If you previously configured PPP for an FTP install, this screen will not display and can be configured later as described above.

For detailed information on Local Area Networks and configuring FreeBSD as a gateway/router refer to the Advanced Networking chapter.

To configure a network device, select [ Yes ] and press Enter. Otherwise, select [ No ] to continue.

Figure 3.28. Selecting an Ethernet Device

Select the interface to be configured with the arrow keys and press Enter.

In this private local area network, the current Internet type protocol (IPv4) was sufficient and [ No ] was selected with the arrow keys and Enter pressed.

If you are connected to an existing IPv6 network with an RA server, then choose [ Yes ] and press Enter. It will take several seconds to scan for RA servers.

If DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) is not required select [ No ] with the arrow keys and press Enter.

Selecting [ Yes ] will execute dhclient, and if successful, will fill in the network configuration information automatically. Refer to Section 30.5, “Automatic Network Configuration (DHCP)” for more information.

The following Network Configuration screen shows the configuration of the Ethernet device for a system that will act as the gateway for a Local Area Network.

Figure 3.29. Set Network Configuration for ed0

Use Tab to select the information fields and fill in appropriate information:

Use Tab to select [ OK ] when finished and press Enter.

Choosing [ Yes ] and pressing Enter will bring the machine up on the network and be ready for use. However, this does not accomplish much during installation, since the machine still needs to be rebooted.

If the machine will be acting as the gateway for a local area network and forwarding packets between other machines then select [ Yes ] and press Enter. If the machine is a node on a network then select [ No ] and press Enter to continue.

If [ No ] is selected, various services such telnetd will not be enabled. This means that remote users will not be able to telnet into this machine. Local users will still be able to access remote machines with telnet.

These services can be enabled after installation by editing /etc/inetd.conf with your favorite text editor. See Section 30.2.1, “Overview” for more information.

Select [ Yes ] if you wish to configure these services during install. An additional confirmation will display:

Select [ Yes ] to continue.

Selecting [ Yes ] will allow adding services by deleting the # at the beginning of a line.

Figure 3.30. Editing inetd.conf

After adding the desired services, pressing Esc will display a menu which will allow exiting and saving the changes.

Selecting [ Yes ] will enable sshd(8), the daemon program for OpenSSH. This will allow secure remote access to your machine. For more information about OpenSSH see Section 15.10, “OpenSSH”.

Network File System (NFS) allows sharing of files across a network. A machine can be configured as a server, a client, or both. Refer to Section 30.3, “Network File System (NFS)” for a more information.

3.10.6.1. NFS Server

User Confirmation Requested Do you want to configure this machine as an NFS server? Yes [ No ]

If there is no need for a Network File System server, select [ No ] and press Enter.

If [ Yes ] is chosen, a message will pop-up indicating that the exports file must be created.

Message Operating as an NFS server means that you must first configure an /etc/exports file to indicate which hosts are allowed certain kinds of access to your local filesystems. Press [Enter] now to invoke an editor on /etc/exports [ OK ]

Press Enter to continue. A text editor will start allowing the exports file to be created and edited.

Figure 3.33. Editing exports

Use the instructions to add the actual exported filesystems now or later using a text editor of your choice. Note the file name/location at the bottom of the editor screen.

Press Esc and a pop-up menu will default to a) leave editor. Press Enter to exit and continue.

There are several options available to customize the system console.

To view and configure the options, select [ Yes ] and press Enter.

Figure 3.34. System Console Configuration Options

A commonly used option is the screen saver. Use the arrow keys to select Saver and then press Enter.

Figure 3.35. Screen Saver Options

Select the desired screen saver using the arrow keys and then press Enter. The System Console Configuration menu will redisplay.

The default time interval is 300 seconds. To change the time interval, select Saver again. At the Screen Saver Options menu, select Timeout using the arrow keys and press Enter. A pop-up menu will appear:

Figure 3.36. Screen Saver Timeout

The value can be changed, then select [ OK ] and press Enter to return to the System Console Configuration menu.

Figure 3.37. System Console Configuration Exit

Selecting Exit and pressing Enter will continue with the post-installation configurations.

Setting the time zone for your machine will allow it to automatically correct for any regional time changes and perform other time zone related functions properly.

The example shown is for a machine located in the Eastern time zone of the United States. Your selections will vary according to your geographical location.

Select [ Yes ] and press Enter to set the time zone.

Select [ Yes ] or [ No ] according to how the machine's clock is configured and press Enter.

Figure 3.38. Select Your Region

The appropriate region is selected using the arrow keys and then pressing Enter.

Figure 3.39. Select Your Country

Select the appropriate country using the arrow keys and press Enter.

Figure 3.40. Select Your Time Zone

The appropriate time zone is selected using the arrow keys and pressing Enter.

Confirm the abbreviation for the time zone is correct. If it looks okay, press Enter to continue with the post-installation configuration.

This option will allow you to cut and paste text in the console and user programs with a 3-button mouse. If using a 2-button mouse, refer to manual page, moused(8), after installation for details on emulating the 3-button style. This example depicts a non-USB mouse configuration (such as a PS/2 or COM port mouse):

Select [ Yes ] for a PS/2, serial or bus mouse, or [ No ] for a USB mouse and press Enter.

Figure 3.41. Select Mouse Protocol Type

Use the arrow keys to select Type and press Enter.

Figure 3.42. Set Mouse Protocol

The mouse used in this example is a PS/2 type, so the default Auto was appropriate. To change protocol, use the arrow keys to select another option. Ensure that [ OK ] is highlighted and press Enter to exit this menu.

Figure 3.43. Configure Mouse Port

Use the arrow keys to select Port and press Enter.

Figure 3.44. Setting the Mouse Port

This system had a PS/2 mouse, so the default PS/2 was appropriate. To change the port, use the arrow keys and then press Enter.

Figure 3.45. Enable the Mouse Daemon

Last, use the arrow keys to select Enable, and press Enter to enable and test the mouse daemon.

Figure 3.46. Test the Mouse Daemon

Move the mouse around the screen and verify the cursor shown responds properly. If it does, select [ Yes ] and press Enter. If not, the mouse has not been configured correctly — select [ No ] and try using different configuration options.

Select Exit with the arrow keys and press Enter to return to continue with the post-installation configuration.

Packages are pre-compiled binaries and are a convenient way to install software.

Installation of one package is shown for purposes of illustration. Additional packages can also be added at this time if desired. After installation sysinstall can be used to add additional packages.

Selecting [ Yes ] and pressing Enter will be followed by the Package Selection screens:

Figure 3.47. Select Package Category

Only packages on the current installation media are available for installation at any given time.

All packages available will be displayed if All is selected or you can select a particular category. Highlight your selection with the arrow keys and press Enter.

A menu will display showing all the packages available for the selection made:

Figure 3.48. Select Packages

The bash shell is shown selected. Select as many as desired by highlighting the package and pressing the Space key. A short description of each package will appear in the lower left corner of the screen.

Pressing the Tab key will toggle between the last selected package, [ OK ], and [ Cancel ].

When you have finished marking the packages for installation, press Tab once to toggle to the [ OK ] and press Enter to return to the Package Selection menu.

The left and right arrow keys will also toggle between [ OK ] and [ Cancel ]. This method can also be used to select [ OK ] and press Enter to return to the Package Selection menu.

Figure 3.49. Install Packages

Use the Tab and arrow keys to select [ Install ] and press Enter. You will then need to confirm that you want to install the packages:

Figure 3.50. Confirm Package Installation

Selecting [ OK ] and pressing Enter will start the package installation. Installing messages will appear until completed. Make note if there are any error messages.

The final configuration continues after packages are installed. If you end up not selecting any packages, and wish to return to the final configuration, select Install anyways.

You should add at least one user during the installation so that you can use the system without being logged in as root. The root partition is generally small and running applications as root can quickly fill it. A bigger danger is noted below:

Select [ Yes ] and press Enter to continue with adding a user.

Figure 3.51. Select User

Select User with the arrow keys and press Enter.

Figure 3.52. Add User Information

The following descriptions will appear in the lower part of the screen as the items are selected with Tab to assist with entering the required information:

The login shell was changed from /bin/sh to /usr/local/bin/bash to use the bash shell that was previously installed as a package. Do not try to use a shell that does not exist or you will not be able to login. The most common shell used in the BSD-world is the C shell, which can be indicated as /bin/tcsh.

The user was also added to the wheel group to be able to become a superuser with root privileges.

When you are satisfied, press [ OK ] and the User and Group Management menu will redisplay:

Figure 3.53. Exit User and Group Management

Groups can also be added at this time if specific needs are known. Otherwise, this may be accessed through using sysinstall after installation is completed.

When you are finished adding users, select Exit with the arrow keys and press Enter to continue the installation.

Press Enter to set the root password.

The password will need to be typed in twice correctly. Needless to say, make sure you have a way of finding the password if you forget. Notice that the password you type in is not echoed, nor are asterisks displayed.

The installation will continue after the password is successfully entered.

If you need to configure additional network services or any other configuration, you can do it at this point or after installation with sysinstall.

Select [ No ] with the arrow keys and press Enter to return to the Main Installation Menu.

Figure 3.54. Exit Install

Select [X Exit Install] with the arrow keys and press Enter. You will be asked to confirm exiting the installation:

Select [ Yes ]. If you are booting from the CDROM drive the following message will remind you to remove the disk:

The CDROM drive is locked until the machine starts to reboot then the disk can be removed from drive (quickly). Press [ OK ] to reboot.

The system will reboot so watch for any error messages that may appear, see Section 3.10.15, “FreeBSD Bootup” for more details.

Configuring network services can be a daunting task for new users if they lack previous knowledge in this area. Networking, including the Internet, is critical to all modern operating systems including FreeBSD; as a result, it is very useful to have some understanding FreeBSD's extensive networking capabilities. Doing this during the installation will ensure users have some understanding of the various services available to them.

Network services are programs that accept input from anywhere on the network. Every effort is made to make sure these programs will not do anything “harmful”. Unfortunately, programmers are not perfect and through time there have been cases where bugs in network services have been exploited by attackers to do bad things. It is important that you only enable the network services you know that you need. If in doubt it is best if you do not enable a network service until you find out that you do need it. You can always enable it later by re-running sysinstall or by using the features provided by the /etc/rc.conf file.

Selecting the Networking option will display a menu similar to the one below:

Figure 3.55. Network Configuration Upper-level

The first option, Interfaces, was previously covered during the Section 3.10.1, “Network Device Configuration”, thus this option can safely be ignored.

Selecting the AMD option adds support for the BSD automatic mount utility. This is usually used in conjunction with the NFS protocol (see below) for automatically mounting remote file systems. No special configuration is required here.

Next in line is the AMD Flags option. When selected, a menu will pop up for you to enter specific AMD flags. The menu already contains a set of default options:

The -a option sets the default mount location which is specified here as /.amd_mnt. The -l option specifies the default log file; however, when syslogd is used all log activity will be sent to the system log daemon. The /host directory is used to mount an exported file system from a remote host, while /net directory is used to mount an exported file system from an IP address. The /etc/amd.map file defines the default options for AMD exports.

The Anon FTP option permits anonymous FTP connections. Select this option to make this machine an anonymous FTP server. Be aware of the security risks involved with this option. Another menu will be displayed to explain the security risks and configuration in depth.

The Gateway configuration menu will set the machine up to be a gateway as explained previously. This can be used to unset the Gateway option if you accidentally selected it during the installation process.

The Inetd option can be used to configure or completely disable the inetd(8) daemon as discussed above.

The Mail option is used to configure the system's default MTA or Mail Transfer Agent. Selecting this option will bring up the following menu:

Figure 3.56. Select a default MTA

Here you are offered a choice as to which MTA to install and set as the default. An MTA is nothing more than a mail server which delivers email to users on the system or the Internet.

Selecting Sendmail will install the popular sendmail server which is the FreeBSD default. The Sendmail local option will set sendmail to be the default MTA, but disable its ability to receive incoming email from the Internet. The other options here, Postfix and Exim act similar to Sendmail. They both deliver email; however, some users prefer these alternatives to the sendmail MTA.

After selecting an MTA, or choosing not to select an MTA, the network configuration menu will appear with the next option being NFS client.

The NFS client option will configure the system to communicate with a server via NFS. An NFS server makes file systems available to other machines on the network via the NFS protocol. If this is a stand-alone machine, this option can remain unselected. The system may require more configuration later; see Section 30.3, “Network File System (NFS)” for more information about client and server configuration.

Below that option is the NFS server option, permitting you to set the system up as an NFS server. This adds the required information to start up the RPC remote procedure call services. RPC is used to coordinate connections between hosts and programs.

Next in line is the Ntpdate option, which deals with time synchronization. When selected, a menu like the one below shows up:

Figure 3.57. Ntpdate Configuration

From this menu, select the server which is the closest to your location. Selecting a close one will make the time synchronization more accurate as a server further from your location may have more connection latency.

The next option is the PCNFSD selection. This option will install the net/pcnfsd package from the Ports Collection. This is a useful utility which provides NFS authentication services for systems which are unable to provide their own, such as Microsoft's MS-DOS® operating system.

Now you must scroll down a bit to see the other options:

Figure 3.58. Network Configuration Lower-level

The rpcbind(8), rpc.statd(8), and rpc.lockd(8) utilities are all used for Remote Procedure Calls (RPC). The rpcbind utility manages communication between NFS servers and clients, and is required for NFS servers to operate correctly. The rpc.statd daemon interacts with the rpc.statd daemon on other hosts to provide status monitoring. The reported status is usually held in the /var/db/statd.status file. The next option listed here is the rpc.lockd option, which, when selected, will provide file locking services. This is usually used with rpc.statd to monitor what hosts are requesting locks and how frequently they request them. While these last two options are marvelous for debugging, they are not required for NFS servers and clients to operate correctly.

As you progress down the list the next item here is Routed, which is the routing daemon. The routed(8) utility manages network routing tables, discovers multicast routers, and supplies a copy of the routing tables to any physically connected host on the network upon request. This is mainly used for machines which act as a gateway for the local network. When selected, a menu will be presented requesting the default location of the utility. The default location is already defined for you and can be selected with the Enter key. You will then be presented with yet another menu, this time asking for the flags you wish to pass on to routed. The default is -q and it should already appear on the screen.

Next in line is the Rwhod option which, when selected, will start the rwhod(8) daemon during system initialization. The rwhod utility broadcasts system messages across the network periodically, or collects them when in “consumer” mode. More information can be found in the ruptime(1) and rwho(1) manual pages.

The next to the last option in the list is for the sshd(8) daemon. This is the secure shell server for OpenSSH and it is highly recommended over the standard telnet and FTP servers. The sshd server is used to create a secure connection from one host to another by using encrypted connections.

Finally there is the TCP Extensions option. This enables the TCP Extensions defined in RFC 1323 and RFC 1644. While on many hosts this can speed up connections, it can also cause some connections to be dropped. It is not recommended for servers, but may be beneficial for stand alone machines.

Now that you have configured the network services, you can scroll up to the very top item which is X Exit and continue on to the next configuration item or simply exit sysinstall in selecting X Exit twice then [X Exit Install].

It is important to properly shutdown the operating system. Do not just turn off power. First, become a superuser by typing su at the command line and entering the root password. This will work only if the user is a member of the wheel group. Otherwise, login as root and use shutdown -h now.

It is safe to turn off the power after the shutdown command has been issued and the message “Please press any key to reboot” appears. If any key is pressed instead of turning off the power switch, the system will reboot.

You could also use the Ctrl+Alt+Del key combination to reboot the system, however this is not recommended during normal operation.