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