From 97b5c9602eaa16de47563fd51320badb8cfd469b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: paulgear Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2006 05:26:09 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Another checkpoint git-svn-id: https://shorewall.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/shorewall/trunk@3689 fbd18981-670d-0410-9b5c-8dc0c1a9a2bb --- docs/survey-200603.xml | 344 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------------- 1 file changed, 228 insertions(+), 116 deletions(-) diff --git a/docs/survey-200603.xml b/docs/survey-200603.xml index 49c1d9784..25675fd0d 100644 --- a/docs/survey-200603.xml +++ b/docs/survey-200603.xml @@ -39,12 +39,12 @@ In early March 2006, i @@@ embarked on the jorney of surveying Shorewall users. Initially this sprang from my own curiosity: it seemed to - me that the systems at work on which i was using Shorewall were bigger and - more complex than a lot of the ones others were using, and i wanted to - find out if there were people out there who used it like i did. As started - thinking about the question's i would ask, i realised that i could ask a - few more questions that might help us as a project to understand a bit - more about all of our users. + me that some of the systems at work on which i was using Shorewall were + bigger and more complex than a lot of the ones others were using, and i + wanted to find out if there were people out there who used it like i did. + As started thinking about the questions i would ask, i realised that i + could ask a few more questions that might help us as a project to + understand a bit more about all of our users. I used Zoomerang to create the survey. It has a number of tools that make it really easy to @@ -53,7 +53,8 @@ great to see a practical free software alternative that we could self-host. A number of free content management systems such as Drupal have a survey module, but when i - last looked at them, they + last looked at them, they were much more limited and harder to use than + Zoomerang.
Take the survey @@ -76,103 +77,196 @@
- Results analysis + Detailed results analysis - + An important note about this survey is that it has a very small + sample size (103 complete responses at the time of writing), so any + conclusions drawn should be considered tentative. Additionally, since the + survey was open to multiple responses, it could be that some people + answered the questions about themselves more than once, despite + instructions to the contrary in the introduction page. + + If you notice any errors in this analysis, or have any suggestions + about how to improve it, please contact the author at pgear@shorewall.net.
- Summary + Organisations - + Small organisations dominate the spectrum of Shorewall users. The + largest group (44%) was 1-10 users - mostly SOHO LANs based on the + comments in that section. Ninety percent (90%) of Shorewall + installations are in organisations with less than 500 users. The results + for the questions about organisational size and the number of users + serviced by Shorewall match fairly closely, which seems to indicate that + the majority of Shorewall systems are servicing the entire organisation + in question. Some anomalies seem to have crept in, e.g. some responses + indicated that their Shorewall system serviced more users than exist in + their organisation. There may be some good reasons for this that i + haven't anticipated. -
- Organisations + The vast majority (84%) of Shorewall systems are administered by + only one person. One question that needs to be asked is, "Why?" Possible + reasons for this might be: - Small organisations dominate the spectrum of Shorewall users. - The largest group (44%) was 1-10 users - mostly SOHO LANs, based on - the comments in that section. Ninety percent of Shorewall - installations are in organisations with less than 500 users. + + + Most of the organisations in which it is used are small, thus + most of them will only have one person skilled in the area of packet + filtering firewalls. This seems a likely scenario, but a cross + correlation of the results of questions 1 and 2 with question 3 + indicates that the number of administrators is fairly uniform across + all sizes of organisation and user base. + - The results for the questions about organisational size and the - number of users serviced by Shorewall closely match, which seems to - indicate that the majority of those 90% of Shorewall systems are - servicing the entire organisation in question. + + Shorewall works so well that people don't have to touch it + much. Obviously, this is the preferred interpretation of the + Shorewall project team. :-) + - Some anomalies seem to have crept in, e.g. some responses - indicated that their Shorewall system serviced more users than exist - in their organisation. There may be some good reasons for this that - i'm not aware of. + + Shorewall is too hard for new users to comprehend, so one + skilled person in an organisation tends to get the job maintaining + it. Equally obviously, this is a non-preferred interpretation. :-) + However, being a firewall generator, Shorewall is not likely to + attract the same sort of users as a web browser or music + player. + - The vast majority (84%) of Shorewall systems are administered by - only one person. Possible reasons for this might be: + + Shorewall administrators are a closed bunch and don't like + sharing their job around. Given the nature of firewalls and packet + filtering, this doesn't seem far-fetched. + + - - - Most of the organisations in which it is used are small, and - so most of them will only have one person skilled in the area of - packet filtering firewalls. This seems a likely scenario, but a - cross - - - - Shorewall is too hard for new users to comprehend, so one - skilled person in an organisation tends to get the job maintaining - it. - - - - Shorewall works so well that people don't have to touch it - much. (This is obviously the preferred interpretation of the - Shorewall project team. :-) - - - - Shorewall administrators are a closed bunch and don't like - sharing their job around. Given the nature of packet filtering, - this doesn't seem far-fetched. - - - - This question doesn't seem to have an easy answer. In - retrospect, since there were no responses indicating 10 or more - administrators, i could have made the granularity of this question - better. Possibly we can follow this up with a further, smaller survey - specifically about the people and organisations who use - Shorewall. -
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+ There doesn't seem to be an easy answer to thus question. In + retrospect, since there were no responses indicating 10 or more + administrators, i could have made the granularity of this question + better. A question about a person's role in the organisation may also + have been helpful. Possibly we could follow up with a smaller survey, + specifically about the people and organisations who use + Shorewall.
- asdf + Users - asdf + Unsurprisingly, 97% of survey respondents were male. Or to put it + another way: suprisingly, there are actually 3 female Shorewall users. + Being male seems to be an occupational hazard of life in the IT + industry, and even more so in the more "nerdy" specialisations like + Linux and security. :-) + + The largest age group of users is 25-34 years (42% of all + respondents). There were no retirees (65 and over) or minors (under 18) + in the responses. The distribution of all remaining age groups was + fairly even. + + The largest group of users in terms of education was those with a + Bachelor's degree, followed by those with a high school education. + Fifty-seven percent (57%) of Shorewall users have a Bachelor's degree or + better. Many users' highest qualifications are not in an IT-related + discipline (42%). This remains fairly constant across the spectrum when + correlated with the highest level of qualifications. + + Almost two-thirds of users (62%) use Shorewall as part of their + paid employment. Of these, 12% (7 of 58) do not use Shorewall as part of + their official duties. Cross correlation with level of education + revealed no major variances in this trend depending on level of + education. + + The majority of users (73%) began using the Internet in the 1990s. + A smaller majority (61%) have been using the Internet for more than 12 + years (1994 or earlier). (The single response indicating use of the + Internet (then ARPANET) since the 1960s seems to be an error.) + + The majority of users (70%) began using Linux after it reached a + certain stage of maturity - around or after the release of kernel 2.0 + (1996). However, nearly all respondents (97%) have been using Linux for + 5 years or more, with almost half (47%) having 10 or more years + experience with it. It seems fair to say that as a rule, Shorewall + attracts people with plenty of experience. + + Around one third of users (30%) have been using Shorewall for more + than 5 years, with two-thirds (66%) having used it since the 1.x series + (2003 or earlier). It seems fair to say that Shorewall users seem to + stick with the product once they are familiar with it. On the other + hand, it seems that Shorewall is not attracting large numbers of new + users, which is a concern for the future of the project. +
+ +
+ Hardware + + Ninety-three percent (93%) of users run Shorewall on i386 family + hardware, with a further 6% running it on x86-64/EM64T platforms. One + response was received indicating use of Shorewall on MIPS (Linksys WRT + platform). No responses were received for any other hardware platform. + While this is not surprising given Intel's + + A good spread of CPU power is shown in the survey responses. The + largest group was 400-999 MHz (30%), with only 16% of responses + indicating less than 400 MHz, with the same number greater than 2500 + MHz. A number of responses in the field for additional information + suggested that the machines used were either recycled desktops, or + systems that were specifically built to do the job, and had been running + in that role for a number of years. + + RAM configuration seemed to mostly mirror CPU power, with the + majority (52%) of systems having between 256 and 1023 MB. A bias towards + higher RAM figures (only 11% of systems have less than 128 MB; 28% have + 1024 MB or more) reflects the more server-oriented workload that many + Shorewall systems run (see section @@@ below). (Note that there is an + error in the released version of the survey for this question: it was a + multiple choice question rather than single choice, and thus there were + more results than expected. However, the number of errors doesn't seem + to be significant.) + + Shorewall systems on the whole tend toward smaller OS hard disks, + with 42% having disks 39 GB or smaller. The largest group by a small + margin was 80-159 GB at 23%, with 10-39 GB and 0-9 GB coming in a close + second and third at 22% and 20% respectively. +
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- Possible implications for free software projects + Conclusions + + +
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+ Possible implications for the Shorewall project + + + + + +
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+ Possible implications for other free software projects
@@ -180,48 +274,66 @@
Lessons learned about surveys - asdf - - things i did right - - - - Treat it like releasing free software: +
+ Things i did right - - - release early and often - + - - make branches when you release alpha and beta versions, and - bring the lessons you learned in those versions into the main - trunk - - - - + + + Treat it like releasing free software: - things i did wrong + + + release early and often + - - - Start small and work towards what you want to know. I tried to - do everything in one survey, and ended up confusing some - people. - + + make branches when you release alpha and beta versions, + and bring the lessons you learned in those versions into the + main trunk + + + + +
- - asdf - +
+ Things i did wrong - - Be prepared beforehand - - + - asdf + + + Start small and work towards what you want to know. I tried to + do everything in one survey, and ended up confusing some + people. + + + + + + + + Be prepared beforehand + + + + +
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