Absolute FreeBSD, 3rd Edition

7THE NETWORK

FreeBSD is famous for its network performance. The TCP/IP network protocol suite was first developed on BSD, and BSD, in turn, included the first major implementation of TCP/IP. While competing network protocols were considered more exciting in the 1980s, the wide availability, flexibility, and liberal licensing of the BSD TCP/IP stack made it the de facto standard. This isn’t just a historical curiosity; today, Facebook is actively looking for engineers who can make Linux’s network performance match that of FreeBSD. The project is expected to take several years.

Many system administrators today have a vague familiarity with the basics ...