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1.10 ! ian 17: <h2><font color="#e00000">OpenBSD: Users' View</font></h2>
1.1 ian 18: <p>Many users have commented on their use of OpenBSD.
1.10 ! ian 19: The following are unsolicited comments from our public mailing lists or,
1.3 ian 20: occasionally, other mailing lists (these have links to the original articles).
1.6 ian 21: Postings have been shortened, and edited slightly for spelling and grammar,
1.1 ian 22: but are otherwise unchanged.
23:
1.8 deraadt 24: <hr>
25:
1.10 ! ian 26: <h3><a href="mailto:kristoff@phatness.net">Kris Wilkinson</a> writes:</h3>
! 27: <p>
! 28: I've been securing networks for quite some time now, and until recently
! 29: when I installed Open BSD 3.0 I never realized how easy my life could have
! 30: been had I tried it earlier.
! 31: After experiencing all the "other" operating systems available, 3.0 has to
! 32: be the most secure, easily managed and well organized package I have ever seen.
! 33: Not only is it completely cutting edge, it focuses on the smaller points of
! 34: security which I'm tired of having to manually tweak every time you setup a box.
! 35: <p>
! 36: I am securing networks all over Alberta using your fantastic
! 37: setup. Thank you so much! Keep up the incredible work.
! 38:
1.8 deraadt 39: <h3>Matthew Haas says this:</h3>
1.1 ian 40: <p>
41: I've been very impressed with OpenBSD since my decision to install it.
42: Definitely a great system, reminds me of my Slackware days, but better.
43: <p>
44: Thanks.
45:
1.8 deraadt 46: <h3>
1.7 ian 47: <a href="mailto:webmaster@2600.org.au">Grant Bayley</a>,
1.8 deraadt 48: an IT Manager from Australia, writes:</h3>
1.1 ian 49: <p>
50: By way of success stories, since a few of us at 2600 Australia started
51: using OpenBSD about 12 months ago now in some form or another, we've seen...
52: friends load it onto their machines and been simply amazed
53: at the quality of it, in particular the forethought that goes into
54: securing things out of the box.
55: <p>
56: We've also had one of our guys working at an ISP go head-to-head with an
57: in-house SuSE zealot of sorts on a compatibility, stability and security
58: test in advance of them selecting an operating system for their servers
59: (which, while using RedHat, had been rooted at least once). OpenBSD passed
1.6 ian 60: with flying colors and as of today, they're beginning a roll-out of 2.6
1.1 ian 61: onto their servers, mostly using stock components and software from the
62: ports tree (qmail, cucipop etc).
63:
1.8 deraadt 64: <h3>System and Network Administrator Jeff Schneiter offers this:</h3>
1.1 ian 65: <p> With a frozen budget it sure makes one squeeze every last
66: bit of power out of whatever hardware one can lay his hands
67: on... and thanks to OpenBSD, I have been doing just that.
68:
1.8 deraadt 69: <h3><a name=sarendal href="mailto:tony@polarcap.org">Tony Sarendal</a> says this:</h3>
1.1 ian 70: <p>I tried OpenBSD because of the IPsec support.
71: The reason I stick with it is because it really is nice to use
72: and it gives a feeling of quality which no other OS can match.
73: <p>
74: I did some programming on an OpenBSD machine, after this I really
75: appreciated the man pages. Other Unices I used had man pages that
76: simply weren't any good.
77: <p>
78: Keep up the good work guys.
79:
1.8 deraadt 80: <h3>Security Engineer Tyler Allison writes:</h3>
1.1 ian 81: <p>
1.6 ian 82: I have installed, secured, and maintained Linux, Windows NT and OpenBSD in
83: highly secure environments. (yes you can secure Linux and Windows NT in
1.1 ian 84: this environment :) ). Having said that I have to point out that if you
85: want a minimum administration to keep up with security issues option you
86: need to pick OpenBSD by far. It is not uncommon for people to go years without
87: updating their production OpenBSD machines because they are just rock solid
88: and there are no known "remote" vulnerabilities. Thus no good reason to
89: upgrade...
90: <p>
91: I would feel perfectly happy to have one of my [novice] interns do a basic
92: OpenBSD install on a PC (no extra security work after the install) and then put
93: the companies crown jewels on that machine and then walk away for a year.
94: Knowing full well that machine hasn't crashed, been broken into or in need
95: of an OS upgrade. You can't say that about NT or Linux.
96: Or if you do you obviously havent ever used the product that way :)
97: <p>
98: Another thing that I hear people point out is go check your local exploit
99: site or vulnerability alert mailing list and see if you can find a "remote"
100: root level exploit that works on OpenBSD. I dare say you won't find any that
101: are less than 12 months old.
102:
1.8 deraadt 103: <h3>Jan Johansson gave this reply to a "how do I build a cheap web server?" query:</h3>
1.1 ian 104: <p>
105: I work today with Solaris, OpenBSD, NT Server, NT Workstation and Win 95.
106: <p>
107: After reading Bugtraq for some weeks I will say that I will never put
108: any (important) machine on the Internet if there is not a firewall in
109: front and for packet filtering I go for OpenBSD...
110: <p>
1.6 ian 111: For a cheap web server I say hardware from a known vendor, an ordered
1.1 ian 112: OpenBSD CD-ROM and Apache...
113:
114:
1.8 deraadt 115: <h3><a href="mailto:wyodlows@nj.devry.edu">
116: William Yodlowsky</a> at Devry Institute wrote:</h3>
1.1 ian 117:
1.4 ian 118: <p>[A few] years ago I was just getting into system administration. I learned
1.1 ian 119: Linux first. Then one of our old (I mean *really* old) BSDi servers
120: crashed, and it was up to me to rebuild the system.
121: <p>
122: I looked at FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD and Linux. In the end, it came down
123: to "secure and stable" that took the prize. OpenBSD 2.1 was installed.
124: <p>
125: Since then, I've run 2.1-2.5 on everything from production servers to
126: laptops. We've never (repeat: NEVER) had a break-in.
127: <p>
128: A coworker setup a RedHat based box to test his skills at setting up SSL
129: and a secure web site.
130: It was hacked literally overnight, and by the next morning was attacking
131: other sites.
132: <p>
133: Our OpenBSD servers were probed and then left alone.
134: <p>
135: In the intervening two years, that original server got upgraded
136: and patched several
137: times and the OS never gave us reason to question the reliability or
138: security of OpenBSD.
139: <p>
140: We have another box, acting as a router for about 800 workstations doing
141: very basic filtering and NAT. It's on a P120 with 32MB RAM and typically
142: the uptime would look like this:
143: <pre>
144: % uptime
145: 9:05PM up 266 days, 4:23, 1 user, load averages: 0.06, 0.06, 0.06
146: %</pre>
147: <p>As well, OpenBSD runs on my laptop.
1.6 ian 148: A Gateway Solo 2500 with a Xircom modem, and a Linksys fast Ethernet NIC.
1.1 ian 149: <p>
150: And it never crashes :)
151: <p>
1.4 ian 152: One other incident that made me a believer... we were pingbombed
153: [perhaps a predecessor to the early2000 DDOS attacks?]. I mean,
1.1 ian 154: 900 different hosts on different networks floodpinging an OpenBSD 2.3 box
1.6 ian 155: simultaneously, while it was processing email and web pages for 3500 users.
1.1 ian 156: <p>
157: It was a P133 with 64MB ram. And it didn't go down. It got a bit slower,
158: but never crashed :-)
159:
1.8 deraadt 160: <h3>John J. Adelsberger III said this about us in Bruce Schneier's
1.1 ian 161: <a href="http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram-0004.html#CommentsfromReaders">
1.8 deraadt 162: Crypto-Gram</a>:</h3>
1.2 ian 163: (the comments he is responding to are Schneier's)
1.1 ian 164: <br>
1.6 ian 165: <br>> Real systems show no signs of becoming less
166: <br>> complex. In fact, they are becoming more complex,
167: <br>> faster and faster. Microsoft Windows is a poster
168: <br>> child for this trend to complexity.
1.1 ian 169: <br>...
1.6 ian 170: <br>> The other choice is to slow down, to simplify,
171: <br>> and to try to add security.
1.1 ian 172: <p>
173: OpenBSD does this. <I>I am unaware of any other group whose workings
174: are publicly viewable that does so</I> [emphasis added], which is regrettable, because
175: I would prefer not to have this appear as an OpenBSD plug; rather,
176: my purpose is to point out that not only is this approach feasible,
177: but it is being done.
178:
1.8 deraadt 179: <h3>Andrew Hermetz commented as follows:</h3>
1.1 ian 180: <p>Hey all,
181: <p>Just wanted to drop a line and thank all who have worked to make OpenBSD
182: such a clean, cool, & efficient project.
183: <p>Major kudos to Theo for being a man ahead of his time! ;-)
184: <p>As I have to frequently explain to people *why* security is important at
185: all ("if you have nothing to hide...", "nothing you do is important enough to
1.6 ian 186: warrant encryption...", "only criminals and terrorists need to sneak around
1.1 ian 187: anonymously...", etc. ad nauseam), let alone *why* it's important in this day
188: and age of personal networks behind a DSL or even a full T1, I love being able
1.6 ian 189: to point them to a page which sets out a well-reasoned explanation for taking
1.1 ian 190: computer security seriously.
191: <p>[... OpenBSD installed]
192: effortlessly onto a Pentium 90 Compaq LTE 5100 laptop -- even the no-name
193: brand LAN card came right up and did a kickass install over a friend's office
194: T1. When I sing its praises, the thing that seems to get most people is its
1.10 ! ian 195: spartan look & feel, but I like knowing where everything is and not having a
1.1 ian 196: distro that shoves [stuff] into dark corners I'll never find...
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