FreeBSD Handbook

The FreeBSD Documentation Project

Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 The FreeBSD Documentation Project

Welcome to FreeBSD! This handbook covers the installation and day to day use of FreeBSD 5.4-RELEASE and FreeBSD 6.1-RELEASE. This manual is a work in progress and is the work of many individuals. Many sections do not yet exist and some of those that do exist need to be updated. If you are interested in helping 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.

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
2.1 Synopsis
2.2 Pre-installation Tasks
2.3 Starting the Installation
2.4 Introducing Sysinstall
2.5 Allocating Disk Space
2.6 Choosing What to Install
2.7 Choosing Your Installation Media
2.8 Committing to the Installation
2.9 Post-installation
2.10 Supported Hardware
2.11 Troubleshooting
2.12 Advanced Installation Guide
2.13 Preparing Your Own Installation Media
3 UNIX Basics
3.1 Synopsis
3.2 Virtual Consoles and Terminals
3.3 Permissions
3.4 Directory Structure
3.5 Disk Organization
3.6 Mounting and Unmounting File Systems
3.7 Processes
3.8 Daemons, Signals, and Killing Processes
3.9 Shells
3.10 Text Editors
3.11 Devices and Device Nodes
3.12 Binary Formats
3.13 For More Information
4 Installing Applications: Packages and Ports
4.1 Synopsis
4.2 Overview of Software Installation
4.3 Finding Your Application
4.4 Using the Packages System
4.5 Using the Ports Collection
4.6 Post-installation Activities
4.7 Dealing with Broken Ports
5 The X Window System
5.1 Synopsis
5.2 Understanding X
5.3 Installing X11
5.4 X11 Configuration
5.5 Using Fonts in X11
5.6 The X Display Manager
5.7 Desktop Environments
II. Common Tasks
6 Desktop Applications
6.1 Synopsis
6.2 Browsers
6.3 Productivity
6.4 Document Viewers
6.5 Finance
6.6 Summary
7 Multimedia
7.1 Synopsis
7.2 Setting Up the Sound Card
7.3 MP3 Audio
7.4 Video Playback
7.5 Setting Up TV Cards
7.6 Image Scanners
8 Configuring the FreeBSD Kernel
8.1 Synopsis
8.2 Why Build a Custom Kernel?
8.3 Building and Installing a Custom Kernel
8.4 The Configuration File
8.5 Making Device Nodes
8.6 If Something Goes Wrong
9 Printing
9.1 Synopsis
9.2 Introduction
9.3 Basic Setup
9.4 Advanced Printer Setup
9.5 Using Printers
9.6 Alternatives to the Standard Spooler
9.7 Troubleshooting
10 Linux Binary Compatibility
10.1 Synopsis
10.2 Installation
10.3 Installing Mathematica®
10.4 Installing Maple™
10.5 Installing MATLAB®
10.6 Installing Oracle®
10.7 Installing SAP® R/3®
10.8 Advanced Topics
III. System Administration
11 Configuration and Tuning
11.1 Synopsis
11.2 Initial Configuration
11.3 Core Configuration
11.4 Application Configuration
11.5 Starting Services
11.6 Configuring the cron Utility
11.7 Using rc under FreeBSD 5.X and newer
11.8 Setting Up Network Interface Cards
11.9 Virtual Hosts
11.10 Configuration Files
11.11 Tuning with sysctl
11.12 Tuning Disks
11.13 Tuning Kernel Limits
11.14 Adding Swap Space
11.15 Power and Resource Management
11.16 Using and Debugging FreeBSD ACPI
12 The FreeBSD Booting Process
12.1 Synopsis
12.2 The Booting Problem
12.3 The Boot Manager and Boot Stages
12.4 Kernel Interaction During Boot
12.5 Device Hints
12.6 Init: Process Control Initialization
12.7 Shutdown Sequence
13 Users and Basic Account Management
13.1 Synopsis
13.2 Introduction
13.3 The Superuser Account
13.4 System Accounts
13.5 User Accounts
13.6 Modifying Accounts
13.7 Limiting Users
13.8 Groups
14 Security
14.1 Synopsis
14.2 Introduction
14.3 Securing FreeBSD
14.4 DES, MD5, and Crypt
14.5 One-time Passwords
14.6 TCP Wrappers
14.7 KerberosIV
14.8 Kerberos5
14.9 OpenSSL
14.10 VPN over IPsec
14.11 OpenSSH
14.12 File System Access Control Lists
14.13 Monitoring Third Party Security Issues
14.14 FreeBSD Security Advisories
14.15 Process Accounting
15 Mandatory Access Control
15.1 Synopsis
15.2 Key Terms in this Chapter
15.3 Explanation of MAC
15.4 Understanding MAC Labels
15.5 Planning the Security Configuration
15.6 Module Configuration
15.7 The MAC bsdextended Module
15.8 The MAC ifoff Module
15.9 The MAC portacl Module
15.10 The MAC partition Module
15.11 The MAC Multi-Level Security Module
15.12 The MAC Biba Module
15.13 The MAC LOMAC Module
15.14 Nagios in a MAC Jail
15.15 User Lock Down
15.16 Troubleshooting the MAC Framework
16 Security Event Auditing
16.1 Synopsis
16.2 Key Terms - Words to Know
16.3 Installing Audit Support
16.4 Audit Configuration
16.5 Event Audit Administration
17 Storage
17.1 Synopsis
17.2 Device Names
17.3 Adding Disks
17.4 RAID
17.5 USB Storage Devices
17.6 Creating and Using Optical Media (CDs)
17.7 Creating and Using Optical Media (DVDs)
17.8 Creating and Using Floppy Disks
17.9 Creating and Using Data Tapes
17.10 Backups to Floppies
17.11 Backup Strategies
17.12 Backup Basics
17.13 Network, Memory, and File-Backed File Systems
17.14 File System Snapshots
17.15 File System Quotas
17.16 Encrypting Disk Partitions
17.17 Encrypting Swap Space
18 GEOM: Modular Disk Transformation Framework
18.1 Synopsis
18.2 GEOM Introduction
18.3 RAID0 - Striping
18.4 RAID1 - Mirroring
19 The Vinum Volume Manager
19.1 Synopsis
19.2 Disks Are Too Small
19.3 Access Bottlenecks
19.4 Data Integrity
19.5 Vinum Objects
19.6 Some Examples
19.7 Object Naming
19.8 Configuring Vinum
19.9 Using Vinum for the Root Filesystem
20 Localization - I18N/L10N Usage and Setup
20.1 Synopsis
20.2 The Basics
20.3 Using Localization
20.4 Compiling I18N Programs
20.5 Localizing FreeBSD to Specific Languages
21 The Cutting Edge
21.1 Synopsis
21.2 FreeBSD-CURRENT vs. FreeBSD-STABLE
21.3 Synchronizing Your Source
21.4 Rebuilding “world”
21.5 Tracking for Multiple Machines
22 NanoBSD
22.1 Introduction to NanoBSD
22.2 NanoBSD Howto
IV. Network Communication
23 Serial Communications
23.1 Synopsis
23.2 Introduction
23.3 Terminals
23.4 Dial-in Service
23.5 Dial-out Service
23.6 Setting Up the Serial Console
24 PPP and SLIP
24.1 Synopsis
24.2 Using User PPP
24.3 Using Kernel PPP
24.4 Troubleshooting PPP Connections
24.5 Using PPP over Ethernet (PPPoE)
24.6 Using PPP over ATM (PPPoA)
24.7 Using SLIP
25 Electronic Mail
25.1 Synopsis
25.2 Using Electronic Mail
25.3 sendmail Configuration
25.4 Changing Your Mail Transfer Agent
25.5 Troubleshooting
25.6 Advanced Topics
25.7 SMTP with UUCP
25.8 Setting Up to Send Only
25.9 Using Mail with a Dialup Connection
25.10 SMTP Authentication
25.11 Mail User Agents
25.12 Using fetchmail
25.13 Using procmail
26 Network Servers
26.1 Synopsis
26.2 The inetd “Super-Server”
26.3 Network File System (NFS)
26.4 Network Information System (NIS/YP)
26.5 Automatic Network Configuration (DHCP)
26.6 Domain Name System (DNS)
26.7 BIND9 and FreeBSD
26.8 Apache HTTP Server
26.9 File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
26.10 File and Print Services for Microsoft® Windows® clients (Samba)
26.11 Clock Synchronization with NTP
27 Firewalls
27.1 Introduction
27.2 Firewall Concepts
27.3 Firewall Packages
27.4 The OpenBSD Packet Filter (PF) and ALTQ
27.5 The IPFILTER (IPF) Firewall
27.6 IPFW
28 Advanced Networking
28.1 Synopsis
28.2 Gateways and Routes
28.3 Wireless Networking
28.4 Bluetooth
28.5 Bridging
28.6 Diskless Operation
28.7 ISDN
28.8 Network Address Translation
28.9 Parallel Line IP (PLIP)
28.10 IPv6
28.11 Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
V. Appendices
A. Obtaining FreeBSD
A.1 CDROM and DVD Publishers
A.2 FTP Sites
A.3 Anonymous CVS
A.4 Using CTM
A.5 Using CVSup
A.6 Using Portsnap
A.7 CVS Tags
A.8 AFS Sites
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
C.5 Shell Accounts
D. PGP Keys
D.1 Officers
D.2 Core Team Members
D.3 Developers
FreeBSD Glossary
Colophon
List of Tables
2-1. Sample Device Inventory
2-2. Partition Layout for First Disk
2-3. Partition Layout for Subsequent Disks
2-4. Possible Security Profiles
2-5. FreeBSD 4.X ISO Image Names and Meanings
2-6. FreeBSD 5.X ISO Image Names and Meanings
3-1. Disk Device Codes
17-1. Physical Disk Naming Conventions
19-1. Vinum Plex Organizations
23-1. DB-25 to DB-25 Null-Modem Cable
23-2. DB-9 to DB-9 Null-Modem Cable
23-3. DB-9 to DB-25 Null-Modem Cable
23-4. Signal Names
28-1. Wiring a Parallel Cable for Networking
28-2. Reserved IPv6 addresses
List of Figures
2-1. Kernel Configuration Menu
2-2. The Kernel Device Configuration Visual Interface
2-3. Expanded Driver List
2-4. Driver Configuration With No Conflicts
2-5. Sysinstall Main Menu
2-6. Typical Device Probe Results
2-7. Select Sysinstall Exit
2-8. Selecting Usage from Sysinstall Main Menu
2-9. Selecting Documentation Menu
2-10. Sysinstall Documentation Menu
2-11. Sysinstall Main Menu
2-12. Sysinstall Keymap Menu
2-13. Sysinstall Main Menu
2-14. Sysinstall Options
2-15. Begin Standard Installation
2-16. Select Drive for FDisk
2-17. Typical Fdisk Partitions before Editing
2-18. Fdisk Partition Using Entire Disk
2-19. Sysinstall Boot Manager Menu
2-20. Exit Select Drive
2-21. Sysinstall Disklabel Editor
2-22. Sysinstall Disklabel Editor with Auto Defaults
2-23. Free Space for Root Partition
2-24. Edit Root Partition Size
2-25. Choose the Root Partition Type
2-26. Choose the Root Mount Point
2-27. Sysinstall Disklabel Editor
2-28. Choose Distributions
2-29. Confirm Distributions
2-30. Choose Installation Media
2-31. Selecting an Ethernet Device
2-32. Set Network Configuration for ed0
2-33. Editing inetd.conf
2-34. Default Anonymous FTP Configuration
2-35. Edit the FTP Welcome Message
2-36. Editing exports
2-37. Security Profile Options
2-38. System Console Configuration Options
2-39. Screen Saver Options
2-40. Screen Saver Timeout
2-41. System Console Configuration Exit
2-42. Select Your Region
2-43. Select Your Country
2-44. Select Your Time Zone
2-45. Select Mouse Protocol Type
2-46. Set Mouse Protocol
2-47. Configure Mouse Port
2-48. Setting the Mouse Port
2-49. Enable the Mouse Daemon
2-50. Test the Mouse Daemon
2-51. Network Configuration Upper-level
2-52. Select a default MTA
2-53. Ntpdate Configuration
2-54. Network Configuration Lower-level
2-55. Select Configuration Method Menu
2-56. Select Default Desktop
2-57. Select Package Category
2-58. Select Packages
2-59. Install Packages
2-60. Confirm Package Installation
2-61. Select User
2-62. Add User Information
2-63. Exit User and Group Management
2-64. Exit Install
19-1. Concatenated Organization
19-2. Striped Organization
19-3. RAID-5 Organization
19-4. A Simple Vinum Volume
19-5. A Mirrored Vinum Volume
19-6. A Striped Vinum Volume
19-7. A Mirrored, Striped Vinum Volume
List of Examples
2-1. Using an Existing Partition Unchanged
2-2. Shrinking an Existing Partition
3-1. Sample Disk, Slice, and Partition Names
3-2. Conceptual Model of a Disk
4-1. Downloading a Package Manually and Installing It Locally
11-1. Creating a Swapfile on FreeBSD 4.X
11-2. Creating a Swapfile on FreeBSD 5.X
12-1. boot0 Screenshot
12-2. boot2 Screenshot
12-3. An Insecure Console in /etc/ttys
13-1. Configuring adduser and adding a user on FreeBSD 4.X
13-2. Adding a user on FreeBSD 5.X
13-3. rmuser Interactive Account Removal
13-4. Interactive chpass by Superuser
13-5. Interactive chpass by Normal User
13-6. Changing Your Password
13-7. Changing Another User's Password as the Superuser
13-8. Adding a Group Using pw(8)
13-9. Adding Somebody to a Group Using pw(8)
13-10. Using id(1) to Determine Group Membership
14-1. Using SSH to Create a Secure Tunnel for SMTP
17-1. Using dump over ssh
17-2. Using dump over ssh with RSH set
17-3. A Script for Creating a Bootable Floppy
17-4. Using vnconfig to Mount an Existing File System Image under FreeBSD 4.X
17-5. Creating a New File-Backed Disk with vnconfig
17-6. Using mdconfig to Mount an Existing File System Image
17-7. Creating a New File-Backed Disk with mdconfig
17-8. Configure and Mount a File-Backed Disk with mdmfs
17-9. md Memory Disk under FreeBSD 4.X
17-10. Creating a New Memory-Based Disk with mdconfig
17-11. Creating a New Memory-Based Disk with mdmfs
22-1. Making persistent changes to /etc/resolv.conf
23-1. Adding Terminal Entries to /etc/ttys
25-1. Configuring the sendmail Access Database
25-2. Mail Aliases
25-3. Example Virtual Domain Mail Map
26-1. Reloading the inetd configuration file
26-2. Mounting an Export with amd
28-1. Branch Office or Home Network
28-2. Head Office or Other LAN
A-1. Checking Out Something from -CURRENT (ls(1)):
A-2. Using SSH to check out the src/ tree:
A-3. Checking Out the Version of ls(1) in the 6-STABLE Branch:
A-4. Creating a List of Changes (as Unified Diffs) to ls(1)
A-5. Finding Out What Other Module Names Can Be Used:
    Next
    Preface

This, and other documents, can be downloaded from ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/doc/.

For questions about FreeBSD, read the documentation before contacting <questions@FreeBSD.org>.
For questions about this documentation, e-mail <doc@FreeBSD.org>.