FreeBSD is known for its robust design, reliability, and advanced networking features, but like any operating system, it benefits significantly from performance tuning. This guide provides an extensive overview of FreeBSD performance tuning, covering kernel parameters, memory management, storage subsystems, networking, and more. It highlights key principles such as evaluating workloads, applying incremental modifications, and documenting changes thoroughly. The article also delves into specific tuning areas like process limits, virtual memory, network stack settings, and storage optimizations. Experienced BSD users will find detailed instructions on using sysctl, adjusting ZFS and UFS settings, and configuring network offloading. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of monitoring and benchmarking to ensure that tuning efforts yield the desired performance improvements.
Heading to FOSDEM 2025? Visit the FreeBSD Stand in Building K to connect with contributors and learn about the latest updates. The event features several FreeBSD-focused talks, including discussions on security audits, modern standby implementation, and more. This is an excellent opportunity for BSD enthusiasts to deepen their knowledge and engage with the community. Don't miss the chance to grab some cool swag and meet fellow enthusiasts.
The Valuable News weekly series is dedicated to provide summary about news, articles and other interesting stuff mostly but not always related to the UNIX/BSD/Linux systems.
This episode of BSD Now covers the application of the ARC algorithm, advancements in cloud-native containers on FreeBSD with Podman testing highlights, and running web browsers in a FreeBSD jail. It also discusses fixing pf to allow IPv6 traffic on FreeBSD, the history of Minitel in France, and why Google stores billions of lines of code in a single repository.
This guide walks you through setting up a fault-tolerant reverse proxy using FreeBSD and HAProxy. It covers configuring CARP for failover, installing and setting up HAProxy, and adjusting firewall rules. This setup ensures high availability and reliability for your services, making it valuable for BSD users looking to enhance their network infrastructure.
This article delves into the key factors that influence network storage performance, focusing on protocols like SMB, NFS, and iSCSI. It highlights the importance of understanding these protocols and their unique challenges when testing NAS setups. The article provides insights into optimizing NAS configurations for accurate benchmarking, making it valuable for BSD users looking to enhance their network storage performance. It covers specific considerations for each protocol, including the use of tools like CrystalDiskMark and fio, and discusses the impact of multi-channel support and record sizes on performance.
The FreeBSD Foundation has initiated a project to deliver zero-trust builds starting January 2025. Commissioned by the Sovereign Tech Agency, this project aims to enhance the security of FreeBSD's build process by enabling release processes to run without root access and ensuring build artifacts are reproducible. The updates will simplify the build process and are expected to be completed before the release of FreeBSD 15.0. This initiative is part of a broader effort to advance Zero Trust builds, Software Bill of Materials (SBOM), and other security improvements.
NixBSD fork for FreeBSD, GhostBSDCon 2025 announced, new FreeBSD Journal and more.
NixBSD is an attempt to make a reproducible and declarable BSD, based on NixOS. Although theoretically much of this work could be copied to build other BSDs, all work thus far has been focused on building a FreeBSD distribution.
The article details the challenges faced while setting up IPv6 on FreeBSD with Netcup as the VPS provider. The author migrated to Netcup for its performance and cost benefits but encountered issues with IPv6 connectivity. Despite initial success with manual configurations, the IPv6 connection dropped after about 10 minutes. Various troubleshooting steps, including disabling the firewall and adjusting subnet prefixes, were attempted. The author found partial solutions by switching gateways dynamically, but the setup remains unstable. The post invites further comments and suggestions for improvement. This resource is valuable for BSD users experiencing similar networking issues, offering insights into potential fixes and ongoing troubleshooting efforts.
A new BSD desktop conference, GhostBSDCon 2025, has been announced for March 29, 2025. This virtual event, hosted by the GhostBSD project, focuses on developing and using desktop systems based on any BSD variant. GhostBSD, a FreeBSD-derived OS with the MATE desktop, aims to provide a user-friendly BSD desktop experience. The conference is a significant event for BSD enthusiasts, offering a platform to discuss and advance desktop BSD technologies. More details can be found in the official Call For Papers.
The Valuable News weekly series is dedicated to provide summary about news, articles and other interesting stuff mostly but not always related to the UNIX/BSD/Linux systems.