The most difficult part of building a server with FreeBSD, the Unix-like operating system, is arguably software installation and configuration. Finding the software is easy enough; getting everything up and running is another thing entirely. The only option for many people has been to hire a consultant.

Building a Server with FreeBSD 7 is for those of us who prefer to build our own server. If you're a small business owner looking for a reliable email server, a curious Windows administrator, or if you just want to put that old computer in the closet to work, you'll learn how to get things up and running quickly. Then, once you have a working system, you can experiment, extend, and customize as you please.

You'll learn how to install FreeBSD, then how to install popular server applications with the ports collection. Each package is treated as an independent module, so you can dip into the book at any point to install just the packages you need, when you need them. The book s modules cover topics like:

• Running common FreeBSD admin commands and tasks

• Managing the FreeBSD ports collection

• Installing third-party apps like Apache, Courier-IMAP, SpamAssassin, CUPS, Cyrus SASL, MediaWiki, and WordPress

• Setting up MySQL, NTP, ISC DHCP, ISC BIND DNS, PHP, OpenLDAP, OpenSSH, OpenSSL, and OpenVPN

Building a Server with FreeBSD 7 will have you up and running fast, with minimum hassle. (Just be sure to send the money you save to the Unemployed Consultant Foundation.)

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 23 Ratings

Helpful Reference - 2009-08-23
Reviewer Rating:
I've bought this book about a year ago, together with "Absolute FreeBSD - 2nd Edition" (by M. W. Lucas), because I was curious to give a try to FreeBSD as an Open Source OS alternative to Linux and the purchase of the two seemed like a good combination: the latter actually seemed to be far more complete and detailed, but nevertheless "Building a Server with FreeBSD" still looked like a useful and quick HOWTO for software installation.

After a few months, I can say I'm definitely glad of what I did, because the two did in fact allow me to set up (fairly quickly, in my spare time) a stable FreeBSD Host; but let's talk about this book specifically, from now on.

First off, I think that the main benefit of this book lies in its structure; it allows the reader to easily identify what services he'll need and from there to track down the software packages (ports) he'll have to install and related dependencies; step by step instructions are then given very precisely, always allowing the reader to accomplish his goal. There are actually a couple of suggestions that (as someone else already pointed out) might not be best practices (IE have an OpenSSH server that can fall back to protocol version 1 or use Stratum 1 NTP servers), but I think that the whole point of this book is showing the user precisely where to put his hands on, in order to install a certain piece of software, rather than giving verbose explanations on system internals or best practices. As a reader, you're almost never told why you're doing something or what lies behind your commands, but if you have some sysadmin experience and/or read some other documentation (I highly suggest "Absolute FreeBSD - 2nd Edition" here), it's never really hard to understand what's going on.

However it goes, chances are high that at the end, you'll end up with a stable running system; so, I really think it's much better to have a book taking you there this way, rather than having a much less intuitive 1000+ pages book which tries (and most likely fails) to precisely explain all inner details of all applications covered; those specific informations can be easily found online or on other dedicated books anyways.

So I really think this books fulfills the expectations given by its title and deserves some good rating; the only reason why I don't give it 5 stars is because it actually lacks almost completely informations on keeping your system up-to-date; portsnap and portupgrade could've definitely fitted into the book, instead of the protocols appendix, for instance, as the latter falls, in my opinion, in the kind of documentation you're better off looking for elsewhere.

Excellent Step-by-Step Guide for the Real World - 2009-05-04
Reviewer Rating:
We recently made the move from Windows to Apple Leopard servers. Since we had great PC server hardware left over, we decided to go with the Unix closest to OS X: FreeBSD. There was a learning curve, but this and a few other books are getting us ahead.

While most books talk theory or are references, Hong's guide will give you exactly what you need and nothing you don't to get up to speed quickly with a real server. It's not tedious like your typical step-by-step guide. The format is very clear and you know exactly what you are supposed to do.

Most of the ports Hong includes will be helpful to any server configuration. Install what you need and leave off what you don't. These ports are among the most popular. In our case, most of them are what Apple is using in their Darwin/Leopard, so this guide has helped us create a complimentary server.

This is the most practical of the FreeBSD 7 books you need for your server and learning pleasure. When I was trying to decide between this one and Absolute FreeBSD: The Complete Guide to FreeBSD, 2nd Edition, I finally concluded I had to get both. That book is your theory while Building a Server is your field guide.

An excellent resource - 2009-11-01
Reviewer Rating:
This is the single most helpful computer book I have read. I have been dabbling with setting up a server for months. Today's servers utilize so many different technologies (HTTP, SQL, SSH, SSL, FTP, DNS, Mail) that just gathering the information to set up server with average features is a big task - especially if it is not your real job. It is pretty simple to find information on setting up a particular package, but not easy to get information to make it all work together.

This book takes a very clear flowchart approach and tells you what to install and in what order. If you want a web server, a mail server, a file server, or some variant, this book will help you to build it.

I know that seasoned system administrators frown on the scripted "type this and then this" approach to setting up a server but you have to start somewhere. This book will help you to set up a full fledged working and relatively secure server. From there if you want to learn more about a particular technology, great go right ahead and delve in deeper (with another more specific book.) You will after following the instructions in this book have a great platform to configure and expand.

I have read several other books on different variants of BSD and this one really pulled it all together.

So good that it should be included with the FreeBSD software. - 2009-05-03
Reviewer Rating:
How can a book with only 256 pages be so amazingly helpful? For such a tiny book, it packs a serious knockout punch of concise, practical, and useful information and procedures. It is literally a roadmap that describes how to install, configure, and run 28 different applications and services.

The list: web server, mail server, database server, print server, time server, DHCP server, Mediawiki server, blog site, OpenVPN server, FTP server, Samba server, content-management-system, anti-spam server, and webmail server. Plus, the book describes how to install PHP, phpLDAPadmin, phpMyadmin, a DHCP client, and more.

Oh, and in those jam-packed 256 pages, Mr. Hong managed to include a section on how to use, maintain, and upgrade ports!

Each chapter is helpfully tagged with a level rating which identifies how much "effort" is required to install the app/service. Level 1 apps are the easiest. Level 5 apps are the hardest -- though, thanks to Mr. Hong concise and informative writing, even level 5 apps are easy to install.

Each chapter is broken down into: Summary, Resources (web links), Requirements (what is needed before starting the chapter), Optional Requirements, Preparation, Install steps, Configure the app/service, Utilities to manage the app/service, Config files involved, Log files involved, and a Notes section.

I've been in the IT business for over 15yrs and this book, by far, is one of the best I've read for an operating system. It is clear, concise, informative, useful, practical, productive, and delivers the goods. The book is so good that it should be included with every FreeBSD CD/DVD shipped or downloaded. If you use FreeBSD, this book should be mandatory reading.

good cookbook - 2009-03-14
Reviewer Rating:
Good start to get some common servers installed and running on FreeBSD (or any BSD Unix). From the base this book gives, it is then easy to do some more research and fine tune the server setups.

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