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NFV Express, Cloud Computing Platform for *BSD

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Alexander Nusov brings to us OpenStack cloud platform to FreeBSD with his latest project NFV Express. OpenStack is an open-source cloud computing software primarily designed to run on Linux operating system, and allows you to manage compute instances to allocate your available storage. The screenshots below also show an instance of FreeNAS running. Check out the links below for a detailed guide on setting up NFV Express, OpenStack for FreeBSD.

openstackfreebsdimg1

Requirements

  • Fresh installed FreeBSD® 11 server on x86-64 hardware with 8GB RAM
  • Configured Xen® Dom0
  • At least 1 NIC with Static IP

NFV Express: http://nfvexpress.com/

OpenStack Installation Tutorial for FreeBSD

The OpenStack system consists of several key services that are separately installed. These services work together depending on your cloud needs and include the Compute, Identity, Networking, Image, Block Storage, Object Storage, Telemetry, Orchestration, and Database services. You can install any of these projects separately and configure them stand-alone or as connected entities.

This guide will walk through an installation by using packages available through NFV Express repository for FreeBSD 11.0 (amd64).

Explanations of configuration options and sample configuration files are included.

This guide documents the OpenStack Newton release.

Full tutorial: http://docs.nfvexpress.com/install-guide/

Screen Shot 2017-02-28 at 1.24.22 AM Screen Shot 2017-02-28 at 1.31.58 AM

MirageOS Unikernels Now Support KVM and FreeBSD bhyve

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MirageOS is a library operating system that builds unikernels for the purpose of high-performance network applications for cloud and mobile platforms. Recently, the developers have announced support for KVM hypervisor and FreeBSD’s bhyve. Read the full article for more information on what this capability brings.

Unikernels-620x300Expanding Unikernels Support

Previously, unikernels created using MirageOS were far from being able to boot anywhere. They supported only environments hosted using the Xen hypervisor.

With the release of MirageOS 3.0, however, the platform now supports the KVM and FreeBSD bhyve hypervisors, too. That’s significant because it brings the unikernels a step closer to realizing their full potential—which is to be entirely environment-agnostic and capable of booting anywhere.

Original article: http://containerjournal.com/2017/02/27/mirageos-unikernels-now-support-kvm-freebsd-bhyve/

Hosting Journalist: http://www.hostingjournalist.com/iaas-hosting/xen-projects-mirageos-expands-its-ecosystem-in-latest-release/

[How-To] Creating FreeBSD Virtual Machine Using Azure Marketplace

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This tutorial by user Romil Bheda shows us how to get a  FreeBSD virtual machine set up in the Azure Marketplace. FreeBSD was recently added as an option to Microsoft’s cloud virtualization platform. See the link below for the full instructions.

Azure_FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from Research Unix via the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD).

Microsoft has invested in porting their virtualization support (Hyper-V) for FreeBSD. Hyper-V support is available for FreeBSD-9 through the ports tree, but starting with FreeBSD-10 support for Hyper-V is included in the main tree. Currently 10.3 of FreeBSD version is available.

Azure VM guest agent is also available for the communication between FreeBSD Virtual Machine and Azure Fabric. This can perform various operations such as provisioning the virtual machine on first use and enabling the functionality for the selective virtual machine extensions.

Full tutorial: http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/article/creating-freebsd-virtual-machine-using-azure-marketplace/

 

[How-To] Installing FreeBSD with VirtualBox

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The FreeBSD Foundation provides us a tutorial on getting FreeBSD setup on VirtualBox. VirtualBox is an open source virtualization platform available on Windows, OS X, and many other operating systems. Follow the link below for the full instructions.
freebsdvirtualbox

1. Installing VirtualBox

  • Visit the Oracle VirtualBox website, the download page can be found here: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
  • Select the Binary that applies to your operating system and machine. VirtualBox is available on Windows, OS X, Linux hosts, and Solaris. The download links can be found under the first bullet-point as pictured.
  • Opening the downloaded package will start the installation walkthrough. Once it finishes, you’ll be able to launch the application.

2. Identifying Your Processor: ….

Full tutorial: https://www.freebsdfoundation.org/freebsd/how-to-guides/installing-freebsd-with-virtualbox/

FreeBSD is available in Microsoft’s Azure Marketplace

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Microsoft has announced that FreeBSD 10.3 is now available as a virtual machine image in the Azure Marketplace. Azure is Microsoft’s cloud computing platform and infrastructure for deploying various applications.

freebsdazure

Today, I’m excited to announce the availability of FreeBSD 10.3 as a ready-made VM image available directly from the Azure Marketplace. This means that not only can you quickly bring-up a FreeBSD VM in Azure, but also that in the event you need technical support, Microsoft support engineers can assist.

Here’s how easy it is to get up and going through the Azure portal. Simply click on the +New on the left pane (or the marketplace tile on your dashboard), type “FreeBSD 10.3” in the search text box, and you’re there.

Original announcement: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/freebsd-now-available-in-azure-marketplace/

Create and Upload a FreeBSD VHD to Azure

This article shows you how to create and upload a virtual hard disk (VHD) that contains the FreeBSD operating system so you can use it as your own image to create a virtual machine (VM) in Azure.

Important:

Azure has two different deployment models for creating and working with resources: Resource Manager and classic. This article covers using the classic deployment model. Microsoft recommends that most new deployments use the Resource Manager model.

Full tutorial: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/virtual-machines-linux-classic-freebsd-create-upload-vhd/

Related links:

News Hub – Microsoft unveils FreeBSD build for virtual appliances among Azure updates
The Register – Microsoft has created its own FreeBSD image. Repeat. Microsoft has created its own FreeBSD image
The VAR Guy – FreeBSD vs. Linux: Which Open Source OS Does Microsoft Now Love More?
Redmond Magazine – Microsoft Releases FreeBSD 10.3 Image in Azure Marketplace
Softpedia – FreeBSD Now Available on Microsoft’s Azure
fossBytes – Microsoft Creates Its Own Distribution Of FreeBSD Operating System
Build Azure – Azure Marketplace: FreeBSD 10.3
Slashdot – Microsoft Has Created Its Own FreeBSD
iTWire – Microsoft announces its own FreeBSD to ensure Azure support
WinBeta – Microsoft creates its own FreeBSD distribution to run on Azure
The Cloud Mouth – Hacking your way to root on FreeBSD in Azure
More from the FreeBSD Foundation on the Project’s Partnership with Microsoft

How-To: FreeBSD running on xhyve

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xhyve_logoThis tutorial by user shows us how to get a FreeBSD virtual machine setup on xhyve. xhyve, a port of bhyve, is a virtualization platform for Mac OS X operating system. See the link below for the full instructions.

TL;DR

  • Create 5GB FreeBSD image.
  • Install FreeBSD on xhyve.
  • Mount host directory.

Requisites

$ brew install xhyve --HEAD

Create Guest Image …

Full tutorial: https://gist.github.com/tanb/f8fefa22332edc7a641d

How-To: FreeBSD Jails with VLAN

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This tutorial by user shows us how to get VLAN set up in a FreeBSD jail. See the link below for the full instructions.

This article discusses how to set up jails on a FreeBSD 11-CURRENT system utilizing VIMAGE (aka VNET) to provide a virtualized independent network stack for each jail with support for VLAN tagging.

Prerequisites

  • You have a machine installed with FreeBSD 11-CURRENT on ZFS.
  • We will be building world and kernel and using that as the base for the jails. Hence basic knowledge of FreeBSD system administration is assumed. If you’ve never compiled and installed a FreeBSD base system and kernel, this article may be hard to follow. Refer to the FreeBSD Handbook, especially chapter 8: ‘Configuring the FreeBSD Kernel’ and chapter 23: ‘Updating and Upgrading FreeBSD’.

Assumptions

  • Your host’s ethernet interface is em0.
  • Your IP network is 192.168.6.0/24 with gateway at 192.168.6.1.
  • The host will be assigned IP 192.168.6.66.
  • The guest jails will be assigned IPs in the range 192.168.6.100-254.
  • VLAN ID for all network interfaces will be 6.
  • Jails will be stored in ZFS datasets under /jail directory.

Configure the host system …

Full tutorial: https://gist.github.com/sdebnath/086874c5df8b68e0df69

How-To: Install Qemu on FreeBSD 10

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Qemu-logo
Thanks to user Johnson D, we can get Qemu running on FreeBSD 10. See the link below for the full instructions.

QEMU is a hypervisor, that can emulate many number of architectures.Some of the architectures include:

  • i386
  • x86_64
  • Alpha
  • Arm
  • MIPS
  • MIPS64
  • PPC
  • PPC64
  • Sparc
  • Sparc64

In this article lets look at, how to install QEMU on FreeBSD 10. By default, QEMU on FreeBSD supports the following architectures.

  • i386
  • x86_64

Install Qemu using the following command.

pkg install qemu

Full tutorial: http://fosskb.in/2016/02/21/installing-qemu-on-freebsd-10/

How-To: Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard on FreeBSD via bhyve hypervisor

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bhyvew2012Thanks to this tutorial by user James Lodge, we can get Windows Server 2012 R2 running on a FreeBSD bhyve hypervisor. Follow the link below for the full instructions.

Before embarking its worth reviewing the requirements as running Windows on Bhyve does require a bit of work and not for the faint hearted. It also requires some pretty specific hardware requirements/features as Bhyve has been built form the ground up with modern hardware accelerated virtualisation features at the forefront leave all the legacy cruff in its wake.

Requirements:

  • FreeBSD Current 11 r288524 (minimum)
  • Kernel Modules
    • vmm.ko  (Bhyve)
    • nmdm.ko  (Null Modem)
    • if_tap.ko (tap network interface)
    • if_bridge.ko (bridge network interface)
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Installation ISO
  • An AutoUnattend.xml file
    • To automate the installation as there is no graphical console.
  • virtio Windows drivers
  • CPU Supporting EPT with Unrestricted Guest Feature
    • EPT was introduce by Intel in 2008 as part of the Nehalem family of processors but lacked the unrestricted guest feature until the release of Westmere in 2010. Without unrestricted guest you will not be able to boot via the UEFI ROM
  • 7zip and cdrtools packages installed
  • Some spare time and patients

Full tutorial: https://jameslodge.com/freebsd-bhyve-hypervisor-running-windows-server-2012-r2-standard/