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I work at a midwest ISP, and we've got an opportunity to switch from an older openBSD to something more recent -- and apparently upgrading to the current openBSD might be as much of a chore as switching to something entirely different, such as Debian. I realize that is probably a FAQ; even so the answers are likely to morph as the Debian distribution progresses along the timeline, so I thought I'd ask it here anyhow for the most current feedback possible. [Plus, I hear that the folks on the debian-user list are informative, patient, honest, and most important, fun -- so why not find out first-hand? :) ] I'm with an ISP having about 300 customers who use our servers for DNS, HTTP, POP, SMTP, and on one server we have FrontPage extensions running. We're wondering about
Debian's scalability, stability and functionality -- for
example...
STABILITY: is Debian a good choice for heavy lifting? I know about apt-get for easy installation of bug/security patches; does the ease-of-install ever compromise security or functionality? OpenBSD is pretty secure; how does Debian compare? Is Woody ready for prime-time yet? (If not, would an upgrade from potato to woody likely cause hiccups?) FUNCTIONALITY: We need DNS server packages, ssh (with ssh tunneling available for other services), smtp/pop, web-based scheduling/claendaring/email facilities, HTTP (apache/mod_perl) servers, and so on... Any input is welcome -- both pro and con, of course. And please CC: me directly, as I'm not on the list (yet -- but you might help change that :). Diode Dave |