Absolute FreeBSD, 3rd Edition: The Complete Guide to FreeBSD

Michael W. Lucas

No Starch Press, Oct 5, 2018 - Computers - 704 pages

This updated edition of Michael W. Lucas' definitive volume on FreeBSD-based systems adds coverage of modern disks, the ZFS filesystem IPv6, redesigned jail and packaging systems, and virtualization, among dozens of new features added in the last 10 years.

FreeBSD is the muscle behind companies like Netflix and EMC. Any place where someone does heavy lifting on the Internet, you'll find FreeBSD. This newly revised edition of Absolute FreeBSD brings FreeBSD's strengths to bear on your problems and covers FreeBSD's newest features, all in the inimitable style that has made author Michael W. Lucas' system administration books so popular.

Any computer system is only as good as the system administrator's knowledge. Absolute FreeBSD teaches you everything you need to know about managing FreeBSD systems, from installation, configuration, and taking the system from "just working" to "working well." A cohesive focus on service delivery and best practice means that you can apply much of the book to other operating systems.

Absolute FreeBSD dives deep into server management, taking you beyond just making things work and into understanding why they work.

You'll learn:

How to best install FreeBSD to meet your needs

Which filesystem to use in your environment

How to back up and restore critical data

How to tweak the kernel, and when not to

Network configuration, from activating interfaces to selecting congestion control algorithms

How to manage UFS, ZFS, and other critical filesystems

FreeBSD's software packaging system, including how to build your own package repository

How and when to upgrade

Techniques to build your own FreeBSD

Advanced security features like blacklistd and packet filtering

How to monitor and adjust performance

Container-style virtualization with jails

Diskless systems

Panic management and bug reporting

With Absolute FreeBSD you will get the solid introduction you need; and if you're a fan of the earlier editions, you will expand your skills even further.

Contents

• FOREWORD by Marshall Kirk McKusick: xxvii
• Foreword by Marshall Kirk McKusick: xxxi
• Introduction: xxxiii
• FreeBSDs Strengths: xlii
• Notes on the Third Edition: xlviii
• GETTING MORE HELP: xlix
• READ THIS BEFORE YOU BREAK SOMETHING ELSE: l
• Getting More Help: 1
• Man Pages: 3
• Before You Install: 15
• Installing: 29
• Network and Service Configuration: 41
• Start Me Up The Boot Process: 49
• The Loader Prompt: 55
• Multiuser Startup: 62
• The rc d Startup System: 71
• Read This Before You Break Something Else Backup and Recovery: 83
• Kernel Games: 95
• Kernel Modules: 103
• Building a Kernel: 110
• Inclusions Exclusions and Expanding the Kernel: 119
• The Network: 123
• Network Stacks: 130
• Understanding Ethernet: 140
• Configuring Networking: 143
• The Domain Name Service: 150
• Optimizing Network Performance: 158
• Securing Your System: 167
• Shells and etcshells: 178
• Tweaking User Security: 185
• File Flags: 192
• Putting It All Together: 199
• Disks Partitioning and GEOM: 201
• Scheming Disks: 217
• BSD Labels: 227
• The Unix File System: 231
• Mounting and Unmounting Filesystems: 233
• Expanding UFS Filesystems: 243
• UFS Space Reservations: 249
• The Z File System: 257
• ZFS Pools: 263
• Snapshots: 271
• Foreign Filesystems: 281
• devfs: 295
• The Network File System: 301
• The Common Internet File System: 310
• Exploringetc: 317
• etclocate rc: 323
• 2: 324
• Making Your System Useful: 335
• Ports and Packages: 336
• Package Repositories: 356
• Customizing Software with Ports: 361
• Making Software: 362
• Whats In a Port?: 370
• Private Package Repositories: 381
• All Poudrieres Large and Small: 391
• Advanced Software Management: 395
• Running Software from the Wrong OS: 412
• Using Linux Mode: 418
• Upgrading FreeBSD: 421
• Upgrade Methods: 428
• Upgrading via Source: 435
• Packages and System Upgrades: 449
• Advanced Security Features: 451
• TCP Wrappers: 455
• Blacklistd8: 470
• Global Security Settings: 482
• Monitoring System Security: 489
• Small System Services: 491
• Email: 499
• Name Service Switching: 507
• Scheduling Tasks: 520
• System Performance and Monitoring: 525
• Disk IO: 532
• Following Processes: 539
• Status Mail: 545
• Log File Management: 553
• Jails: 563
• More Jail Options: 579
• The Fringe of FreeBSD: 583
• Managing Cloudy FreeBSD: 586
• Diskless Farm Configuration: 592
• Problem Reports and Panics: 599
• Afterword: 613
• Bibliography: 619
• Index: 621
• Getting FreeBSD: 632

About the author

Michael W. Lucas is a network/security engineer with extensive experience working with high-availability systems. He's a regular speaker and instructor at systems administrator conferences throughout the United States, and is the author of the critically-acclaimed Absolute BSD, Absolute OpenBSD, Cisco Routers for the Desperate, and PGP & GPG, all from No Starch Press.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Absolute FreeBSD, 3rd Edition: The Complete Guide to FreeBSD
• Author: Michael W. Lucas
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: No Starch Press, 2018
• ISBN: 1593278926, 9781593278922
• Length: 704 pages
• Subjects: Computers / Languages / C; Computers / Operating Systems / UNIX; Computers / System Administration / Linux & UNIX Administration