By John Leyden, VNU Net
Open source operating system FreeBSD has been upgraded to
include improved security and networking features intended to make
it a better platform for running websites.
FreeBSD is an advanced BSD Unix operating system for
PC-compatible computers, and is widely used on internet or intranet
servers. It is used by organisations ranging from Sony, Hotmail and
MP3.com to service providers such as Uunet, ClaraNet and France
Telecom.
FreeBSD 4.1, released this week, has kernel changes to
provide improved IPSec (internet protocol security) functionality
and an enhanced protocol stack for the next-generation internet
protocol, IPv6. With the release, FreeBSD can now be used on an
IPv6 only network for the first time.
Support for USB (universal serial bus) devices has been added to
the kernel and to the installation programs, allowing easier
support for peripherals that support the standard.
In addition, support for Intel’s Wired for Management 2.0 (PXE)
has been added to the FreeBSD boot loader. This allows network
booting using DHCP (dynamic host configuration protocol), which
enables central management of the allocation of IP addresses on an
organisation’s network.
An open source flavour of the Secure Shell protocol, which
allows secure access to a remote computer, has also been upgraded
within the release. This allows users to get away from needed to
license cryptographic toolkits.
Jon Collins, a senior analyst at Bloor Research, said: “FreeBSD
has very much a cult status and people that use it think it is
brilliant. However, of all the open source operating systems it was
Linux that caught the imagination.
“Linus Torvalds has understated charisma and he was able to
project the operating system as being more than just hard to
understand technology.”
To download a text file about the release from the FreeBSD
organisation, click here