Cisco IOS vs. FreeBSD

Well suited for building management networks across the organization as it has been reliable without much downtime. Since it has great switching qualities, it suites well for data center and end-user connectivity using access switches. It might not be the best for routing, as other XOR software has proven to be superior for routing.

Incentivized

FreeBSD is an excellent choice to continue using older hardware and have it perform, it is a great choice for a UNIX based development environment. Although I haven't used it as a server, it is most suited for this - it would make an excellent, secure and robust server for and I would love to start using it for this as well.

Incentivized

• User friendly CLI.
• Quick fixes for critical bugs.
• Longer uptime.

Incentivized

• Performs really well, even on older hardware
• Secure
• Robust
• Package manager (pkg) is excellent
• Large collection of ported software from Linux
• Documentation is excellent (FreeBSD Handbook)

Incentivized

• No good element managers like Nokia.
• Load balancing functionalities are not the best.
• Memory issues.

Incentivized

• Installation can be tricky for first timers
• You need to be comfortable using a command line terminal most of the time

Incentivized

We have found other Cisco software to be filled with added functionalities as compared to iOS. New NCS software has certain programmability features that are advantageous to legacy iOS software but are more complex to use for some users. Hence, we still have most areas of the network that functions using iOS software.

Incentivized

FreeBSD was the only operating system out of many I tried to install easily on older hardware and to run in a very performant way. For example, I had a lot of trouble trying to get Ubuntu to install on older hardware and when it did, it was too slow to use. FreeBSD installed quite easily and even after installing a desktop such as XFCE - it still run surprisingly fast. I was very impressed with it's performance, which it seems is a goal of the FreeBSD project.

Incentivized

• Great uptimes on proven availability/reliability.
• Longevity of these switches ensures great ROI.
• Easy to learn for new users.

Incentivized

• As FreeBSD is free - the ROI is at least the cost of some commercial Linux or Windows based OS (which can be very expensive)
• Allowed the re-use of older hardware that would have otherwise been disposed
• No cost development environment
• Opportunity for a no cost server setup also

Incentivized