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Why I run FreeBSD for my home servers (2024)

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Re: Why I run FreeBSD for my home servers (2024)

#121

Post by charcircuit »

nine_k wrote: post #12

If systemd is the reason, there are several good distros without systemd (I run Void Linux in particular). If "kubesomething" is the reason, there's no requirement to use it. I think most people don't run it on their home servers. If containers are the reason, then again, they are not a requirement. But they are pretty similar to BSD's jails. I don't think they are particularly complex. FreeBSD has a number of strong…

Linux has ZFS too. FreeBSD actually switched over to using the Linux implementation a few years ago.

Re: Why I run FreeBSD for my home servers (2024)

#122

Post by jonathanoliver »

m463 wrote: post #115
nine_k wrote: post #12

If systemd is the reason, there are several good distros without systemd (I run Void Linux in particular). If "kubesomething" is the reason, there's no requirement to use it. I think most people don't run it on their home servers. If containers are the reason, then again, they are not a requirement. But they are pretty similar to BSD's jails. I don't think they are particularly complex. FreeBSD has a number of strong…

To me arch linux is the middle ground between a too-much-complexity "fat" distribution like ubuntu or debian and a-minimal-but-eclectic-freebsd. the arch wiki is VERY comprehensive, linux has a huge community, and arch forced you to understand much just by stepping through the installation process.

Debian is fat?? I always thought it was a nice, minimalist server distro.

Re: Why I run FreeBSD for my home servers (2024)

#123

Post by tomxor »

turtledragonfly wrote: post #109
tomxor wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Used ZFS on Debian in production for 8 years, yet to experience rough edges but always interested to learn.

Do you use ZFS for root, on Debian? (enabling "boot environments") I've recently switched my FreeBSD setups to use that scheme, and it's been nice. Would be interested to hear if it's similarly straightforward on Debian (my second-favorite OS :) Obviously requires support in the bootcode; I'm not sure of the state of that for Linux.

No, to be fair I use it for everything except root (which I prefer to backup as IaC, not that I wouldn't use ZFS, it's just not default so requires more effort). I use ZFS datasets to back everything except the OS, including DBs which has been the most satisfying aspect of using ZFS (being able to snapshot live DBs together with all other relevant state rather than a as a separate replication process).

While I can't comment on using it for root, I can say for other use, the only annoyance I have is compiling the kernel module on every single update. This is automatically handled by APT, but for very small servers it can be slow... at most ~15 mins. Could be solved with private distribution for a large fleet but I can't be bother with that stuff. Hoping at some point Debian will relax their strict "to the letter of the GPL" attitude at some point like they did with install media drivers. But it's not the worst experience, at least installing is automated.

Re: Why I run FreeBSD for my home servers (2024)

#124

Post by MattTheRealOne »

doublerabbit wrote: post #45

Linus is too in-bed with Microsoft. RedHat the main powerhouse behind Linux ans is now owned by IBM. And Ubuntu is just corporate Debian who pushes their own proprietary (Flatpak) software which is cobbled together and just generally sucks. Systemd is bloated in wanting to do everything at once. I have never had a linux systemd distribution that just shutdowns without prompting me "waiting x/2minutes - x/y retries".…

Ubuntu pushes Snap. Flatpak is the open platform that nearly every other distribution uses.

Re: Why I run FreeBSD for my home servers (2024)

#125

Post by inopinatus »

citrin_ru wrote: post #66
rollcat wrote: post #24

I have mixed feelings about FreeBSD. Some stuff is genuinely good: major/minor release branches, the best ZFS experience you can get OOB, actual man pages, overall a lot "cleaner" than most Linux distros. OTOH when you compare it to e.g. OpenBSD (or in many instances, even Linux), it's an actual mess. The default install leaves you browsing thru the handbook to get simple things to work; it has three ( three !) disti…

> the split between /usr/local/etc and /etc constantly leaves you guessing where to find a particular config file I started with FreeBSD and it never was a problem to me until I started to use Linux too. Now I just make symlinks from /usr/local/etc to /etc for software I use both on Linux and FreeBSD. The rule is simple - if an app is from the base system it is in /etc and if you installed some software from packages…

FreeBSD is more of an admin's system than a user's system and this perfectly illustrates one of the reasons why. Outside of this forum, in regular consumer land, OS users don't want to know or care about the distinction between base and ports, and nothing anyone says about it is going to change that. So I run lots of BSD at home but I recommend Mint to family.

Re: Why I run FreeBSD for my home servers (2024)

#126

Post by solid_fuel »

I use FreeBSD for my home server and I have for years. For me, the biggest reason is just the stability from a user perspective. I don't mean system stability, although it has been rock solid, I mean the stability in terms of administration - the tools don't change frequently.

`ifconfig` just works, like it has worked for 20 years. On my linux servers, it's all swallowed into `ip addr` now. I don't mind that, I certainly understand why these things change, but when I update an Ubuntu server I always worry that next time I log in a tool I am used to will be broken or removed.

I simply don't have those concerns on FreeBSD.

Re: Why I run FreeBSD for my home servers (2024)

#127

Post by giantrobot »

I have tried several times to run FreeBSD on my home servers and every single time it fails to boot let alone run. Each happily runs Linux (with ZFS) all day long with no issues.

I know the project is smaller in scope and has less funding than Linux (distros and subprojects included) but it's kind of ridiculous. It's incredibly frustrating to set aside the time to set up a machine only to have the kernel panic half way through booting the install media.

From there it's an annoying and exhausting yak shaving exercise just trying to get the machine to start. Eventually I just give up and put the latest Ubuntu LTS which boots and installs with no problems. I import my ZFS pool and everything just hum along.

I cut my Unix teeth on FreeBSD 3 and 4. I want to use modern FreeBSD but it never seems to run on hardware I actually own. That's why I don't run FreeBSD on my home servers.

Re: Why I run FreeBSD for my home servers (2024)

#128

Post by nisa »

mekster wrote: post #43
asveikau wrote: post #9

ZFS is probably the biggest reason for me. I have a machine with a zfs pool running samba and nfsd. Philosophically I tend to prefer *BSDs over Linux. I have a few FreeBSD machines, one OpenBSD, and one Linux.

Ubuntu can have zfs with an install of a package. BSD’s inability to utilize docker ecosystem had me decided to stick with Ubuntu for a decade, unless things change and BSD gets clear advantages over Linux.

Ubuntu ships an outdated version that misses a lot of bugfixes. They don't seem to be interested in either backporting fixes or shipping the current stable version. Every other day some Ubuntu user hits the ZFS GitHub issues with a problem that was fixed years ago.

Re: Why I run FreeBSD for my home servers (2024)

#129

Post by okanat »

TL;DR "the major component that is primarily made to make managing servers and services easier and providing good journalling on Linux, systemd, makes me uncomfortable." which is quite the litmus test for stubborn sysadmin that didn't deploy anything remotely complex.

I'm on the opposite camp. If FreeBSD can provide a systemd-like service and device management software, then I would switch to it.

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