How do I configure networking on CheriBSD?

Once you have installed CheriBSD, you will need to configure the networking.

Ethernet cable

First plug your ethernet cable into the socket labelled GbE/USB3. If you need to register your Ethernet MAC address with your network administrator, you can find this by running the interactive command:

ifconfig re0

via the UART / serial console. Look for the ether line and find the long hex number separated by : characters. This is your MAC address.

Configuring DHCP

If you use DHCP on your wired network (most common), then you can configure this in the /etc/rc.conf file. For a machine with hostname morello, your rc.conf might look like this:

hostname="morello"
keymap="uk.kbd"
ifconfig_re0="DHCP"
sshd_enable="YES"
ntpd_enable="YES"

Now try to ping google.com and see if it works…

Configuring sshd

So far, you have probably been connected over the serial/USB terminal. Or maybe you are directly running on the Morello board with a USB keyboard and HDMI monitor. The next step is to enable remote access via ssh. You might want to edit the file /etc/ssh/sshd_config. The modifications below will enable remote login for root and password login for all users. These are reasonable options if you are on a secure (i.e. not public) network.

# Authentication:
PermitRootLogin yes
PasswordAuthentication yes

Hopefully now you can access your Morello CheriBSD server via ssh from another machine on the network.

Further references

• Official FreeBSD docs on setting up networking (Since CheriBSD is based on FreeBSD these instructions are directly applicable)