I decided to remove Apache 2.2 and go with 1.3. Why? Because I can. And because 1.3 is found on the majority of sites that run FreeBSD as their OS, and those are the sites that stay online the longest – high availability sites. Although I have no intentions of hosting my own webserver, I like to do stuff because I can.

cd /usr/ports/www/apache13-modssl
make install distclean

echo ‘apache_enable=”YES”‘ >> /etc/rc.conf
echo ‘apache_flags=”-DSSL”‘ >> /etc/rc.conf

cd ~
openssl genrsa -des3 -out server.key 1024
Must enter a pass phrase when prompted

openssl req -new -key server.key -out server.csr
Must also enter passphrase
Use servername for common name

openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in /root/server.csr -signkey /root/server.key -out /root/server.crt
Again, enter passphrase

cp ~/server.key /usr/local/etc/apache/ssl.key/
cp ~/server.crt /usr/local/etc/apache/ssl.crt/

Test:

/usr/local/sbin/apachectl startssl
Enter passphrase when prompted
Browse to webserver via http and https

Remove encryption:

cd /usr/local/etc/apache/ssl.key
cp server.key server.key.orig
openssl rsa -in server.key.orig -out server.key

Restart apache:

apachectl stop
apachectl startssl

No more passphrase, better keep that server secure!

If you install from ports, or via pkg_add, you can remove the software like this:

pkg_info | grep programname
pkg_delete programname.x.x.x_x

Nice and easy.

Enabling SSL support in Apache is a breeze. Heres how I did it:

Create the certificate. As root:

openssl genrsa -des3 -out server.key 1024

Enter a passphrase when prompted. Don’t forget it.

Create the CSR:

openssl req -new -key server.key -out server.csr

Enter your passphrase when prompted, and make sure the CN matches your hosts FQDN.

Self-sign the cert with:

openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in /root/server.csr -signkey /root/server.key -out /root/server.crt

Now, copy the key and the cert to apache’s installation directory:

cp server.* /usr/local/etc/apache22

Make the files readable by root only:

chmod 0400 /usr/local/etc/apache22/server.*

Edit httpd.conf and uncomment the line that reads:

Include etc/apache22/extra/httpd-ssl.conf

Restart Apache:

apachectl restart

You will now be prompted for your passphrase. To remove the password from the cert, do:

cd /usr/local/etc/apache22
openssl rsa -in server.key -out server.key

Enter your passphrase one last time. Start (or restart) Apache:
apachectl restart

Point your web-browser at your server, accept the cert. Thats all!

Ok, now I’m beginning to understand the ports system a little better. Here is how I installed sudo:

as root:

cd /usr/ports/security/sudo
make install

When its done, still logged in as root do:

visudo
And add your user account to the # User privilege specification section as follows:

jason ALL=ALL,!FREEDOM

That pretty much gives you the keys to the kingdom. Log out and test your new sudo access with:

sudo ls /
Enter your password. Thats it!

Installing apache 2.2 on FreeBSD 6.1

So the next step was to install apache. Why? Because FreeBSD is known as the mack-daddy of all OS’s that host websites. Longest uptimes, best performance. So I decided to see what all the hype was about.

as root:

pkg_add -r apache22

When it was done installing, it told me I could make apache start at boot time by adding the line:

apache22_enable=”YES”

to my /etc/rc.conf

which I did, rebooted, then pointed a webbrowser to the machine, and got the message:

It works!

Which is exactly what we want.

Change your default shell in FreeBSD

With all the hype surrounding Ubuntu, I decided to go a different direction and try out FreeBSD. I like to do the opposite of what everyone else does.

The install was smooth, the initial login was great. And so here I am, at the command-line.

First thing, I gotta have bash. sh just dosen’t cut it for me. So… how to do that??

which bash returned nothing. whereis bash says I have a copy, but I’m not famaliar with the ports system to know how to start. I dug through some docs and found this:

Log in as root and do:

pkg_add -r bash

This will download bash and its dependencies from, um, the, repository? I’ve got a lot of new terms to learn.

Is it there?

grep bash /etc/shells

/usr/local/bin/bash

awesome. its there and waiting. Now to make it my new default!

As user, do:

chsh -s /usr/local/bin/bash
enter your password,
log out,
log in,
echo $SHELL
/usr/local/bin/bash

Yeah!

Well that was easy, whats next?