The NetBSD Guide
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The NetBSD Guide

The NetBSD Developers

All brand and product names used in this guide are or may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

NetBSD® is a registered trademark of The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.

Published: 2007/06/09 14:31:03

$NetBSD: index.html,v 1.5 2007/06/12 20:29:28 dsieger Exp $

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. Installation

2.1. Documentation

2.2. The layout of a NetBSD installation

2.3. Installation

2.3.1. Keyboard
2.3.2. Geometries
2.3.3. Partitions
2.3.4. Hard disk space requirements
2.3.5. Retry

3. Example Installation

3.1. Introduction
3.2. Preparing the installation
3.3. Creating the installation floppy
3.4. Last preparatory steps
3.5. Beginning the installation
3.6. Partitions
3.7. Disklabel
3.8. Creating a disklabel
3.9. The disk preparation process
3.10. Choosing the installation media
3.11. Installing from CD-ROM and DVD
3.12. Installing via FTP
3.13. Extracting sets
3.14. System configuration

4. The first boot

4.1. If something went wrong
4.2. Login
4.3. Changing the keyboard layout
4.4. The man command
4.5. Changing the root password
4.6. Changing the shell
4.7. System time
4.8. Basic configuration in /etc/rc.conf
4.9. Enabling FFS soft-dependencies
4.10. Rebooting the system

5. The second boot

5.1. dmesg
5.2. Mounting the CD-ROM
5.3. Mounting the floppy
5.4. Accessing a DOS/Windows partition
5.5. Adding users
5.6. Shadow passwords
5.7. Stopping and rebooting the system

6. rc.d System

6.1. The rc.d Configuration
6.2. The rc.d Scripts
6.3. The Role of rcorder and rc Scripts
6.4. Additional Reading

III. System configuration, administration and tuning

7. Editing

7.1. Introducing vi

7.1.1. The vi interface
7.1.2. Switching to Edit Mode
7.1.3. Switching Modes & Saving Buffers to Files
7.1.4. Yanking and Putting
7.1.5. Navigation in the Buffer
7.1.6. Searching a File, the Alternate Navigational Aid
7.1.7. A Sample Session

7.2. Configuring vi

7.2.1. Extensions to .exrc
7.2.2. Documentation

7.3. Using tags with vi

8. X

8.1. What is X?

8.2. Configuration

8.3. The mouse

8.4. The keyboard

8.5. The monitor

8.6. The video card

8.6.1. XFree 3.x
8.6.2. XFree86 4.x

8.7. Starting X

8.8. Customizing X

8.9. Other window managers

8.10. Graphical login with xdm

9. Linux emulation

9.1. Emulation setup

9.1.1. Configuring the kernel
9.1.2. Installing the Linux libraries
9.1.3. Installing Acrobat Reader

9.2. Directory structure

9.3. Emulating /proc

9.4. Using Linux browser plugins

9.5. Further reading

10. Audio

10.1. Basic hardware elements

10.2. BIOS settings

10.3. Configuring the audio device

10.4. Configuring the kernel audio devices

10.5. Advanced commands

10.5.1. audioctl(1)
10.5.2. mixerctl(1)
10.5.3. audioplay(1)
10.5.4. audiorecord(1)

11. Printing

11.1. Enabling the printer daemon
11.2. Configuring /etc/printcap
11.3. Configuring Ghostscript
11.4. Printer management commands
11.5. Remote printing

12. Using removable media

12.1. Initializing and using floppy disks
12.2. How to use a ZIP disk
12.3. Reading data CDs with NetBSD
12.4. Reading multi-session CDs with NetBSD
12.5. Allowing normal users to access CDs
12.6. Mounting an ISO image
12.7. Using video CDs with NetBSD
12.8. Using audio CDs with NetBSD
12.9. Creating an MP3 (MPEG layer 3) file from an audio CD
12.10. Using a CD-R writer with data CDs
12.11. Using a CD-R writer to create audio CDs
12.12. Creating an audio CD from mp3s
12.13. Copying an audio CD
12.14. Copying a data CD with two drives
12.15. Using CD-RW rewritables
12.16. DVD support
12.17. Creating ISO images from a CD
12.18. Getting volume information from CDs and ISO images

13. The cryptographic device driver (CGD)

13.1. Overview

13.1.1. Why use disk encryption?
13.1.2. Logical Disk Drivers
13.1.3. Availability

13.2. Components of the Crypto-Graphic Disk system

13.2.1. Kernel driver pseudo-device
13.2.2. Ciphers
13.2.3. Verification Methods

13.3. Example: encrypting your disk

13.3.1. Preparing the disk
13.3.2. Scrubbing the disk
13.3.3. Creating the cgd
13.3.4. Modifying configuration files
13.3.5. Restoring data

13.4. Example: encrypted CDs/DVDs

13.4.1. Introduction
13.4.2. Creating an encrypted CD/DVD
13.4.3. Using an encrypted CD/DVD

13.5. Suggestions and Warnings

13.5.1. Using a random-key cgd for swap
13.5.2. Warnings

13.6. Further Reading

14. Concatenated Disk Device (CCD) configuration

14.1. Install physical media
14.2. Configure Kernel Support
14.3. Disklabel each volume member of the CCD
14.4. Configure the CCD
14.5. Initialize the CCD device
14.6. Create a 4.2BSD/UFS filesystem on the new CCD device
14.7. Mount the filesystem

15. NetBSD RAIDframe

15.1. RAIDframe Introduction

15.1.1. About RAIDframe
15.1.2. A warning about Data Integrity, Backups, and High Availability
15.1.3. Getting Help

15.2. Setup RAIDframe Support

15.2.1. Kernel Support
15.2.2. Power Redundancy and Disk Caching

15.3. Example: RAID-1 Root Disk

15.3.1. Pseudo-Process Outline
15.3.2. Hardware Review
15.3.3. Initial Install on Disk0/wd0
15.3.4. Preparing Disk1/wd1
15.3.5. Initializing the RAID Device
15.3.6. Setting up Filesystems
15.3.7. Setting up kernel dumps
15.3.8. Migrating System to RAID
15.3.9. The first boot with RAID
15.3.10. Adding Disk0/wd0 to RAID
15.3.11. Testing Boot Blocks

15.4. Testing kernel dumps

16. Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM)

16.1. About

16.2. Introduction

16.3. Terms and conventions

16.3.1. Definitions
16.3.2. Usage examples

16.4. PAM Essentials

16.4.1. Facilities and primitives
16.4.2. Modules
16.4.3. Chains and policies
16.4.4. Transactions

16.5. PAM Configuration

16.5.1. PAM policy files
16.5.2. Breakdown of a configuration line
16.5.3. Policies

16.6. PAM modules

16.6.1. Common Modules
16.6.2. FreeBSD-specific PAM Modules
16.6.3. NetBSD-specific PAM Modules

16.7. PAM Application Programming

16.8. PAM Module Programming

16.9. Sample PAM Application

16.10. Sample PAM Module

16.11. Sample PAM Conversation Function

16.12. Further Reading

17. Tuning NetBSD

17.1. Introduction

17.1.1. Overview

17.2. Tuning Considerations

17.2.1. General System Configuration
17.2.2. System Services
17.2.3. The NetBSD Kernel

17.3. Visual Monitoring Tools

17.3.1. The top Process Monitor
17.3.2. The sysstat utility

17.4. Monitoring Tools

17.4.1. fstat
17.4.2. iostat
17.4.3. ps
17.4.4. vmstat

17.5. Network Tools

17.5.1. ping
17.5.2. traceroute
17.5.3. netstat
17.5.4. tcpdump

17.6. Accounting

17.6.1. Accounting
17.6.2. Reading Accounting Information
17.6.3. How to Put Accounting to Use

17.7. Kernel Profiling

17.7.1. Getting Started
17.7.2. Interpretation of kgmon Output
17.7.3. Putting it to Use
17.7.4. Summary

17.8. System Tuning

17.8.1. Using sysctl
17.8.2. memfs & softdeps
17.8.3. LFS

17.9. Kernel Tuning

17.9.1. Preparing to Recompile a Kernel
17.9.2. Configuring the Kernel
17.9.3. Building the New Kernel
17.9.4. Shrinking the NetBSD kernel

18. NetBSD Veriexec subsystem

18.1. How it works
18.2. Signatures file
18.3. Generating fingerprints
18.4. Strict levels
18.5. Veriexec and layered file systems
18.6. Kernel configuration

19. Bluetooth on NetBSD

19.1. Introduction

19.2. Supported Hardware

19.3. System Configuration

19.4. Human Interface Devices

19.4.1. Mice
19.4.2. Keyboards

19.5. Serial Connections

19.6. Audio

19.6.1. SCO Audio Headsets
19.6.2. SCO Audio Handsfree

19.7. Object Exchange

19.8. Troubleshooting

20. Console drivers

20.1. wscons

20.1.1. wsdisplay
20.1.2. wskbd
20.1.3. wsmouse

20.2. pccons

21. Miscellaneous operations

21.1. Creating a custom install/boot floppies for i386
21.2. Synchronizing the system clock with NTP
21.3. Installing the boot manager
21.4. Deleting the disklabel
21.5. Speaker
21.6. Forgot root password?
21.7. Adding a new hard disk
21.8. Password file is busy?
21.9. 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. A common LAN setup

23.7. Connecting two PCs through a serial line

23.7.1. Connecting NetBSD with BSD or Linux
23.7.2. Connecting NetBSD and Windows NT
23.7.3. Connecting NetBSD and Windows 95

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. Miscellaneous networking topics

28.1. Bridge

28.1.1. Bridge example

28.2. Network File System (NFS)

28.2.1. NFS setup example

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

28.3.1. Introduction
28.3.2. Actual setup

28.4. IPv6 Connectivity & Transition via 6to4

28.4.1. Getting 6to4 IPv6 up & running
28.4.2. Obtaining IPv6 Address Space for 6to4
28.4.3. How to get connected
28.4.4. Security Considerations
28.4.5. Data Needed for 6to4 Setup
28.4.6. Kernel Preparation
28.4.7. 6to4 Setup
28.4.8. Quickstart using pkgsrc/net/hf6to4
28.4.9. Known 6to4 Relay Routers
28.4.10. Tunneling 6to4 through an IPFilter firewall
28.4.11. Conclusion & Further Reading

V. Building the system

29. Obtaining the sources

29.1. Preparing directories

29.2. Terminology

29.3. Downloading tarballs

29.3.1. Downloading a NetBSD release
29.3.2. Downloading snapshots from a NetBSD stable branch
29.3.3. Downloading the NetBSD-current development branch
29.3.4. Downloading a pkgsrc-200xQy stable branch
29.3.5. Downloading the pkgsrc-current development branch

29.4. Fetching by CVS

29.4.1. Getting CVS
29.4.2. Fetching a NetBSD release
29.4.3. Fetching a NetBSD stable branch
29.4.4. Fetching the NetBSD-current development branch
29.4.5. Fetching a pkgsrc-200xQy stable branch
29.4.6. Fetching the pkgsrc-current development branch
29.4.7. 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. The package collection

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

List of Figures

2.1. Partitions
3.1. Selecting the language
3.2. The main menu of the installation program
3.3. Confirming you want to install NetBSD
3.4. Choosing a hard disk
3.5. Full or custom installation
3.6. Selecting distribution sets
3.7. Choosing the partitioning scheme
3.8. Choosing a unit of measure
3.9. fdisk
3.10. Partition options
3.11. Installing the boot selector
3.12. Choosing if partitions should be edited
3.13. Setting partition sizes
3.14. The disklabel editor
3.15. The disklabel editor
3.16. Naming the NetBSD disk
3.17. Last chance before hitting the disk
3.18. Creating the filesystems
3.19. Selecting a bootblock
3.20. Choosing the verbosity of the extraction process
3.21. Installation media
3.22. CD-ROM/DVD installation
3.23. Which network interface to configure
3.24. Choosing network media options
3.25. Using DHCP for network configuration
3.26. Entering and configuring network data
3.27. Confirming network parameters
3.28. Which directory to use for downloading
3.29. Defining the set's source place
3.30. An error happened during download
3.31. Downloading installation sets
3.32. Extracting set files
3.33. Deleting sets after extraction?
3.34. Set extraction completed
3.35. Selecting your system's time zone
3.36. Selecting a password encryption scheme
3.37. Setting the root password now or later?
3.38. Setting the root password
3.39. Choosing a shell for the root account
3.40. Congratulations
3.41. Reboot the system to finish installation
15.1. RAID-1 Disk Logical Layout
15.2. Perform generic install onto Disk0/wd0
15.3. Setup RAID Set
15.4. Reboot using Disk1/wd1 of RAID
15.5. Mirror Disk1/wd1 back to Disk0/wd0
15.6. Award BIOS i386 Boot Disk1/wd1
15.7. Award BIOS i386 Boot Disk0/wd0
22.1. IPv4-addresses are divided into more significant network- and less significant hostbits
22.2. Our demo-network
22.3. Attaching one subnet to another one
22.4. IPv6-addresses are divided into more significant network- and less significant hostbits, too
22.5. IPv6-addresses have a similar structure to class B addresses
22.6. Several interfaces attached to a link result in only one scope ID for the link
23.1. Network with gateway
26.1. Structure of the mail system
28.1. A frequently used method for transition is tunneling IPv6 in IPv4 packets
28.2. 6to4 derives an IPv6 from an IPv4 address
28.3. Request and reply can be routed via different gateways in 6to4
28.4. Enabling packet forwarding is needed for a 6to4 router

List of Tables

16.1. PAM chain execution summary
18.1. Veriexec fingerprints tools
18.2. Veriexec access type aliases

List of Examples

11.1. /etc/printcap
11.2. /usr/local/libexec/lpfilter
11.3. /etc/printcap
11.4. /usr/local/libexec/lpfilter-ps
23.1. resolv.conf
23.2. nsswitch.conf
23.3. Connection script
23.4. Chat file
23.5. Chat file with login
23.6. /etc/ppp/options
23.7. ppp-start
23.8. ppp-stop
23.9. /etc/hosts
25.1. strider's /etc/hosts file
25.2. localhost
29.1. .cvsrc