What is the best "Flavor" of Linux to use with FreeRadius?

[Michael Melanson]

HI folks

I am new to linux as well as free radius.

I am involved in a project to create an open network architechure.

I envision radius and eap to accomplish this

Please advise what is the best Linux to use with free radius

Thanks
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[Thor Spruyt]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Melanson" <***@phl.org>

> HI folks
>
> I am new to linux as well as free radius.
>
> I am involved in a project to create an open network architechure.

Meaning?

> I envision radius and eap to accomplish this
>
> Please advise what is the best Linux to use with free radius

Is freeradius the only thing you're going to run?
I would choose RedHat, but please install some distributions to get a
feeling of which one you like most.
Technically, there shouldn't be a 'best linux for freeradius'.

> Thanks

Thor.


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[Martin Jessa]

Linux is not distribution but the kernel itself.
There is no answer to that question.
I run it on RedHat myself.
The reason for that is simple, RedHat is commercially suported and that's what big companies need.
Commercial support is importand for them in case something happens to me.
My favourite when it comes to linux is gentoo but I also used debian for a while.
Personlally I use FreeBSD for any of my servers that I do not run for external customers.

My advice is:
If you have a fresh start and want to make things fast, use debian for simplicity.
If you want to run the newest freeradius compiled from sources then use whatever you already know the best.

If you want the best there is for servers, run BSD.

Cheers,
YazzY


On Thu, 06 Nov 2003 10:06:04 -0500
"Michael Melanson" <***@phl.org> wrote:

> HI folks
>
> I am new to linux as well as free radius.
>
> I am involved in a project to create an open network architechure.
>
> I envision radius and eap to accomplish this
>
> Please advise what is the best Linux to use with free radius
>
> Thanks
> -----------------------------------------------------
> This message is intended only for certain recipients and may be
> privileged or confidential. If you have received it in error, please
> notify sender and delete it without making or retaining a copy.
> -----------------------------------------------------
> <<<<*P*H*L*>>>>
>
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--


"I've heard if you play the Windows-CD backwards, you get a satanic message."
"That's nothing, if you play it forward, it installs Windows."

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[Kristina Pfaff-Harris]

On Thu, 6 Nov 2003, Michael Melanson wrote:

> I am new to linux as well as free radius.
>
> I am involved in a project to create an open network architechure.
>
> I envision radius and eap to accomplish this
>
> Please advise what is the best Linux to use with free radius

Hi. I really agree with Thor Spruyt who said that you should install some
distributions and see which one you feel most comfortable with. RedHat is
going to more of a high-priced subscription version, so you may want to
try out its free version, "Fedora" (http://fedora.redhat.com/) if your
budget is a concern. Novell just bought SuSE Linux, so I'm not sure how
that's going to pan out, support and price-wise. My favorite is Debian for
various reasons including ease of install/upgrade and stability, but
really, try out several, read the documentation, and see which one you
like best.

You might also consider trying OpenBSD or FreeBSD instead of a Linux
distribution.

The only thing I would suggest is that you'll want to keep an eye out for
what your needs are. If you're only going to be running FreeRadius on the
server, it really doesn't matter much what distribution you use, as you
can strip it down to the bare minimum. If you're also going to be running
Apache, Sendmail/qmail/postfix, or other services, then you'll want to
find out as much as you can about how the distribution puts out bug fixes
and how well they keep up with security.

Kristina




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[Chris Parker]

At 10:02 AM 11/6/2003, Kristina Pfaff-Harris wrote:
>On Thu, 6 Nov 2003, Michael Melanson wrote:
>
> > I am new to linux as well as free radius.
> >
> > I am involved in a project to create an open network architechure.
> >
> > I envision radius and eap to accomplish this
> >
> > Please advise what is the best Linux to use with free radius
>
>Hi. I really agree with Thor Spruyt who said that you should install some
>distributions and see which one you feel most comfortable with. RedHat is
>going to more of a high-priced subscription version, so you may want to
>try out its free version, "Fedora" (http://fedora.redhat.com/) if your
>budget is a concern. Novell just bought SuSE Linux, so I'm not sure how
>that's going to pan out, support and price-wise. My favorite is Debian for
>various reasons including ease of install/upgrade and stability, but
>really, try out several, read the documentation, and see which one you
>like best.

My 2 cents worth, is take a look at Slackware. :)

>You might also consider trying OpenBSD or FreeBSD instead of a Linux
>distribution.

There are some thread issues on Free/Open BSD at the moment I believe
so you might not get the best performance out of FreeRADIUS on those
systems.

The latest FreeBSD release adds some previously missing functions to
FreeBSD ( namely a working threadsafe get(host|name)by*_r() ). The
work to add that to the configure/build process has not been done
yet however.

-Chris
--
\\\|||/// \ StarNet Inc. \ Chris Parker
\ ~ ~ / \ WX *is* Wireless! \ Director, Engineering
| @ @ | \ http://www.starnetwx.net \ [phone]
oOo---(_)---oOo--\------------------------------------------------------
\ Wholesale Internet Services - http://www.megapop.net



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[Gustavo A. Lozano]

I think this is going to be a "Religious" matter.

Many people likes Slackware
Many People likes Debian
Many People likes Suse
Many people likes redhat
Others Trustix or Mandrake.

If you are new to linux I think this is not the place to discuss which
one is better.

Without being mad, this is a freeradius list :), lets try to keep the
hard fights over Linux distros outside here :)


On Thu, 2003-11-06 at 11:08, Chris Parker wrote:
> At 10:02 AM 11/6/2003, Kristina Pfaff-Harris wrote:
> >On Thu, 6 Nov 2003, Michael Melanson wrote:
> >
> > > I am new to linux as well as free radius.
> > >
> > > I am involved in a project to create an open network architechure.
> > >
> > > I envision radius and eap to accomplish this
> > >
> > > Please advise what is the best Linux to use with free radius
> >
> >Hi. I really agree with Thor Spruyt who said that you should install some
> >distributions and see which one you feel most comfortable with. RedHat is
> >going to more of a high-priced subscription version, so you may want to
> >try out its free version, "Fedora" (http://fedora.redhat.com/) if your
> >budget is a concern. Novell just bought SuSE Linux, so I'm not sure how
> >that's going to pan out, support and price-wise. My favorite is Debian for
> >various reasons including ease of install/upgrade and stability, but
> >really, try out several, read the documentation, and see which one you
> >like best.
>
> My 2 cents worth, is take a look at Slackware. :)
>
> >You might also consider trying OpenBSD or FreeBSD instead of a Linux
> >distribution.
>
> There are some thread issues on Free/Open BSD at the moment I believe
> so you might not get the best performance out of FreeRADIUS on those
> systems.
>
> The latest FreeBSD release adds some previously missing functions to
> FreeBSD ( namely a working threadsafe get(host|name)by*_r() ). The
> work to add that to the configure/build process has not been done
> yet however.
>
> -Chris
> --
> \\\|||/// \ StarNet Inc. \ Chris Parker
> \ ~ ~ / \ WX *is* Wireless! \ Director, Engineering
> | @ @ | \ http://www.starnetwx.net \ [phone]
> oOo---(_)---oOo--\------------------------------------------------------
> \ Wholesale Internet Services - http://www.megapop.net
>
>
>
> -
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>
>



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[Paul Hampson]

> From: Chris Parker
> Sent: Friday, 7 November 2003 3:09 AM

> At 10:02 AM 11/6/2003, Kristina Pfaff-Harris wrote:

> >You might also consider trying OpenBSD or FreeBSD instead of a Linux
> >distribution.
>
> There are some thread issues on Free/Open BSD at the moment I believe
> so you might not get the best performance out of FreeRADIUS on those
> systems.
>
> The latest FreeBSD release adds some previously missing functions to
> FreeBSD ( namely a working threadsafe get(host|name)by*_r() ). The
> work to add that to the configure/build process has not been done
> yet however.

Do we have any details on that? I'd love to get at least _some_ version
of FreeBSD working thread-safely...

--
Paul "TBBle" Hampson
Bubblesworth Pty Ltd (ABN: 51 095 284 361)
***@PObox.Com

On a sidewalk near Portland State
University someone wrote `Trust Jesus', and
someone else wrote `But Cut the Cards'.


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[Chris Parker]

At 02:44 PM 11/6/2003, Paul Hampson wrote:
> > From: Chris Parker
> > Sent: Friday, 7 November 2003 3:09 AM
>
> > At 10:02 AM 11/6/2003, Kristina Pfaff-Harris wrote:
>
> > >You might also consider trying OpenBSD or FreeBSD instead of a Linux
> > >distribution.
> >
> > There are some thread issues on Free/Open BSD at the moment I believe
> > so you might not get the best performance out of FreeRADIUS on those
> > systems.
> >
> > The latest FreeBSD release adds some previously missing functions to
> > FreeBSD ( namely a working threadsafe get(host|name)by*_r() ). The
> > work to add that to the configure/build process has not been done
> > yet however.
>
>Do we have any details on that? I'd love to get at least _some_ version
>of FreeBSD working thread-safely...

http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-hackers/2003-July/001859.html

This was forwarded by a friend who is a FreeBSD advocate when I
complained about the lack of thread-safeness ( and cross-platformness )
of the resolver libs on FreeBSD.

-Chris
--
\\\|||/// \ StarNet Inc. \ Chris Parker
\ ~ ~ / \ WX *is* Wireless! \ Director, Engineering
| @ @ | \ http://www.starnetwx.net \ [phone]
oOo---(_)---oOo--\------------------------------------------------------
\ Wholesale Internet Services - http://www.megapop.net



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[Paul Hampson]

> From: Chris Parker
> Sent: Friday, 7 November 2003 9:06 AM

> At 02:44 PM 11/6/2003, Paul Hampson wrote:
> > > From: Chris Parker
> > > Sent: Friday, 7 November 2003 3:09 AM

> > > At 10:02 AM 11/6/2003, Kristina Pfaff-Harris wrote:

> > > >You might also consider trying OpenBSD or FreeBSD instead of a Linux
> > > >distribution.

> > > There are some thread issues on Free/Open BSD at the moment I believe
> > > so you might not get the best performance out of FreeRADIUS on those
> > > systems.

> > > The latest FreeBSD release adds some previously missing functions to
> > > FreeBSD ( namely a working threadsafe get(host|name)by*_r() ). The
> > > work to add that to the configure/build process has not been done
> > > yet however.

> >Do we have any details on that? I'd love to get at least _some_ version
> >of FreeBSD working thread-safely...

> http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-hackers/2003-July/001859.html

> This was forwarded by a friend who is a FreeBSD advocate when I
> complained about the lack of thread-safeness ( and cross-platformness )
> of the resolver libs on FreeBSD.

I've read this, and this is what caused me to decide it _wasn't_ thread
safe. They got the shiny new function, but it isn't thread safe and as
we saw over the 0.9.2 release cycle, it doesn't even link properly.

--
Paul "TBBle" Hampson
Bubblesworth Pty Ltd (ABN: 51 095 284 361)
***@PObox.Com

On a sidewalk near Portland State
University someone wrote `Trust Jesus', and
someone else wrote `But Cut the Cards'.


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[Jeff Palmer]

While I question the validity of discussing OS's on a Radius mailing list
(for fear of the all-too-popular flame wars) I would suggest the following:

Let me start by saying I've installed FreeRadius in tons of configurations,
and on a lot of different OS's. it compiles on most. (never could get it
going on AIX, but only tried for a few hours)


Now the real meat:
I started with slackware way back in the day, then tried FreeBSD and fell
in love. I've tried just about every major (and some minor) linux distros,
and they never fit my *personal* flavor or taste the way FreeBSD
does. This is not to recommend FreeBSD or any other distro.. this is
simply to provide an example of how each OS varies.

Your best bet is going to be.. install whatever you can get the most
helpful support for. Typically, this would be whatever OS most of your
friends use. After you become comfortable with the admin side of the
OS, the learning curve for the next UNIX-like OS is very minor. The major
difference between the different UNIX-like OS's is package
management. then you have several smaller things command wise. One OS
might have the "adduser" command. Others might have "useradd" these are
rather insignificant differences. After you've got the basics down, try
a few others, play and experiment. You'll find the one that suits your
tastes and feel.

My whole point is, don't limit yourself to one OS. Do like you did when
you were dating and "play the field", no need to get married right away or
to the first OS that treats you right :-) Everyone will tell you $OS is
the best, when reality is: the Best OS is the one you are most
comfortable with.


On a side note (but related) As far as security, you may hear the hype
about some OS being more secure than another. This is 100% bogus. No
*competant* admin leaves a server 100% default. The security of the OS is
directly related to the admins experience and knowledge. If you have "the
most secure OS" and install an old exploitable piece of software, your OS
isn't going to save you :-)

I hope this email helps in at least some small way. If nothing more than
"think for yourself" Sadly, I'm at work and was interrupted about a
dozen times writing this, so I hope it makes sense.

Jeff Palmer
DrkShdw @ Freenode IRC network



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