ref: 89e95268e95255fe126bd29fbf9bc3f658fefeb4
dir: /freebsd-bhyve.md/
Running 9front using bhyve(8) on FreeBSD
========================================
Required ports:
sysutils/bhyve-firmware
sysutils/uefi-edk2-bhyve
sysutils/uefi-edk2-bhyve-csm
net/tigervnc-viewer
Add the following lines to `/etc/rc.conf`. Replace `re0` with your own
network interface. It's good practice to assign each VM a unique `tap`
interface in case you need to run multiple VMs at the same time. For
simplicity's sake, this setup uses only one `tap`:
if_bridge_load="YES"
if_tap_load="YES"
cloned_interfaces="bridge0 tap0"
ifconfig_bridge0="DHCP addm re0 addm tap0"
ifconfig_bridge0_alias0="inet 10.0.0.1/24"
Reboot your machine and then grab a [9front ISO](https://9front.org/releases/).
Make a directory where you'll store everything 9front-related.
I usually keep all my
[bhyve(8)](https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=bhyve&sektion=8)
VMs under a
[ZFS dataset](https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/zfs/):
$ cd /path/to/vms/
$ mkdir 9front
$ mv /path/to/9front_iso 9front.iso
Create an empty file to be used as the VM's hard drive. 10G
will be more than enough:
$ truncate -s 10G disk.img
Make a startup script. Feel free to tweak the variable values to match your
own setup. Obviously, when you're done installing 9front from the ISO, you'll
be running the script without the `-s 3,...` line:
$ cat 9front_start
#!/bin/sh
name="9front"
cpu="2"
mem="2G"
iso="9front.iso"
disk="disk.img"
tap="tap0"
ifconfig ${tap} up
bhyve -c ${cpu} -m ${mem} -wH \
-s 0,hostbridge \
-s 3,ahci-cd,${iso} \
-s 4,ahci-hd,${disk} \
-s 5,virtio-net,${tap} \
-s 29,fbuf,tcp=0.0.0.0:5900,w=800,h=600,wait \
-s 30,xhci,tablet \
-s 31,lpc \
-l bootrom,/usr/local/share/uefi-firmware/BHYVE_UEFI.fd \
${name}
Make a shutdown script in order for bhyve(8) to close properly:
$ cat 9front_stop
#!/bin/sh
name="9front"
tap="tap0"
ifconfig ${tap} down
bhyvectl --force-poweroff --vm=${name}
bhyvectl --destroy --vm=${name}
Make the scripts executable and start the VM:
$ chmod +x 9front_start 9front_stop
# ./9front_start; ./9front_stop
Run vncviewer(1) to connect to the VNC display:
$ vncviewer 0.0.0.0
When prompted for the monitor type during boot, choose `xga`.
## Notes
- IPv6 does not seem to work with 9front guests.
- Some machines present overclocking problems when the host uses
`TSC-low` as a time source (see
[timecounters(4)](https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=timecounters§ion=4)).
Changing it to `HPET` usually solves the problem.