Any ex-BSD users? (Comparison thread for non-flamers)
Posted: 2019/05/23 20:38:12
Hi All,
I've been using FreeBSD to power a small-scale network for the past few years. I found it to be very well suited for everything I wanted to achieve. Recently however, I've been wondering whether another OS, such as CentOS, could provide a better experience than BSD. Is there much to improve upon? No, but there's no such thing as a perfect system so I'm trying to determine whether CentOS could be a preference for me.
Let's get the disclaimer of out the way: I fully appreciate that both BSD and CentOS are very capable systems and both can be configured for many diverse applications. I understand that either could probably achieve 99% of what the other can do, hence any comparison must be related to (1) specific use cases, and (2) personal preference. No silver bullet solutions, just great building blocks.
Right. Here are my main use cases:
(1) NAS type storage accessed by circa 15 clients. Possibly with differing QoS.
(2) ZFS or equally capable mechanism for preserving data integrity.
(3) Private cloud instance.
(4) Internal and external web service. Very simple and lightweight.
(5) Disk / partition encryption. Possibly also intra-system isolation (think BSD jails, securelevels, etc.)
(6) Media streaming application.
Here's what my research seems to indicate so far:
(1) Hardware support is far better on CentOS. Neutral for me with the exception of integrated GPU support, specifically Intel Quick Video in Xeon HDs, which I suspect I might need in the near future. BSD supports it apparently but yet to be tested... I'll be using enterprise grade hardware so expect support on both platforms.
(2) Package administration seems to be equally trivial on both platforms. = Neutral.
(3) System upgrades seem to easier (and less risky?) on CentOS. = Pro-CentOS, I really don't like the BSD release upgrade mechanism...
(4) Stability, network stack maturity, etc. is comparable on both platform. = Neutral.
(5) ZFS is a big selling point for BSD. I know about Linux ZFS support but heard differing opinions on the maturity of implementation. = Pro-BSD.
(6) Security mechanisms. Both systems can be made secure, however the BSD jail mechanism is quite unique and pretty cool. The BSD project approach also ensures all software is managed by a single team - i.e. beneficial from a code integrity and testing perspective. = Pro-BSD.
(7) Perhaps not the most relevant point solution-wise but I've got more faith in the FreeBSD Foundation rather than Torvalds. I hate the fact that his name is baked into the system name and that he effectively owns the Linux kernel.
What have I missed? What have I gotten wrong? What are your experiences? What would make you choose one platform over the other, were you consider my use cases? Grateful for any insights shared.
Janusz
I've been using FreeBSD to power a small-scale network for the past few years. I found it to be very well suited for everything I wanted to achieve. Recently however, I've been wondering whether another OS, such as CentOS, could provide a better experience than BSD. Is there much to improve upon? No, but there's no such thing as a perfect system so I'm trying to determine whether CentOS could be a preference for me.
Let's get the disclaimer of out the way: I fully appreciate that both BSD and CentOS are very capable systems and both can be configured for many diverse applications. I understand that either could probably achieve 99% of what the other can do, hence any comparison must be related to (1) specific use cases, and (2) personal preference. No silver bullet solutions, just great building blocks.
Right. Here are my main use cases:
(1) NAS type storage accessed by circa 15 clients. Possibly with differing QoS.
(2) ZFS or equally capable mechanism for preserving data integrity.
(3) Private cloud instance.
(4) Internal and external web service. Very simple and lightweight.
(5) Disk / partition encryption. Possibly also intra-system isolation (think BSD jails, securelevels, etc.)
(6) Media streaming application.
Here's what my research seems to indicate so far:
(1) Hardware support is far better on CentOS. Neutral for me with the exception of integrated GPU support, specifically Intel Quick Video in Xeon HDs, which I suspect I might need in the near future. BSD supports it apparently but yet to be tested... I'll be using enterprise grade hardware so expect support on both platforms.
(2) Package administration seems to be equally trivial on both platforms. = Neutral.
(3) System upgrades seem to easier (and less risky?) on CentOS. = Pro-CentOS, I really don't like the BSD release upgrade mechanism...
(4) Stability, network stack maturity, etc. is comparable on both platform. = Neutral.
(5) ZFS is a big selling point for BSD. I know about Linux ZFS support but heard differing opinions on the maturity of implementation. = Pro-BSD.
(6) Security mechanisms. Both systems can be made secure, however the BSD jail mechanism is quite unique and pretty cool. The BSD project approach also ensures all software is managed by a single team - i.e. beneficial from a code integrity and testing perspective. = Pro-BSD.
(7) Perhaps not the most relevant point solution-wise but I've got more faith in the FreeBSD Foundation rather than Torvalds. I hate the fact that his name is baked into the system name and that he effectively owns the Linux kernel.
What have I missed? What have I gotten wrong? What are your experiences? What would make you choose one platform over the other, were you consider my use cases? Grateful for any insights shared.
Janusz