OPENBSD-LINODE(7)      Miscellaneous Information Manual      OPENBSD-LINODE(7)

NAME
     Installing OpenBSD on Linode – a guide

DESCRIPTION
     I've been thinking for a while about moving my servers to Linode, and
     also about moving them to OpenBSD.  I actually originally got into
     FreeBSD (and from there, OpenBSD) only because DigitalOcean started
     offering it as a “droplet” image.  I've been running those servers fine
     for years, but now I prefer to run OpenBSD, and some recent DigitalOcean
     outages had me thinking about it more, so I'm giving it a shot.

     As an aside, running OpenBSD on DigitalOcean is not really a good option.
     It seems more awkward to install your own OS there, and if you do, I've
     heard that IPv6 won't work because they don't know how to run SLAAC.
     Also, now that I've used the Linode control panel and LISH a bit,
     DigitalOcean kind of feels like a toy in comparison.

     Here's what I did to install OpenBSD on Linode:

     1.   Create a Linode with the “Choose a Distribution” box blank.

     2.   Under the Storage tab, create a disk called “miniroot” of type raw
          with size 8 MB.  This will hold the install image.

     3.   Create another disk called “root” of type raw using the remaining
          available storage.

     4.   Boot the Linode in rescue mode from the option in the three-dots
          menu next to “Power On”.  Attach “miniroot” to /dev/sda.

     5.   Log into the LISH console and obtain the install image:

          curl -O https://cdn.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/6.9/amd64/miniroot69.img
          dd if=miniroot69.img of=/dev/sda

          Power off the Linode.

     6.   Under the Configurations tab, create a configuration called
          “install” in full virtualization mode.  Paravirtualization works
          fine once installed, but for some reason the installer can't see the
          root disk without full virtualization.  Under boot settings, select
          direct disk.  Attach “root” to /dev/sda, “miniroot” to /dev/sdb and
          set the root device to /dev/sdb.

     7.   Create a similar configuration called “boot” but using
          paravirtualiztion and without “miniroot” attached.  Set the root
          device to /dev/sda.

     8.   Boot the “install” configuration, launch the LISH console and switch
          to Glish.  It's possible to have the installer use serial console,
          but it requires entering commands at the boot prompt before the
          timeout, and I never managed it.  If you do manage it, run:

          stty com0 9600
          set tty com0
          boot

     9.   Proceed through the OpenBSD installer.  When asked to change the
          default console to com0, answer yes so that regular LISH will work.
          Power off the Linode.

     10.  Boot the “boot” configuration and log in to LISH.  Since the
          installer configured networking in full virtualization, rename the
          file to the paravirtualized interface:

          mv /etc/hostname.em0 /etc/hostname.vio0

          In order to get the right public IPv6 address, disable privacy
          extensions by changing the inet6 line of hostname.vio0 to:

          inet6 autoconf -temporary -soii

     11.  Bring networking up and run syspatch(8) since rc.firsttime couldn't
          do it:

          sh /etc/netstart
          syspatch

     12.  Reboot.

     I guess I'll be slowly moving things over to the new servers for the next
     little while.  With any luck the next post here will not say FreeBSD in
     its header!

SEE ALSO
     I learned the basic idea of how to do this from
     https://www.subgeniuskitty.com/notes/openbsd_on_linode.

AUTHORS
     june <june@causal.agency>

Causal Agency                 September 26, 2021                 Causal Agency