pfSense on Watchguard M370
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I’m about to take the plunge and install OPNSense on an M470 that just recently fell out of support with Watchguard. Thanks to all for the hard work put in for this device to make this possible. I had a question related to the add on modules… has anyone attempted to get any 10g SFP+ modules to work? Is so, what cards and what adapters are needed? The Watchguard specific card is hard to find and very expensive so I’d rather find some other compatible card and rig it in somehow. Anyone done anything like this with this device series?
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@dfd1125
I have been running my M470's for quite some time with this Intel one ....https://www.ebay.ca/itm/182885287213?epid=10029956115&hash=item2a94d0052d:g:a2QAAOSw21pflzXO&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4IhB5%2FTkzySfwcIHa3DMhnFmhjzICRDMzHaj29OKl6Cam50fv0kjIFfMxkXV%2FlvbRrPBg3wurDiXWGV50JDVOjHKkaXy6ONWtsO9F%2BPM%2FfLhUeJcQe6Nx31LY3RxB5tsZNf9npFhvb7mJaNg14suWtQ04caWpN4CPJQoViveWQDcO%2BWMats6%2BTHlUK%2FEOtA5V%2FLOj2x0wXRvlsQNoJ48%2BGjYZGni%2Bry91ZYzJRgSTP0qAtvIZO%2BLc4iREJtPEPCjWCMnSF9EDiZD1mBifw7oOxTpsZzbwg4fFgPyvcdoZQ3N%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR_iGuJGgYQ
... and these Axiom ones ...
SFP-10GBASE-T-AX
WG8583-AX -
@mookatroid I’m actually looking for an interface card that will work with the M470, not the actual SFP modules. Is there some sort of adapter that will allow me to connect a normal PCIE card to the device? The actual Watchguard interface card is hard to find and crazy expensive. I need a minimum of 2 ports.
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The slot is just a standard PCIe slot AFAIK. Just the form factor is different. You could probably make it work with one of those flexible PCIe cable adapters and some metalwork on the case.
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@stephenw10 I am thinking the same thing. Is there any recommended 2 or 4 port SFP+ cards that that are fairly power efficient and work well with OPNSense that I should look for? Sorry for all the questions, I just don’t want to purchase some crap card by mistake.
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Yes
The interface used by the WatchGuard 4-port 10G module is a standard 8x PCI-e slot.
You can install an 8x extension cable and then plug in an Intel X520-SR1 or X520-SR2 and pfSense detects and supports this.
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Now .... does anyone know if a VGA header is hiding somewhere on the M470 motherboard ?
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I don't think there is one. The Watchguard variant is quite different to the Lanner 4210 board. The VGA port location is just not present.
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@mookatroid I never tried to use the VGA Header (if it has one) I installed the OS in a different machine, enabled console output and then moved the drive into Watchguard and used the console connection to do all remaining setup and tweaks.
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So in theory, can one now use the discovered BIOS password to set it to boot via USB and install pfSense that way? Or is it still suggested to just install outside of the Firebox?
Currently running 2.6.0 on an XTM5 with a Core2Duo E7400 and 4GB of RAM. Will have access to an M370 soon and wondering if it's worth upgrading to it. I don't feel compelled to go through the reflashing of the BIOS process, but if it works fine with the locked BIOS and the ability to set fan speeds thanks to @stephenw10, I think I'd be fine. Can you update the CPU and RAM without flashing the BIOS? What is the latest gen CPU you can add to the M370?Or should I just figure out how to reflash the BIOS?
Thanks for all the work on this unit. Looks like it will be a huge upgrade, looking at the specs.
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Yes, you can just set it to boot from USB which simplifies the process. A lot!
You can switch out the CPU and RAM etc without flashing anything. I'm not sure if you run 7th gen CPUs, I've never tried but I think the chipset may support that. Check the thread. I have an i3 6100T in the M470 I have and it's more than sufficient for my use. Also uses less power, runs cooler and faster if required than the default. However you cannot enable speedstep without flashing. I haven't had cause o try that yet.
Steve
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@soupman Did you have to reflash the BIOS to use the i5-7400 in your M370?
Thank you.
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@rflcptr Are the fan headers in the M370 12v or 5v? Looking to order the Noctua fans and getting parts ready. I don't have the M370 yet to tear into.
Thank you.
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@stephenw10 Thanks for the info. Haven't been able to find an answer to the CPU question yet. Oddly the i3 costs more than an i5-7400 or 7500.
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They are 4 wire 12V fans on a 5-pin header. See: https://forum.netgate.com/assets/uploads/files/1551402532089-watchguad_m370_internals.jpg
But you might want to wait until you hear them. They are fairly quiet once you turn them down in WGXepc.
Steve
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@stephenw10 Plus, with the BIOS password now known, can they not be adjusted that way ? Can't recall.
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@stephenw10 Right, good plan. Thank you. I'll wait.
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@mookatroid There are very few settings available unfortunately. Can't enabled EIST for example. I don't believe you can do anything but disable the smart fan control.
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@stephenw10 I am new to literally everything mentioned on this page. I am trying to get the WGXepc working so I can quiet down the fans on my M370 that I just got PFsense working on.
Idk if this is right: do I need to compile the c code into an .exe and move that onto the pfsense where I add a shellcmd command into the xml configuration file to make sure the exe runs everytime the machine boots? I'm stuck at the first part of that.
I tried to compile in Developer Command Prompt for VS 2022 on Windows 10 but got the error: "fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'unistd.h': No such file or directory".
I tried to do the same thing in Ubuntu running in VirtualBox on the same Windows 10 system but got the error: "WGXepc64.c:11:10: fatal error: machine/cpufunc.h: No such file or directory"
Is there an executable (if that's what I even need) available that I could download? I have no experience doing any of this and I'm just YouTubing my way through it. Thanks! -
You'd need to compile it on FreeBSD.
Google retired sites which is where it was hosted. I uploaded a binary to github, try this:
https://github.com/stephenw10/WGXepc/raw/master/WGXepc64Steve
