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[How-To] Running Nextcloud in a jail on FreeBSD

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This tutorial by user John Ramsden shows us how to get Nextcloud set up in a FreeBSD jail. Nextcloud is an open-source file syncing platform designed to set up a cloud on your own network. See the link below for the full set of instructions.

 I recently setup Nextcloud 12 inside a FreeBSD jail in order to allow me access to files I might need while at University. I figured this would be a optimal solution for files that I might need access to unexpectedly, on computers where I am not in complete control. My Nextcloud instance is externally accessible, and yet if someone were to get inside my Jail, I could rest easy knowing they still didn’t have access to the rest of my host server. I chronicled the setup process including jail setup using iocage, https with Lets Encrypt, and full setup of the web stack.

Full tutorial: https://ramsdenj.com/2017/06/05/nextcloud-in-a-jail-on-freebsd.html

[How-To] Sharing Files with macOS from FreeBSD with SMB and mDNS Service Discovery

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This tutorial by user cmcenroe shows us how to share your files from FreeBSD to macOS with the SMB protocol. See the link below for the full set of instructions.

This is an explanation of one way of sharing files with Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan from FreeBSD 11.0. It uses Samba, an implementation of the SMB protocol, and Apple’s mDNSResponder for service discovery. Alternatives are listed at the end.

Background

SMB is the protocol used for file sharing between Windows systems. Mac systems previously used their own Apple Filing Protocol, but deprecated it in favour of SMB with Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks.

mDNS, or multicast DNS, is a technology for resolving host names in a local network. On top of this, DNS service discovery, or DNS-SD, can be used to broadcast available services, such as SMB. This is how Finder discovers hosts to show in “Shared” or “Network.”

Samba

First, install Samba. There are two versions available in FreeBSD. This is the newer one.

pkg install samba42

Full tutorial: https://cmcenroe.me/2017/01/08/freebsd-macos-file-sharing.html

[How-To] Configure FreeNAS 9.10 NFS VMware ESXi 6 datastore

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This tutorial by user  shows us how to get FreeNAS 9.10 and NFS set up with a datastore VMware ESXi. See the link below for the full set of instructions. 

Many choose to use NFS as opposed to iSCSI in their VMware vSphere environments.  NFS has a lot of benefits and use cases particularly when we look at the efficiency of NFS.  With NFS there is no encapsulation that needs to take place as there is with iSCSI.  Like iSCSI, NFS can use an existing IP network as well.  So, starting off simple here, let’s take a look at how to configure FreeNAS 9.10 NFS VMware ESXi 6 datastore.

Configure FreeNAS 9.10 NFS VMware ESXi 6 datastore

The specific version of FreeNAS I am using is 9.10.2 U3 and is the most recent GA version on the FreeNAS site at the time of this writing.  I am not covering here the setup of FreeNAS in general.  You will want to provision your storage and your network connectivity on the appliance itself.  For the purposes of the post, I am running FreeNAS as a VM which is a great way to play around with iSCSI and NFS in a lab.  I have setup a management IP as well as another interface that I have bound for NFS connectivity.

Configure FreeNAS 9.10 NFS VMware ESXi 6 datastore

[How-To] Installing OpenCart on FreeBSD 11

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User Johnson D shows us how to get OpenCart set up on FreeBSD 11 via the FAMP stack. OpenCart is an open-source shopping cart solution. Follow the link below for the full set of instructions. Note that FAMP is required.

The installation of OpenCart is FreeBSD is pretty straight forward. The following article can be used as a procedure to do a basic install of OpenCart on FreeBSD. This is tested on FreeBSD 11.

For installing OpenCart on FreeBSD, we need to have a FAMP stack. Check this article to install FAMP stack.

Install the ‘opencart’ package. This also installs the dependencies required.

pkg install opencart

Once the package and its dependencies are installed, edit the file /usr/local/etc/apache24/httpd.conf and make the following changes.

Installing OpenCart on FreeBSD 11

[How-To] Installing TrueOS: FreeBSD for your desktop

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This tutorial by user Developers Log will show you how to set up TrueOS, an open-source desktop operating system based on FreeBSD. Follow the link below for a step-by-step guide of the installation process.

Why TrueOS?

TrueOS is a FreeBSD based desktop-oriented operating system. While the BSD family of operating systems is a quite popular choice for server machines, it is more rarely used as a desktop machine.

Maybe because of its server oriented nature, FreeBSD has a slightly more stepped learning curve than other Unix based operating systems. While the Linux family has produced literally hundreds of distros catering to the whole spectrum of users, from the more technically orientally ones, to those that “just want a system that works”, FreeBSD remains, still, an operating system for tech savvy users.

Installing TrueOS: FreeBSD for your desktop

[How-To] A FreeBSD 11 Desktop

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This in-depth guide by Cooltrainer will show you how to set up FreeBSD 11 as a desktop operating system. Head over to the link below for the full set of instructions.

FreeBSD is a fast, secure, modern Unix-like operating system with a fantastic community, great documentation, and powerful technologies like ZFS and LLVM. It’s my operating system of choice for everything from my i7-2600k desktop to my home router to my ARM plug computer jukebox. Though famed for its uptime in the datacenter the same OS is just as suited to desktop or laptop computing with a little work.

New Installations

The Getting FreeBSD page has links to ISOs for the six tier 1 architectures. This guide focuses on amd64/i386 PCs though is broadly applicable to them all. The ISOs are available in bootonly, CD, DVD, and memstick. I usually grab the nearest >1GB USB drive and ddthe newest memstick image to it. The larger DVD images are available complete with Ports distribution files for those doing fully-offline installations.

Full tutorial: https://cooltrainer.org/a-freebsd-desktop-howto/

Source:

When Nostalgia Hits: FreeBSD

[How-To] Install & Configure Jails on FreeNAS Corral

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Check out this tutorial from Vivek Gite on how to use jails on FreeNAS Corral. Jails was a feature in FreeNAS 9.10 and was replaced with Containers in Corral. Follow the link below for the full set of instructions.

I recently installed or upgraded to FreeNAS Corral (version 10). However, I noticed that there is no support for FreeBSD jails as of 26/March/2017. How do I install and configure traditional FreeBSD jails on FreeNAS Corral (version 10)?

FreeNAS Corral now supports Docker containers for doing all of its “application hosting” and existing jails/plugins data will simply continue to live in the jails/dataset in the ZFS volume but will be inactive, since jails are no longer used in Corral. This tutorial shows you how to create and configure FreeBSD jail on FreeNAS Corral 10 from command line.

Full tutorial: https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/how-to-install-and-configure-jails-on-freenas-corral-10/

[How-To] Using a Raspberry Pi as a serial console server for FreeBSD

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This short guide by user solence will show you how to set your Raspberry Pi as a serial console server for FreeBSD. Follow the link below for the full set of instructions.

My home server runs FreeBSD 11.0, and, of course, has full disk encryption. This requires a passphrase to be entered while booting, so I need a keyboard and monitor attached, and have to be in the same room for restarts and after power outages. This is not acceptable at all. There is no need for a display and keyboard otherwise, and I want to be able to enter the passphrase remotely, but without compromising security. Luckily, the server has a serial port and I have a spare Raspberry Pi. So I can connect the serial port to the Raspberry Pi, SSH into it and use the serial console of the server just like physical access. Hooray for stuff from the 1960s still being useful!

So first things first, I need to connect the Raspberry Pi to the serial console. Since it only has USB (aside from GPIO), a USB to serial port adapter is necessary. The Raspberry Pi runs FreeBSD 11.0, which has good out-of-the-box support for the Prolific PL2303 chipset, so I just ordered a cheap apdater based on it. It probably works with Linux as well, if you’re using Raspbian. You can use dmesg to check if it was detected correctly:

Using a Raspberry Pi as a serial console server for FreeBSD

[How-To] Installing & Updating FreeBSD 11.0 on Raspberry Pi

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This guide by user  will show you how to install and update FreeBSD 11.0 on a Raspberry Pi machine. Follow the link below for the full set of instructions.

FreeBSD runs great on a Raspberry Pi, but the official images are all stable or current branches and there is no support for binary updates, i.e. freebsd-update. So I tried to figure out how to install the latest release version and keep it updated as well, without starting from scratch with a new image every time.

While it is possible to build a kernel and world on the Raspberry Pi itself, it takes about a week to finish (trust me, I tried) and you need a much larger /tmp on a disk or share for it to work in the first place. Since FreeBSD can also be cross-compiled, I decided to use my Xeon box to do the heavy lifting and then just install it on the Raspberry Pi.

Full tutorial: https://nerdazoid.wordpress.com/2017/03/15/installing-and-updating-freebsd-11-0-release-on-a-raspberry-pi/

A Penguin tries out FreeBSD 11 & TrueOS

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This article by user osemotions details a FreeBSD 11 desktop installation, as a Linux user steering the wheel. Read about their trial using FreeBSD below, in addition to trying out TrueOS.

A Penguin tries FreeBSD 11.0 RELEASE on an old i386 PC as his main desktop operating system, for the first time, for a weekend.

The story begins, you guess, with the operating system installation using the FreeBSD i386 hybrid image in order to boot a USB key.

Installation

Installation went without problems and everything flowed as I expected. For a user who lives in the world of Debianized Penguins, being able to install the superb ZFS filesystem is somewhat interesting at least.

A Penguin tries out FreeBSD 11 as a desktop operating system: http://www.osemotions.com/a-penguin-tries-freebsd-as-a-desktop-operating-system/

A Penguin tries out TrueOS: http://www.osemotions.com/a-penguin-tries-out-trueos-formerly-pc-bsd/