Re: [ajug-members]: FreeBSD

[Barry Hawkins <ly5t5@allthingscomputed.com>]

On Apr 23, 2004, at 1:00 PM, Christopher Fowler wrote:

> On Fri, 2004-04-23 at 12:10, Barry Hawkins wrote:
>> I have FreeBSD 5.2.1 as a test environment running on a non-production
>> server.  It has a native 1.4.2 JDK and JBoss 3.2.3.  You can use one 
>> of
>> the Linux JDKs using Linux binary compatibility mode or you can go to
>> the trouble to compile a native JDK yourself.  It's not too bad once
>> you do it a couple of times, but some folks opt for the Linux
>> JDK/binary compatibility route.  You can search the freebsd-questions
>> mailing list and the freebsd-java mailing list for more info at:
>>
>
> Would you run it as production?
>
>> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo
>>
>> Regards,
>
>
Drum roll please ... it depends.  There are a number of factors that 
should go into deciding upon a platform.  I would be remiss if I 
offered you a simple "yes".  Here are at least a few questions that you 
or your group should consider:

1.) What is the comfort level of the administrative team with 
supporting the OS under consideration in production?

2.) What is the comfort level of the administrative team with 
supporting the chosen J2EE application server on the OS under 
consideration?

3.) What is the company/group policy on the use of open source 
software, particularly operating systems?

4.) What are the nonfunctional requirements of the application(s) to be 
supported (i.e., concurrent user loads, availability requirements, 
scalability requirements, maximum acceptible response times, etc)?

5.) What was the source of the suggestion for considering the operating 
system under discussion?  Was it a proposal written up by the server 
administration team?  Was it an article the boss read on the train into 
work?  Was it someone in marketing who likes the mascot?  Was it the 
raving open source fanatic in the corner cubicle? (Perhaps this should 
be the first question.)

Those are just a few of the questions off the top of my head.  As for 
my individual situation, yes, I would run it in production, but the 
apps will be fairly non-critical, so I am not that risk-averse.  I have 
also had a generally great experience with FreeBSD in other areas, so 
that factors into the decision as well.
	I would again encourage you to browse the FreeBSD Java mailing list 
archives at:

http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-java/

Regards,
-- 
Barry C. Hawkins
All Things Computed
site: www.allthingscomputed.com
weblog: www.yepthatsme.com