FreeBSD Hosting/Shared/VPS etc.

I need to host a mail server for my private domain. Does Vultr, Ramnode, TransIP and the others discussed above, allow both outgoing and incoming traffic on port 25? Do they all allow me to recompile and install a new kernel for example, so I can enable the pf firewall? Any input from users of these services would be highly appreciated.
 
Thank you, drhowarddrfine. I was already leaning towards Ramnode and I have now ordered a KVM there and I can confirm that the things I asked about are indeed working.
 
Of interest to Australian FBSDers -- https://www.binarylane.com.au/ -- I moved one of my Vultr servers to them a few months ago and have been quite happy.

Starts at $A 4/month including GST for 768MB memory, 20GB SSD, 500G data transfer, IPv4 and IPv6

You do need to upload your FBSD ISO.

Hosted by NEXTDC B1, M1, and S1 facilities in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
 
I'll second trev - I just fired up a Binary Lane (https://www.binarylane.com.au/) VM - FreeBSD 12 and am also happy with the service. Web-based console, public IP, no filtering (for the first 72 hours your account's VMs can't talk to services on ports 22, 25 (and something else - 587?). This is to deter spammers and bad actors). And AUD4.00 has to be the cheapest around.
 
TransIP doesn't filter anything.
Do they all allow me to recompile and install a new kernel for example
TransIP even allows you to do the entire install from scratch. You can boot from any of the provided ISO images (including FreeBSD) and do the entire install yourself.

, so I can enable the pf firewall?
You don't need to build a custom kernel for that, it's enabled by default on the GENERIC kernel.
 
I am happy with Hosthatch, they run two of my FreeBSD KVMs. A plus is that you can upload your own ISO.
 
I am happy with Hosthatch, they run two of my FreeBSD KVMs. A plus is that you can upload your own ISO.

I just checked them out - their website isn't great. olafz do you know if they provide a public IP per VM or HTTP/VNC console? Also they mention that their HKK and SYD DCs filter port 25 outbound (I'm not sure if it's permanent or probation). Which may affect some installations.
 
Their client web site is nice and basic, I like working with it. My two hosts are sitting in Amsterdam and Stockholm. SMTP outgoing is not blocked for both. One of them is a "Storage 250" KVM server for $5 a month. A great Nextcloud server. The other one (NVMe 2 GB) works as a DNS server.
KVM access is done by web based VNC.
 
I am happy with Hosthatch, they run two of my FreeBSD KVMs. A plus is that you can upload your own ISO.
I just signed up but can only select CentOS, Debian, Fedora, or Ubuntu. No option to select FreeBSD but I opened a support ticket just now.

I just checked them out - their website isn't great.
That's a matter of opinion. I like the simplistic look. But to each their own.
 
That's a matter of opinion. I like the simplistic look. But to each their own.

It certainly is minimalist :). It's a shame one needs to open a ticket to work out how to use a custom ISO, or find out about static IPs, or whether they provide a console. I'm not bagging the service - perhaps it's great, it's just that the prospective user experience is low on detail. If you find out the answers I need I'd appreciate it if you could post them here. I'm always on the lookout for a good provider.
 
I just signed up but can only select CentOS, Debian, Fedora, or Ubuntu. No option to select FreeBSD but I opened a support ticket just now.
I remember that there was a "upload own ISO" thing somewhere. You just paste the download link in and that's it. That way I had installed FreeBSD i386.
 
Of interest to Australian FBSDers -- https://www.binarylane.com.au/ -- I moved one of my Vultr servers to them a few months ago and have been quite happy.

Starts at $A 4/month including GST for 768MB memory, 20GB SSD, 500G data transfer, IPv4 and IPv6

You do need to upload your FBSD ISO.

Hosted by NEXTDC B1, M1, and S1 facilities in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.

I had a look at this provider after hearing about this BYO Operating System but couldn't see any way to specify FreeBSD when signing up. There was no FreeBSD option in the drop down menu under BYO Operating System. I didn't see any contact details either, for asking about such an option.
 
I had a look at this provider after hearing about this BYO Operating System but couldn't see any way to specify FreeBSD when signing up. There was no FreeBSD option in the drop down menu under BYO Operating System. I didn't see any contact details either, for asking about such an option.

The process to install FreeBSD is to upload the ISO to BL then launch your VM. IIRC I had an issue after uploading the image and raised a ticket and magically the it appeared.

The way I’ve communicated with their team is through raising tickets. They’re fairly quick at responding.

My AUD0.02
 
Presumably I nned to use a VM-IMAGE
I'm not familiar with this particular provider, but as far as I understood it you need to use a "regular" install disk. Not a pre-made VM image. You basically upload the installer and boot the VM with it. Then you can follow the normal installation procedures to install FreeBSD, just as you would on "real" hardware.
 
Presumably I nned to use a VM-IMAGE such as those available here:- https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/releases/VM-IMAGES/12.0-RELEASE/amd64/Latest/

but which one? Any instructions on what to do would be appreciated.

No, you'll need an install ISO (such as FreeBSD-12.0-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso) and go through the install process. I guess you could continually boot from the VM image but that would be odd. Good way of getting free storage :)

Anyway the control panel on BL can download the ISO directly from the URL so you don't need to download then upload it. I can't recall which method I used. In any case if you have issues raise a ticket and the BL people will/should help.

Scott
 
Anyone know which provider allows to enable bhyve on the vm ( vmx support )? It seems google supports it , but it's a bit pricy ~36$ per month . Anything cheaper ?
 
I had a look at this provider after hearing about this BYO Operating System but couldn't see any way to specify FreeBSD when signing up. There was no FreeBSD option in the drop down menu under BYO Operating System. I didn't see any contact details either, for asking about such an option.

I got a VM from them but am not at all happy with their support. It required a couple of tickets to get FreeBSD installed on their system, then some random reboots happened and suddenly I was back at a default Debian image!?
 
I needed no tickets to install FreeBSD, I just uploaded the relevant FreeBSD ISO using their upload facility, it booted and I installed from there. I've done this several times now with no issues. I've also recently added more disk space to one instance, taking advantage of the free backup first which is available for 7 days, and expanding the disk (ZFS makes doing this a doddle without needing to delete data at all). All good.

Your FreeBSD VM which rebooted and became a Debian VM suggests you did not actually manage to install FreeBSD in the first place.
 
Your FreeBSD VM which rebooted and became a Debian VM suggests you did not actually manage to install FreeBSD in the first place.
Or it suggests something on their side f*cked up and my VM got reset to a default state since I ordered a Debian VM then installed FreeBSD using the ISO. But whatever, I'm now happily running several FreeBSD virtual machines at other providers.
 
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