"Unable to check for updates"

drewsaur

For the past week or so, I've been unable to reliably check for updates to 23.01-RELEASE (amd64).

I am not seeing others having this problem. How can I look into what's going on?

rcoleman-netgate

@drewsaur What hardware are you running on?

drewsaur

Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU J3160 @ 1.60GHz
4 CPUs : 1 package(s) x 4 core(s)
AES-NI CPU Crypto: Yes (active)
QAT Crypto: No

drewsaur

@rcoleman-netgate And randomly, now I just successfully checked from the main page:

Version 23.01-RELEASE (amd64)
built on Fri Feb 10 20:06:33 UTC 2023
FreeBSD 14.0-CURRENT

The system is on the latest version.
Version information updated at Sun Apr 30 20:59:47 EDT 2023

That said, the System Updates page (which seems to be coming up very slowly) reports the following:

Branch
Current Stable Version (23.01)
Please select the branch from which to update the system firmware.
Use of the development version is at your own risk!
Current Base System
Latest Base System
RetrievingUnable to check for updates

stephenw10

Try running pkg -d update at the command line and see what errors it returns.

If that does fail try running pfSense-upgrade -c and then retesting.

Steve

drewsaur

@stephenw10 Well, the former only gets me a 10-minute delay concluding with a "504 Gateway Time-out."

stephenw10

You should run it at the command line so you can see where it's stalling, not via the Diag > Command Prompt page.

However if that is the case it's likely trying to use IPv6 and doesn't have a valid route/connection.
Try forcing v4 with: pkg -d4 update
If that works you can set 'Prefer IPv4' in Sys > Adv > Networking.

Steve

drewsaur

@stephenw10 said in "Unable to check for updates":

You should run it at the command line so you can see where it's stalling, not via the Diag > Command Prompt page.

However if that is the case it's likely trying to use IPv6 and doesn't have a valid route/connection.
Try forcing v4 with: pkg -d4 update
If that works you can set 'Prefer IPv4' in Sys > Adv > Networking.

Steve

Well, from the command line, I get:

[23.01-RELEASE][admin@xxx.yyy.zzz]/root: pkg -d update
DBG(1)[93480]> pkg initialized
Updating pfSense-core repository catalogue...
DBG(1)[93480]> PkgRepo: verifying update for pfSense-core
DBG(1)[93480]> Pkgrepo, begin update of '/var/db/pkg/repo-pfSense-core.sqlite'
DBG(1)[93480]> Request to fetch pkg+https://pfsense-plus-pkg.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-core/meta.conf
DBG(1)[93480]> opening libfetch fetcher
DBG(1)[93480]> Fetch > libfetch: connecting
DBG(1)[93480]> Fetch: fetching from: https://pfsense-plus-pkg00.atx.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-core/meta.conf with opts "i"
DBG(1)[93480]> Fetch: fetching from: https://pfsense-plus-pkg00.atx.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-core/meta.conf with opts "i"
DBG(1)[93480]> Fetch: fetching from: https://pfsense-plus-pkg00.atx.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-core/meta.conf with opts "i"
DBG(1)[93480]> Request to fetch pkg+https://pfsense-plus-pkg.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-core/meta.txz
DBG(1)[93480]> opening libfetch fetcher
DBG(1)[93480]> Fetch > libfetch: connecting
DBG(1)[93480]> Fetch: fetching from: https://pfsense-plus-pkg00.atx.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-core/meta.txz with opts "i"
DBG(1)[93480]> Fetch: fetching from: https://pfsense-plus-pkg00.atx.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-core/meta.txz with opts "i"
DBG(1)[93480]> Fetch: fetching from: https://pfsense-plus-pkg00.atx.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-core/meta.txz with opts "i"
pkg: https://pfsense-plus-pkg00.atx.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-core/meta.txz: Bad Request
repository pfSense-core has no meta file, using default settings
DBG(1)[93480]> Request to fetch pkg+https://pfsense-plus-pkg.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-core/packagesite.pkg
DBG(1)[93480]> opening libfetch fetcher
DBG(1)[93480]> Fetch > libfetch: connecting
DBG(1)[93480]> Fetch: fetching from: https://pfsense-plus-pkg00.atx.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-core/packagesite.pkg with opts "i"
DBG(1)[93480]> Fetch: fetching from: https://pfsense-plus-pkg00.atx.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-core/packagesite.pkg with opts "i"
DBG(1)[93480]> Fetch: fetching from: https://pfsense-plus-pkg00.atx.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-core/packagesite.pkg with opts "i"
pkg: https://pfsense-plus-pkg00.atx.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-core/packagesite.pkg: Bad Request
DBG(1)[93480]> Request to fetch pkg+https://pfsense-plus-pkg.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-core/packagesite.txz
DBG(1)[93480]> opening libfetch fetcher
DBG(1)[93480]> Fetch > libfetch: connecting
DBG(1)[93480]> Fetch: fetching from: https://pfsense-plus-pkg00.atx.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-core/packagesite.txz with opts "i"
pfSense-core repository is up to date.
Updating pfSense repository catalogue...
DBG(1)[93480]> PkgRepo: verifying update for pfSense
DBG(1)[93480]> PkgRepo: need forced update of pfSense
DBG(1)[93480]> Pkgrepo, begin update of '/var/db/pkg/repo-pfSense.sqlite'
DBG(1)[93480]> Request to fetch pkg+https://pfsense-plus-pkg.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-pfSense_plus_v23_01/meta.conf
DBG(1)[93480]> opening libfetch fetcher
DBG(1)[93480]> Fetch > libfetch: connecting
DBG(1)[93480]> Fetch: fetching from: https://pfsense-plus-pkg01.atx.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-pfSense_plus_v23_01/meta.conf with opts "i"
DBG(1)[93480]> Fetch: fetcher chosen: https
Fetching meta.conf: 100%    163 B   0.2kB/s    00:01    
DBG(1)[93480]> Request to fetch pkg+https://pfsense-plus-pkg.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-pfSense_plus_v23_01/packagesite.pkg
DBG(1)[93480]> opening libfetch fetcher
DBG(1)[93480]> Fetch > libfetch: connecting
DBG(1)[93480]> Fetch: fetching from: https://pfsense-plus-pkg01.atx.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-pfSense_plus_v23_01/packagesite.pkg with opts "i"
DBG(1)[93480]> Fetch: fetcher chosen: https
Fetching packagesite.pkg: 100%  153 KiB 156.6kB/s    00:01    
DBG(1)[93480]> PkgRepo: extracting packagesite.yaml of repo pfSense
DBG(1)[63164]> PkgRepo: extracting signature of repo in a sandbox
DBG(1)[93480]> Pkgrepo, reading new packagesite.yaml for '/var/db/pkg/repo-pfSense.sqlite'
Processing entries: 100%
pfSense repository update completed. 537 packages processed.
All repositories are up to date.

This took quite a while...and I see that pfsense-plus-pkg00.atx.netgate.com seems to be signed by a CA called Netgate CA, but even when I attempt to allow my browser to access this site, I generally don't get a reliable connection.

Any rate, I still am "Unable to check for updates" after performing the above.

FYI this is another interesting result:

[23.01-RELEASE][admin@xx.yy.zz]/root: pfSense-upgrade -c
Another instance is already running... Aborting!

drewsaur

@stephenw10 FYI this was indeed much faster:

[23.01-RELEASE][admin@xx.yy.zz]/root: pkg -d4 update
DBG(1)[70788]> pkg initialized
Updating pfSense-core repository catalogue...
DBG(1)[70788]> PkgRepo: verifying update for pfSense-core
DBG(1)[70788]> Pkgrepo, begin update of '/var/db/pkg/repo-pfSense-core.sqlite'
DBG(1)[70788]> Request to fetch pkg+https://pfsense-plus-pkg.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-core/meta.conf
DBG(1)[70788]> opening libfetch fetcher
DBG(1)[70788]> Fetch > libfetch: connecting
DBG(1)[70788]> Fetch: fetching from: https://pfsense-plus-pkg01.atx.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-core/meta.conf with opts "i4"
DBG(1)[70788]> Fetch: fetcher chosen: https
DBG(1)[70788]> Request to fetch pkg+https://pfsense-plus-pkg.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-core/packagesite.pkg
DBG(1)[70788]> opening libfetch fetcher
DBG(1)[70788]> Fetch > libfetch: connecting
DBG(1)[70788]> Fetch: fetching from: https://pfsense-plus-pkg01.atx.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-core/packagesite.pkg with opts "i4"
DBG(1)[70788]> Request to fetch pkg+https://pfsense-plus-pkg.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-core/packagesite.txz
DBG(1)[70788]> opening libfetch fetcher
DBG(1)[70788]> Fetch > libfetch: connecting
DBG(1)[70788]> Fetch: fetching from: https://pfsense-plus-pkg01.atx.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-core/packagesite.txz with opts "i4"
pfSense-core repository is up to date.
Updating pfSense repository catalogue...
DBG(1)[70788]> PkgRepo: verifying update for pfSense
DBG(1)[70788]> Pkgrepo, begin update of '/var/db/pkg/repo-pfSense.sqlite'
DBG(1)[70788]> Request to fetch pkg+https://pfsense-plus-pkg.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-pfSense_plus_v23_01/meta.conf
DBG(1)[70788]> opening libfetch fetcher
DBG(1)[70788]> Fetch > libfetch: connecting
DBG(1)[70788]> Fetch: fetching from: https://pfsense-plus-pkg00.atx.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-pfSense_plus_v23_01/meta.conf with opts "i4"
DBG(1)[70788]> Fetch: fetcher chosen: https
DBG(1)[70788]> Request to fetch pkg+https://pfsense-plus-pkg.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-pfSense_plus_v23_01/packagesite.pkg
DBG(1)[70788]> opening libfetch fetcher
DBG(1)[70788]> Fetch > libfetch: connecting
DBG(1)[70788]> Fetch: fetching from: https://pfsense-plus-pkg00.atx.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-pfSense_plus_v23_01/packagesite.pkg with opts "i4"
DBG(1)[70788]> Request to fetch pkg+https://pfsense-plus-pkg.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-pfSense_plus_v23_01/packagesite.txz
DBG(1)[70788]> opening libfetch fetcher
DBG(1)[70788]> Fetch > libfetch: connecting
DBG(1)[70788]> Fetch: fetching from: https://pfsense-plus-pkg00.atx.netgate.com/pfSense_plus-v23_01_amd64-pfSense_plus_v23_01/packagesite.txz with opts "i4"
pfSense repository is up to date.
All repositories are up to date.

drewsaur

@stephenw10 And now I see that 23.01 has all sorts of ipv6 issues:

https://forum.netgate.com/topic/177981/no-ipv6-after-upgrade-to-23-01/77

I had a perfectly-working configuration for years before upgrading to 23.01 (This would run perfectly, 100% of the time: https://ipv6-test.com/) And it hasn't been. I suppose I have to wait for ipv6 to be fixed. This is a shame.

Thank you

stephenw10

You can just set 'Prefer IPv4' in Sys > Adv > Networking as I said.

It appears to be bad route somewhere outside our control. We have seen it reported from Spectrum users in that other thread.

drewsaur

@stephenw10 Thanks. For now, until the ipv6 issues are fixed, I would prefer to keep my configuration as it is, and am willing to deal with the small issues so long as I understand they are bug-related.

stephenw10

Setting that only does so for connections from the firewall itself. It doesn't affect connections form clients behind it.