Extract From Byte Magazine - July 16 - open source gems

[Steve Bildermann]

As BYTE is now a subscription service I thought some people might enjoy reading some extracts.

Open Source has come of age. No longer does OS fame rely solely on systems software such as Linux, Apache and the BSD Brigade. In the last year, StarOffice and OpenOffice have assulted the Microsoft throne of office suites. In the database arena, MySQL, PostgreSQL and several others have proven themselves capable of enterprise level scalability and performance.

All of these software packages are necessary for independence from Microsoft, but they are not sufficient for full operation of a business, even a small home business. What has been missing are essential tools for security, backup, and business processing. Today, I can comfortably state that open source covers the first two of those needs and the third, business processing, is well under way.

The fourth OS gem is not a package but a software environment that delivers on the promise of Java operating system independence. Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) has opened the door via Web services and grown into general purpose processing. Now that there's a strong open source J2EE version in JBoss, the toolset for independence is complete enough to support the majority of businesses and end users of computing services.

Information on each of these gems follows, plus instructions on how to find just what you need in that grand mine of open source development, SourceForge. Without this central organization, both development and use of open source software would be more difficult and delayed.

As a result of its impact on open source development, I nominate SourceForge and its supporters for the "Most Important Software Project" in the first decade of the 21st century.

Gem #1: Firewall Builder

Security filters are not easy to implement at the operating system level. This particular problem has been well solved by a package named Firewall Builder, which fills a security requirement for every site connected to the Internet. This package supports multiple platforms with a standard format and policy compilers for the specific platforms, including iptables, ipfilter, OpenBSD PF and Cisco PIX.

While not for the average end user, this is a powerful tool for those who already know basic security procedures and need a way to manage network security, from one firewall to a complex enterprise setup. With some study, it should be usable by home users who want to build their own firewall for the internet.

Gem # 2: Bacula

Bacula, authored by one of AutoDesk's founders, Kern Sibbald, has a Web site featuring a blood red logo and the motto "It comes by night and sucks the vital essence from your computers." Don't be put off by Sibbald's humor here as Bacula makes some commercial backup solutions look feeble.

Bacula is a client/server design built and tested on Red Hat Linux, Solaris and FreeBSD. In addition to these servers, the clients run on Windows 98 to 2000, Irix, AIX, Darwin and OpenBSD.

In operation, a Director program triggers client file demons (FD) which pull selected files for backup and send them to a storage demon (SD) at the server. The authorization mechanism is encrypted, as are the transfers between the FD and SD. As a example of the professional aspects of this package, the documentation is better than average. An extensive list of features is available at http://www.bacula.org/html manual/state.html.

Initial setup is logical, and a simple configuration is not difficult. However, the powerful capabilities of the software require some care in setup. All backup information is stored in a database; SQLite and MySQL are currently supported. Bacula includes the capability to store to a tape pool, read bar code labels, and reuse tapes automatically as backups expire. It also supports backup to disks and handles changer mechanisms automatically.

Bacula serves everyone from one person operations to large

corporations. Now you have no excuse except sloth to have a reliable backup system. Once set up, operations are completely automatic except for changing tapes and adding new client systems. Backup nirvana is here.

Gem #3: Open For Business

This third area is one that every business must have custom processing for the unique functions that each business executes differently from all the others. Even if two businesses deliver exactly the same services or products, their operation, internal structure, and specific processing will differ in detail.

Until recently, the only way to deliver this unique function was by custom programming or significant modification to a general package. Now, an open source package delivers a customizable package named Open For Business. This package has been carefully designed for reuse and ease of customization. Some customizations are as simple as adding one line of routing code.

The cost of this power is that the design of the software, while very clean, is non trivally complex. Open For Business is based on Java and J2EE, and also incorporates XML as well as workflow and content management rules. The current package, version 2.1.1, was released on May 5 and is available at SourceForge. The documentation package is where you can get an overview of the design and the current implementation.

A word of warning is in order. This is not a plug and play package for end users. Instead, it is a business system designed for developers to customize to a specific business, and the learning curve will require some time. However, it is my opinion that the Open For Business architecture is a solid future path for developer survival in the face of increasing competition from Microsoft's recent entry into the small & medium business space.

Gem #4: JBoss

The fourth item in the list of open source gems is in the Java arena, specifically a J2EE server. The new open source release of the JBoss server, version 4, competes with IBM's WebSphere and BEA's WebLogic. Check out the JBoss projects page for information on several projects supported there.

These enterprise versions of Java represent a way, independent of operating system or hardware platforms, to deliver computer power for anything from Web services to heavy duty business processing. As these tools are adopted, J2EE will gradually encompass the majority of business applications.

While some controversy remains about JBoss and J2EE standards, the server delivers results in both small and large scale use. Open For Business is a good example of what a J2EE environment can deliver when supported by JBoss.

JBoss follows the recent development of businesses based on open source: Give away the software and sell services to earn a living. This insures continued development of the product and the support needed for commercial success—the best of both worlds.

Searching the SourceForge Mine

Examine the evidence for this is at this major supporter of Open Source development.
If these packages are gems, then SourceForge is a diamond mine. SourceForge's current size, as of this writing, is an impressive 62,592 projects and 632,725 registered users, not including unregistered browsers like myself. With so many projects, it might seem impossible to sift the field for the one or few projects that meet a specific need. Like all diamond mines, the gems can take some effort to find.

SourceForge meets this need with a general purpose search function, and a powerful structured search by category with multiple filters for relevance. This second method is best for finding a set of packages to evaluate.

At sourceforge.net, click on "Software Map" just under the top advertisement. This takes you to a topic list with eighteen software type categories, or you may select "Browse By" with seven software class categories.

Suppose you select a type category such as Office/Business (2394 Projects). The display changes to Office/Business with subcategories shown, and a list of projects below. Scroll down to the first item. On each line, a category Class is listed with the word [Filter] at the end.

To select Production class, find an entry with that word and click on the [Filter] at the end of the line. Now the screen refreshes with only the entries with that exact Type and Class. Additional filters can be applied to narrow the search. If you try my example, the Open For Business entry should show up on the first page.

SourceForge is an enterprise class example of software collaboration tools. Not surprisingly, they also offer their code to commercial companies for internal use. The best just keeps getting better.

Operating System News

The last two months have seen a lot of activity in operating systems outside of Linux. Both FreeBSD and OS/2, in the form of eCS, got recent major upgrades. Even more interesting is the new and upgraded software that continues to support OS/2, despite IBM's limited support and Microsoft's efforts to define the OS as dead for the last ten years.

Serenity Systems and eComStation have continued to enhance the base OS/2 operating system with the latest code from IBM, a much enhanced install program, and a broad array of third party software. This OS, eCS 1.1, by itself is a good value, but when packaged with dozens of software programs, it raises the bar on what is considered a base OS system install.

Add the wide array of open source software packages that support OS/2 and eCS, and the lack of mandantory upgrades and annual fees required by Microsoft, and you will get a stable, supported operating system. This is one that won't give you the Blue Screen of Death, isn't vulnerable to the numerous viruses that target common OS flaws, and just runs steadily until you decide to shut it down.

eCS now becomes a prime candidate for individuals and businesses who want a supported operating system without the training and setup requirements of UNIX based open source systems.

Recent OS/2 announcements now include:

eCS 1.1
Simplicity for Java for OS/2
PostgreSQL 7.3.2 for OS/2
Java 1.3.1 Runtime and SDK
The eCS site offers several versions of eCS 1.1 and lots of supporting drivers and updates on their website. If you passed up eCS 1.0, don't let this one go by.

A Major FreeBSD Release

By the time you read this, FreeBSD will have released version 5.1. While this version may not reach the coveted "stable" designation due to the cautious nature of the Release Engineering team, it will have been widely tested since the 5.0 release. See here for the latest on FreeBSD 5 Stable.

I have had the 5.0 release installed for some time without problems, so I can attest to the excellent base that the 5.1 release is built on. The 5.1 release includes a number of important enhancements. Two of these are the Samba with Open LDAP authentication port, and the fine grained multiprocessor capabilities in the kernel.

Another particular improvement in the FreeBSD 5 series is the simplified software raid setup. Vinum remains, but there is now a simpler way to get your disks running raid without an expensive controller.

For a full list of 5.1 features, go to the FreeBSD home page and click in the right hand column under New Release.