Flantec

FreeBSD is an alternate server platform to Microsoft’s Windows Server software. FreeBSD has many features that are superior to Windows, including rock-solid server stability, increased security and resistance to most viruses. However, probably the most attractive feature of FreeBSD is its price; FreeBSD is FREE.

Conversely, Microsoft’s software licenses are expensive. Very expensive. An small office with a dozen or more employees can easily generate thousands of dollars in licensing fees. Many of Flantec’s clients utilize FreeBSD servers to host files, databases, websites & email services.

While Windows Servers cannot be replaced with FreeBSD in all instances, there are just as many cases in which it can be transparently integrated into an office network.

Virtualization makes it possible to divide up the hardware in a single computer chassis into multiple logical units, creating virtual machines. Each virtual machine operates independently, and makes better use of the server hardware by allocating specific resources to individual server responsibilities.

Virtualization also allows for disparate systems to co-exist peacefully under the hood. This can be a perfect opportunity to marry FreeBSD servers systems to the existing Microsoft Windows environment to create networks that actually work as designed; Low-maintenance, high-reliabilty, high-redundancy servers coupled without the necessity of a full-time network administrator to oversee.

There are many additional benefits to using virtual servers including:

• Redundancy roles
• Division of server responsibilities
• Isolation of secure resources
• Individual maintenance downtimes