Madhusudan Singh wrote:
> Hi
>
> I am working on setting up a web server with plone (content management). I
> have a fair bit (6-7 years) of Linux user and part-time admin experience,
> but want to do a good job (a very secure setup which can handle denial of
> service, etc. kind of attacks) for this latest project of mine.
>
> I am considering three alternatives - Slackware, FreeBSD and OpenBSD. From a
> security and speed point of view for my needs, which do you think is a
> better choice ? You may assume my experience with BSD, etc. to be nil,
> while with Slackware, I use it as my personal router / firewall and find
> its setup easy and secure.
>
> I am also interested in learning about the system I setup, so availability
> of good documentation and sizeable, helpful Usenet communities (like the
> good folks at comp.os.linux.misc, etc.) would be a big plus. I do not want
> too steep a learning curve, as I need to get the first version of the
> webpage up in a week or so.
>
> Thanks.

I must first say I've never used Slackware in my experience however I
can vouch for the impressive high standard of documentation provided
with any *BSD Operating System. Security-wise your best option IMHO
would be OpenBSD. I've heard (although no tested) that FreeBSD is
perhaps a little more efficient with its networking abilities. I have
nothing to support that statement - only rumour as far as I am
concerned. I personally have an OpenBSD router, FreeBSD fileserver,
FreeBSD mailserver which I'll soon be adding webserver packages to.
OpenBSD is quite easy to use and very secure (once you get around pf)
and personally I feel this would be your best option.

Sh4d03