pfSense on Watchguard M270
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@stephenw10 Man i really appreciate you guys help. Ive been looking at you guys post on this for a few weeks. Reading it and rereading them. Trying to understand whats being said and talked about. This is my first time trying this so its COMPLETELY new to me.
So, i dont have another device that i can put the msata drive into upgrade the install to Plus so, i guess Ill have to try the USB dongle route. I looked back over other post about what a "NDI" is and all that, cant say that i completely get it but, Im going down the rabbit hole with this build now. Ill try to connect a dongle in the next few days and see if i can get access to the M270's gui.
IF i do and can get the Plus upgrade done. I guess the next thing would be the "Hints" i keep reading about and interface Scripts. Is there a past post im missing that say's How To create the scripts in Pfsense? I literally have NEVER created one. I see people have shared their Script but, from what ive read you shouldnt just copy the script and save it into Pfsense. So, if theres a past post where someone has listed the commands and steps I would really be grateful.
Thank you guys for sharing your knowledge!
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You can use the build in Easy Editor ,
ee, at the command line to create a script.Or, once you have access to the GUI via a USB NIC, just use the included Diag > Edit File function.
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@stephenw10 Excellent.
I will give that a try and let you know how it goes.
PS, The BIOS password works!!!
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@stephenw10 For anyone reading this in the future.
I bought a usb to ethernet adapter (two actually) set it to a simple static IP like 192.168.1. 40/24. Pfsense couldn't ping my connected laptop (192.168.1.41/24) and my laptop couldn't ping pfsense. Verified cables were good, both devices could ping THEMSELVES, even switched usb to ethernet adapters and verified mac addresses were seen using arp -a. But, still no pings.
So, from the menu i did a reset. And reconfigured pfsense to be the DHCP server and use the usb to ethernet adapter interface. BINGO, i can ping back and forth. I can also access the gui!
Over first hurdle, now find out how to upgrade to Plus.
Thank you for your help guys/gals.
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@stephenw10 I think im ready for the next step. I have CE upgraded to Plus. When you guys are adding the hints, are you adding them to the existing hints or replacing them completely with the new hints?
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They are new hints. Nothing for the switch is configured by default.
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@stephenw10 Interesting, Ill probably try it this weekend but, there was a file already there called Device.hints in the /boot/ folder. Ill double check and remove it if it is.
Thanks again.
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The hints don't have to be there, you can put them in /boot/loader.conf.local.
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So i mistakenly altered the /boot/loader.conf file. Which after doing so wouldn't boot the M270. So i reloaded from scratch (Im learning) . After a fresh install there is indeed a device.hints file in the /boot/folder (i wont touch that).
Back to your suggestion. Are you saying create a file called loader.conf.local in /boot/ and put the hints in it or are you saying loader.conf.local should exist (which i do not see) and add the hints to it?Thanks again,
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Yes, create the /boot/loader.conf.local file and put the custom hints and loader values in there.
It doesn't actually matter where the hints are the bootloader looks in all the files. However the main loader.conf file is frequently overwritten by pfSense which is why custom values should be put in .local
Steve
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@stephenw10 Ive created the loader.conf.local file in /boot/, added the hints to it and saved it. Then i went to /usr/local/bin/ and ran my M270.sh file. It does something and i see a bunch of "Forwarding"... commands scroll by. But when i reboot the M270 the loader.conf.local file no longer exists in the /boot/ folder.
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@stephenw10 ok after reading through the post, i see after the M270 reboots everything is set back to ports disabled. Ill look at the post again and see if someone has a work around.
I appreciate everything.
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@stephenw10 Im pretty sure this has been addressed but im missing it in the thread. So, when the M270 is rebooted you have to reconfigure the config. Someone mentioned a script that possibly reloads the config at boot, is that true? Where is it and where do you place it?
Thank you,
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Yes you need to upload the switch configure script and add that as a shellcmd so it get's run at boot.
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I have taken a look and I do not see any newer developments on this M270 hardware, but the consensus does seem to be that it works at the moment.
Before I pick up one of these, do any of the current users have a photo of the mainboard? I am trying to see if this is worth picking up for cheap and seeing if I can dig into the switchconfig on another platform like linux instead of BSD, and if there is any more flexibility to be had like some of the other watchguards with internal pcie risers.
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There are no internal expansion options in the M270. Not even SATA ports.
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@stephenw10
So it is heavily cost optimized like the m200 and m300 were then...
I assume the only things on the board are some ddr4 dimm slots and the bootable msata slot?In that case i'll see if I can get one cheap enough.
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Yup, just one SODIMM slot.
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Hey just wanted to add a correction that there ARE internal expansion ports on the M270. There are two MSATA ports and 1 traditional sata port though it uses a non-traditional 4 pin connector for SATA power.
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Hmm, interesting the one I have has neither of those populated. Nor any of the additional fan headers.
