As some others unix-like operating systems FreeBSD has some particularities aside to the UNIX heritage, licensing and the like. The init system is the way a system starts up and the BSD has always been different. If you happen to be a UNIX admin I am sure you are aware of this and the folks […]
FreeBSD particularities

How to upgrade FreeBSD from version 11.2 up to 12.0
Although the upgrade process is very well described on the FreeBSD handbook you may be looking for a more detailed hands on how to upgrade FreeBSD from version 11.2 up to 12.0 article. We’re going work here on this process, step by step detailing not only how to upgrade but to do it safely. First […]

Lynis or how to quickly audit your system’s security configuration
A colleague of mine pointed me out to Lynis, a system’s configuration audit tool which checks the hardening of any running UNIX or UNIX-like system, including the BSDs. This tool has a built in check list and a set of sane and safe configurations and compares them to the target system. As output we find […]

How to setup MariaDB master-slave replication on FreeBSD
Having all the data in just one server is not the best idea. Especially when talking about a database server. Spreading information in several boxes is a good measure to prevent data loss but also for performance. A MySQL/MariaDB master-slave replication scheme is often used as a good solution for both, data redundancy and speed. […]
How to set time and date in FreeBSD
In a FreeBSD system one may need to adjust date and time, specially if one has opened a VPS instance in some hosting provider. The system already provides a list of time zones. Just look around in the /usr/share/zoneinfo folder and subfolders to find the one that fits your needs. Just remember this will have […]

The Original Sin
Disclaimer: What you are about to read may contain inaccuracies. Feel free to discuss them somewhere else. This is also my opinion and as such it may change through time, maybe tomorrow, next month, next year, next decade or never. I do also make very few reviews (if any) of what I write here so […]

How to install Redis for WordPress on FreeBSD
I happen to self-host a few WordPress sites on FreeBSD. And as much as one can configure OP-Cache to improve PHP’s performance, object cache is a must for many WordPress sites. This how to install Redis for WordPress on FreeBSD will explain how to install an object cache (Redis) for WordPress (via plugin) on this […]

How to manually update Letsencrypt certificates on FreeBSD
Update 05-2020: If anyone is interested on the automatic process you can read my tutorial on DigitalOcean about the topic. On this guide we will manually update our Letsencrypt certificate on FreeBSD for a single website. It is a simple operation that can be automated as a cron job, but seeing it is always informative […]

Abandon Linux. How to install iocage to manage FreeBSD Jails
The iocage program is a python 3 piece created to manage FreeBSD Jails leveraging the underpinning ZFS file system on FreeBSD. As already explained on previous articles the FreeBSD operating system offers an OS-level virtualization system called Jails. And as described on past articles it can benefit administrators and developers alike. This is a simple […]

How to use find in GNU/Linux and FreeBSD
How to use find is a very basic, but important, UNIX lesson. Find is a very useful command which can help us not just finding a particular file, but for examples files or directories matching certain criteria such as: size, permissions, type. The basic mode of operation for find is the following: find path criteria […]
