# Newbie setup/installation troubles



## Psinetic (Jun 4, 2009)

I got my new server parts and put this baby together yesterday and someone told me the best OS for it was FreeBSD. So...I got it and installed it. But I can't get it to do anything at all. I'm an IT, but I work with windows, not linux. I don't know the UNIX shell and I'm just utterly lost. I can't learn just by reading, I've been doing that for the last three days just googling and searching, and asking questions, i just need a step by step exact tutorial, that's the only way I'll be able to do it unless someone sits here and does it for me.

Comp Stats:

Motherboard: EVGA nforce 780i SLI Motherboard - A1 Version, NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI, Socket 775, ATX, PCI Express 2.0, Dual GB LAN, S/PDIF

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Processor BX80562Q6600 - 2.40GHz, 8MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB, Kentsfield, Quad-Core, Socket 775

Graphics Card: XFX GeForce 9800 GT - 512MB GDDR3, PCI Express 2.0, (2) Dual Link DVI, HDTV, VGA Support

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB Hard Drive - 7200, 16MB, SATA-300, OEM + two 550GB Ext., 1 40GB ext., 16GB ext flash

Ram: (X2=8GB Ram) OCZ SLI-Ready Dual Channel 4096MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory (2x2048MB)

Network Card: Onboard Motherboard, Dual GB LAN

DVD Drive: HP dvd1035i DVD Writer (Retail) - 48x CD-R, 32x CD-RW, 20x DVDÂ±R, 8x DVDÂ±R DL, 8x DVD=RW, 6x DVD-RW, IDE

Power Supply: OCZ OCZ800EXS EliteXStream 800-Watt ATX Power Supply - SLI-Ready, SATA-Ready, 80PLUS

Case: XCLIO A380PLUS

OS: FreeBSD AMD64

I tried to get my desktop to show, b/c this is all in the command line, which i know absolutely none of. That utterly failed. So I figured I'd HAVE to use the command line.

So I went with that. Tried to get my Apache server up, but it wouldn't work and my eyes were hurting b/c my screen is doing this flickering crap (i guess the OS doesn't like my drivers or something, i don't know, but it's killing my head). So I decided to set it back up to ssh into it from my laptop so that i can have dual monitors again and use my wireless keyboard without the stupid flickering screen killing my eyes.

Three hours on that and the ssh STILL doesn't work. It just denies it every time. Nothing I do gets it to work. I try to add users with the:

AllowUsers root

and, well, nothing, says allowusers command doesn't exist. i've learned a few commands so far, but i still pretty much know absolutely nothing. i'm lost, and i'm about to just scream. can ANYONE help me out?

please, be very specific and give links and whatever, don't just say "do this" and not tell me how. I'm a complete and utter newbie on this one, and searching google, obviously, for me isn't working at all.

thanks!


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## graudeejs (Jun 4, 2009)

For newbies
http://www.freebsd.org/projects/newbies.html

FAQ:
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/

The Handbook:
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/

Unix Utilities (not all are available on FreeBSD by default, but great many are)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Unix_utilities

Finally one command that you MUST know and use is *man* (manual, there are manual for every command available)
you can read online manual pages here:
http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi
also read
man()


UNIX is one thing you can't learn in few days


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## vivek (Jun 4, 2009)

First, step download FreeBSD handbook. Read everything. It will help you get started with shell. You need to learn how to use the the following:

vi text editor
moving around using shell command such as cd, ls, pwd and others.
Install software via ports or pkg_add
Configure services via /etc/rc.conf
A useful tool called sysinstall may help new users
Learn to read man pages

FreeBSD handbook FTP download ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/doc/en/books/handbook/
Read FreeBSD handbook online HTML format - http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/handbook/


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## DutchDaemon (Jun 4, 2009)

If you're not willing to read and learn, no one will be willing to write and teach.


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## SirDice (Jun 4, 2009)

Psinetic said:
			
		

> I'm an IT, but I work with windows, not linux.


Ok, lesson 1 and this is very important!

FreeBSD is NOT linux :e




> I can't learn just by reading, I've been doing that for the last three days just googling and searching, and asking questions, i just need a step by step exact tutorial, that's the only way I'll be able to do it unless someone sits here and does it for me.



Ok. Did you find the handbook? It is pretty good and it does cover most if not all the issues you're having.

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/handbook/index.html





> I tried to get my desktop to show, b/c this is all in the command line, which i know absolutely none of. That utterly failed. So I figured I'd HAVE to use the command line.



It is a server, most of use really despise having a GUI on a server but it's your machine 

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/handbook/x11.html 



> So I went with that. Tried to get my Apache server up, but it wouldn't work


http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/handbook/network-apache.html




> Three hours on that and the ssh STILL doesn't work.


Add to /etc/rc.conf:

```
sshd_enable="YES"
```



> It just denies it every time. Nothing I do gets it to work. I try to add users with the:
> 
> AllowUsers root


Don't! Log in as a regular user and learn to use su or sudo. Sudo needs to be installed via a port though, security/sudo.




> please, be very specific and give links and whatever, don't just say "do this" and not tell me how.


I am going to tell you to read the handbook, I hope you understand 



> I'm a complete and utter newbie on this one,


We all were at one point.


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## graudeejs (Jun 4, 2009)

instead of vi, you can learn ee, which is much more easier for newbies, but once you master vi (well vim actually, you'll discover entirely new word. Lol, well you actually did discover new world - UNIX)

EDIT:

and ye, welcome to Wonderland


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## vivek (Jun 4, 2009)

killasmurf86 said:
			
		

> instead of vi, you can learn ee, which is much more easier for newbies, but once you master vi (well vim actually, you'll discover entirely new word. Lol, well you actually did discover new world - UNIX)
> 
> EDIT:
> 
> and ye, welcome to Wonderland



vi is included as standard recovery tool on many live cds, recovery floppy or in emergency mode. I'm not sure about ee or joe or anything else..


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## graudeejs (Jun 4, 2009)

vivek said:
			
		

> vi is included as standard recovery tool on many live cds, recovery floppy or in emergency mode. I'm not sure about ee or joe or anything else..



ee is included in bough FreeBSD bases system and FreeBSD fixit cd (that included dvd as well)

however vi is defacto standard editor for unix


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## macbias (Jun 4, 2009)

Psinetic, i've been using fbsd only for a year now, and you can expect the first few weeks to be a bit tedious.the handbooks are very good,but i found it better to search for whatever i need when i get stuck on that particular thing. if you plan on legging with it a bit longer till the storms calm, i would suggest subscribing to the freebsd-questions mailing list if you haven't already; and you usually get help there - (mailing-list etiquette implied), but even if you don't ask questions, you get an idea of what is going on just by reading what other ppl are posting.

with ssh, all i can tell you is to stick to the username you have on the freebsd system untill you get to grips with setup; since that should work without any further settings, apart from having sshd enabled on freebsd. i.e, if you have a user joe on the fbsd computer and bob on the windows system, try joe@192.xxx.xxx.xxx (and not bob or even root as you will get permission denied surely and joe should have access of the bat)

One thing i had trouble with at first was getting around the commandline syntax and commands (coming from windows), like "ls" is the equivilent of "dir" to list files in a folder, and if the listing goes past the visible screen, use something like

```
ls | more
```

to find what you are looking for , if you don't know that already. you can type 

```
man [I]commandname[/I]
```
for info on any command.

If you haven't already, you could install xorg (x11) and some desktop environment - xorg is on the install discs, and there is gnome and kde3 there also ( gnome probably a better option ). you can run (as root)

```
sysinstall
```
then goto CONFIGURE >> PACKAGES (something like that) and select the package from that menu.

long story short, then you need to enable some stuff in /etc/rc.conf - like dbus, hald, polkitd, - the "freebsd gnome faq" is a good guide (google that); and you also need to install the nvidia driver if you have one and if you have installed ports). if not 

```
portsnap fetch extract
```
or

```
portsnap fetch update
```
if you have ports already. then (as root) 

```
cd /usr/ports/x11/nvidia-driver && make install clean
```
.

add 

```
nvidia_load="YES"
```
to /boot/loader.conf

reboot and follow the guide to setup xorg from the freebsd handbook.

if you don't have an nvidia card, the driver would have probably been installed with xorg packages.

p.s. do you already know about virtual terminals/consoles - switch between them with ALT+F2 thru F8.

good luck


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## Psinetic (Jun 4, 2009)

Wow this is by  far the best information I've EVER gathered in one day on ANY forum. THANKS ALOT GUYS!!! Usually answers to technical questions, especially one as broad as the one i offered, take a week+ to get a decent answer, and are usually filled with blatant "I don't know" responses or no responses at all and the thread, like the forum, just dies.

I think I'll be sticking around this forum for a while  lol.

I will most DEFINITELY take everything given here into consideration. The reason I don't like to read alot is because I do, in fact, have reading problems. I can type all day, but when it comes to reading my mind plays tricks on me. I actually end up reading a document three to four times, not because I choose to, but because if it's interesting and required enough, I HAVE to. My mind just wonders off to something else, but my eyes keep reading, and when my mind comes back to it, i'm a chapter ahead, but haven't read past the previous chapter. So I have to flip back and re-read the entire chapter.

So, at the most basic level, though the information may be helpful, the entire thing really is just a waste of my time. lol. this is why i like step by step exact instructions, because I can't screw that up, and if i'm engaged in it, then i know i won't go off course.

Reading the manual i shall


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## graudeejs (Jun 5, 2009)

That is Windowism (point and click just don't think), my friend, it's even worse than Linuxism [I mean no offense]


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## Psinetic (Jun 5, 2009)

I also forgot to mention that what I'm going to be doing here is this.

I want the server setup with whatever OS can gather as much as my system's resources as possible. I want it to be able to see and use maximum of everything. From there, I will make a string of Virtual machines. Using port forwarding within one of them (one has to act as a router fun fun finding the os for that one), I will then be able to maximize my security by allocating certain ports to certain virtual machines, preventing one file from being accessed via the same operating system. Also to prevent DDoS attacks and to have a machine setup so that it simply buffers any kind of hacking attempts.

My goal is this:

To have a virtual machine for each server required. HTML server, FTP server, SSH server, etc. etc.

That's the ultimate goal, and i think freebsd can pretty much do all of that. I can simply create one virtual machine and copy it with a different name or title.

So with that in mind, would a desktop GUI still be required for the host OS?


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## graudeejs (Jun 5, 2009)

You can install FreeBSD and Create Jails....

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/handbook/jails.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeBSD_jail


Servers should avoid GUI by all means....


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## Psinetic (Jun 5, 2009)

i think i'll do a mix of the two. setup the virtual server, and then jail the process for the server. that way if the server ever becomes compromised, it can't harm anything.


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## SirDice (Jun 5, 2009)

One thing to note about the nvidia driver, it doesn't work on AMD64. 

Seeing you have 8GB running i386 isn't an option as you can't use anything above 3-4GB on a 32 bit OS.

For running any kind of services (ftp, http etc), including jails, you don't need a GUI.


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## Psinetic (Jun 5, 2009)

i thought freebsd amd64 was a 64bit os?

update: i got the ssh working, and turns out the thing with the freaky flickering screen was my monitor's settings. fixed that too


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## SirDice (Jun 5, 2009)

Psinetic said:
			
		

> i thought freebsd amd64 was a 64bit os?


It is but Freebsd-i386 isn't. The binary nvidia driver doesn't work on freebsd-amd64.


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## DutchDaemon (Jun 5, 2009)

(which doesn't mean that the graphics card itself doesn't work)


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## SirDice (Jun 5, 2009)

Yes, just to clear it up further, the card should work fine with the Xorg nv driver x11-drivers/xf86-video-nv. If you want accelerated 2D and 3D (openGL) however you need the binary nvidia driver x11/nvidia-driver.


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## macbias (Jun 5, 2009)

SirDice said:
			
		

> One thing to note about the nvidia driver, it doesn't work on AMD64.
> 
> Seeing you have 8GB running i386 isn't an option as you can't use anything above 3-4GB on a 32 bit OS.



oh yes, i missed picking up on that, my bad.

also, that was bad advice from me to setup a desktop, since you'll be running server apps. not just because the server doesn't really need a GUI, but also because the *bigger* desktops like gnome and kde first of all pull in a huge amount of packages, and are almost constantly being improved and updated, you will most likely end up spending too much time keeping everything up to date (not what you want on a server).

later on you might want to check out what they call a lightweight desktop like fluxbox, etc to at least have a web browser like firefox i would think. but i would take advice from ppl who actually run servers (not me) - maybe you can run that in a jail too? i'ne never tried.

btw, for your reading problem, like me, you can do as i do and only read what you have to if it's a manual, or wait for the movie to come out if it's a book. seems it worked for me, (since ei'm only half retarded, not fully  )


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## Psinetic (Jun 5, 2009)

ok, so i've got ssh and apache server up. however, i'm not getting any web page at this ip (local ip on a wireless router), saying "It works!"


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## SirDice (Jun 5, 2009)

Psinetic said:
			
		

> ok, so i've got ssh and apache server up. however, i'm not getting any web page at this ip (local ip on a wireless router), saying "It works!"



That means it works :beer

It's the default website :e

Now you need to configure /usr/local/etc/apache22/httpd.conf and point it to your own stuff.


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## DutchDaemon (Jun 5, 2009)

Not getting a web page saying "It works!"? Or not getting a web page, only the one saying "It works!"?

Interpretations can be so multi-interpretable nowadays. Sigh.


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## Psinetic (Jun 5, 2009)

I'm not getting any webpage, i expected to get the one saying "It Works!", but i got nothing.


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