Syncthing on OpenBSD

Network Installation of OpenBSD

Setup a machine to facilitate network installation of OpenBSD. Download the 6.9 installation ISO from the OpenBSD website and install it in a virtual machine. I’m using VMware Fusion and have a dedicated LAN port connected to the remote machine.

Create hostname.vic0 containing the following and not dhcp:

inet 192.168.2.1 255.255.255.0 NONE

DHCPD

Create /etc/dhcpd.conf with the key attributes:

filename for the boot image name, and
next-server for the TFTP server address.

I have added a host section for the specific MAC of my machine but for this one-time build process it could be a global option.

subnet 192.168.2.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
    option routers 192.168.2.1;
    range 192.168.2.32 192.168.2.127;
    
    host mini-itx {
        hardware ethernet 00:40:63:d5:6f:4f;
        filename "auto_install";
        next-server 192.168.2.1;
        option host-name "mini-itx"
    }
}

TFTPD

Create the default TFTP root folder and configuration folder

mkdir -p /tftpboot/etc

Download pxeboot and bsd.rd and put them in /tftpboot.

Create a symbolic link for auto_install

ln -s pxeboot /tftpboot/auto_install

Create /tftpboot/etc/boot.conf containing the following

boot tftp:/bsd.rd

HTTPD

Create /etc/httpd.conf to share the folder /var/www/htdocs

#[ MACROS ]
ext_ip = "*"

# [ GLOBAL CONFIGURATION ]
# none

# [ SERVERS ]
server "default" {
    listen on $ext_ip port 80
    root "/htdocs"
}

# [ TYPES ]
types {
    include "/usr/share/misc/mime.types"
}

Stage the installation files on a local web server by copying them from the boot ISO downloaded at the start:

mount /dev/cd0a /mnt/
mkdir -p /var/www/htdocs/pub/OpenBSD
cp -rv /mnt/6.9/ /var/www/htdocs/pub/OpenBSD/6.9
ls -l /var/www/htdocs/pub/OpenBSD/6.9 > /var/www/htdocs/pub/OpenBSD/6.9/index.txt

Create /var/www/htdocs/install.conf containing the following automatic confgiuration answer file

Password for root = Password
Setup a user = user
Password for user = Password
Public ssh key for user = ssh-rsa AAAA...ZV user@Marks-Mac-mini.local
Which disk is the root disk = wd0
What timezone are you in = Europe/London
Unable to connect using https. Use http instead = yes
Location of sets = http
HTTP Server = 192.168.2.1
Set name(s) = -all bsd* base* etc* man* site* comp*
Continue without verification = yes

Enable the services using rcctl which edits configuration file rc.conf.local add the appropriate service_flags="" lines

rcctl enable dhcpd
rcctl enable tftpd
rcctl enable httpd

The remote system should now boot from the network and install OpenBSD hands free!

After the new system boots su and then overwrite /etc/installurl with a standard value

echo https://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD > /etc/installurl

RAID5 Volume

Create a RAID5 volume over the four attached disks

for a in sd0 sd1 sd2 sd3 ; do fdisk -iy $a ; done
for a in sd0 sd1 sd2 sd3 ; do printf "a\n\n\n\nRAID\nw\nq\n" | disklabel -E $a ; done
bioctl -c 5 -l /dev/sd0a,/dev/sd1a,/dev/sd2a,/dev/sd3a softraid0

Partition and format the volume

fdisk -iy sd4
printf "a\n\n\n\n4.2BSD\nw\nq\n" | disklabel -E sd4
newfs /dev/rsd4a 

Syncthing

Install syncthing using

pkg_add syncthing

Edit /etc/login.conf and append:

syncthing:\
        :openfiles-max=60000:\ 
        :tc=daemon:

Rebuild the file

cap_mkdb /etc/login.conf
echo "kern.maxfiles=80000" >> /etc/sysctl.conf

Edit /etc/rc.d/syncthing and update the daemon_flags:

daemon_flags="-no-browser -gui-address=0.0.0.0:8384"

Edit /etc/fstab to mount the drive

/dev/sd4a /var/syncthing ffs rw,softdep 0 0
chown -R _syncthing:_syncthing /var/syncthing

Enable and start syncthing:

rcctl enable syncthing
rcctl start syncthing

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