The management overview of why we use FreeBSD:
- Lean (Mewburn rc vs. systemd)
- ZFS
- Clear separation of system and applications
- Patches directly from developers (upstream), not from maintainers
- Manual updates possible, as there are fewer packages
- Diversification; avoids monoculture
A bit more detail:
Working with FreeBSD and ZFS is a joy. You can tell when using it that the kernel and the base system are developed together; everything feels consistent, integrated and very well designed.
The use of jails (containers) and ZFS is highly efficient and lean, consuming only minimal resources. Since the base system is cleanly separated from the installed applications, it can be used as a foundation for jails.
Snapshots in ZFS are a dream: they “cost” almost nothing, are easy and straightforward to manage, and provide a high level of security in a simple way. Deleted or modified a file? No problem—all snapshots from the last few hours and days can be accessed directly.
Practical examples: