LINUX PAGE
I have many reasons for changing my server environments from Microsoft to Linux, but the main catalyst was security. There are many differing arguments on why Linux is more secure, but I have boiled my case down to three points. First I believe that the maturity of the UNIX kernel, which LINUX is based on, makes it less likely to contain exploitable flaws. It seems like common sense that the longer something has been around the more complete it will be. Secondly I believe that Microsoft is willing to sacrifice usability for security. Most Microsoft default installs don't lock down critical services like SMTP. Microsoft does little to warn new administrators of the many risks involved in plugging their new servers into the digital jungle know as the Internet. Lastly I believe that there is some credence to the belief that Microsoft's unparalleled wealth and power make it a much bigger target. I have no doubt that the many hackers and troublemakers trolling around in the Dark net, spend much more time trying to compromise the Windows environment than they do Linux.
My experience with UNIX started in 1995 when I was a freshman at Tulane. At that time all of the student email services ran on IBM RS6000 mainframes running UNIX. I would telnet in to the mainframes and use great email clients like PINE and ELM. I was also was taking a C programming class and we had to compile all or our code using the RS6000 compliers. Since there were no IDE's on these machines I also became very familiar with the infamous UNIX text editor VI. The rest of my college career had the preceding static exposure to the UNIX environment.
After graduation, I took a job at a New Orleans online hotel reservation company called TurboTrip.com. My initial duties at this company were solely as a programmer, but as this was a small company that quickly changed. I eventually was in charge of creating all of the virtual host files on our apache servers for the many demos I created as the programmer. Our OS was Sun Solaris, and this was my first experiences in using apache. It was a good experience in learning the non GUI configuration file methodology that all UNIX systems run on.
In February of 2003, my brother and I started a website development company called NolaWebmasters LLC. At the time my brother, who is a MSCE, was in charge of our servers. We were having some problems with our Microsoft environment, so we decided to try and see if we could jump on the growing Linux bandwagon. Since my brother was a Microsoft expert we decided I would spearhead our Linux migration. I chose Red Hat 7.1 as my OS, since it was recommended as the easiest for a Linux newbie. I read a couple of books, and downloaded the source code an built my first Red Hat box a couple of months later.
It took about six months before I felt comfortable enough with my skill set for NolaWebmasters to start to put our paying customers on Red Hat servers, and I was a bit nervous. I still preferred to use the Red Hat (RPM) packages to install new modules like CLAMAV antivirus, but even with my lack of experience we didn't have any major issues. By the middle of 2004 we had the majority of clients and our websites running on Linux/Apache instead of Windows/IIS.
My first production Red Hat box that hosted most of our websites ran strong until she recently became a victim of Hurricane Katrina, but my skills in the Linux environment have greatly improved over the last couple years. I almost always compile new modules instead of using RPM's, I also never use one of the GUI's, and manage my boxes via SSH. I'm also much more familiar with the many services offered in the Linux environment. I have provided a list below of all of the services I currently use.
1) Apache
2) OPENSSL
3) CLAMAV Antivirus
4) Webalizer
5) AWstats
6) LogWatch
7) PHP
8) MYSQL
9) BIND DNS
10) Samba
11) CRON
12) QMail
13) Squirrel Mail
14) BINC IMAP
15) VSFTP
16) SSH
17) Perl/CGI-BIN