Version: 7.2 RELEASE
Approx. time to complete: Experts - 15 minutes. Beginners - 30 minutes.
Does it take only 15 minutes to install FreeBSD? A fully functional server in so little time? The answer is yes. Actually even less time would have been requred if the DVD media could be read faster :) The bottom-line is FreeBSD installation is fast and easy! This article explains the common steps most of us require to install a fresh copy of FreeBSD.
The video below covers full installation of FreeBSD 7.2 RELEASE with inline text and tips. Running time about 5 minutes. Just watch and decide if you want to install FreeBSD as your system of choice. You can also use the video as a tutorial or a quick reminder of essential points during install.
1. Current Release version of FreeBSD is 7.2. We can get either the full DVD or CD1 only. CD1 is enough to run the complete installtion. CD2 and CD3 can be skipped because they contain software packages which can be installed later. ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/i386/ISO-IMAGES/7.2/7.2-RELEASE-i386-dvd1.iso.gz or ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/i386/ISO-IMAGES/7.2/7.2-RELEASE-i386-disc1.iso. Links are for i386, ie Intel based machines.
2. After, downloading and burning, boot the server from the CD / DVD. The installer can also be run later anytime from within FreeBSD by running:
sysinstall
We run the installer later to configure or install services that are usually part of post server installation tasks.
As soon as the server boots from CD / DVD drive, you should now see a non-graphical ASCII based Boot Loader Screen with various menu options 1-7. Just press 1 or hit Enter for the default option which is Boot FreeBSD. FreeBSD will now load and various device probe results will be displayed on screen.
3. Choose your Country in the next screen. Then the Sysinstall Main Menu will appear. Choose Standard which will begin the standard installation wizard.
4. On the next screen you will be asked to choose a drive where FreeBSD will be installed. Select your preferred drive and press Enter. Now Fdisk will start.
On the Fdisk screen, you can create your own slices where you might want to install FreeBSD or just go with the default - the shortcut to default scheme is "A" which will use the entire slice selected. So, press A and then press Q to exit the Fdisk screen. Note we will create partitions later in step 8.
5. The next screen asks if you want to install the FreeBSD Boot Manager. Select BootMgr to install the FreeBSD Boot Manager and then click the OK button.
6. The next screen allows you to create partitions on the drive slice you created above. Here also press A and sysinstall will create an automatic partition layout for you. Go with defaults, press A and then press Q. (Note: The nice thing about FreeBSD partition layout is that you don't have to worry if you are allocating too little space in var, usr, /, etc. /usr gets the most amount of space. Later when you install programs and services, the files get stored in /usr/local. You don't have to worry later if your /var is running out of space because /var is used for system wide /var files and not user /var files.)
7. The next screen asks which Distribution you would like to install. Choose All unless you have unusually low disk space which is at present not much of a concern.
8. The next screen will ask if you want to install the Ports Collection. Select YES. In FreeBSD you can install software through either Packages or Ports. We will use the Ports collection as it provides the latest software. Using Ports implies that software will be compiled on the system from sources which is unlike packages which don't need to be compiled.
Choose your media in the next screen which will be CD / DVD.
9. That's it. Select Yes in the next confirmation screen to proceed with FreeBSD installation.
After installation is complete you should see a message:
Congratulations! You now have FreeBSD installed on your system.
10. The next steps are the usual post-installation steps where you get to configure your Network and create the root account. You should also be able to enable any additional services in the post-installation screens. For example, SSH server, FTP server, NFS, etc. Also choose the default time settings. If you have mouse attached to your system you should also be able to enable mouse (without an X server). We recommend enabling the mouse deamon as it allows easy-copy paste from the terminal.
You can also various packages at this stage, but we recommend that you exit the sysinstall at this stage and login to your freshly installed FreeBSD server. Enjoy!
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