Sams Teach Yourself FreeBSD in 24 Hours

Michael Urban is a biology student at the University of Minnesota where he plans to major in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior. He is involved in research projects with African lions and is also the Webmaster for the Lion Research Center. He has worked in numerous IT jobs including Web design and technical analysis. He has experience with various Unix operating systems including FreeBSD, Linux, and Solaris. Brian Tiemann has been a constant user of FreeBSD since his student days at Caltech, where he used it to build a movie fan Web site that has continued to grow and sustain more and more load until the present day. Born in Ukiah, California, He has remained in the state all his life; he currently lives in San Jose, works in the networking appliance field, and writes ceaseless commentary about Apple, Microsoft, and the technology field. Occasionally, but not often enough, he has time to enjoy motorcycling, travel, animation, and other such interests.

Most chapters end with a Summary, Q&A and Workshop.

Introduction.


What This Book Is. What This Book Is Not. How to Use This Book.

I. INTRODUCTION TO FREEBSD.

Hour 1. Planning for and Preparing to Install FreeBSD.


What Is FreeBSD? What Is FreeBSD Being Used for? FreeBSD Compared to Other Operating Systems. System Requirements. Deciding How and Where to Install FreeBSD. Backing Up Existing Systems.

Hour 2. Installing FreeBSD.


Beginning the FreeBSD Installation. Sysinstall. Hard Disk Partitioning. Boot Manager. Creating BSD Partitions. Choosing the Distribution to Install. Choosing Installation Media. Post Installation. Shutting Down the System After Reboot.

Hour 3. A Basic Tour of FreeBSD.


The Basics of the FreeBSD Startup Process. Logging In to FreeBSD. Your Home Directory. The Rest of the Directory Structure. Working with Files and Directories. Logging Out of the System. Importance of Proper System Shutdown.

Hour 4. Basic UNIX Shell Use.


The Role of the Shell. Different Shells Available. Special Features of Bash. File Permissions. Process Management.

II. BASIC FREEBSD ADMINISTRATION.

Hour 5. Users and Groups.


Multiuser Capabilities of FreeBSD. Adding Users to FreeBSD. Removing a User Account. Groups and Their Purpose. Primary Versus Secondary Groups.

Hour 6. Adding and Removing Third-Party Software.


FreeBSD's Software Packaging Systems. The Differences Between Packages and Ports. Discovering What's Available. Installing Software from Prebuilt Packages. Installing Software from Ports. Removing Installed Software. Updating Installed Software. Notes on Ports and Disk Space. Working with Linux Applications.

Hour 7. System Configuration and Startup Scripts.


Understanding the FreeBSD Startup Process. Resource Configuration Scripts. Modifying System Settings. The inetd Daemon and the inetd.conf Configuration File. The System Logger (syslogd) and the syslog.conf File.

Hour 8. Storage Systems and Backup Utilities.


Understanding UNIX Filesystems. Mounting and Unmounting Various Media Formats. The /etc/fstab File. The FreeBSD Automounter. System Backup Strategies and Utilities.

Hour 9. The FreeBSD Printing System.


How FreeBSD Handles Printing. Configuring the Printer. Starting lpd. Command Line Printing. Checking the Status of Jobs. Removing Jobs from the Queue. Controlling the Printers.

Hour 10. The FreeBSD Kernel and Device Tree.


The Kernel and Its Purpose. Why Build a Custom Kernel? The Kernel Configuration File. Building the New Kernel. Installing the New Kernel. Recovering from Botched Kernel Builds.

Hour 11. Updating FreeBSD.


The Two FreeBSD Source Trees. Updating Your Source Tree. The UPDATING File. The /etc/make.conf File. Updating Important Files. Rebuilding the System. Installing the New World. Building the New Kernel. Troubleshooting.

III. NETWORKING.

Hour 12. Introduction to Networks.


The OSI Networking Model. Basic Networking Components. The IP Address System and Subnets. Subnets and the Network Mask.

Hour 13. Connecting FreeBSD to an Existing Network.


The Network Interface Device. Configuring Network Settings with sysinstall.

Hour 14. Dial-Up Network Connections.


Selecting an Internet Service Provider. Modem Information. Configuring the Dial-up Internet Connection. Troubleshooting the Connection.

Hour 15. Network Security.


Ensuring Password Integrity. Remote Login Issues. Configuring a Basic Firewall. Securing the Console. Security Holes in FreeBSD.

IV. FREEBSD AS A WORKSTATION.

Hour 16. Command-Line Applications.


Working with Text. Email Applications. The Lynx Web Browser.

Hour 17. Configuring the X Window System.


More About X. Configuring X. Starting X.

Hour 18. The K Desktop Environment (KDE).


What Is a Desktop Environment? Installing KDE. Making KDE Your Default Window Manager. Starting KDE. Navigating the KDE Desktop. KDE Applets. File Management in KDE. Customizing Your KDE Desktop.

Hour 19. Window Managers and Desktop Environments.


The Difference Between Window Managers and Desktop Environments. Alternative (Non-KDE) Windowing Environments. Installing and Configuring Alternative Window Managers. Changing Your Default Window Manager.

Hour 20. Productivity in the X Window System.


Office Software. Image Editing. Internet Applications.

Hour 21. Multimedia in FreeBSD.


Configuring Sound Support in FreeBSD. Sound Applications. CD Burning. Viewing MPEG Video Files. Playing DVDs.

V. FREEBSD AS A SERVER.

Hour 22. Configuring a Basic Web Server.


What Is Apache? Requirements for Running Your Own Web Server. Installing Apache. Basic Apache Configuration: What You Need to Edit. Starting and Stopping the Apache Server. CGI. Apache Modules. Basic Security and Access Control.

Hour 23. Basic Email Services.


SMTP and Sendmail. Basic Sendmail Configuration. Mail Relaying and Spam Control.

Hour 24. File Sharing.


File Sharing Through FTP. Basic NFS Configuration. Samba and Windows File Sharing.

VI. APPENDIXES.

Appendix A. Resources for FreeBSD Users.


Web Sites. Mailing Lists. USENET Newsgroups. IRC Channels.

Appendix B. FreeBSD Quick Reference.
Index.