This guide explains how to install the FreeBSD on Hetzner Cloud VPS. This might also work for other VPS providers with the proper rescue system in place.
Table of contents:
Log into Hetzner Cloud, switch to your VPS control panel, select Rescue -> Enable Rescue and Power Cycle. It takes up to 1 minute to boot into rescue mode. Your login details will be displayed in the control panel after you activate the console. You can also use previously defined SSH keys.
We will use the FreeBSD VM image which includes everything we need.
Head over to freebsd.org/where and choose VM -> amd64 of the latest release.
At the time of writing this it was 14.3.
Download *-amd64.raw.xz and make a binary copy into the drive.
Don't worry about the initial root parition size, it will extend itself after first boot.
wget https://download.freebsd.org/releases/VM-IMAGES/14.3-RELEASE/amd64/Latest/FreeBSD-14.3-RELEASE-amd64.raw.xz
wipefs -a /dev/sda
cat FreeBSD-14.3-RELEASE-amd64.raw.xz | xz -dc | dd of=/dev/sda bs=1M status=progress
reboot
FreeBSD should now boot and you can continue your setup via Console with FreeBSD Handbook.
It might be obvious for many, but the default login is root and it does not require a password.
- Change root password:
passwd - Update the system:
pkg update - Install useful stuff:
pkg install bash bash-completion bind-tools curl gnu-watch htop lsblk lsof mc mtr-nox11 nano vim wget whois - Enable the SSH Server
- Take care of Security
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Enjoy your FreeBSD adventure!
The very image I am using 😄 ZFS root FTW! 💪