FreeBSD Guest Notes

Tweaks and tips for better performance with FreeBSD on KVM.

Note: This has been tested with FreeBSD 9.3 RELEASE (and patch levels). Some steps have been removed as they have been deprecated in newer FreeBSD versions.

Create VM

• Download the FreeBSD 9.3-RELEASE-amd64 DVD ISO (from here) and transfer it to your VM server.
• Create a new VM:
  • CPU: dual-socket or dual-core
    • IMPORTANT: As of current PVE releases, you may need to set your CPU to qemu64 rather than kvm64 for FreeBSD to be able to boot.
  • RAM: 2GB (minimum)
  • Network: Intel e1000 (bridged) or Virtio
  • Create a 32GB primary disk (scsi, qcow2) or Virtio
  • Add FreeBSD 9.3-RELEASE-amd64 DVD ISO as an optical drive (scsi).

Install FreeBSD

• Power on the VM.
• It should boot to the FreeBSD 9.3-RELEASE-amd64 DVD ISO.
• System Components: Add "src".
• Disks: Guided, use entire disk.
• Network: Use ipv4 only (unless you also use ipv6).
• Services: Add ntpd.
• This should leave you with FreeBSD 9.3-RELEASE installed on the 32GB primary drive.
• Shut down the VM after installation.
• Remove the ISO from the VM's optical drive (set to empty).
• Verify the VM's boot order is set to the primary hard disk first.

First Boot

• Power on the VM and log in.

If you have choosen to use VirtIO devices you can check their existence with dmesg:

dmesg | egrep '(vtnet|vtblk)'
vtblk0: <VirtIO Block Adapter> on virtio_pci1
vtblk0: 16384MB (33554432 512 byte sectors)
vtnet0: <VirtIO Networking Adapter> on virtio_pci2
vtnet0: Ethernet address: b2:ae:f1:97:36:52

• Set the time:

ntpdate -s pool.ntp.org

• Update the system:

freebsd-update fetch
freebsd-update install

• Reboot

Links

• FreeBSD Handbook - Portsnap: a Ports Collection Update Tool
• freebsd.org - Port description for ports-mgmt/portmaster