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FreeBSD Handbook

The FreeBSD Documentation Project

Revision: 42118

Copyright © 1995-2013 The FreeBSD Documentation Project

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Last modified on 2013-07-02 by wblock.
Abstract

Welcome to FreeBSD! This handbook covers the installation and day to day use of FreeBSD 8.4-RELEASE and FreeBSD 9.1-RELEASE. This manual is a work in progress and is the work of many individuals. As such, some sections may become dated and require updating. If you are interested in helping out with this project, send email to the FreeBSD documentation project mailing list. The latest version of this document is always available from the FreeBSD web site (previous versions of this handbook can be obtained from http://docs.FreeBSD.org/doc/). It may also be downloaded in a variety of formats and compression options from the FreeBSD FTP server or one of the numerous mirror sites. If you would prefer to have a hard copy of the handbook, you can purchase one at the FreeBSD Mall. You may also want to search the handbook.

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Table of Contents
Preface
I. Getting Started
1. Introduction
1.1. Synopsis
1.2. Welcome to FreeBSD!
1.3. About the FreeBSD Project
2. Installing FreeBSD 9.X and Later
2.1. Synopsis
2.2. Hardware Requirements
2.3. Pre-Installation Tasks
2.4. Starting the Installation
2.5. Introducing bsdinstall
2.6. Installing from the Network
2.7. Allocating Disk Space
2.8. Committing to the Installation
2.9. Post-Installation
2.10. Troubleshooting
2.11. Using the Live CD
3. Installing FreeBSD 8.X
3.1. Synopsis
3.2. Hardware Requirements
3.3. Pre-installation Tasks
3.4. Starting the Installation
3.5. Introducing sysinstall(8)
3.6. Allocating Disk Space
3.7. Choosing What to Install
3.8. Choosing the Installation Media
3.9. Committing to the Installation
3.10. Post-installation
3.11. Troubleshooting
3.12. Advanced Installation Guide
3.13. Preparing Custom Installation Media
4. UNIX Basics
4.1. Synopsis
4.2. Virtual Consoles and Terminals
4.3. Permissions
4.4. Directory Structure
4.5. Disk Organization
4.6. Mounting and Unmounting File Systems
4.7. Processes
4.8. Daemons, Signals, and Killing Processes
4.9. Shells
4.10. Text Editors
4.11. Devices and Device Nodes
4.12. For More Information
5. Installing Applications: Packages and Ports
5.1. Synopsis
5.2. Overview of Software Installation
5.3. Finding Software
5.4. Using Binary Packages
5.5. Using pkgng for Binary Package Management
5.6. Using the Ports Collection
5.7. Working With Installed Ports
5.8. Dealing with Broken Ports
6. The X Window System
6.1. Synopsis
6.2. Understanding X
6.3. Installing X11
6.4. X11 Configuration
6.5. Using Fonts in X11
6.6. The X Display Manager
6.7. Desktop Environments
II. Common Tasks
7. Desktop Applications
7.1. Synopsis
7.2. Browsers
7.3. Productivity
7.4. Document Viewers
7.5. Finance
8. Multimedia
8.1. Synopsis
8.2. Setting Up the Sound Card
8.3. MP3 Audio
8.4. Video Playback
8.5. Setting Up TV Cards
8.6. MythTV
8.7. Image Scanners
9. Configuring the FreeBSD Kernel
9.1. Synopsis
9.2. Why Build a Custom Kernel?
9.3. Finding the System Hardware
9.4. Kernel Drivers, Subsystems, and Modules
9.5. Building and Installing a Custom Kernel
9.6. The Configuration File
9.7. If Something Goes Wrong
10. Printing
10.1. Synopsis
10.2. Introduction
10.3. Basic Setup
10.4. Advanced Printer Setup
10.5. Using Printers
10.6. Alternatives to the Standard Spooler
10.7. Troubleshooting
11. Linux® Binary Compatibility
11.1. Synopsis
11.2. Installation
11.3. Installing Mathematica®
11.4. Installing Maple™
11.5. Installing MATLAB®
11.6. Installing Oracle®
11.7. Advanced Topics
III. System Administration
12. Configuration and Tuning
12.1. Synopsis
12.2. Initial Configuration
12.3. Core Configuration
12.4. Application Configuration
12.5. Starting Services
12.6. Configuring cron(8)
12.7. Using rc(8) Under FreeBSD
12.8. Setting Up Network Interface Cards
12.9. Virtual Hosts
12.10. Configuring the System Logger, syslogd
12.11. Configuration Files
12.12. Tuning with sysctl(8)
12.13. Tuning Disks
12.14. Tuning Kernel Limits
12.15. Adding Swap Space
12.16. Power and Resource Management
12.17. Using and Debugging FreeBSD ACPI
13. The FreeBSD Booting Process
13.1. Synopsis
13.2. The Booting Problem
13.3. The Boot Manager and Boot Stages
13.4. Kernel Interaction During Boot
13.5. Device Hints
13.6. Init: Process Control Initialization
13.7. Shutdown Sequence
14. Users and Basic Account Management
14.1. Synopsis
14.2. Introduction
14.3. Modifying Accounts
14.4. Limiting Users
14.5. Groups
14.6. Becoming Superuser
15. Security
15.1. Synopsis
15.2. Introduction
15.3. Securing FreeBSD
15.4. DES, Blowfish, MD5, SHA256, SHA512, and Crypt
15.5. One-time Passwords
15.6. TCP Wrappers
15.7. Kerberos5
15.8. OpenSSL
15.9. VPN over IPsec
15.10. OpenSSH
15.11. Filesystem Access Control Lists (ACL)s
15.12. Monitoring Third Party Security Issues
15.13. FreeBSD Security Advisories
15.14. Process Accounting
15.15. Resource Limits
16. Jails
16.1. Synopsis
16.2. Terms Related to Jails
16.3. Introduction
16.4. Creating and Controlling Jails
16.5. Fine Tuning and Administration
16.6. Application of Jails
17. Mandatory Access Control
17.1. Synopsis
17.2. Key Terms in This Chapter
17.3. Explanation of MAC
17.4. Understanding MAC Labels
17.5. Planning the Security Configuration
17.6. Module Configuration
17.7. The MAC See Other UIDs Policy
17.8. The MAC BSD Extended Policy
17.9. The MAC Interface Silencing Policy
17.10. The MAC Port Access Control List Policy
17.11. The MAC Partition Policy
17.12. The MAC Multi-Level Security Module
17.13. The MAC Biba Module
17.14. The MAC LOMAC Module
17.15. Nagios in a MAC Jail
17.16. User Lock Down
17.17. Troubleshooting the MAC Framework
18. Security Event Auditing
18.1. Synopsis
18.2. Key Terms in This Chapter
18.3. Installing Audit Support
18.4. Audit Configuration
18.5. Administering the Audit Subsystem
19. Storage
19.1. Synopsis
19.2. Device Names
19.3. Adding Disks
19.4. USB Storage Devices
19.5. Creating and Using CD Media
19.6. Creating and Using DVD Media
19.7. Creating and Using Floppy Disks
19.8. Creating and Using Data Tapes
19.9. Backup Strategies
19.10. Backup Basics
19.11. Network, Memory, and File-Backed File Systems
19.12. File System Snapshots
19.13. File System Quotas
19.14. Encrypting Disk Partitions
19.15. Encrypting Swap Space
19.16. Highly Available Storage (HAST)
20. GEOM: Modular Disk Transformation Framework
20.1. Synopsis
20.2. GEOM Introduction
20.3. RAID0 - Striping
20.4. RAID1 - Mirroring
20.5. Software RAID Devices
20.6. RAID3 - Byte-level Striping with Dedicated Parity
20.7. GEOM Gate Network Devices
20.8. Labeling Disk Devices
20.9. UFS Journaling Through GEOM
21. File Systems Support
21.1. Synopsis
21.2. The Z File System (ZFS)
21.3. Linux® Filesystems
22. Virtualization
22.1. Synopsis
22.2. FreeBSD as a Guest OS
22.3. FreeBSD as a Host
23. Localization - i18n/L10n Usage and Setup
23.1. Synopsis
23.2. The Basics
23.3. Using Localization
23.4. Compiling i18n Programs
23.5. Localizing FreeBSD to Specific Languages
24. Updating and Upgrading FreeBSD
24.1. Synopsis
24.2. FreeBSD Update
24.3. Portsnap: a Ports Collection Update Tool
24.4. Updating the Documentation Set
24.5. Tracking a Development Branch
24.6. Synchronizing Source
24.7. Rebuilding “world”
24.8. Tracking for Multiple Machines
25. DTrace
25.1. Synopsis
25.2. Implementation Differences
25.3. Enabling DTrace Support
25.4. Using DTrace
25.5. The D Language
IV. Network Communication
26. Serial Communications
26.1. Synopsis
26.2. Introduction
26.3. Terminals
26.4. Dial-in Service
26.5. Dial-out Service
26.6. Setting Up the Serial Console
27. PPP and SLIP
27.1. Synopsis
27.2. Using User PPP
27.3. Using Kernel PPP
27.4. Troubleshooting PPP Connections
27.5. Using PPP over Ethernet (PPPoE)
27.6. Using PPP over ATM (PPPoA)
27.7. Using SLIP
28. Electronic Mail
28.1. Synopsis
28.2. Using Electronic Mail
28.3. Sendmail Configuration
28.4. Changing the Mail Transfer Agent
28.5. Troubleshooting
28.6. Advanced Topics
28.7. Setting Up to Send Only
28.8. Using Mail with a Dialup Connection
28.9. SMTP Authentication
28.10. Mail User Agents
28.11. Using fetchmail
28.12. Using procmail
29. Network Servers
29.1. Synopsis
29.2. The inetd “Super-Server”
29.3. Network File System (NFS)
29.4. Network Information System (NIS/YP)
29.5. FreeBSD and LDAP
29.6. Automatic Network Configuration (DHCP)
29.7. Domain Name System (DNS)
29.8. Apache HTTP Server
29.9. File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
29.10. File and Print Services for Microsoft® Windows® Clients (Samba)
29.11. Clock Synchronization with NTP
29.12. Remote Host Logging with syslogd
30. Firewalls
30.1. Introduction
30.2. Firewall Concepts
30.3. Firewall Packages
30.4. PF and ALTQ
30.5. The IPFILTER (IPF) Firewall
30.6. IPFW
31. Advanced Networking
31.1. Synopsis
31.2. Gateways and Routes
31.3. Wireless Networking
31.4. Bluetooth
31.5. Bridging
31.6. Link Aggregation and Failover
31.7. Diskless Operation
31.8. PXE Booting with an NFS Root File System
31.9. Network Address Translation
31.10. IPv6
31.11. Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
31.12. Common Address Redundancy Protocol (CARP)
V. Appendices
A. Obtaining FreeBSD
A.1. CDROM and DVD Publishers
A.2. FTP Sites
A.3. Anonymous CVS (Deprecated)
A.4. Using CTM
A.5. Using Subversion
A.6. Subversion Mirror Sites
A.7. Using CVSup (Deprecated)
A.8. CVS Tags
A.9. rsync Sites
B. Bibliography
B.1. Books & Magazines Specific to FreeBSD
B.2. Users' Guides
B.3. Administrators' Guides
B.4. Programmers' Guides
B.5. Operating System Internals
B.6. Security Reference
B.7. Hardware Reference
B.8. UNIX® History
B.9. Magazines and Journals
C. Resources on the Internet
C.1. Mailing Lists
C.2. Usenet Newsgroups
C.3. World Wide Web Servers
C.4. Email Addresses
D. PGP Keys
D.1. Officers
D.2. Core Team Members
D.3. Developers
D.4. Other Cluster Account Holders
FreeBSD Glossary
Index
List of Figures
2.1. FreeBSD Boot Loader Menu
2.2. Typical Device Probe Results
2.3. Selecting Installation Media Mode
2.4. Keymap Selection
2.5. Selecting Keyboard Menu
2.6. Setting the Hostname
2.7. Selecting Components to Install
2.8. Installing from the Network
2.9. Choosing a Mirror
2.10. Selecting Guided or Manual Partitioning
2.11. Selecting from Multiple Disks
2.12. Selecting Entire Disk or Partition
2.13. Review Created Partitions
2.14. Manually Create Partitions
2.15. Manually Create Partitions
2.16. Manually Create Partitions
2.17. Final Confirmation
2.18. Fetching Distribution Files
2.19. Verifying Distribution Files
2.20. Extracting Distribution Files
2.21. Setting the root Password
2.22. Choose a Network Interface
2.23. Scanning for Wireless Access Points
2.24. Choosing a Wireless Network
2.25. WPA2 Setup
2.26. Choose IPv4 Networking
2.27. Choose IPv4 DHCP Configuration
2.28. IPv4 Static Configuration
2.29. Choose IPv6 Networking
2.30. Choose IPv6 SLAAC Configuration
2.31. IPv6 Static Configuration
2.32. DNS Configuration
2.33. Select Local or UTC Clock
2.34. Select a Region
2.35. Select a Country
2.36. Select a Time Zone
2.37. Confirm Time Zone
2.38. Selecting Additional Services to Enable
2.39. Enabling Crash Dumps
2.40. Add User Accounts
2.41. Enter User Information
2.42. Exit User and Group Management
2.43. Final Configuration
2.44. Manual Configuration
2.45. Complete the Installation
3.1. FreeBSD Boot Loader Menu
3.2. Typical Device Probe Results
3.3. Selecting Country Menu
3.4. Selecting Keyboard Menu
3.5. Selecting Usage from Sysinstall Main Menu
3.6. Selecting Documentation Menu
3.7. Sysinstall Documentation Menu
3.8. Sysinstall Main Menu
3.9. Sysinstall Keymap Menu
3.10. Sysinstall Main Menu
3.11. Sysinstall Options
3.12. Begin Standard Installation
3.13. Select Drive for FDisk
3.14. Typical Default FDisk Partitions
3.15. Fdisk Partition Using Entire Disk
3.16. Sysinstall Boot Manager Menu
3.17. Exit Select Drive
3.18. Sysinstall Disklabel Editor
3.19. Sysinstall Disklabel Editor with Auto Defaults
3.20. Free Space for Root Partition
3.21. Edit Root Partition Size
3.22. Choose the Root Partition Type
3.23. Choose the Root Mount Point
3.24. Sysinstall Disklabel Editor
3.25. Choose Distributions
3.26. Confirm Distributions
3.27. Choose Installation Media
3.28. Selecting an Ethernet Device
3.29. Set Network Configuration for ed0
3.30. Editing inetd.conf
3.31. Default Anonymous FTP Configuration
3.32. Edit the FTP Welcome Message
3.33. Editing exports
3.34. System Console Configuration Options
3.35. Screen Saver Options
3.36. Screen Saver Timeout
3.37. System Console Configuration Exit
3.38. Select the Region
3.39. Select the Country
3.40. Select the Time Zone
3.41. Select Mouse Protocol Type
3.42. Set Mouse Protocol
3.43. Configure Mouse Port
3.44. Setting the Mouse Port
3.45. Enable the Mouse Daemon
3.46. Test the Mouse Daemon
3.47. Select Package Category
3.48. Select Packages
3.49. Install Packages
3.50. Confirm Package Installation
3.51. Select User
3.52. Add User Information
3.53. Exit User and Group Management
3.54. Exit Install
3.55. Network Configuration Upper-level
3.56. Select a Default MTA
3.57. Ntpdate Configuration
3.58. Network Configuration Lower-level
31.1. PXE Booting Process with NFS Root Mount
List of Tables
2.1. Partitioning Schemes
3.1. Sample Device Inventory
3.2. Partition Layout for First Disk
3.3. Partition Layout for Subsequent Disks
3.4. FreeBSD ISO Image Names and Meanings
4.1. Disk Device Codes
19.1. Physical Disk Naming Conventions
26.1. DB-25 to DB-25 Null-Modem Cable
26.2. DB-9 to DB-9 Null-Modem Cable
26.3. DB-9 to DB-25 Null-Modem Cable
26.4. Signal Names
31.1. Station Capability Codes
31.2. Reserved IPv6 Addresses
List of Examples
2.1. Using an Existing Partition
2.2. Shrinking an Existing Partition
2.3. Creating Traditional Split Filesystem Partitions
3.1. Using an Existing Partition Unchanged
3.2. Shrinking an Existing Partition
4.1. Sample Disk, Slice, and Partition Names
4.2. Conceptual Model of a Disk
5.1. Downloading a Package Manually and Installing It Locally
12.1. Creating a Swapfile on FreeBSD
13.1. boot0 Screenshot
13.2. boot2 Screenshot
13.3. An Insecure Console in /etc/ttys
14.1. Adding a User on FreeBSD
14.2. rmuser Interactive Account Removal
14.3. Interactive chpass by Superuser
14.4. Interactive chpass by Normal User
14.5. Changing Your Password
14.6. Changing Another User's Password as the Superuser
14.7. Adding a Group Using pw(8)
14.8. Adding User Accounts to a New Group Using pw(8)
14.9. Adding a New Member to a Group Using pw(8)
14.10. Using id(1) to Determine Group Membership
14.11. Install a Program As The Superuser
15.1. Using ssh(1) to Create a Secure Tunnel for SMTP
19.1. Using dump over ssh
19.2. Using dump over ssh with RSH Set
19.3. Using mdconfig to Mount an Existing File System Image
19.4. Creating a New File-Backed Disk with mdconfig
19.5. Configure and Mount a File-Backed Disk with mdmfs
19.6. Creating a New Memory-Based Disk with mdconfig
19.7. Creating a New Memory-Based Disk with mdmfs
20.1. Labeling Partitions on the Boot Disk
26.1. Adding Terminal Entries to /etc/ttys
28.1. Configuring the Sendmail Access Database
28.2. Mail Aliases
28.3. Example Virtual Domain Mail Map
29.1. Reloading the inetd Configuration File
29.2. Mounting an Export with amd
29.3. Installing Django with Apache2, mod_python3, and PostgreSQL
29.4. Apache Configuration for Django/mod_python
31.1. LACP Aggregation with a Cisco® Switch
31.2. Failover Mode
31.3. Failover Mode Between Wired and Wireless Interfaces
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Questions that are not answered by the documentation may be sent to <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org>.

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