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PC-BSD / FreeBSD 11.0-CURRENT Performance

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Michael from Phoronix gives us another benchmark test, this time with FreeBSD 11.0-CURRENT. Follow the link below to see a detailed report with charts.

pcbsdphoronixLast week I had plans to run some fresh FreeBSD vs. Linux gaming benchmarks using the FreeBSD’s Linux software binary compatibility layer.

For those that don’t know, FreeBSD boasts a Linux binary compatibility initiative. Five years ago I did some Linux gaming tests on FreeBSD within FreeBSD: A Faster Platform For Linux Gaming Than Linux?. I wanted to do some modern tests atop the latest FreeBSD/PC-BSD code and the latest NVIDIA driver…

Full report: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=FreeBSD-11.0-Jan-CURRENT

FreeBSD Mastery: Specialty Filesystems

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fmspf-front-cover-2015-12-02-50FreeBSD Mastery: Specialty Filesystems by Michael W. Lucas, a critically acclaimed author of many FreeBSD books, is now available to purchase on Amazon (eBook or Paperback).

Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/FreeBSD-Mastery-Specialty-Filesystems/dp/0692610448/


Mr. Lucas has also announced an early table of contents for his upcoming book FreeBSD Mastery: Advanced ZFS – http://blather.michaelwlucas.com/archives/2548

Consider becoming a sponsor to this project by donating and getting your name in the book.

 

“why attention to detail matters when you’re a kernel developer” + QCA9558 by Adrian Chadd

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Check out this article by Adrian Chadd, known for his WiFI work in FreeBSD, on why attention to details matter as a kernel developer.

tp-link-ac1750-archer-c7When I started with this Atheros MIPS 11n stuff a few years ago, my first test board was a Routerstation Pro with a pair of AR9160 NICs. I could get ~ 150mbit/sec bridging performance out of it, and I thought I was doing pretty good.

Fast forward to now, and I’ve been bringing FreeBSD up on each of the subsequent boards. But the performance never improved. Now, I never bothered to look into it because I was always too busy with my day job, but finally someone trolled me correctly on the FreeBSD embedded IRC channel and I took a look.

It turns out that.. things could’ve benefited from a lot of improvement…

Full blog here: http://bsdmag.org/qca9558/

3 BSDs vs 10 Linux Comparisons

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Michael Larabel of Phoronix recently compared three BSD systems (DragonFlyBSD, OpenBSD, and PC-BSD) against ten Linux distributions, starting with benchmarks all the way to file compression speeds.

bsdlinux2Earlier this week I posted the results of a 10-way Linux distribution battle on the same Intel Xeon system and using all of the popular and latest Linux distribution releases. Taking things further, the article today has those results complemented by results on the Xeon system for several BSD operating systems. For seeing how the BSD performance stacks up to Linux, DragonFlyBSD, OpenBSD, and the FreeBSD-based PC-BSD were benchmarked.

Read his full report here: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=3bsd-10linux&num=1

Thanks to DragonFlyDigest for the link.

Larry – BSD at SCALE 14x

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larrybsdguyLarry the BSD Guy gives us a summary of his experience at SCALE14x. Check the link below to read the full story.

As I may have mentioned during the SCALE 14x coverage, one of the disadvantages of the glorious burden of working for a great event such as SCALE is that I don’t get out of the media room enough. The fact is, I can’t — herding the cats known as the tech media and processing various social media posts around the event keeps me in the room.

But I do get to go fix things occasionally, and that’s when I make the rounds on the expo floor.

BSD had itself its own row of booths in the expanded expo hall — FreeBSD, the FreeBSD Foundation, and OpenBSD were all neighbors on the exhibit floor. As is common for all the conferences we attend, Dru Lavigne and I — she moreso than me — got to catch up on things, and I took the time to drop in on her “Doc Like and Egyptian” presentation (though, burdened with a radio, I was called away to put out a minor “fire,” rhetorically speaking, in the press room).

Larry the Free Software Guy – http://fossforce.com/2016/01/bsd-scale-14x/

How-To: Install FreeBSD 10.2

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This tutorial by user Dave Minting shows us how to install FreeBSD 10.2, for those looking to get started. Follow the link below for full instructions.

1

Welcome to my very first tutorial.

For this tutorial I am going to show you how to install FreeBSD v10.2.
This is currently the most recent STABLE version and will be installed as a Virtual Machine.

Let’s go.

1. Download the ISO
2. Installation
3. Complete
4. Update PKG (extra)

Full tutorial: http://www.daveminting.co.uk/blog/Installing%20FreeBSD%2010.2

BSDNow.TV Episode 126: Illuminating the future on PC-BSD

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In this episode of BSD Now, hosts Allan Jude and Kris Moore interview none other than Ken Moore, regarding the present and future state of Lumina Desktop Environment. But wait, there’s more! Allan interviews the Moore brothers about what’s happening in the PC-BSD world. Hit play below to tune in:

For this week’s roundup of BSD content – http://www.bsdnow.tv/episodes/2016_01_27-illuminating_the_future_on_pcbsd

FreeBSD Patches Kernel Panic Vulnerability

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The FreeBSD Team has recently patched a security vulnerability that would enable DoS attacks and compromise user privileges and data. Read the full reported by Theatpost and PTsecurity below.

SCTP ICMPv6 error processing vulnerability (CVE-2016-1879)

SCTP (stream control transmission protocol) is a transport-layer protocol designed to transfer signaling messages in an IP environment. As a rule, mobile operators use this protocol in technological networks.

This vulnerability threatens FreeBSD systems (versions 9.3, 10.1, and 10.2) if they support SCTP and IPv6 (default configuration). To exploit this flaw, a malefactor needs to send a specially crafted ICMPv6 message. And if he succeeds, he can conduct a DoS attack.

See a video demo of the attack:

Links: https://threatpost.com/freebsd-patches-kernel-panic-vulnerability/116001/
http://blog.ptsecurity.com/2016/01/severe-vulnerabilities-detected-in.html

How-To: FreeBSD on EdgeRouter Lite – no serial port required

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Check out this guide from Colin Percival, on how to get FreeBSD set up on your EdgeRouter lite. Follow the link below for full instructions.

I recently bought an EdgeRouter Lite to use as a network gateway; I had been using a cheap consumer wifi/NAT device, but I wanted the extra control I could get by running FreeBSD rather than whatever mangled version of Linux the device came with. Someone wrote instructions on installing FreeBSD onto the EdgeRouter Lite two years ago, but they rely on using the serial port to reconfigure the boot loader — perfectly straightforward if you have a serial cable and know what you’re doing, but I decided to take the opportunity to provide a more streamlined process.

Required:

  • An EdgeRouter Lite.
  • A small Phillips (“plus”) screwdriver.
  • Another system running FreeBSD.

Full tutorial: http://www.daemonology.net/blog/2016-01-10-FreeBSD-EdgeRouter-Lite.html

Thanks to DragonFly BSD Digest for the link.