Linode doesn’t offer OpenBSD as an installation choice. These notes describe the creation of an OpenBSD VM on Linode using the Linode rescue image to bootstrap the OpenBSD installer.
Create a new linode. The “Nanode 1GB” plan at $5/month is sufficient.
Under the “Advanced” tab, delete the existing disks and create two new
disks, both unformatted raw. The first should be 16 GB, named root
. The
second should be 1 GB, named install
.
Under the “Rescue” tab, set /dev/sda
to the install
disk and submit.
The system should boot into Finnix where you can download and apply the OpenBSD
install image. For example:
root@ttyS0:~# dmesg | grep "sda"
[ 1.455839] sd 0:0:0:1: [sda] 2097152 512-byte logical blocks: (1.07 GB/1.00)
<snip>
root@ttyS0:~# wget http://mirrors.syringanetworks.net/pub/OpenBSD/6.5/amd64/install65.fs
root@ttyS0:~# dd if=./install65.fs of=/dev/sda
922496+0 records in
922496+0 records out
472317952 bytes (472 MB) copied, 64.5331 s, 7.3 MB/s
root@ttyS0:~# shutdown -h now
Under the “Advanced” tab, delete the existing “configuration” and create a new configuration with the following settings:
Label: OpenBSD - Install
VM Mode: Full virtualization
Select a Kernel: Direct disk
Run Level: Run Default Level
Memory Limit: Do not set any limits on memory usage
Block Device Assignment:
/dev/sda: boot
/dev/sdb: install
/dev/sdX: None
Root Device: /dev/sdb
Filesystem/Boot Helpers: No to all
Boot the newly created configuration. From the console, perform a normal
OpenBSD install using /dev/sda
as the target disk.
Under the “Advanced” tab, create a second configuration with the following settings:
Label: OpenBSD - Normal Operation
VM Mode: Full virtualization
Select a Kernel: Direct disk
Run Level: Run Default Level
Memory Limit: Do not set any limits on memory usage
Block Device Assignment:
/dev/sda: boot
/dev/sdX: None
Root Device: /dev/sda
Filesystem/Boot Helpers: No to all
Boot the new configuration. You should be able to login to the new system via SSH.