Run FreeBSD on a FlashRDP KVM VPS and manage jails with Bastille: update the host, set up networking and pf, and create your first jail.
To run FreeBSD jails on a VPS, you need a provider that runs full virtual machines (such as KVM) and offers FreeBSD. On FlashRDP you pick a FreeBSD template at deploy time, update the host, install Bastille, set up its loopback network and pf firewall, then bootstrap a release and create jails.FreeBSD isn’t a Linux distribution: it has its own kernel. Container-based VPS platforms (OpenVZ, LXC) share a Linux kernel and can’t run it. A Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) runs FreeBSD’s own kernel, which is what FlashRDP provides.
Bastille gives jails private addresses on a loopback interface and uses pf to give them outbound access (NAT):
bastille setup loopbackbastille setup firewall
Review /etc/pf.conf before you start pf, and make sure it allows SSH (Bastille’s default ruleset does). Starting pf can drop your current SSH session. If you lose access, use Console on your server’s page in the Billing Portal to fix the rules.
If your server uses ZFS (check with zfs list), Bastille can create jails as ZFS datasets. Snapshots and clones are then near-instant, so you can roll a jail back after a bad change. Set bastille_zfs_enable and bastille_zfs_zpool in Bastille’s config before bootstrapping; see the Bastille documentation.
