FreeBSD may not be as popular or as well known as other operating systems, but it steadly becomes an interesting alternative. Facebook wants Linux networking as good as FreeBSD, FreeBSD Foundation Receives $1 Million from WhatsApp and recently, DigitalOcean introduced FreeBSD droplets. But if you prefer a dedicated machine instead of a virtual one, it is also very easy to install FreeBSD on Hetzner.
Install the base system
Log in to Hetzner Robot
Choose your server and select Rescue tab, as a OS choose FreeBSD. Click Activate rescue system. Note the root password for later use.
Choose Reset tab and Send CTRL+ALT+DEL to the server as a reset type. Click send.
After a few seconds, log in to your server
ssh root@<YOUR IP>
Password for root@rescue:
FreeBSD 10.1-RELEASE (GENERIC) #0 r274401: Tue Nov 11 21:02:49 UTC 2014
Welcome to mfsBSD, the memory based FreeBSD distribution.
This is a stripped-down version of FreeBSD without:
- manual pages, info pages, examples
- include files, static library files, development tools
- bind binaries (host, dig, named, etc.)
Feel free to email me with any bug reports or feature suggestions.
Martin Matuska <[email protected]>
http://mfsbsd.vx.sk/
[root@rescue ~]#Run bsdinstallimage and choose most recent FreeBSD version (10.1) and 64 bit architecture. Make sure you use a proper keyboard map.
As a file system choose ZFS. Use Stripe as a virtual device type. Select your disk and confirm.
The system will start extracting the distribution files followed by a creation of a root account.
Next, choose a network interface. Select Yes for both IPv4, IPv6 and DHCP configuration.
Choose your timezone. Leave default selection for system configuration. If needed, add other user accounts. Confirm your final configuration and reboot with shutdown -r now
Install additional software
Software can be installed as a binary package using pkg or from source using ports. The former method is preferred unless you need specific configuration. Both methods can be mixed if needed.
Configuration for the software that comes with the system is located in /etc while everything installed by the user is stored in /usr/local i.e. configuration in /usr/local/etc, startup scripts in /usr/local/etc/rc.d and binaries in /usr/local/bin.
Let’s install basic packages
pkg install sudo less vim-lite zshTo check what is installed (either using pkg or with ports):
pkg infoTo check if a new version of a software package is available:
pkg versionAdjust configuration
Once restarted, log in with ssh. Let’s adjust SSH daemon configuration and disable root login and password authentication.
Open /etc/ssh/sshd_config, change ChallengeResponseAuthentication to no and PermitRootLogin to no.
Restart SSH daemon
service sshd restartIn .profile switch PAGER from more to less.