Tutorials · FreeBSD

FreeBSD tutorials

Practical, step-by-step FreeBSD 15 guides, from the first install of 15.1-RELEASE to jails, virtual machines and backups. Every guide uses real commands you can copy, with notes on checking your work and fixing common problems.

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FreeBSD

All FreeBSD tutorials

01

Installing FreeBSD 15 step by step

Boot the installer, let bsdinstall lay out ZFS for you, and finish with a clean, bootable system.

02

First steps after install: users, sudo/doas, SSH keys, updates

Create an everyday account, set up privilege escalation, switch to SSH keys and apply the first updates.

03

Packages vs ports: pkg and ports

Install prebuilt software with pkg, or build it yourself from the ports tree when you need custom options.

04

Keeping patched: freebsd-update and pkg upgrade

Apply base system security patches and keep packages current, with a safety net.

05

rc.conf and managing services

Enable, start, stop and configure services the FreeBSD way with sysrc and service.

06

ZFS basics: pools, datasets, snapshots, rollbacks

Understand pools and datasets, set properties, and use snapshots to undo mistakes.

07

Boot environments with bectl

Snapshot your whole system before risky changes and boot back into it if something breaks.

08

Users, groups and permissions

Manage accounts with adduser and pw, and control access with ownership, modes and umask.

09

cron and periodic

Schedule your own jobs with cron and use periodic for the system's daily, weekly and monthly housekeeping.

10

Static IPs, IPv6 and DNS

Configure static IPv4 and IPv6 addresses, default routes and name resolution, including a local caching resolver.

11

PF firewall starter ruleset

Enable PF with a simple default-deny ruleset that allows SSH and ping, and learn to test it safely.

12

Hardening SSH (keys only, sshguard)

Turn off password logins, restrict who can log in, and block brute-force attempts with sshguard and PF.

13

Jails (Bastille and plain jail.conf)

Run isolated FreeBSD environments, either managed with Bastille or configured by hand with jail.conf.

14

bhyve virtual machines

Run FreeBSD, Linux or other guests under the base system's hypervisor, managed with vm-bhyve.

15

Backups with ZFS send/receive

Replicate datasets to another pool or host with full and incremental streams, including encrypted raw sends.