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    Auto update check, checks for updates to base system + packages and sends email alerts

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Problems Installing or Upgrading pfSense Software
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    • dennypageD
      dennypage
      last edited by

      I personally use System Patches to store files in. It's easy to manage, and I'm pretty sure it's not going away. 😉

      FWIW, to my mind, the filer package is a bit sketchy. It wants to delete newlines from the end of files that it creates. Even if the lack of a newline isn't a problem for the particular type of file (loader.conf.local or ntp-boot-time-servers), it still drives me nuts because the checksums don't match. And the "Leave blank to load an existing file from file system" functionality has been broken for years.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • Raffi_R
        Raffi_
        last edited by

        I always learn something new on here. I didn't realize there were so many ways to skin the same cat in terms of file level backups. I have been using the backup package for backing up my script. I didn't see that one mentioned.

        dennypageD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • dennypageD
          dennypage @Raffi_
          last edited by

          @Raffi_ It's a personal preference. The reason I prefer the System Patches or Filer package approach is that the information ends up being contained in the XML configuration file used for backup and restore.

          I store the XML configuration file (sans RRD and lease data) in a revision control system. I have firewall configs going back to 2013. Just in case. 😊

          stephenw10S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • stephenw10S
            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator @dennypage
            last edited by

            @dennypage said in Auto update check, checks for updates to base system + packages and sends email alerts:

            I have firewall configs going back to 2013.

            Nice. 😁

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • P
              pFence
              last edited by

              Does not work for me (pfSense+ 23.05.1).

              • When I run

                /usr/local/bin/php -q /root/pkg_check.php
                

                from the ssh console, it returns "Unable to check for updates".

              • The system log has no entry for the cronjob created, wheras it shows entries for others.

              Seems as if two things went wrong.

              P 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • P
                pFence @pFence
                last edited by

                @pFence Now it works (pfSense+ 23.09).

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • O
                  Overlord
                  last edited by

                  During the run of this script my ntopng is restarting. I got this mail at the same time this script is running:

                  22:02:00 Service Watchdog detected service ntopng stopped. Restarting ntopng (ntopng Network Traffic Monitor)
                  
                  GertjanG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • stephenw10S
                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                    last edited by

                    Hmm, odd. Do you see that if you manually run it?

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • GertjanG
                      Gertjan @Overlord
                      last edited by

                      @Overlord

                      That just a coincidence.
                      See your system log for the reason.

                      The script "/root/pkg_check.php" as shown above basically runs this command
                      "pkg update".
                      That command doesn't flap interfaces, doesn't kill "random process" , or things like that.

                      No "help me" PM's please. Use the forum, the community will thank you.
                      Edit : and where are the logs ??

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • D
                        DominikHoffmann
                        last edited by

                        @luckman212: I have been running you pkg_check.php for quite some time now. Most recently, it alerted me to an update of curl from 8.4.0 to 8.5.0.

                        I have been relying on your script exclusively to alert me to updates being available. For some reason, however, it missed the release of pfSense 23.09.1. Any idea, why?

                        Looking into this further, I have these in System → Update:

                        Screenshot 2023-12-11 at 11.34.27 PM.png

                        and

                        Screenshot 2023-12-11 at 11.34.42 PM.png

                        I am wondering, whether it has something to do with which branch is selected. Currently it is “Previous Stable Version (23.09).” The other option is “Current Stable Version (23.09.1).” If so, this merits a separate post.

                        GertjanG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • GertjanG
                          Gertjan @DominikHoffmann
                          last edited by

                          @DominikHoffmann

                          AFAIK, the script uses the same PHP lines that shows this :

                          a63f4760-13e9-402d-b47e-87589bf07124-image.png

                          I can't remember if I had received a mail from pfSense about "23.09.1" is available .... I' not sure, and already wiped notification mails from last month.
                          edit : that a negative : 23.09.1 was last week ( ! ) : that means no mail from this script about "23.09.1". That's new, indeed. Something changed in the packet handling ? Not that I wasn't aware, as I've also the RSS feed mailing me if a new Netgate pfSense blog post is posted :
                          c3d86de4-45c7-4b42-ae71-02abcc2a9bb3-image.png

                          ... the forum and github are also good indicators ;)

                          For me it's the other way around : I can't select the "Previous Stable version 23.09" :

                          957f9e2c-1c01-43db-92b3-664aa2a3b5cb-image.png

                          which is a don't care for me, as, if needed, I'll do the ZFS-magic-click and I'm back into "23.09" after reboot.

                          No "help me" PM's please. Use the forum, the community will thank you.
                          Edit : and where are the logs ??

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • stephenw10S
                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                            last edited by

                            It's because the upgrade scheme has changed. Previously we pushed the updated repo pkg and it changed the default pkg repo to the new branch. That then allowed the update check to see the new version and show it on the dashboard. But it also meant that users who didn't see it or ignored it and then tried to install pkgs could end up with bad pkgs and a broken install. We added numerous things to prevent this but none were infallible.
                            In the the new upgrade scheme pfSense can check for release updates in all configured branches. That means we can show 23.09.1 as an available upgrade without switching the selected repo branch. When you click on the upgrade you have to select the new repo branch from the drop down to upgrade to it. You have to opt-in.

                            But that also means that this script doesn't see that update since it only checks for available pkg upgrades in the current branch.

                            It would need to run pfSense-upgrade -C to see available upgrades for all branches which i9s what the dashboard check now does.

                            Steve

                            luckman212L 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • luckman212L
                              luckman212 LAYER 8 @stephenw10
                              last edited by

                              I'm in the process of upgrading my systems to 23.09.1 and will update this script shortly (if it's possible) to handle the new update mechanism.

                              D GertjanG wgstarksW 5 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 2
                              • D
                                DominikHoffmann @luckman212
                                last edited by

                                This post is deleted!
                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • D
                                  DominikHoffmann @luckman212
                                  last edited by

                                  @luckman212: Looking forward to the update! Would you include a reply in this thread, when you’re done with that?

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • GertjanG
                                    Gertjan @luckman212
                                    last edited by

                                    @luckman212 said in Auto update check, checks for updates to base system + packages and sends email alerts:

                                    to handle the new update mechanism.

                                    It did tell me (mail) that the 'curl' package was available, a coupe of days ago. So, for me, it works ©

                                    Also : if the pfSense GUI doesn't show others pfSense version, like : Current ..., Previous .... or Development ... then this script can't do more neither.

                                    No "help me" PM's please. Use the forum, the community will thank you.
                                    Edit : and where are the logs ??

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • stephenw10S
                                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                      last edited by

                                      The dashboard uses the new -C switch for pfSense upgrade to check all configured branches for newer release versions.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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                                      • D
                                        DominikHoffmann @luckman212
                                        last edited by

                                        @luckman212 said in Auto update check, checks for updates to base system + packages and sends email alerts:

                                        I'm in the process of upgrading my systems to 23.09.1 and will update this script shortly (if it's possible) to handle the new update mechanism.

                                        Hi! Did you ever get around to updating your script?

                                        D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • JonathanLeeJ
                                          JonathanLee
                                          last edited by

                                          What a gem of a thread!!!

                                          Make sure to upvote

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • JonathanLeeJ
                                            JonathanLee @luckman212
                                            last edited by

                                            @luckman212 said in Auto update check, checks for updates to base system + packages and sends email alerts:

                                            /usr/local/bin/php -q /root/pkg_check.php

                                            Thank you

                                            Make sure to upvote

                                            GertjanG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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