FreeBSD Guest Notes

Setting up a FreeBSD Guest on PVE.

Note: This has been tested with FreeBSD 13.1 RELEASE.

Pre-Install

Find the downloadable (amd64 dvd1.iso version).
Mimimum hardware (requirements)
- 2-4GB RAM
- 8 GB drive space
  - Full install without jails will use at least 5GB
  - If you will be using jails and building kernel from source, use at least 35GB

Option 1: (IDEAL) Using Proxmox GUI, local Storage > Download from URL, copy in (ISO link), query it to get file name, and use the contents of the provided (CHECKSUM file) to verify the download
Option 2: Using Proxmox GUI, local Storage > Upload file from your non-Proxmox machine
Option 3: (for server without internet) Download ISO image and burn to DVD or save to USB drive then transfer to server

Start the VM.
Boot menu with countdown will show - just wait and it should boot to the optical drive by default and start the installation
(Installation guide)
(System Components)
- If you will be installing jail templates, make sure to check "System source tree"
Network
- Choose vtnet0 VirtIO Networking Adapter
- Use ipv4 ONLY, unless you also use ipv6
Disks
- Auto (ZFS) Guided Root-on-ZFS, stripe virtual device, choose vtbd0 VirtIO Block Device
- If you are planning to also transfer the image to another cloud host as a standalone OS, make sure they support ZFS, or change your selections accordingly
Services: Add ntpd.
Change any other configurations offered. When you get to "Final Configuration" you can select Exit
This should leave you with FreeBSD 13.1 RELEASE installed on the primary drive
Reboot
After reboot, check:
- In VM > Hardware remove the ISO from the VM's optical drive (set to empty)
- Verify in VM > Options the boot order is set to the primary hard disk first

ntpdate -s pool.ntp.org

freebsd-update fetch
freebsd-update install

reboot