Let's Try BSD, Part 2 of 7: How I Setup for FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, and DragonFlyBSD

I chose Vultr for this project because it’s easily to spin VMs up and down, and because they make uploading and installing from an ISO easy. And Regular Cloud Compute because in my use cases it’s fast enough.

Let’s Get Cooking

I’ll show you how I setup the FreeBSD system. The same was done for the other operating systems.

Vultr Type

I’m going into this as I would if I was using these systems in my typical hobbyist way. I don’t need dedicated CPUs.

Vultr Location

Nearby at the moment.

Vultr No Thanks

I considered more resources or better CPU but this is how I typically role. No Thanks!

Vultr Image

Uploading an ISO was a bit of trial and error. I was using Dropbox links and that didn’t seem to work, so I just downloaded from the projects’ web sites.

Vultr YOLO

Backups? YOLO BABY!

Vultr features

I did turn on VPC, which creates a private 10.x network, because I’d never played with that at Vultr.

Vultr hostname

Using the legendary lowend.party domain.

First up: FreeBSD!

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raindog308

raindog308 is a longtime community LETizen, technical writer, and self-described techno polymath. With deep roots in the *nix world, he has a passion for systems both modern and vintage, ranging from Unix, Perl, Python, and Golang to shell scripting and mainframe-era operating systems like MVS. He’s equally comfortable with relational database systems, having spent years working with Oracle, PostgreSQL, and MySQL.

As an avid user of LowEndBox providers, raindog308 runs an empire of LEBs, from tiny boxes for VPNs, to mid-sized instances for application hosting, and heavyweight servers for data storage and complex databases. He brings both technical rigor and real-world experience to every piece he writes.

Beyond the command line, raindog308 has a life-long love of German Shepherd Dogs, high-quality knives, target shooting, theology, tabletop RPGs, playing guitar, and hiking in deep, quiet forests.

His goal with every article is to help users, from beginners to seasoned sysadmins, get more value, performance, and enjoyment out of their infrastructure.

You can find him daily in the forums at LowEndTalk under the handle @raindog308.