# How to set up Xenforo server using FreeBSD?



## happy-yoga (Dec 2, 2020)

I want to setup a Xenforo forum using FreeBSD. I have never set up a server using FreeBSD or Linux. In the past I always used Cpanel. What are the major steps I need to take? 

1. Where to host? I am considering Linode. 
2. How to set it up? 

If anyone has experience with this I would appreciate the help. I noticed this FreeBSD forum is using Xenforo. 

Thanks!


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## LordInateur (Dec 2, 2020)

You can set up a FAMP (FreeBSD, Apache, MariaDB/MySQL, PHP) or a FNMP (same, but w/ NGINX) server for Xenforo (sometimes these are BAMP and BNMP for "BSD")-- I don't think I've ever tried Xenforo specifically on FreeBSD, but I'm not sure why it wouldn't work. 

In terms of "where" you'd want to put it-- it really depends on the use case. Linode or Digital Ocean aren't terrible options if you just want to have some small shared-CPU VPS out there.

I haven't done it in a while, but you can probably start by taking a look at these ports:
www/apache24
lang/php74 (though I see lang/php80, I've never tried it myself)
databases/mariadb105-server
^-- note: you might have to choose different versions, depending on Xenforo's requirements.

DigitalOcean has some instructions here that you can follow for a basic setup. You might have to install some PHP modules as well.

Then, once the stack is set up, just follow Xenforo's instructions.


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## happy-yoga (Dec 2, 2020)

I noticed on the Linode forums that people seem to have problems using FreeBSD on Linode. 

Also, does anyone recommend using Cpanel to make things easier?


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## SirDice (Dec 2, 2020)

happy-yoga said:


> Where to host? I am considering Linode.


There's a very lengthy thread with providers that directly support or are at least friendly towards FreeBSD: https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/freebsd-hosting-shared-vps-etc.21472/



LordInateur said:


> I don't think I've ever tried Xenforo specifically on FreeBSD, but I'm not sure why it wouldn't work.


You're using one such installation right here.


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## LordInateur (Dec 2, 2020)

happy-yoga said:


> I noticed on the Linode forums that people seem to have problems using FreeBSD on Linode.
> 
> Also, does anyone recommend using Cpanel to make things easier?


There's also https://www.freebsd.org/commercial/isp.html as well to look at, just search for the entries w/ "VPS" in them-- on our end, we do Digital Ocean, ARP Networks, and our own baremetal machines. In terms of cPanel, I wouldn't recommend it if you're the only user on it-- but that's just me. I've always been more comfortable w/ dealing with the packages directly instead of using a dashboard. But if you're going multi-tenant then cPanel or something similar might not be a terrible idea for clients. Again, this is just my subjective opinion-- at the end of the day, just try to pick something that fits your specific use case the best


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