Difference between revisions of "Install a Server"

Revision as of 10:50, 16 November 2012

THIS PAGE CHANGED IN 9.1. UNLESS YOU ARE BETA TESTING 9.1, YOU SHOULD INSTEAD REFER TO THE PUBLISHED VERSION OF THE USERS HANDBOOK THAT MATCHES YOUR PC-BSD® VERSION

The System Selection Screen of the PC-BSD® installer can be used to install a FreeBSD-based server operating system, rather than a PC-BSD® desktop operating system. This screen provides two server options:

• FreeBSD Server: installs a basic, vanilla installation of FreeBSD. While the installation routine is different, the end result is the same as if one had installed FreeBSD from a FreeBSD media as it results in a minimal, command-line only FreeBSD server installation.

• TrueOS™: adds the following to a vanilla installation of FreeBSD: PBI Manager, pc-metapkgmanager, the command line version of warden, and the command line versions of the Control Panel utilities. You will find those utilities in /usr/local/bin/pc-*. It also installs this list of additional shells and utilities.

For a server installation, using the PC-BSD® installer rather than the FreeBSD installer offers several benefits:

• the ability to easily configure ZFS during installation

• the ability to configure encryption during installation

• the ability to configure ZFS Multiple Boot Environments

• a wizard (described in this section) is provided during installation to configure the server for first use.

To perform a server installation, start the PC-BSD® installation as usual. When you get to the System Selection Screen of the installer, click the left arrow until either FreeBSD or TrueOS is selected. In the example shown as in Figure 5.1a, the user has selected TrueOS™ and the FreeBSD option is to the left of the selection.

Figure 5.1a: Selecting to Install TrueOS™

Once selected, press "Next" to start the "Server Setup Wizard". The wizard is the same for either a FreeBSD or a TrueOS™ installation.

Click "Next" to see the screen shown in Figure 5.1b.

Figure 5.1b: Set the Root Password

Input and confirm the root password which will be used for administrative or "superuser" access to the server, then click "Next" to proceed to the screen shown in Figure 5.1c.

Figure 5.1c: Create the Primary User Account

For security reasons, you should not login as the root user. For this reason, the wizard requires you to create a primary user account that will be used to login to the FreeBSD system. This account will automatically be added to the wheel group, allowing that user to su to the root account when administrative access is required.

This screen contains the following fields:

• Name: can contain capital letters and spaces.

• Username: the name used when logging in. Can not contain spaces and is case sensitive (e.g. Kris is a different username than kris).

• Password: the password used when logging in. You must type it twice in order to confirm it.

• Default shell: use the drop-down menu to select the csh, tcsh, or sh login shell.

When finished, click "Next" to proceed to the screen shown in Figure 5.1d.

Figure 5.1d: Set the Hostname

Input the system's hostname. If you will be using ssh to administer the system, check the box "Enable remote SSH login". Click "Next" to proceed to the network configuration screen shown in Figure 5.1e.

Figure 5.1e: Configure the Network

Use the "Network Interface" drop-down menu to select from the following:

• AUTO-DHCP-SLAAC: (default) will configure every active interface configured for DHCP and both IPv4 and IPv6

• AUTO-DHCP: will configure every active interface for DHCP and IPv4

• IPv6-SLAAC: will configure every active interface for DHCP and IPv6

Alternately, select the device name for the interface that you wish to manually configure and input the IPv4 and/or IPv6 addressing information. When finished, click "Next" to proceed to the screen shown in Figure 5.1f.

Figure 5.1f: Install Source or Ports

If you wish to install FreeBSD source or ports, check the associated box(es) then click "Finish" to exit the wizard.

If you are installing TrueOS™, you can use the "Customize" button to install server meta-packages. This screen, shown in Figure 5.1g, can be used to install packages such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, Samba, PHP, VirtualBox, Apache, and Lighttp.

Figure 5.1g: Installing Server Applications into TrueOS™

When you have saved your selections, click "Next" to proceed to the Disk Selection Screen in order to configure the system's disk(s).

Once the system is installed, it will boot to a command-line login prompt. Login using the primary user account that was configured during installation. You can now configure and use the server as you would any other FreeBSD server installation. The FreeBSD Handbook^[1] is an excellent reference for performing common FreeBSD server tasks.

References

1. ↑ http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/handbook/