Installing FreeBSD 7

Hello,

I am a fan of computer operating systems.  I am not sure why, but there is something in the design and execution of each that I find very interesting.

This example will detail how to install FreeBSD 7 as a server operating system, ready for almost any task one could think of assigning.

Tools…

An x86 PC (for this example) with at least 32MB of RAM, 2GB of free HDD space, and a BIOS that can boot from the CD-ROM. FreeBSD 7 Install CD 1.

Get It…

FreeBSD is free to download from the public web-site or from BitTorrent.  The current release, 7, is available for i386, amd64, ia64, pc98, powerpc, and sparc64 platforms. Most computers run on the i386 platform, chances are if you had one of the other types, you would be well aware of it.

The files are downloaded as iso images, simply burn them to a CD.  CD 1 is the only CD we’ll need here, but it cannot hurt to have all available if need be.  Full CD sets along with official manuals are for sale from the FreeBSD Mall web-site.

Do It…

1. Insert FreeBSD 7 CD1 and boot your PC to the CD-ROM drive.  It may be helpful to erase the target computer’s drive before proceeding with the install.  I love ‘Darik’s Boot and Nuke’ for erasing hard drives…

2. The install routine should start almost immediatley. A boot screen with an ASCII ‘FreeBSD’ will appear along with a menu.  To install we need to choose option 1 ‘Boot FreeBSD [Default]‘, or just wait.

3. The next screen asks you to select your country or locale.  Select the appropriate response.  If you do not know, stop the installation now…

4. FreeBSD’s installer program is called ’sysinstall’, very similar to ‘Winnt32.exe’ for Windows and ‘Anaconda’ for Fedora/Red Hat.  Using the arrow keys, select  ‘Standard Installation’ from the menu and select it by pressing enter.

5. An error may appear regarding a partitioning scheme on the current disk.  Press enter to acknowledge the prompt and continue.

6. To keep things simple and because dual-boots are main pain than they are worth, we’ll use the entire HDD in this tutorial.   From within the partitioning menu, press ‘A’ to allocate the entire disk, then ‘Q’ to finish up.

7. The next window will ask which boot-loader to use and where to place it. Select the ‘Standard’ boot manger, which will make the newly allocated drive boot-able.  Just like with any other operating system install, hard drives much be partitioned, made active or boot-able, then formatted before use.

8. Sysinstall will prompt you to create BSD partitions inside of the new volume.  Like most other OS installs, this can be chosen to be done manually or automatically. Press ‘A’ to automatically partition the volume, then ‘Q’ to quit the process.

9. Select ‘Yes’ when prompted to configure and SLIP or Ethernet adapters.  From the next screen, choose the adapter which has been found in your computer. Usually, any detected adapters appear at the top of the menu. If setup asks about enabling IPv6, choose no, it is not needed for our purposes. Servers should only have installed the software for services they need, and nothing else.

10. The option to use DHCP at this point should be discarded for a static IP address.  Servers need to have static IP addresses for consistent resolution by clients and services.

11. A network gateway would allow FreeBSD to act as a network firewall and proxy server.  Two network adapters are required for this configuration.  FreeBSD has one of the best firewall utilities, ‘PF’, but it is not applicable here, choose ‘no’.

12. The next option asks if SSH should be enabled.  Chances are the server will be administered by remote connection, thus SSH should be turned on for that purpose.  As a security measure, the root user account cannot log in through SSH, only normal users. Enable SSH and continue.

13. FTP service may be an option at a later date, but not now, especially with anonymous connections.  One might as well make the root password ‘password’ and the phrase ‘Hack me!’ as the MOTD.  FreeBSD works great as an FTP server, but any FTP server serving the public Internet should run a secure method of FTP (SFTP, FTP over SSH).

14. ‘No’ can be given as the responses for configuring the machine as an NFS server and an NFS client.  If necessary, these settings can be configured afterwards.

15. Next is a very important step, the time zone setting.  Not just with FreeBSD, but with any server, if the time is set incorrectly a host of systemic problems can result.  Sysinstall will ask if the computer’s clock is set to UTC time, chances are it is not.  The only way to be sure is to look in the BIOS, but that is not possible during the install.  Just as setup suggests, if you are not sure choose ‘No’ and select the proper time zone and time.

16. Linux binary compatibility allows Linux binaries to be accessible via the FreeBSD ports system.  This would be useful for installing the K Desktop Environment (KDE) on your FreeBSD machine.  I like my FreeBSD servers ‘GUI-less’.  FreeBSD can be installed as a desktop and there are versions such as PC-BSD and DesktopBSD that aim toward those functions.  Choose ‘No’ and continue.

17. The installation thus far has been all performed through the terminal.  It will continue to be that way unless we specifically install a graphical desktop.  A serial mouse or other pointing device will not be of much help in our current efforts.  Choose ‘No’ and continue.

18. A comprehensive list of applications is presented in the next step.  One of the really great features of FreeBSD is the ‘ports’ system and how each installation is specifically built and ‘made’ for that server.  Ports are not pre-compiled executables or packages such as RPM’s and Windows executables.  Choose ‘No’ and continue.

19. A user account, we do need a user account, so be sure to select ‘User’ from the menu.  FreeBSD comes with a ‘root’ user account, but that is handled at a later step. Enter a user ID, this would be the user ID which will be used later on to log into the system.  TAB over and enter a strong password twice, then TAB over and enter your full name.  An important note is the group field.  Groups have not been specifically established at one point, but we need to enter our account as a member of the ‘wheel’ group.  The wheel group is allowed to elevate their status to ‘Superuser’ with the ’su’ command and act as root.  At least one user on the system should be amember of the wheel group.  Add you account by typing ‘wheel‘ and continue.

20. Back to the User/Group Management menu, exit out of that and you will be asked to set the system manager’s password.  The system manger is the ‘root’ user account.  Enter a really, really, really complex password twice and proceed.

21. ‘Any last options?‘ There are no more options to set at this point. TAB over to ‘Exit Install’ and remove the FreeBSD CD.  The server will now reboot.  W00t!!!

You should log in to the server console interactively once, to make sure that process goes as it should. Typing the command ‘exit’ will end the current session and log off the user.  After that, utilities such as ‘Putty’ or ‘WinSCP’ can be installed on a Windows box to connect to FreeBSD via SSH.  Linux and Mac OS X users need only to fire up the terminal and type ’ssh user <server ip address>’.

We’ll come back to this, but for now we have a fresh server ready to do anything we ask…

FreeBSD Handbook <- Awesome, awesome guide for getting the ball rolling w/FreeBSD.

Enjoy!