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1.5 ian 13: <p>
1.10 ian 14: <h2><font color="#e00000">OpenBSD: Users' View</font></h2>
1.1 ian 15: <p>Many users have commented on their use of OpenBSD.
1.10 ian 16: The following are unsolicited comments from our public mailing lists or,
1.3 ian 17: occasionally, other mailing lists (these have links to the original articles).
1.6 ian 18: Postings have been shortened, and edited slightly for spelling and grammar,
1.1 ian 19: but are otherwise unchanged.
20:
1.8 deraadt 21: <hr>
22:
1.19 sthen 23: <h3>Jules Desforges wrote this in an introduction to the
24: <a href="http://ukopenbsdusers.saneusergroup.org.uk/pipermail/uk-openbsd-users/2010-June/000022.html">ukopenbsdusers mailing list</a>:</h3>
25: <p>
26: My name is Jules and I live in Kent. I've been using OpenBSD since 2.9.
27: I have OpenBSD running on 6 x Nexcom NSA1086's to provide core routing
28: between our Data Centres. All the routes are running from read-only
29: Compact Flash. Largely runs untroubled, pushing ~ 400Mb/s.
30: Main motivation was the cost savings compared to equivalent
31: Junpier/Cisco kit.
32: I hope to be testing the new MPLS code soon.
33: <p>
34:
1.13 henning 35: <h3><a href="mailto:SKohrman@apu.edu">Shawn Kohrman</a> writes:</h3>
36: <p>
37: As a Security/Network Administrator for over ten years, I have to say
38: OpenBSD is hands down the best out-of-the-box OS I have seen yet. I
1.14 henning 39: have worked with MS NT/2000, Linux (from its humble beginnings),
1.13 henning 40: Solaris, etc. OpenBSD is simple, clean, secure and reliable. Many
41: thanks to the developers for an outstanding job.
42:
1.10 ian 43: <h3><a href="mailto:kristoff@phatness.net">Kris Wilkinson</a> writes:</h3>
44: <p>
45: I've been securing networks for quite some time now, and until recently
46: when I installed Open BSD 3.0 I never realized how easy my life could have
47: been had I tried it earlier.
48: After experiencing all the "other" operating systems available, 3.0 has to
49: be the most secure, easily managed and well organized package I have ever seen.
50: Not only is it completely cutting edge, it focuses on the smaller points of
51: security which I'm tired of having to manually tweak every time you setup a box.
52: <p>
53: I am securing networks all over Alberta using your fantastic
54: setup. Thank you so much! Keep up the incredible work.
55:
1.8 deraadt 56: <h3>Matthew Haas says this:</h3>
1.1 ian 57: <p>
58: I've been very impressed with OpenBSD since my decision to install it.
59: Definitely a great system, reminds me of my Slackware days, but better.
60: <p>
61: Thanks.
62:
1.8 deraadt 63: <h3>
1.7 ian 64: <a href="mailto:webmaster@2600.org.au">Grant Bayley</a>,
1.8 deraadt 65: an IT Manager from Australia, writes:</h3>
1.1 ian 66: <p>
67: By way of success stories, since a few of us at 2600 Australia started
68: using OpenBSD about 12 months ago now in some form or another, we've seen...
69: friends load it onto their machines and been simply amazed
70: at the quality of it, in particular the forethought that goes into
71: securing things out of the box.
72: <p>
73: We've also had one of our guys working at an ISP go head-to-head with an
74: in-house SuSE zealot of sorts on a compatibility, stability and security
75: test in advance of them selecting an operating system for their servers
76: (which, while using RedHat, had been rooted at least once). OpenBSD passed
1.6 ian 77: with flying colors and as of today, they're beginning a roll-out of 2.6
1.1 ian 78: onto their servers, mostly using stock components and software from the
79: ports tree (qmail, cucipop etc).
80:
1.8 deraadt 81: <h3>System and Network Administrator Jeff Schneiter offers this:</h3>
1.1 ian 82: <p> With a frozen budget it sure makes one squeeze every last
83: bit of power out of whatever hardware one can lay his hands
84: on... and thanks to OpenBSD, I have been doing just that.
85:
1.8 deraadt 86: <h3><a name=sarendal href="mailto:tony@polarcap.org">Tony Sarendal</a> says this:</h3>
1.1 ian 87: <p>I tried OpenBSD because of the IPsec support.
88: The reason I stick with it is because it really is nice to use
89: and it gives a feeling of quality which no other OS can match.
90: <p>
91: I did some programming on an OpenBSD machine, after this I really
92: appreciated the man pages. Other Unices I used had man pages that
93: simply weren't any good.
94: <p>
95: Keep up the good work guys.
96:
1.8 deraadt 97: <h3>Security Engineer Tyler Allison writes:</h3>
1.1 ian 98: <p>
1.6 ian 99: I have installed, secured, and maintained Linux, Windows NT and OpenBSD in
100: highly secure environments. (yes you can secure Linux and Windows NT in
1.1 ian 101: this environment :) ). Having said that I have to point out that if you
102: want a minimum administration to keep up with security issues option you
103: need to pick OpenBSD by far. It is not uncommon for people to go years without
104: updating their production OpenBSD machines because they are just rock solid
105: and there are no known "remote" vulnerabilities. Thus no good reason to
106: upgrade...
107: <p>
108: I would feel perfectly happy to have one of my [novice] interns do a basic
109: OpenBSD install on a PC (no extra security work after the install) and then put
110: the companies crown jewels on that machine and then walk away for a year.
111: Knowing full well that machine hasn't crashed, been broken into or in need
112: of an OS upgrade. You can't say that about NT or Linux.
1.14 henning 113: Or if you do you obviously haven't ever used the product that way :)
1.1 ian 114: <p>
115: Another thing that I hear people point out is go check your local exploit
116: site or vulnerability alert mailing list and see if you can find a "remote"
117: root level exploit that works on OpenBSD. I dare say you won't find any that
118: are less than 12 months old.
119:
1.8 deraadt 120: <h3>Jan Johansson gave this reply to a "how do I build a cheap web server?" query:</h3>
1.1 ian 121: <p>
122: I work today with Solaris, OpenBSD, NT Server, NT Workstation and Win 95.
123: <p>
124: After reading Bugtraq for some weeks I will say that I will never put
125: any (important) machine on the Internet if there is not a firewall in
126: front and for packet filtering I go for OpenBSD...
127: <p>
1.6 ian 128: For a cheap web server I say hardware from a known vendor, an ordered
1.1 ian 129: OpenBSD CD-ROM and Apache...
130:
131:
1.8 deraadt 132: <h3><a href="mailto:wyodlows@nj.devry.edu">
133: William Yodlowsky</a> at Devry Institute wrote:</h3>
1.1 ian 134:
1.4 ian 135: <p>[A few] years ago I was just getting into system administration. I learned
1.1 ian 136: Linux first. Then one of our old (I mean *really* old) BSDi servers
137: crashed, and it was up to me to rebuild the system.
138: <p>
139: I looked at FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD and Linux. In the end, it came down
140: to "secure and stable" that took the prize. OpenBSD 2.1 was installed.
141: <p>
142: Since then, I've run 2.1-2.5 on everything from production servers to
143: laptops. We've never (repeat: NEVER) had a break-in.
144: <p>
145: A coworker setup a RedHat based box to test his skills at setting up SSL
146: and a secure web site.
147: It was hacked literally overnight, and by the next morning was attacking
148: other sites.
149: <p>
150: Our OpenBSD servers were probed and then left alone.
151: <p>
152: In the intervening two years, that original server got upgraded
153: and patched several
154: times and the OS never gave us reason to question the reliability or
155: security of OpenBSD.
156: <p>
157: We have another box, acting as a router for about 800 workstations doing
158: very basic filtering and NAT. It's on a P120 with 32MB RAM and typically
159: the uptime would look like this:
160: <pre>
161: % uptime
162: 9:05PM up 266 days, 4:23, 1 user, load averages: 0.06, 0.06, 0.06
163: %</pre>
164: <p>As well, OpenBSD runs on my laptop.
1.6 ian 165: A Gateway Solo 2500 with a Xircom modem, and a Linksys fast Ethernet NIC.
1.1 ian 166: <p>
167: And it never crashes :)
168: <p>
1.4 ian 169: One other incident that made me a believer... we were pingbombed
170: [perhaps a predecessor to the early2000 DDOS attacks?]. I mean,
1.1 ian 171: 900 different hosts on different networks floodpinging an OpenBSD 2.3 box
1.6 ian 172: simultaneously, while it was processing email and web pages for 3500 users.
1.1 ian 173: <p>
174: It was a P133 with 64MB ram. And it didn't go down. It got a bit slower,
175: but never crashed :-)
176:
1.8 deraadt 177: <h3>John J. Adelsberger III said this about us in Bruce Schneier's
1.1 ian 178: <a href="http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram-0004.html#CommentsfromReaders">
1.8 deraadt 179: Crypto-Gram</a>:</h3>
1.2 ian 180: (the comments he is responding to are Schneier's)
1.1 ian 181: <br>
1.6 ian 182: <br>> Real systems show no signs of becoming less
183: <br>> complex. In fact, they are becoming more complex,
184: <br>> faster and faster. Microsoft Windows is a poster
185: <br>> child for this trend to complexity.
1.1 ian 186: <br>...
1.6 ian 187: <br>> The other choice is to slow down, to simplify,
188: <br>> and to try to add security.
1.1 ian 189: <p>
1.15 david 190: OpenBSD does this. <i>I am unaware of any other group whose workings
191: are publicly viewable that does so</i> [emphasis added], which is regrettable, because
1.1 ian 192: I would prefer not to have this appear as an OpenBSD plug; rather,
193: my purpose is to point out that not only is this approach feasible,
194: but it is being done.
195:
1.8 deraadt 196: <h3>Andrew Hermetz commented as follows:</h3>
1.1 ian 197: <p>Hey all,
198: <p>Just wanted to drop a line and thank all who have worked to make OpenBSD
199: such a clean, cool, & efficient project.
200: <p>Major kudos to Theo for being a man ahead of his time! ;-)
201: <p>As I have to frequently explain to people *why* security is important at
202: all ("if you have nothing to hide...", "nothing you do is important enough to
1.6 ian 203: warrant encryption...", "only criminals and terrorists need to sneak around
1.1 ian 204: anonymously...", etc. ad nauseam), let alone *why* it's important in this day
205: and age of personal networks behind a DSL or even a full T1, I love being able
1.6 ian 206: to point them to a page which sets out a well-reasoned explanation for taking
1.1 ian 207: computer security seriously.
208: <p>[... OpenBSD installed]
209: effortlessly onto a Pentium 90 Compaq LTE 5100 laptop -- even the no-name
210: brand LAN card came right up and did a kickass install over a friend's office
211: T1. When I sing its praises, the thing that seems to get most people is its
1.10 ian 212: spartan look & feel, but I like knowing where everything is and not having a
1.1 ian 213: distro that shoves [stuff] into dark corners I'll never find...
1.17 grunk 214:
215: <h3><a href="mailto:ben@wbpsystems.com">Ben Smith</a>, president of
216: <a href="http://www.wbpsystems.com">wbp systems</a> says:</h3>
217: OpenBSD is the most secure operating system
1.18 grunk 218: <a href="http://www.wbpsystems.com">wbp systems</a> has ever used.
1.17 grunk 219: With all of our products, OpenBSD has allowed us to focus on our customers
220: instead of tweaking the OS to make it secure.
221: Internally we use OpenBSD for everything imaginable.
222: With its rock solid performance, we never have to worry about a file
223: server, proxy server or application server crashing.
224:
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