OffMyServer sponsors the development of the open source RAQdevil project, a port of the Sun Cobalt RaQ550 web hosting platform to the FreeBSD operating system.
(PRWEB) September 9, 2005 -- The Sun Cobalt, a popular web hosting appliance, was open-sourced by Sun Microsystems at the end of its product lifecycle in December of 2003. According to Netcraft, an online statistics and monitoring website, use of the Cobalt hosting software has increased since the source was released.
OffMyServer, a provider of custom built servers and storage solutions, sponsored the porting of the Cobalt RaQ software to the FreeBSD operating system. The open source project, codenamed RAQdevil, is focused on providing an interactive community to encourage developers that are interested in working to improve the software. The project website can be found at www.RAQdevil.com
"We wanted an open source hosting platform that ran on FreeBSD," states Matt Olander, Chief Technology Officer at OffMyServer. "Besides BlueQuartz, the Fedora based port of the Cobalt, there didn't seem to be much out there in the way of open source hosting control panels, so we ported it."
Besides running on FreeBSD, the RAQdevil contains other modifications to the original Sun Cobalt. Many of the base packages have been updated and the port will now work with any version of PHP 4 in FreeBSD Ports. The RAQdevil software also has an updated Apache webserver, GLib, Sendmail, and uses BIND9 instead of BIND8.
The application build framework has been modified to work with the FreeBSD ports system. These modifications also provide a more logical development structure. Plans for future improvements include a new updating mechanism for security patches and software enhancements as well as updates to the reporting capabilities provided by the software.
In addition to sponsoring the open source RAQdevil project, OffMyServer intends to offer an integrated appliance unit that includes enhancements such as anti-virus, spam filtering, and professional support.
About FreeBSD
FreeBSD is a complete and advanced Unix-like operating system which can be used as a secure and high-performance workstation, network server or firewall. FreeBSD is developed by a team of over 200 developers. Over 12,000 third-party software suites are freely available for quick installation from the FreeBSD Ports Collection. More information about FreeBSD is available on the web at www.FreeBSD.org
About OffMyServer, Inc.
OffMyServer, a company nestled in the infamous Golden Triangle of Silicon Valley, provides FreeBSD-based Internet infrastructure grade rackmount servers, security appliances, and managed FreeBSD hosting to a global market. The OffMyServer management team consists of former executives and employees from BSDi and iXsystems. More information is available at www.OffMyServer.com
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