On 27 Sep 2015, at 12:27, Adam <[email protected]> wrote: > I have no background in IT security and operating systems other than > Windows (I hated it less than Ubuntu, actually). I have found in the > archives that in general you can recommend OpenBSD to anyone without > any background to start tinkering with. So, there might be no benefit > of a learning curve of FreeBSD --> OpenBSD, as I, may have wrongly > guessed?
“Simple, but not always easy” - that’s how I would put it. You have to be comfortable working without a GUI. Having used OS X for 15 years, OpenBSD was my first foray into command-line and server “administration”. I did consider Linux, FreeBSD and, of course, OS X - systems that I had previously used or toyed with for desktop use. However OpenBSD’s focus on security (e.g. secure system defaults) and simplicity gave me, being a novice, the most confidence of putting something out that would be accessible from the internet. Bad settings can break almost any security a system provides by default (voice in my head: "don’t screw up!"). With OpenBSD I had the least nagging doubts whether I forgot/missed something essential, where I would to improve on the defaults, security-wise (which I, nevertheless, did). Also, I definitely found OpenBSD’s documentation best to work with. This is especially true for the man pages, which I have found to be concise and well-maintained. > What I'd like is a secure wireless router and a file server (for my > mobile devices in the first place, really). Many suggested the PC > Engines APU board here. Check. I have an APU here. For low to medium workloads, it should work well as a router on OpenBSD. My APU is running (FreeBSD-based) pfSense at the moment but I’m contemplating switching to OpenBSD, as I don’t need most of pfSense’s bells and whistles. For best wireless experience, i.e. 802.11ac or to get more out of 802.11n, you’d probably prefer to run Linux. Or, even better, use a dedicated access point. For file serving, the APU is very limited in its number of SATA ports and availability of cases and cooling solutions. For file hosting, standard 2.5” or even 3.5 drives (in RAID) give greater bang for the buck. PC Engines’ cases won’t take standard drives (only mSATA). Also, as Peter mentioned, there are more flexible file system options once you look beyond OpenBSD. > Can it handle both roles, router and file server, or, is it a good > idea to have one device for these 2 roles in the first place? It would > encounter very modest load on both of its roles. Good to separate these roles from a security standpoint.
