Annotation of www/testimonials.html, Revision 1.13
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1.5 ian 16: <p>
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:
1.13 ! henning 26: <h3><a href="mailto:SKohrman@apu.edu">Shawn Kohrman</a> writes:</h3>
! 27: <p>
! 28: As a Security/Network Administrator for over ten years, I have to say
! 29: OpenBSD is hands down the best out-of-the-box OS I have seen yet. I
! 30: have worked with MS NT/2000, Linux (from it's humble beginnings),
! 31: Solaris, etc. OpenBSD is simple, clean, secure and reliable. Many
! 32: thanks to the developers for an outstanding job.
! 33:
1.10 ian 34: <h3><a href="mailto:kristoff@phatness.net">Kris Wilkinson</a> writes:</h3>
35: <p>
36: I've been securing networks for quite some time now, and until recently
37: when I installed Open BSD 3.0 I never realized how easy my life could have
38: been had I tried it earlier.
39: After experiencing all the "other" operating systems available, 3.0 has to
40: be the most secure, easily managed and well organized package I have ever seen.
41: Not only is it completely cutting edge, it focuses on the smaller points of
42: security which I'm tired of having to manually tweak every time you setup a box.
43: <p>
44: I am securing networks all over Alberta using your fantastic
45: setup. Thank you so much! Keep up the incredible work.
46:
1.8 deraadt 47: <h3>Matthew Haas says this:</h3>
1.1 ian 48: <p>
49: I've been very impressed with OpenBSD since my decision to install it.
50: Definitely a great system, reminds me of my Slackware days, but better.
51: <p>
52: Thanks.
53:
1.8 deraadt 54: <h3>
1.7 ian 55: <a href="mailto:webmaster@2600.org.au">Grant Bayley</a>,
1.8 deraadt 56: an IT Manager from Australia, writes:</h3>
1.1 ian 57: <p>
58: By way of success stories, since a few of us at 2600 Australia started
59: using OpenBSD about 12 months ago now in some form or another, we've seen...
60: friends load it onto their machines and been simply amazed
61: at the quality of it, in particular the forethought that goes into
62: securing things out of the box.
63: <p>
64: We've also had one of our guys working at an ISP go head-to-head with an
65: in-house SuSE zealot of sorts on a compatibility, stability and security
66: test in advance of them selecting an operating system for their servers
67: (which, while using RedHat, had been rooted at least once). OpenBSD passed
1.6 ian 68: with flying colors and as of today, they're beginning a roll-out of 2.6
1.1 ian 69: onto their servers, mostly using stock components and software from the
70: ports tree (qmail, cucipop etc).
71:
1.8 deraadt 72: <h3>System and Network Administrator Jeff Schneiter offers this:</h3>
1.1 ian 73: <p> With a frozen budget it sure makes one squeeze every last
74: bit of power out of whatever hardware one can lay his hands
75: on... and thanks to OpenBSD, I have been doing just that.
76:
1.8 deraadt 77: <h3><a name=sarendal href="mailto:tony@polarcap.org">Tony Sarendal</a> says this:</h3>
1.1 ian 78: <p>I tried OpenBSD because of the IPsec support.
79: The reason I stick with it is because it really is nice to use
80: and it gives a feeling of quality which no other OS can match.
81: <p>
82: I did some programming on an OpenBSD machine, after this I really
83: appreciated the man pages. Other Unices I used had man pages that
84: simply weren't any good.
85: <p>
86: Keep up the good work guys.
87:
1.8 deraadt 88: <h3>Security Engineer Tyler Allison writes:</h3>
1.1 ian 89: <p>
1.6 ian 90: I have installed, secured, and maintained Linux, Windows NT and OpenBSD in
91: highly secure environments. (yes you can secure Linux and Windows NT in
1.1 ian 92: this environment :) ). Having said that I have to point out that if you
93: want a minimum administration to keep up with security issues option you
94: need to pick OpenBSD by far. It is not uncommon for people to go years without
95: updating their production OpenBSD machines because they are just rock solid
96: and there are no known "remote" vulnerabilities. Thus no good reason to
97: upgrade...
98: <p>
99: I would feel perfectly happy to have one of my [novice] interns do a basic
100: OpenBSD install on a PC (no extra security work after the install) and then put
101: the companies crown jewels on that machine and then walk away for a year.
102: Knowing full well that machine hasn't crashed, been broken into or in need
103: of an OS upgrade. You can't say that about NT or Linux.
104: Or if you do you obviously havent ever used the product that way :)
105: <p>
106: Another thing that I hear people point out is go check your local exploit
107: site or vulnerability alert mailing list and see if you can find a "remote"
108: root level exploit that works on OpenBSD. I dare say you won't find any that
109: are less than 12 months old.
110:
1.8 deraadt 111: <h3>Jan Johansson gave this reply to a "how do I build a cheap web server?" query:</h3>
1.1 ian 112: <p>
113: I work today with Solaris, OpenBSD, NT Server, NT Workstation and Win 95.
114: <p>
115: After reading Bugtraq for some weeks I will say that I will never put
116: any (important) machine on the Internet if there is not a firewall in
117: front and for packet filtering I go for OpenBSD...
118: <p>
1.6 ian 119: For a cheap web server I say hardware from a known vendor, an ordered
1.1 ian 120: OpenBSD CD-ROM and Apache...
121:
122:
1.8 deraadt 123: <h3><a href="mailto:wyodlows@nj.devry.edu">
124: William Yodlowsky</a> at Devry Institute wrote:</h3>
1.1 ian 125:
1.4 ian 126: <p>[A few] years ago I was just getting into system administration. I learned
1.1 ian 127: Linux first. Then one of our old (I mean *really* old) BSDi servers
128: crashed, and it was up to me to rebuild the system.
129: <p>
130: I looked at FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD and Linux. In the end, it came down
131: to "secure and stable" that took the prize. OpenBSD 2.1 was installed.
132: <p>
133: Since then, I've run 2.1-2.5 on everything from production servers to
134: laptops. We've never (repeat: NEVER) had a break-in.
135: <p>
136: A coworker setup a RedHat based box to test his skills at setting up SSL
137: and a secure web site.
138: It was hacked literally overnight, and by the next morning was attacking
139: other sites.
140: <p>
141: Our OpenBSD servers were probed and then left alone.
142: <p>
143: In the intervening two years, that original server got upgraded
144: and patched several
145: times and the OS never gave us reason to question the reliability or
146: security of OpenBSD.
147: <p>
148: We have another box, acting as a router for about 800 workstations doing
149: very basic filtering and NAT. It's on a P120 with 32MB RAM and typically
150: the uptime would look like this:
151: <pre>
152: % uptime
153: 9:05PM up 266 days, 4:23, 1 user, load averages: 0.06, 0.06, 0.06
154: %</pre>
155: <p>As well, OpenBSD runs on my laptop.
1.6 ian 156: A Gateway Solo 2500 with a Xircom modem, and a Linksys fast Ethernet NIC.
1.1 ian 157: <p>
158: And it never crashes :)
159: <p>
1.4 ian 160: One other incident that made me a believer... we were pingbombed
161: [perhaps a predecessor to the early2000 DDOS attacks?]. I mean,
1.1 ian 162: 900 different hosts on different networks floodpinging an OpenBSD 2.3 box
1.6 ian 163: simultaneously, while it was processing email and web pages for 3500 users.
1.1 ian 164: <p>
165: It was a P133 with 64MB ram. And it didn't go down. It got a bit slower,
166: but never crashed :-)
167:
1.8 deraadt 168: <h3>John J. Adelsberger III said this about us in Bruce Schneier's
1.1 ian 169: <a href="http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram-0004.html#CommentsfromReaders">
1.8 deraadt 170: Crypto-Gram</a>:</h3>
1.2 ian 171: (the comments he is responding to are Schneier's)
1.1 ian 172: <br>
1.6 ian 173: <br>> Real systems show no signs of becoming less
174: <br>> complex. In fact, they are becoming more complex,
175: <br>> faster and faster. Microsoft Windows is a poster
176: <br>> child for this trend to complexity.
1.1 ian 177: <br>...
1.6 ian 178: <br>> The other choice is to slow down, to simplify,
179: <br>> and to try to add security.
1.1 ian 180: <p>
181: OpenBSD does this. <I>I am unaware of any other group whose workings
182: are publicly viewable that does so</I> [emphasis added], which is regrettable, because
183: I would prefer not to have this appear as an OpenBSD plug; rather,
184: my purpose is to point out that not only is this approach feasible,
185: but it is being done.
186:
1.8 deraadt 187: <h3>Andrew Hermetz commented as follows:</h3>
1.1 ian 188: <p>Hey all,
189: <p>Just wanted to drop a line and thank all who have worked to make OpenBSD
190: such a clean, cool, & efficient project.
191: <p>Major kudos to Theo for being a man ahead of his time! ;-)
192: <p>As I have to frequently explain to people *why* security is important at
193: all ("if you have nothing to hide...", "nothing you do is important enough to
1.6 ian 194: warrant encryption...", "only criminals and terrorists need to sneak around
1.1 ian 195: anonymously...", etc. ad nauseam), let alone *why* it's important in this day
196: and age of personal networks behind a DSL or even a full T1, I love being able
1.6 ian 197: to point them to a page which sets out a well-reasoned explanation for taking
1.1 ian 198: computer security seriously.
199: <p>[... OpenBSD installed]
200: effortlessly onto a Pentium 90 Compaq LTE 5100 laptop -- even the no-name
201: brand LAN card came right up and did a kickass install over a friend's office
202: T1. When I sing its praises, the thing that seems to get most people is its
1.10 ian 203: spartan look & feel, but I like knowing where everything is and not having a
1.1 ian 204: distro that shoves [stuff] into dark corners I'll never find...
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