book

Absolute FreeBSD, 3rd Edition

by Michael W. Lucas

October 2018

Intermediate to advanced

704 pages

19h 51m

English

No Starch Press

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What Is FreeBSD?FreeBSD DevelopmentOther BSDsOther UnixesFreeBSD’s StrengthsWho Should Use FreeBSD?Who Should Run Another BSD?Who Should Run a Proprietary Operating System?How to Read This BookWhat Must You Know?For the New System AdministratorNotes on the Third EditionContents of This Book

Why Not Beg for Help?Man PagesFreeBSD.orgOther WebsitesUsing FreeBSD Problem-Solving ResourcesAsking for Help
Default FilesConfiguration with UCLFreeBSD HardwareDisks and FilesystemsGetting FreeBSDNetwork Installs
Core SettingsDistribution SelectionDisk PartitioningNetwork and Service ConfigurationFinishing the Install
Power-OnThe LoaderSingle-User ModeThe Loader PromptLoader ConfigurationBoot OptionsStartup MessagesMultiuser StartupThe rc.d Startup SystemSerial Consoles
System BackupsBackup TapesBSD tar(1)Recording What HappenedRepairing a Broken System
What Is the Kernel?Kernel State: sysctlThe Kernel EnvironmentKernel ModulesBuild Your Own KernelBuilding a KernelCustom Kernel ConfigurationInclusions, Exclusions, and Expanding the Kernel
Network LayersThe Network in PracticeGetting Bits and HexesNetwork StacksIPv4 Addresses and NetmasksIPv6 Addresses and SubnetsTCP/IP BasicsUnderstanding Ethernet
Network PrerequisitesThe Domain Name ServiceNetwork ActivityOptimizing Network PerformanceNetwork Adapter TeamingVirtual LANs
Who Is the Enemy?FreeBSD Security AnnouncementsUser SecurityShells and /etc/shellsroot, Groups, and ManagementTweaking User SecurityFile FlagsSecurelevelsNetwork TargetsPutting It All Together
Disks LieDevice NodesThe Common Access MethodThe GEOM Storage ArchitectureHard Disks, Partitions, and SchemesThe Filesystem Table: /etc/fstabWhat’s Mounted Now?Disk LabelingGEOM WitheringThe gpart(8) CommandScheming DisksThe GPT Partitioning SchemeThe MBR Partitioning SchemeBSD Labels
UFS ComponentsMounting and Unmounting FilesystemsUFS ResiliencyCreating and Tuning UFS FilesystemsUFS SnapshotsUFS Recovery and RepairUFS Space ReservationsHow Full Is a Partition?Adding New UFS storage
DatasetsZFS PoolsVirtual DevicesManaging PoolsCopy-On-WriteSnapshotsCompressionPool Integrity and RepairBoot Environments
FreeBSD Mount CommandsUsing Removable MediaMemory FilesystemsdevfsMiscellaneous FilesystemsThe Network File SystemThe Common Internet File SystemServing CIFS Shares
/etc Across Unix Species/etc/adduser.conf/etc/aliases/etc/amd.map/etc/auto_master/etc/blacklistd.conf/etc/bluetooth, /etc/bluetooth.device.conf, and /etc/defaults/bluetooth.device.conf/etc/casper/etc/crontab and /etc/cron.d/etc/csh.*/etc/ddb.conf/etc/devd.conf/etc/devfs.conf, /etc/devfs.rules, and /etc/defaults/devfs.rules/etc/dhclient.conf/etc/disktab/etc/dma//etc/freebsd-update.conf/etc/fstab/etc/ftp.*/etc/group/etc/hostid/etc/hosts/etc/hosts.allow/etc/hosts.equiv/etc/hosts.lpd/etc/inetd.conf/etc/libmap.conf/etc/localtime/etc/locate.rc/etc/login.*/etc/mail/etc/mail.rc/etc/mail/mailer.conf/etc/make.conf/etc/master.passwd/etc/motd/etc/mtree/etc/netconfig/etc/netstart/etc/network.subr/etc/newsyslog.conf/etc/nscd.conf/etc/nsmb.conf/etc/nsswitch.conf/etc/ntp/, /etc/ntp.conf/etc/opie*/etc/pam.d/*/etc/passwd/etc/pccard_ether/etc/periodic.conf and /etc/defaults/periodic.conf/etc/pf.conf, /etc/pf.os/etc/phones/etc/portsnap.conf/etc/ppp//etc/printcap/etc/profile/etc/protocols/etc/pwd.db/etc/rc*/et/regdomain.xml/etc/remote/etc/resolv.conf/etc/rpc/etc/security//etc/services/etc/shells/etc/skel//etc/snmpd.config/etc/spwd.db/etc/src.conf/etc/ssh//etc/ssl//etc/sysctl.conf/etc/syslog.conf, /etc/syslog.conf.d//etc/termcap, /etc/termcap.small/etc/ttys/etc/unbound//etc/wall_cmos_clock/etc/zfs/
Ports and PackagesPackagesPackage RepositoriesPackage BranchesUpgrading Packages
Making SoftwareSource Code and SoftwareThe Ports CollectionThe Ports IndexWhat’s In a Port?Private Package RepositoriesAll Poudrieres, Large and SmallUpdating PoudriereMore Poudriere
Using Multiple Processors: SMPThreads, Threads, and More ThreadsStartup and Shutdown ScriptsManaging Shared LibrariesRemapping Shared LibrariesRunning Software from the Wrong OSUsing Linux ModeRunning Software from the Wrong Architecture or Release
FreeBSD VersionsUpgrade MethodsBinary UpdatesUpgrading via SourceBuilding FreeBSD from SourceShrinking FreeBSDPackages and System UpgradesUpdating Installed Ports
Unprivileged UsersNetwork Traffic ControlDefault Accept vs. Default DenyTCP WrappersPacket FilteringBlacklistd(8)Public-Key EncryptionGlobal Security SettingsPreparing for Intrusions with mtree(1)Monitoring System SecurityPackage SecurityIf You’re Hacked
Secure ShellEmailNetwork TimeName Service SwitchinginetdDHCPPrinting and Print ServersTFTPScheduling Tasks
Computer ResourcesChecking the NetworkGeneral Bottleneck Analysis with vmstat(8)Disk I/OCPU, Memory, and I/O with top(1)Following ProcessesPaging and SwappingPerformance TuningStatus MailLogging with syslogdLog File ManagementFreeBSD and SNMP
Jail BasicsJail Host Server SetupJail SetupManaging JailsMore Jail OptionsJailing Ancient FreeBSDLast Jail Notes
TerminalsManaging Cloudy FreeBSDDiskless FreeBSDDiskless Farm ConfigurationFinalizing SetupStorage Encryption
Bug ReportsSystem PanicsRecognizing PanicsResponding to a Panic
The FreeBSD CommunityWhy Do We Do It?What Can You Do?If Nothing ElseGetting Things Done
ReferencesBooks I've Written

Content preview from Absolute FreeBSD, 3rd Edition

15MAKING YOUR SYSTEM USEFUL

A basic FreeBSD install includes exactly enough to make the system run, plus a few extra bits that Unix systems traditionally include. You can decide whether to install additional programs or source code. While FreeBSD has grown over the years, a complete base install fills about a gigabyte—much less disk space than either a Windows or a commercial Linux install.

The advantage to this sparseness is that it includes only necessary system components. Debugging becomes much simpler when you know that no shared library you’ve never even heard of, and would never use, can be responsible for your problems. The downside is ...