HAST (Highly Available Storage) is a new concept for FreeBSD and it is under constant development. HAST allows to transparently store data on two physically separated machines connected over the TCP/IP network. HAST operates on block level making it transparent for file systems, providing disk-like devices in /dev/hast directory. In this article we will create two identical HAST nodes, hast1 and hast2. …
In this guide I will demonstrate how you can install a fully functional full root on ZFS FreeBSD9 using a GPT scheme with a non legacy root ZFS mountpoint optimized for 4K drives. We will also use ZFS for SWAP. You can use this as a reference guide for a single or mirror installation. (1) …
PF is OPENBSD’S default Packet filtering for TCP/IP packets and NAT. PF has been ported to FreeBSD and it is currently at version 4.5 on FreeBSD 9.0-RELEASE. Today, we will see how we can use PF to effectively secure a FreeBSD host on the Internet. Before we even start talking about PF, it is essential …
In a previous article we saw how easy is to use ZFS send/receive to perform differential backups using incremental snapshots. Today, we will see how we can automate the procedure in order to send incremental snapshots to a different machine over ssh. There are two prerequisites for this procedure to work. First, the machine that is receiving the snapshots must …
In the previous article we saw how to update FreeBSD from source. In this article I will add a few steps necessary when upgrading FreeBSD trough a major release. A good example is going from FreeBSD 8.2-RELEASE to FreeBSD 9.0-RELEASE. In reality the steps are more or less the same. First and for most, make sure …
When I started using FreeBSD, there was only one way to upgrade. The source way. Today, I see that many people have started using the freebsd-update utility. I think it is good that a binary update option is available. But to be honest I have only used it once, out of curiosity mostly. Don’t get me …
This is an updated guide showing how you can install a full ZFS system using FreeBSD9. In this guide I will demonstrate how you can install a fully functional full ZFS FreeBSD9 using a GPT scheme. We will also use ZFS for SWAP You can use this as a reference guide for a single or …
Contrary to popular belief, firewalls are useless when it comes to securing web applications. I used the general term firewall because most people in the IT field, generally relate to. But the correct term would be network firewall and that’s the one I will use in this post from now on. A network firewall like …
I use a MacBook since late 2007 when I realized that Linux, is not my OS choice and FreeBSD needs a lot of time to spend, in order to keep your ports up to date. My desktop needs are not that demanding. Email, web and terminal are my basic daily needs, although a word processor …
Time machine for Mac OSX was introduced in Leopard 10.5.0 and it is certainly a very nice feature for maintaining backups of your MAC. But until today you had to use an external disk or Apple’s Time Capsule in order for this to work. There have been some workarounds for using a NAS over CIFS …