There are a number of directories in which configuration information is kept. These include:
/etc | Generic system configuration information; data here is system-specific. |
/etc/defaults | Default versions of system configuration files. |
/etc/mail | Extra sendmail(8) configuration, other MTA configuration files. |
/etc/ppp | Configuration for both user- and kernel-ppp programs. |
/etc/namedb | Default location for named(8) data. Normally
named.conf and zone files are stored
here. |
/usr/local/etc | Configuration files for installed applications. May contain per-application subdirectories. |
/usr/local/etc/rc.d | Start/stop scripts for installed applications. |
/var/db | Automatically generated system-specific database files, such as the package database, the locate database, and so on |
/etc/resolv.conf
dictates how FreeBSD's
resolver accesses the Internet Domain Name System (DNS).
The most common entries to resolv.conf
are:
nameserver | The IP address of a name server the resolver should query. The servers are queried in the order listed with a maximum of three. |
search | Search list for hostname lookup. This is normally determined by the domain of the local hostname. |
domain | The local domain name. |
A typical resolv.conf
:
Only one of the search
and
domain
options should be used.
If you are using DHCP, dhclient(8) usually rewrites
resolv.conf
with information received from the
DHCP server.
/etc/hosts
is a simple text
database reminiscent of the old Internet. It works in
conjunction with DNS and NIS providing name to IP address
mappings. Local computers connected via a LAN can be placed
in here for simplistic naming purposes instead of setting up
a named(8) server. Additionally,
/etc/hosts
can be used to provide a
local record of Internet names, reducing the need to query
externally for commonly accessed names.
/etc/hosts
takes on the simple format
of:
For example:
Consult hosts(5) for more information.
syslog.conf
is the configuration file
for the syslogd(8) program. It indicates which types
of syslog
messages are logged to particular
log files.
Consult the syslog.conf(5) manual page for more information.
newsyslog.conf
is the configuration
file for newsyslog(8), a program that is normally scheduled
to run by cron(8). newsyslog(8) determines when log
files require archiving or rearranging.
logfile
is moved to
logfile.0
, logfile.0
is moved to logfile.1
, and so on.
Alternatively, the log files may be archived in gzip(1) format
causing them to be named: logfile.0.gz
,
logfile.1.gz
, and so on.
newsyslog.conf
indicates which log
files are to be managed, how many are to be kept, and when
they are to be touched. Log files can be rearranged and/or
archived when they have either reached a certain size, or at a
certain periodic time/date.
Consult the newsyslog(8) manual page for more information.
sysctl.conf
looks much like
rc.conf
. Values are set in a
variable=value
form. The specified values are set after the system goes into
multi-user mode. Not all variables are settable in this mode.
A sample sysctl.conf
turning off logging
of fatal signal exits and letting Linux programs know they are really
running under FreeBSD:
This, and other documents, can be downloaded from http://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/doc/
For questions about FreeBSD, read the
documentation before
contacting <questions@FreeBSD.org>.
For questions about this documentation, e-mail <doc@FreeBSD.org>.