FreeBSD includes what many consider the reference implementation for TCP/IP software, the 4.4 BSD TCP/IP protocol stack, thereby making it ideal for network applications and the Internet.
Like most UNIX systems, the FreeBSD operating system enables you to
- Share filesystems with NFS
- Distribute network information with NIS
- Support remote logins
- Do remote SNMP configuration and management
- Serve files with FTP
- Resolve Internet hostnames with DNS/BIND
- Route packets between multiple interfaces, including PPP and SLIP lines
- Use IP Multicast services (the MBONE)
FreeBSD lets you to turn a PC into a World Wide Web server or Usenet news relay with included software. Using the included SAMBA software you can even share filesystems or printers with your Win95 and NT machines and, with the supplied PCNFS authentication daemon, you can support machines running PC/NFS. FreeBSD also supports Appletalk and Novell client/server networking (using an optional commercial package), making it a true "Intranet" networking solution.
FreeBSD also handles TCP extensions like the RFC-1323 high performance extension and RFC-1644 extension for transactions, plus SLIP and dial-on-demand PPP. It is an operating system suitable for a home-based net surfer as well as a corporate systems administrator.
If you need an Internet server platform that is reliable and offers the best performance under heavy load, then consider FreeBSD. Here are just a few of the companies that make use of FreeBSD every day:
- Walnut Creek CD-ROM outside of San Francisco runs one of the most popular FTP servers on the net, one that supports 1600 simultaneous connections. Their server is a single FreeBSD machine, transferring between 2 and 3 terabytes (yes that is terabytes!) worth of files every month. The configuration details are available to those interested in building simililar systems.
- Yahoo Inc. runs the ultimate index of the Internet, serving scads of daily net surfers with information about the World Wide Web. Yahoo, as well the companies that advertise on Yahoo, rely on FreeBSD to run reliable and responsive web servers.
- If that is not enough, visit our Gallery of satisfied FreeBSD users.
FreeBSD makes an ideal platform for these and other Internet services:
- Company-wide or world-wide WWW service
- Proxy WWW service
- Anonymous FTP service
- Enterprise file and print services
The FreeBSD ports collection contains ready-to-run software that makes it easy to set up your own Internet server.
The FreeBSD development team is as concerned about security as they are about performance. FreeBSD includes kernel support for IP firewalling, as well other services, such as IP proxy gateways. If you put your corporate servers on the Internet, any 386 PC (or better) running FreeBSD can act as a network firewall to protect them from outside attack.
Encryption software, secure shells, Kerberos, end-to-end encryption and secure RPC facilities are also available (subject to export restrictions).
Furthermore, the FreeBSD team is proactive in detecting and disseminating security information and bug reports with a security officer and ties to the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT).
www@FreeBSD.ORG``FreeBSD ... provides what is probably the most robust and capable TCP/IP stack in existence ...''
---Michael O'Brien, SunExpert August 1996 volume 7 number 8.