sg1100 headaches, heartaches and bad eMMC
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I bought the sg1100 Sept. 18, 2019, directly from the Netgate.com. I really wanted to get started using pfSense software, being able to fine-tune my settings made me extremely happy, esp being able to set up vlans and route traffic through a VPN.
Unfortunately, I did not do save my config, after I had initially set up a vlan and vpn routing. Then my first sg1100 died randomly from a simple tweak in the settings, around Oct. 4, 2019. I submitted my issue to netgate and went through the RMA process and they promptly sent me a new device, which I had to set up from scratch because i didn't save out my config file, otherwise the swap out would have been simple.
After getting my network up and running it was perfect, but I still wanted it to be more secure so I install and started running PFBlockerNG_devel software. Over the next two years, my network was working well. I eventually started having a few strange network issues pop up that I couldn't resolve through the netgate forums. For example, my network wireless APs would no longer transfer data but everything hardwired still was working fine. I found that if I rebooted the sg1100 my entire network would work again. I searched the netgate forums and only saw one other person with the same sg1100 issue, I chalked it up to a random software bug.
On Dec. 5, 2021 I woke up to my entire network being down. After hours of emails to customer service and trying to run commands through a serial connection, we decided my sg1100 was a brick. I really did like the device, BUT the device isn't built for life. The customer service representative ended up telling me "The eMMC's lifespan can be greatly shortened by heavy writes (typically log files from applications like Snort or Suricata or caching packages like Squid) or other packages that are listed and recommending dedicated SSD or HDD storage (see https://www.netgate.com/support/supported-pfsense-packages.html) which may have lead to the failure of your eMMC. ". Early on, I had discovered that the sg1100 was not a powerhouse, and I didn't feel like it was capable to run pkg sniffing software, so what killed my eMMC storage? I think it died because netgate knows eMMC storage is a short-term cost-effective solution. Great, now just over 2 years and my device was now toast. I thought to myself "hey maybe netgate will offer me a discount on new hardware", nope. Even though the customer service was helpfully troubleshooting, they clearly were not interested in giving out a discount or admitting that this issue affects many sg1100s.
Clearly, I am/was jaded by my two-year-old device dying, PLUS I had been already seriously considering upgrading to the sg2100 to keep up with the fiber connection being installed to my house. I had planned on making the upgrade and keeping the sg1100 for spare, just in case the new device failed. Oh, the dreams of a home network enthusiast that didn't come to be.
In conclusion, the sg1100 seemed like a perfect small network firewall, I just wish it had lasted a bit longer, and I really wish netgate would have offered a formally loyal customer some kind of discount towards a new device. Vent over.
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I'm very sorry about that. So you have a ticket number I can review?
Steve
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@rb106098 Sorry to hear about your trouble. The eMMC issue is unfortunately a very real threat to the lifetime of the device.
On another note: Are you aware the SG-2100 has the same CPU and more or less identical performance as the SG-1100? It’s slightly faster i throughput because it has a dedicated NIC along with the built-in switch. It has 4Gb RAM that is difficult to use since it does not have CPU power to handle any inspection packages at reasonable speed.
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@stephenw10 #INC-102321
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Ok, after reviewing your install logs it does indeed look like the eMMC has gone read-only.
Unfortunately there's not much we do in that situation if it's out of warranty as was the case here.
Steve
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@rb106098, your vent is founded IME, I had the exact same issues around the exact same times, both last year and this year. There was a post on reddit around the time of my first issue issue where the [user] (https://www.reddit.com/r/PFSENSE/comments/kv704j/never_buy_the_sg1100/) had said support confirmed there was a known issue (pretty sure I seen other post saying the same thing). In looking at reddit post today, I seen where a support person said they provided support even to EOL devices, with the statement that they provide "pride in our hardware", a joke, as they don't last 12 months. I am going to assume they take this thread/post down soon, but I am considering proposing a class-action suit, so please watch reddit in the coming days.
