BSD Success Stories

[M***@rogers.com]

O'Reilly is in the process of creating a "BSD Success Stories" booklet to
be given away at trade shows, conferences, etc. For those of you who are
familiar with the "Perl Success Stories", it will be following a similar
http://perl.oreilly.com/news/success_stories.html
If anyone is interested in contributing a success story, please contact
good chance the booklets will be ready for BSDCan (www.bsdcan.org) :-)

great! thanks Dru. we'll be sure to submit our recent story of
converting www.hostdepartment.com over to FreeBSD. previously, the company
was using RedHat and faced an additional 21,000 dollar cost to upgrade
to the advanced server edition. that, plus the ongoing annual support
costs can get a bit expensive.
now, they have 30 new systems running FreeBSD that are outperforming
their previous Linux machines, and, with a bit of training, are now
lower maintenence than ever before ;-)
it should also boost FreeBSD on the netcraft lists too since this customer hosts so
many (100k plus?) websites.
cheers,
-matt

I am really glad they switched to FreeBSD, and I am sure it will turn
out well for them - but I wonder why they didn't just stop buying
support from Red Hat, and switching to Fedora, or one of the other Linux
distributions that can be run without paying a support fee?

Do they have a quote on how much better the performance is?

[m***@offmyserver.com]

Post by M***@rogers.com
I am really glad they switched to FreeBSD, and I am sure it will turn
out well for them - but I wonder why they didn't just stop buying
support from Red Hat, and switching to Fedora, or one of the other Linux
distributions that can be run without paying a support fee?

Because I told them FreeBSD was better ;-)

Actually, for a variety of reasons, some of them concerning the
SCO issues. My company is not going to indemnify end-users from any
potential lawsuits resulting in purchasing Linux servers. Seems like a
non-issue until you are actually being sued. At that point, it may not
even be a matter of who's wrong and who's right, but who can afford more
attorney fees.

Also, PSoft, the software company that makes the hosting software that
they use apparently do their development work on FreeBSD and recommended
it as well.

Post by M***@rogers.com
Do they have a quote on how much better the performance is?

I don't know that they have many hard numbers, but I'll certainly poke
around when I'm writing this up.

cheers,
-matt

[l***@401.cx]

O'Reilly is in the process of creating a "BSD Success Stories" booklet to
be given away at trade shows, conferences, etc. For those of you who are
familiar with the "Perl Success Stories", it will be following a similar
http://perl.oreilly.com/news/success_stories.html
If anyone is interested in contributing a success story, please contact
good chance the booklets will be ready for BSDCan (www.bsdcan.org) :-)
Dru

Do we have anyone at Yahoo! that could write something up for us?
Yahoo! must without doubt be one of the biggest feathers in
FreeBSD's hat.

I know that distributed.net runs FreeBSD. It would be nice to have
something from them that shows that BSD can handle massive SQL
databases for those that like that. I know that a lot of people for
some reason turns to linux/MySQL when it comes to databases. Showing
that a project like distributed.net with their huge databases uses
FreeBSD should convince atleast some people to take another look at BSD.

Does anyone know anyone inside Yahoo! or distributed.net?

--
R

[d***@offmyserver.com]

Do we have anyone at Yahoo! that could write something up for us? Yahoo!
must without doubt be one of the biggest feathers in FreeBSD's hat.
I know that distributed.net runs FreeBSD. It would be nice to have
something from them that shows that BSD can handle massive SQL databases
for those that like that. I know that a lot of people for some reason
turns to linux/MySQL when it comes to databases. Showing that a project
like distributed.net with their huge databases uses FreeBSD should
convince atleast some people to take another look at BSD.
Does anyone know anyone inside Yahoo! or distributed.net?
--
R

Not to mention Juniper, NASA, Envivio, About.com and many others. I'm
sure Matt can get our customers to write a quick testimonial for this,
being the great businessman he is :)

Dru: is there a more concrete deadline than ``fairly quickly''?

Kind regards,

Devon H. O'Dell

[s***@sremick.net]

Post by d***@offmyserver.com
Not to mention Juniper, NASA, Envivio, About.com and many others.

Let me know if you need help w/ About.com. I'm kind of on the inside there
and could probably at least hook you up with names/emails of people.

[d***@sympatico.ca]

Post by d***@offmyserver.com

Do we have anyone at Yahoo! that could write something up for us? Yahoo!
must without doubt be one of the biggest feathers in FreeBSD's hat.
I know that distributed.net runs FreeBSD. It would be nice to have
something from them that shows that BSD can handle massive SQL databases
for those that like that. I know that a lot of people for some reason
turns to linux/MySQL when it comes to databases. Showing that a project
like distributed.net with their huge databases uses FreeBSD should
convince atleast some people to take another look at BSD.
Does anyone know anyone inside Yahoo! or distributed.net?
--
R

Not to mention Juniper, NASA, Envivio, About.com and many others. I'm
sure Matt can get our customers to write a quick testimonial for this,
being the great businessman he is :)
Dru: is there a more concrete deadline than ``fairly quickly''?

Next Wednesday so that this particular booklet can be edited and published
in time. However, those that are under time constraints, write one up as
you can. If we get enough, we can have different versions of the booklet;
also once we have enough, we can have an URL similar to the Perl Success
Stories one.

chromatic has also indicated that he is more interested in personal
(small/medium network) stories written by those in the trenches, rather
than the big impersonal stories.

Dru

[m***@pasternak.w.lub.pl]

Post by l***@401.cx
Do we have anyone at Yahoo! that could write something up for us?
Yahoo! must without doubt be one of the biggest feathers in
FreeBSD's hat.

Roger and everyone - don't get me wrong, but as I already wrote it
somewhere: I am quite tired of "Yahoo runs FreeBSD" advocacy. In the
"ancient" times, their success story was very important for FreeBSD, as it
clearly showed, that they would be unable to accomplish their task the same
way, as they did it with FreeBSD - Linux was too immature at that time.
Today the times have changed - Linux is often used to do large projects,
like google.com, for example. This doesn't mean that we should ignore the
fact Yahoo uses it - not at all - but, perhaps, people like me would really
be more interested in hearing about other companies and projects, that use
FreeBSD, as we already heard, that Yahoo does it. Many times.

Also, chances are, that Yahoo! is not as popular and not as widely known in
my country, as it is in yours.

Post by l***@401.cx
I know that distributed.net runs FreeBSD. It would be nice to have
something from them that shows that BSD can handle massive SQL

... and that's news for me. I haven't heard that they use FreeBSD. I look
forward to hear about much more other projects!

Take care,

[c***@coppersoftware.com]

Roger and everyone - don't get me wrong, but as I already wrote it
somewhere: I am quite tired of "Yahoo runs FreeBSD" advocacy. In the
"ancient" times, their success story was very important for FreeBSD, as it
clearly showed, that they would be unable to accomplish their task the same
way, as they did it with FreeBSD - Linux was too immature at that time.
<<

I too wondered about Yahoo and FreeBSD. I guess when I hear the association
made, is that implying that FreeBSD is being used for development
internally, or intranet servers?

When my browser connects to a yahoo.com server, what platform is that server
running? If it's FreeBSD, that's a huge deal.

If it's a hodgepodge of platforms that serve up yahoo.com content, then is
there any idea of percentage that FreeBSD or others have?

Never mind - I just found netcraft.com. Yep, Yahoo runs FreeBSD on it's
servers.

Now, what I found very enlightening was the uptime statistics. In a ranking
of sites with the highest average uptimes, BSD owns the list. FreeBSD runs
on 7 of the top 25 sites for average uptime. BSD/OS runs on other 18. #5
is amedas.wni.co.jp has been running FreeBSD continually for 1,612 days.
That's nearly 4 and half years!



Charles Oppermann, ***@coppersoftware.com,
http://weblogs.asp.net/chuckop/

[s***@sremick.net]

Will the final version of "BSD Success Stories" also be available online
somewhere so we can refer people to it?

[d***@sympatico.ca]

Post by m***@pasternak.w.lub.pl
Roger and everyone - don't get me wrong, but as I already wrote it
somewhere: I am quite tired of "Yahoo runs FreeBSD" advocacy. In the
"ancient" times, their success story was very important for FreeBSD, as it
clearly showed, that they would be unable to accomplish their task the same
way, as they did it with FreeBSD - Linux was too immature at that time.
<<
I too wondered about Yahoo and FreeBSD. I guess when I hear the association
made, is that implying that FreeBSD is being used for development
internally, or intranet servers?
When my browser connects to a yahoo.com server, what platform is that server
running? If it's FreeBSD, that's a huge deal.
If it's a hodgepodge of platforms that serve up yahoo.com content, then is
there any idea of percentage that FreeBSD or others have?
Never mind - I just found netcraft.com. Yep, Yahoo runs FreeBSD on it's
servers.
Now, what I found very enlightening was the uptime statistics. In a ranking
of sites with the highest average uptimes, BSD owns the list. FreeBSD runs
on 7 of the top 25 sites for average uptime. BSD/OS runs on other 18. #5
is amedas.wni.co.jp has been running FreeBSD continually for 1,612 days.
That's nearly 4 and half years!

Which also means that they haven't applied any kernel level patches for
four and a half years?

I really question those crazy high uptimes.

Post by m***@pasternak.w.lub.pl
http://weblogs.asp.net/chuckop/
_______________________________________________
http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-advocacy

[c***@cimbali.dssrg.curtin.edu.au]

Post by d***@sympatico.ca
I really question those crazy high uptimes.

They may reflect a carefull configuration choice to begin
with. Also, consider the anti bsd sentiments of some
Linux folk and the perception that old=unpatched and
therefore unsecure. The uptimes might really be valid.
The only way to be sure is to ask the admins of the site.

[m***@pasternak.w.lub.pl]

Post by c***@cimbali.dssrg.curtin.edu.au

Post by d***@sympatico.ca
I really question those crazy high uptimes.

They may reflect a carefull configuration choice to begin
with. Also, consider the anti bsd sentiments of some
Linux folk and the perception that old=unpatched and
therefore unsecure. The uptimes might really be valid.
The only way to be sure is to ask the admins of the site.

Well, the real question is:

http://seclists.org/lists/linux-kernel/2004/Feb/0123.html

First thing is, we can laugh at Linux developers, who couldn't code proper
uptme counter until 2.6.0.

Second thing is, I wonder, how the uptimes will look in 1 - 2 years, just
because Linux 2.6.x is getting to be widely used.

Third, I don't really know, if that fault in Linux uptime counting really
hits Netcraft. Perhaps they use some other method.

Anyway, uptimes need a closer examination, before we can surely state some
statements about it. Comments?

[a***@piwebs.com]

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Post by m***@pasternak.w.lub.pl
http://seclists.org/lists/linux-kernel/2004/Feb/0123.html
First thing is, we can laugh at Linux developers, who couldn't code proper
uptme counter until 2.6.0.
Second thing is, I wonder, how the uptimes will look in 1 - 2 years, just
because Linux 2.6.x is getting to be widely used.
Third, I don't really know, if that fault in Linux uptime counting really
hits Netcraft. Perhaps they use some other method.
Anyway, uptimes need a closer examination, before we can surely state some
statements about it. Comments?

Uptimes aren't that interesting. Netcraft's reliability statistics are.=20
=46reeBSD has been prominent in all the monthly reliability top 10s that=20
Netcraft has published. See the newest one:

http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2004/04/04/most_reliable_hosting_provid=
ers_during_march.html

Arjan

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[k***@daleco.biz]

O'Reilly is in the process of creating a "BSD Success Stories" booklet to
be given away at trade shows, conferences, etc. For those of you who are
familiar with the "Perl Success Stories", it will be following a similar

Could a few of y'all (yeah, I'm Southern at heart)
do me a favor and take a look at this piece?

http://daleco.biz/FBSDstory.rtf
http://daleco.biz/fbsdstory.html

Please note that the HTML version is a quick
PHP hack to make a badly formatted txt version
more palatable (e.g, it's still awful). I'm gonna
have to look into settings on "TextMaker" before
I can make its txt docs public, I guess. I'll try
and fix up the HTML later, but I"ve gotta get
lunch and head out on a service call....

The story is most certainly small potatoes;
should I even bother to send it in? Who else,
besides Matt, is working on this?

I did spend a good bit of time with the
language ... what are your thoughts?

Kevin Kinsey
DaleCo, S.P.

[d***@sympatico.ca]

Post by k***@daleco.biz

O'Reilly is in the process of creating a "BSD Success Stories" booklet to
be given away at trade shows, conferences, etc. For those of you who are
familiar with the "Perl Success Stories", it will be following a similar

Could a few of y'all (yeah, I'm Southern at heart)
do me a favor and take a look at this piece?
http://daleco.biz/FBSDstory.rtf
http://daleco.biz/fbsdstory.html
Please note that the HTML version is a quick
PHP hack to make a badly formatted txt version
more palatable (e.g, it's still awful). I'm gonna
have to look into settings on "TextMaker" before
I can make its txt docs public, I guess. I'll try
and fix up the HTML later, but I"ve gotta get
lunch and head out on a service call....
The story is most certainly small potatoes;
should I even bother to send it in? Who else,
besides Matt, is working on this?
I did spend a good bit of time with the
language ... what are your thoughts?

I like it and don't think it is "small potatoes". Ease of use and
reliability (even for the small network) is worth talking about. Send it
to chromatic and he'll work with you to edit it to the requirements for the
booklet...

Cheers,

Dru

[d***@sympatico.ca]

Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2004 06:38:03 -0800 (PST)
Subject: RE: BSD Success Stories
Will the final version of "BSD Success Stories" also be available online
somewhere so we can refer people to it?

Yes, that's in the works. I'll post the URL once it becomes available.

Dru