FreeBSD as suitable Server OS for me

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nando_es

Hi All,

I have never dealt with any Unix or Linux machine. Well, once I configured a FREESCO firewall which runs in Linux. My profile was Windows environment. I used to administrate two-three Windows servers (NT/2000) and helped-desk to 20-25 machines, all windows clients.

I no longer work in IT though I keep helping friends with IT issues on my leisure time.

Now I have been asked by a friend to help him set up a LAN with a Server in his just started company. Due to the short budget we have discarded any Windows solution. The Server will perform basic task such File Server and Share Printer. The most I can foresee would be some solution of Fax server or Email server but in a few years time. The clients will run Windosw software (XP/VISTA/SEVEN).

I wonder whether FreeBSD could be an appropiate solution for us. I read it is a quite stable solution which indeed lures me. However, we are not going to run any critical mission on it.

Another aspect that lures me is that we do not need a cutting-edge machine (money again!!!).

However, I would like to ask about your thoughts in the issue. It is FreeBSD a feasible solution for us? Perhaps, it is too much and I should have a lot of experience in UNIX (which I lack at all) ... or on the other hand FreeBSD is something I should have installed years ago.

I remark that I have no experience at all with UNIX/LINUX.

Thanks in advance

Fernando
 
Not that I have a lot of experiance with FreeBSD or NT servers but to start with you need to look into Samba and CUPS... Samba does the file sharing with windows from FreeBSD and CUPS takes care of the printing... I personally run FreeNAS (built from FreeBSD) as a file server on my home lan with windows clients and another box with FreeBSD for web, mail, dns, dhcp, and printing... learned it all within the last year... lots of reading from the manual, google and here at the forums....
 
In my opinion..... If you want to set up a basic Samba file server... FreeBSD is the best choice I have used.

I am certainly not an expert on any Linux or Unix operating systems, but I find FreeBSD to be the easiest and most stable of them all as far as setting up and managing a Samba server.
 
IMHO, use NFS or Network File Server rather than Samba =]

although i have no experience in setting up an NFS or Samba in FreeBSD. =]
 
I've setup samba in FreeBsd, it works nicely. Not hard at all, sure there are no guis for it(I know Ubuntu has one), but easy enoguh.
 
jr_yeo said:
IMHO, use NFS or Network File Server rather than Samba =]
Click to expand...
Have fun trying to configure NFS on windows ;)

If you want to share files with windows machine samba is the way to go.
 
  1. NFS is good to share files between UNIX like oses only. NFSv4 is recommended due to strong ACL and security support.
  2. Use samba to share printers and file between MS-Windows and UNIX like oses.
 
Thanks all for your replies.

After reading them I understand that SAMBA is the right software to install on a FreeBSD.

I am sure it is possible but as I never been in contact with FreeBSD, I wonder whether priviliges on Files can be set based on User Accounts. Is that possible?

Thanks

Fernando
 
There are a lot of tutorials and howtos on the net related to installing SAMBA on FreeBSD. When you are not sure how something is done try reading FreeBSD handbook or try to google.
 
FreeBSD is a great os for what you need. I have a few FreeBSD machines. My router is FreeBSD 8.0 running pf (packet filter) and squid (transparent reverse proxy and web accelerator) My NAS is FreeBSD 7.2-Stable with ZFS. It's pretty nice for a home system, 12 1TB hard drives using ZFS. I run samba on it, and it's wonderful. Also, FreeBSD has jails which allow you to do some cool stuff (very light weight os virtualization and security)

Depending on what you need, it might be best to look at pfsense and/or FreeNAS They are BASED on FreeBSD but are designed to be much more user friendly and easier to configure. pfsense is a router/firewall while FreeNAS is a Fileserver/NAS

both have really great webui's

Personally, i prefer plain FreeBSD because it's a great learning experience and it's much more flexible but it DOES require some reading and mistake making if you're a newbie.

It's a DEFINITE way to save money too.
 
Being heretic and all, I have to say that you probably don't want to use FreeBSD. Why? You have said repeatedly that you have no experience whatsoever with POSIX operating systems.

Yes, FreeBSD is great for a server, there is no point on discussing it. But you need knowledge about UNIX systems administration to work efficiently with it. Are you willing to learn along the way while your friend places the future of his business in that particular server?

On the other hand, there are appliance solutions that fit your friend's needs perfectly and will allow him to have his server(s) grow with his business while being incredibly easy to administer for you, basically point and click.

Now, the problem is that none of those solutions are based on FreeBSD but on GNU/Linux. If you are afraid of GNU/Linux because somebody has told you that it is unstable, unreliable, yadda, yadda, yadda, he or she has lied to you through his/her teeth. In fact, GNU/Linux in many circumstances is faster, sturdier, more stable than FreeBSD. You need to know many tools to be able to choose the right tool for the job because if the only thing you know is a hammer, every problem will look like a nail.

That said... Yes, FreeNAS is nice. Something like e-Box can be better for a newbie administrator.
 
vorbote said:
You truely have not used UNIX for a long time have you? �e
Click to expand...

No...but it runs great here, perhaps the instabilities on your end were due to PEBACAK errors.
 
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