whether or not the BSDI product
>is more stable and less time intensive in terms of set-up and adminstration,
>problem resolution, etc. I need to minimize the amount of time required
>to set-up and maintain the site given real-world time constraints.
>
>The anticipated use of the software will be a startup ISP.
>
>Is the cost of the BSD product, approximately $995 for 16 user license
>worth it? A recent article in Boardwatch that covered BSDI and apache 
>n combination, spoke highly of the BSDI product; in particular the built 
>in scripts, etc.
>
>Please note that the system administrator of the selected system has a
>mainframe/cobol/basic programming/analyst background, but is very rusty,
>new to UNIX, runs another business as primary source of income and needs 
>to make surefooted steps in view of his time constraints.
>
>Thanks for the advice in advance!
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Don H.

I run both BSDi and FreeBSD, and the only reason I use the BSDi is for a 
terminal server, since the ppp is easier to setup than FreeBSD's.  All my 
other servers run FreeBSD.  If FreeBSD's ppp was as stable and easy to setup 
as BSDi's was, I would drop the BSDi completely, since the scripts between the 
two are not that much different as far as maintaining the system.  In fact, I 
have rewritten most of the scripts on both my FreeBSD and BSDi servers to work 
more closely with the way I prefer to work anyway.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Jim Sloan                        jsloan@livenet.net
 Vice President
 LiveNet, Inc.                         
 413 Davis St. Suite 106          Full Service Internet Provider
 Virginia Beach VA 23462          Dialup and dedicated connections
 Ph: 804-499-9328                 Virtual Web, Email, and FTP hosting
 http://www.livenet.net           info@livenet.net webmaster@livenet.net
------------------------------------------------------------------------