It’s not enough to install OpenBSD and get the machine running; you want a successful installation. A successful installation means that the system is configured to perform the job you intend it to do. A developer’s laptop has very different requirements than those of a dedicated firewall, which might look very different from a web server. Proper planning will make your OpenBSD installation quick, easy, and successful. We’ll spend a great deal of time on installation planning. Once you understand what you’re doing, the actual installation process is pretty simple. Many of the problems people have with OpenBSD come from not understanding their many choices.

The guidelines in this chapter cover most situations, but the final word on installing OpenBSD is the install document included in the release. For example, before installing OpenBSD on an i386 system, read i386/INSTALL.i386 for your release.