Networking

Networking is often one of the first areas by which open source software enters enterprises. Indeed, your organisation is most likely already (unwittingly) making use of it on a day to day basis.

There is a huge amount of reliable, powerful and fast open source software which is in daily use by millions of users worldwide. This chapter is divided into the following sections:

• Core networking software
• Security (firewalls and SSL)
• Network servers
• Network monitoring software
• Email clients and servers
• Data backup

The list of open source packages is by no means exhaustive; in fact, it represents only a small sample of what is available in what is a quickly developing and expanding marketplace. Many large networking services providers, too, are getting in on the act by offering both open source and commercial editions of their software.