The NetBSD Guide

Table of Contents

Purpose of this guide

I. About NetBSD

1. What is NetBSD?

1.1. The story of NetBSD

1.2. NetBSD features

1.3. Supported platforms

1.4. NetBSD's target users

1.5. Applications for NetBSD

1.6. The philosophy of NetBSD

1.7. How to get NetBSD

II. System installation and related issues

2. Installing NetBSD: Preliminary considerations and preparations

2.1. Preliminary considerations

2.1.1. Dual booting

2.1.2. NetBSD on emulation and virtualization

2.2. Install preparations

2.2.1. The INSTALL* document

2.2.2. Hard disk geometries

2.2.3. Partitions

2.2.4. Hard disk space requirements

2.2.5. Network settings

2.2.6. Backup your data and operating systems!

2.2.7. Preparing the installation media

2.3. Checklist

3. Example installation

3.1. Introduction

3.2. The installation process

3.3. Keyboard layout

3.4. Starting the installation

3.5. MBR partitions

3.6. Disklabel partitions

3.7. Setting the disk name

3.8. Last chance!

3.9. The disk preparation process

3.10. Choosing the installation media

3.10.1. Installing from CD-ROM or DVD

3.10.2. Installing from an unmounted file system

3.10.3. Installing via FTP

3.10.4. Installing via NFS

3.11. Extracting sets

3.12. System configuration

3.13. Finishing the installation

4. Upgrading NetBSD

4.1. Overview

4.2. The INSTALL* document

4.3. Performing the upgrade

III. System configuration, administration and tuning

5. The first steps on NetBSD

5.1. Troubleshooting

5.1.1. Boot problems

5.1.2. Misconfiguration of /etc/rc.conf

5.2. The man command

5.3. Editing the configuration files

5.4. Login

5.5. Changing the root password

5.6. Adding users

5.7. Shadow passwords

5.8. Changing the keyboard layout

5.9. System time

5.10. Secure Shell (ssh(1))

5.11. Basic configuration in /etc/rc.conf

5.12. Basic network settings

5.13. Mounting a CD-ROM

5.14. Mounting a floppy

5.15. Installing additional software

5.16. Security alerts

5.17. Stopping and rebooting the system

6. Editing

6.1. Introducing vi

6.1.1. The vi interface

6.1.2. Switching to Edit Mode

6.1.3. Switching Modes & Saving Buffers to Files

6.1.4. Yanking and Putting

6.1.5. Navigation in the Buffer

6.1.6. Searching a File, the Alternate Navigational Aid

6.1.7. A Sample Session

6.2. Configuring vi

6.2.1. Extensions to .exrc

6.2.2. Documentation

6.3. Using tags with vi

7. rc.d System

7.1. The rc.d Configuration

7.2. The rc.d Scripts

7.3. The Role of rcorder and rc Scripts

7.4. Additional Reading

8. Console drivers

8.1. wscons

8.1.1. wsdisplay

8.1.2. wskbd

8.1.3. wsmouse

8.2. pccons

9. X

9.1. What is X?

9.2. Configuration

9.3. The mouse

9.4. The keyboard

9.5. The monitor

9.6. The video card

9.6.1. XFree 3.x

9.6.2. XFree86 4.x

9.7. Starting X

9.8. Customizing X

9.9. Other window managers

9.10. Graphical login with xdm

10. Linux emulation

10.1. Emulation setup

10.1.1. Configuring the kernel

10.1.2. Installing the Linux libraries

10.1.3. Installing Acrobat Reader

10.2. Directory structure

10.3. Emulating /proc

10.4. Using Linux browser plugins

10.5. Further reading

11. Audio

11.1. Basic hardware elements

11.2. BIOS settings

11.3. Configuring the audio device

11.4. Configuring the kernel audio devices

11.5. Advanced commands

11.5.1. audioctl(1)

11.5.2. mixerctl(1)

11.5.3. audioplay(1)

11.5.4. audiorecord(1)

12. Printing

12.1. Enabling the printer daemon

12.2. Configuring /etc/printcap

12.3. Configuring Ghostscript

12.4. Printer management commands

12.5. Remote printing

13. Using removable media

13.1. Initializing and using floppy disks

13.2. How to use a ZIP disk

13.3. Reading data CDs with NetBSD

13.4. Reading multi-session CDs with NetBSD

13.5. Allowing normal users to access CDs

13.6. Mounting an ISO image

13.7. Using video CDs with NetBSD

13.8. Using audio CDs with NetBSD

13.9. Creating an MP3 (MPEG layer 3) file from an audio CD

13.10. Using a CD-R writer with data CDs

13.11. Using a CD-R writer to create audio CDs

13.12. Creating an audio CD from MP3s

13.13. Copying an audio CD

13.14. Copying a data CD with two drives

13.15. Using CD-RW rewritables

13.16. DVD support

13.17. Creating ISO images from a CD

13.18. Getting volume information from CDs and ISO images

14. The cryptographic device driver (CGD)

14.1. Overview

14.1.1. Why use disk encryption?

14.1.2. Logical Disk Drivers

14.1.3. Availability

14.2. Components of the Crypto-Graphic Disk system

14.2.1. Kernel driver pseudo-device

14.2.2. Ciphers

14.2.3. Verification Methods

14.3. Example: encrypting your disk

14.3.1. Preparing the disk

14.3.2. Scrubbing the disk

14.3.3. Creating the cgd

14.3.4. Modifying configuration files

14.3.5. Restoring data

14.4. Example: encrypted CDs/DVDs

14.4.1. Introduction

14.4.2. Creating an encrypted CD/DVD

14.4.3. Using an encrypted CD/DVD

14.5. Suggestions and Warnings

14.5.1. Using a random-key cgd for swap

14.5.2. Warnings

14.6. Further Reading

15. Concatenated Disk Device (CCD) configuration

15.1. Install physical media

15.2. Configure Kernel Support

15.3. Disklabel each volume member of the CCD

15.4. Configure the CCD

15.5. Initialize the CCD device

15.6. Create a 4.2BSD/UFS filesystem on the new CCD device

15.7. Mount the filesystem

16. NetBSD RAIDframe

16.1. RAIDframe Introduction

16.1.1. About RAIDframe

16.1.2. A warning about Data Integrity, Backups, and High Availability

16.1.3. Getting Help

16.2. Setup RAIDframe Support

16.2.1. Kernel Support

16.2.2. Power Redundancy and Disk Caching

16.3. Example: RAID-1 Root Disk

16.3.1. Pseudo-Process Outline

16.3.2. Hardware Review

16.3.3. Initial Install on Disk0/wd0

16.3.4. Preparing Disk1/wd1

16.3.5. Initializing the RAID Device

16.3.6. Setting up Filesystems

16.3.7. Setting up kernel dumps

16.3.8. Migrating System to RAID

16.3.9. The first boot with RAID

16.3.10. Adding Disk0/wd0 to RAID

16.3.11. Testing Boot Blocks

16.4. Testing kernel dumps

17. Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM)

17.1. About

17.2. Introduction

17.3. Terms and conventions

17.3.1. Definitions

17.3.2. Usage examples

17.4. PAM Essentials

17.4.1. Facilities and primitives

17.4.2. Modules

17.4.3. Chains and policies

17.4.4. Transactions

17.5. PAM Configuration

17.5.1. PAM policy files

17.5.2. Breakdown of a configuration line

17.5.3. Policies

17.6. PAM modules

17.6.1. Common Modules

17.6.2. FreeBSD-specific PAM Modules

17.6.3. NetBSD-specific PAM Modules

17.7. PAM Application Programming

17.8. PAM Module Programming

17.9. Sample PAM Application

17.10. Sample PAM Module

17.11. Sample PAM Conversation Function

17.12. Further Reading

18. Tuning NetBSD

18.1. Introduction

18.1.1. Overview

18.2. Tuning Considerations

18.2.1. General System Configuration

18.2.2. System Services

18.2.3. The NetBSD Kernel

18.3. Visual Monitoring Tools

18.3.1. The top Process Monitor

18.3.2. The sysstat utility

18.4. Monitoring Tools

18.4.1. fstat

18.4.2. iostat

18.4.3. ps

18.4.4. vmstat

18.5. Network Tools

18.5.1. ping

18.5.2. traceroute

18.5.3. netstat

18.5.4. tcpdump

18.6. Accounting

18.6.1. Accounting

18.6.2. Reading Accounting Information

18.6.3. How to Put Accounting to Use

18.7. Kernel Profiling

18.7.1. Getting Started

18.7.2. Interpretation of kgmon Output

18.7.3. Putting it to Use

18.7.4. Summary

18.8. System Tuning

18.8.1. Using sysctl

18.8.2. memfs & softdeps

18.8.3. LFS

18.9. Kernel Tuning

18.9.1. Preparing to Recompile a Kernel

18.9.2. Configuring the Kernel

18.9.3. Building the New Kernel

18.9.4. Shrinking the NetBSD kernel

19. NetBSD Veriexec subsystem

19.1. How it works

19.2. Signatures file

19.3. Generating fingerprints

19.4. Strict levels

19.5. Veriexec and layered file systems

19.6. Kernel configuration

20. Bluetooth on NetBSD

20.1. Introduction

20.2. Supported Hardware

20.3. System Configuration

20.4. Human Interface Devices

20.4.1. Mice

20.4.2. Keyboards

20.5. Serial Connections

20.6. Audio

20.6.1. SCO Audio Headsets

20.6.2. SCO Audio Handsfree

20.7. Object Exchange

20.8. Troubleshooting

21. Miscellaneous operations

21.1. Installing the boot manager

21.2. Deleting the disklabel

21.3. Speaker

21.4. Forgot root password?

21.5. Adding a new hard disk

21.6. Password file is busy?

21.7. How to rebuild the devices in /dev

IV. Networking and related issues

22. Introduction to TCP/IP Networking

22.1. Audience

22.2. Supported Networking Protocols

22.3. Supported Media

22.3.1. Serial Line

22.3.2. Ethernet

22.4. TCP/IP Address Format

22.5. Subnetting and Routing

22.6. Name Service Concepts

22.6.1. /etc/hosts

22.6.2. Domain Name Service (DNS)

22.6.3. Network Information Service (NIS/YP)

22.6.4. Other

22.7. Next generation Internet protocol - IPv6

22.7.1. The Future of the Internet

22.7.2. What good is IPv6?

22.7.3. Changes to IPv4

23. Setting up TCP/IP on NetBSD in practice

23.1. A walk through the kernel configuration

23.2. Overview of the network configuration files

23.3. Connecting to the Internet with a modem

23.3.1. Getting the connection information

23.3.2. resolv.conf and nsswitch.conf

23.3.3. Creating the directories for pppd

23.3.4. Connection script and chat file

23.3.5. Authentication

23.3.6. pppd options

23.3.7. Testing the modem

23.3.8. Activating the link

23.3.9. Using a script for connection and disconnection

23.3.10. Running commands after dialin

23.4. Creating a small home network

23.5. Setting up an Internet gateway with IPNAT

23.5.1. Configuring the gateway/firewall

23.5.2. Configuring the clients

23.5.3. Some useful commands

23.6. Setting up a network bridge device

23.6.1. Bridge example

23.7. A common LAN setup

23.8. Connecting two PCs through a serial line

23.8.1. Connecting NetBSD with BSD or Linux

23.8.2. Connecting NetBSD and Windows NT

23.8.3. Connecting NetBSD and Windows 95

23.9. IPv6 Connectivity & Transition via 6to4

23.9.1. Getting 6to4 IPv6 up & running

23.9.2. Obtaining IPv6 Address Space for 6to4

23.9.3. How to get connected

23.9.4. Security Considerations

23.9.5. Data Needed for 6to4 Setup

23.9.6. Kernel Preparation

23.9.7. 6to4 Setup

23.9.8. Quickstart using pkgsrc/net/hf6to4

23.9.9. Known 6to4 Relay Routers

23.9.10. Tunneling 6to4 through an IPFilter firewall

23.9.11. Conclusion & Further Reading

24. The Internet Super Server inetd

24.1. Overview

24.2. What is inetd?

24.3. Configuring inetd - /etc/inetd.conf

24.4. Services - /etc/services

24.5. Protocols - /etc/protocols

24.6. Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) - /etc/rpc

24.7. Allowing and denying hosts - /etc/hosts.{allow,deny}

24.8. Adding a Service

24.9. When to use or not to use inetd

24.10. Other Resources

25. The Domain Name System

25.1. DNS Background and Concepts

25.1.1. Naming Services

25.1.2. The DNS namespace

25.1.3. Resource Records

25.1.4. Delegation

25.1.5. Delegation to multiple servers

25.1.6. Secondaries, Caching, and the SOA record

25.1.7. Name Resolution

25.1.8. Reverse Resolution

25.2. The DNS Files

25.2.1. /etc/namedb/named.conf

25.2.2. /etc/namedb/localhost

25.2.3. /etc/namedb/zone.127.0.0

25.2.4. /etc/namedb/diverge.org

25.2.5. /etc/namedb/1.168.192

25.2.6. /etc/namedb/root.cache

25.3. Using DNS

25.4. Setting up a caching only name server

25.4.1. Testing the server

26. Mail and news

26.1. postfix

26.1.1. Configuration of generic mapping

26.1.2. Testing the configuration

26.1.3. Using an alternative MTA

26.2. fetchmail

26.3. Reading and writing mail with mutt

26.4. Strategy for receiving mail

26.5. Strategy for sending mail

26.6. Advanced mail tools

26.7. News with tin

27. Introduction to the Common Address Redundancy Protocol (CARP)

27.1. CARP Operation

27.2. Configuring CARP

27.3. Enabling CARP Support

27.4. CARP Example

27.5. Advanced CARP configuration

27.6. Forcing Failover of the Master

28. Network services

28.1. The Network File System (NFS)

28.1.1. NFS setup example

28.1.2. Setting up NFS automounting for /net with amd(8)

28.2. The Network Time Protocol (NTP)

V. Building the system

29. Obtaining the sources

29.1. Preparing directories

29.2. Terminology

29.3. Downloading tarballs

29.3.1. Downloading sources for a NetBSD release

29.3.2. Downloading sources for a NetBSD stable branch

29.3.3. Downloading sources for a NetBSD-current development branch

29.4. Fetching by CVS

29.4.1. Fetching a NetBSD release

29.4.2. Fetching a NetBSD stable branch

29.4.3. Fetching the NetBSD-current development branch

29.4.4. Saving some cvs(1) options

29.5. Sources on CD (ISO)

30. Crosscompiling NetBSD with build.sh

30.1. Building the crosscompiler

30.2. Configuring the kernel manually

30.3. Crosscompiling the kernel manually

30.4. Crosscompiling the kernel with build.sh

30.5. Crosscompiling the userland

30.6. Crosscompiling the X Window System

30.7. Changing build behaviour

30.7.1. Changing the Destination Directory

30.7.2. Static Builds

30.7.3. Using build.sh options

30.7.4. make(1) variables used during build

31. Compiling the kernel

31.1. Requirements and procedure

31.2. Installing the kernel sources

31.3. Creating the kernel configuration file

31.4. Building the kernel manually

31.4.1. Configuring the kernel manually

31.4.2. Generating dependencies and recompiling manually

31.5. Building the kernel using build.sh

31.6. Installing the new kernel

31.7. If something went wrong

32. Updating an existing system from sources

32.1. The updating procedure

32.1.1. Building a new userland

32.1.2. Building a new kernel

32.1.3. Installing the kernel and userland

32.1.4. Updating the system configuration files

32.1.5. Summary

32.1.6. Alternative: using sysinst

32.2. More details about the updating of configuration and startup files

32.2.1. Using etcupdate with source files

32.2.2. Using etcupdate with binary distribution sets

32.2.3. Using etcmanage instead of etcupdate

33. Building NetBSD installation media

33.1. Creating custom install or boot floppies for your architecture e.g. i386

33.2. Creating a custom install or boot CD with build.sh

A. Information

A.1. Where to get this document

A.2. Guide history

B. Contributing to the NetBSD guide

B.1. Translating the guide

B.1.1. What you need to start a translation

B.1.2. Writing XML/DocBook

B.2. Sending contributions

B.3. XML/DocBook template

C. Getting started with XML/DocBook

C.1. What is XML/DocBook

C.2. Installing the necessary tools

C.3. Using the tools

C.4. Language-specific notes

C.4.1. Enabling hyphenation for the Italian language

C.5. Links

D. Acknowledgements

D.1. Original acknowledgements

D.2. Current acknowledgements

D.3. Licenses

D.3.1. Federico Lupi's original license of this guide

D.3.2. Networks Associates Technology's license on the PAM article

D.3.3. Joel Knight's license on the CARP article

E. Bibliography

Bibliography