I hesitate to select flashrom because it is a program that should be used with the utmost caution and because it doesn’t yet work as well as I would like. However, it shows great promise and offers functionality that is currently lacking in Linux. Quite simply it is an open source application that allows the user to flash their BIOS from Linux. Usually, to flash the BIOS of a machine I tend to use a boot cd to load a DOS environment from which I can run the BIOS update utility. With flashrom I can flash the system BIOS from Linux and reboot at my leisure.

The Internet Gateway Device (IGD) protocol allows client software on computers behind a NAT router/firewall to request that incoming networking ports on the router be forwarded to the client computer. Though this technology is often criticized as a weakening of security my analysis of the threat vectors has left me unconvinced that an IGD router/firewall represents a significant risk compared to a system without IGD. For many users, port forwarding remains an unfamiliar concept and they do not wish to take the time and effort to configure it manually. By turning on IGD a NAT router/firewall can better support the software needs of the computers on the private network.

Why would a system administrator want to consider Ubuntu as a server operating system? Ubuntu is a young GNU/Linux distribution and a newcomer to the server market. Still I think a case can be made for Ubuntu as a capable and beneficial operating system for servers. As well as why, for many scenarios, Ubuntu might be preferable to Debian.