bhyve freebsd

Load bhyve kernel module. 

kldload vmm

Create tap interface for the network device. 

ifconfig tap0 create
sysctl net.link.tap.up_on_open=1

Create bridge interface, add tap and physical interface to it. 

ifconfig bridge0 create
ifconfig bridge0 addm tap0
ifconfig bridge0 addm re0
ifconfig bridge0 up

create VM

Create ZFS datasets. 

zfs create -o mountpoint=/bhyve zroot/bhyve
zfs create zroot/bhyve/media
zfs create zroot/bhyve/freebsd

Download FreeBSD image. 

cd /bhyve/media
fetch https://download.freebsd.org/releases/amd64/amd64/ISO-IMAGES/15.0/FreeBSD-15.0-RELEASE-amd64-bootonly.iso

Create virtual disk for the guest machine. It's a block device (ZFS volume), not directory. 

zfs create -V 16G -o volmode=dev zroot/bhyve/freebsd/guest

Create and boot VM. 

bhyve -AHP \
      -c 4 \
      -m 8G \
      -s 0:0,hostbridge \
      -s 1:0,lpc \
      -s 2:0,virtio-net,tap0 \
      -s 3:0,virtio-blk,/dev/zvol/zroot/bhyve/freebsd/guest \
      -s 4:0,ahci-cd,/bhyve/media/FreeBSD-15.0-RELEASE-amd64-bootonly.iso \
      -l bootrom,/usr/local/share/uefi-firmware/BHYVE_UEFI.fd \
      -l com1,stdio \
      freebsd

connect to VM

It's possible to use null modem device. 

kldload nmdm

Replace stdio with /dev/nmdm0A.

You can connect with cu(1) (drop connection by pressing RET ~. RET). 

cu -l /dev/nmdm0B

You can also connect with screen(4). 

screen /dev/nmdm0B 115200

See currently running VMs. 

ls -l /dev/vmm/

Use bhyvectl(8) to control instances.

Start previously created VM (remove CD). 

bhyve -AHP \
      -c 4 \
      -m 8G \
      -s 0:0,hostbridge \
      -s 1:0,lpc \
      -s 2:0,virtio-net,tap0 \
      -s 3:0,virtio-blk,/dev/zvol/zroot/bhyve/freebsd/guest \
      -l bootrom,/usr/local/share/uefi-firmware/BHYVE_UEFI.fd \
      -l com1,/dev/nmdm0A \
      freebsd &

There is also an example script for running VM in examples directory. 

sh /usr/share/examples/bhyve/vmrun.sh -h

GUI via VNC

Use VNC for GUI. 

bhyve -AHP \
      -c 4 \
      -m 8G \
      -s 0:0,hostbridge \
      -s 1:0,lpc \
      -s 2:0,virtio-net,tap0 \
      -s 3:0,virtio-blk,/dev/zvol/zroot/bhyve/freebsd/guest \
      -s 4:0,fbuf,tcp=127.0.0.1:5900,w=800,h=600 \
      -l bootrom,/usr/local/share/uefi-firmware/BHYVE_UEFI.fd \
      -l com1,/dev/nmdm0A \
      freebsd &

Connect to 127.0.0.1:5900 with your VNC client.