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Yesterday, March 8, was the first day of Apachecon 2000 in Orlando, Florida. The Apache Software Foundation is holding this conference to help the public get the most out of the Apache web server and other projects. The sessions were mostly technical information, but as with many conferences, birds-of-a-feather sessions (BOFs) gave opportunities to meet with colleagues with similar interests and share experiences.
The FreeBSD BOF was held at the end of the day yesterday, and it was a great showing of support by veteran FreeBSD admins, with several people in attendance who were new to FreeBSD. The room scheduled for the BOF was occupied, so we all (about 45 strong) took advantage of the beautiful Orlando weather and convened outside. The discussion was lively, and covered a range of topics from the Walnut Creek/BSDI merger to security, to the benefits of version 4. Those present showed a lot of enthusiasm for FreeBSD, and there were several business cards handed out by seasoned FreeBSDers to new users or those considering FreeBSD.
Many of those who attended were also Linux admins--their support for FreeBSD was a compelling persuasive force for the small segment of BOF attendees who were just interested in FreeBSD but trying to decide whether it was the right fit for their needs. Web hosting companies put in a strong showing (of course!), and there were even a couple lurkers from one *very large* web hosting business which uses FreeBSD and Apache.
Some typical comments from this session were:
"I'm looking for ways to convince my management to embrace FreeBSD."
"I use several Unixes, and I prefer FreeBSD."
"I have FreeBSD boxes with over 500 days uptime."
"The networking code was what made me choose FreeBSD over Linux."
"I just installed FreeBSD a week ago, and I want to learn how to secure it."
"I'm a web hoster that uses Linux, but I've heard a lot about FreeBSD and I want to find out more."
"This has been the most informative session of the day."
Later that evening, I had a chance to talk to the two mysterious lurkers. I was wearing a FreeBSD polo shirt, and a web hosting provider who uses Linux had noticed my shirt and was engaging me in a thoughtful discussion of the merits of FreeBSD for web hosters. The individuals from the very large web hosting company joined the discussion. They revealed a number of the tricks of their trade, including how to run Apache for high-volume web sites.
As the conversation went on, it only got more interesting. It seems that in addition to making several hacks to Apache to improve performance, this company also makes several substantial kernel modifications to FreeBSD. They spent a good deal of time answering questions for me and my new Linux friend. They lent an enormous degree of credibility to my main points, which were: 1) FreeBSD is a stable platform, with superior networking support, and 2) the FreeBSD community is a valuable resource.
As the conference continues, there are bound to be more great opportunities to spread the word about FreeBSD. With so many supporters in attendance, I'm sure that by the end of the week, many Linux admins and undecided individuals will have some good encounters with knowledgeable, friendly FreeBSD supporters.