OpenBSD s Uses

OpenBSD's Uses

So, OpenBSD has all these nifty features, abilities, and strengths. Where does it fit into your "computing strategy"? That ultimately depends on what your strategy is and where you need it. OpenBSD can be used anywhere you need a solid, reliable, and secure system. I recommend OpenBSD for any of three different uses: on the desktop, as a server, or as a network management device.

Desktop

If you need a powerful desktop with all the features you'd expect from a complete UNIX-like workstation, OpenBSD will do nicely. Desktop GUIs, office suites, web browsers, and other programs an average user likes on a computer are available. OpenBSD supports a variety of development tools, application environments, network servers, and other features needed by programmers and web developers. If you're a network administrator OpenBSD supports packet sniffers, traffic analyzers, and all the other programs you might have come to rely upon.

Server

If you're serving web pages, handling email, providing LDAP services, or offering any sort of network services to clients, OpenBSD can help you. It's a cheap and reliable platform. Once it's set up, it just works. Web servers, database servers, and more all work under OpenBSD. And, of course, it's secure, which you cannot underestimate on today's Internet.

Network Management

OpenBSD makes an excellent firewall, bridge, or traffic shaper. You can use it to support intrusion detection software, web proxies, or traffic monitors. The integrated PF firewall provides state-of-the-art network connection management and control and strips out many dangerous types of traffic before they even reach your servers. Of course, OpenBSD can do all this as cheaply and reliably as it can do anything else.