Upgrade M.2 storage on Netgate 4100

[rcoleman-netgate]

@Dobby_ @gprada @nocling Also these upgrades are not supported by TAC and may violate the warranty on the device.

We have no guide for upgrading/replacing/installing M.2 NVMe drives on our 4100/6100 models.

[gprada]

@rcoleman-netgate Hi and thanks for your answer.

Please explain us what is the procedure to upgrade 4100 box from Base to Max, because the features listed in the "buy appliances" web page textually says:

Storage: 16 GB eMMC (Upgradable to 128 GB M.2 NVMe)

From my understanding of the text, Could I be allowed to upgrade the storage at any time?

[A Former User]

We have no guide for upgrading/replacing/installing M.2
NVMe drives on our 4100/6100 models.

And what is with the sg4100 box if he is getting not rid of the problem at all? He can´t install then a M.2 SSD but must buy another box or can put it on the dump or whatever? I mean
for sure it might like you say that then the warranty is broken
but if the eMMC storage is perhaps damaged he can´t use the box also not any more.

[rcoleman-netgate]

@gprada said in Upgrade M.2 storage on Netgate 4100:

From my understanding of the text, Could I be allowed to upgrade the storage at any time?

It's a time of purchase upgrade option.

[rcoleman-netgate]

@dobby_ said in Upgrade M.2 storage on Netgate 4100:

but if the eMMC storage is perhaps damaged he can´t use the box also not any more.

If the eMMC fails under the 12mo warranty we would most likely repair it unless there are other causes of the failure (water or electrical damage, for example). If outside of the 12mo warranty we could do an OOW repair but, at that point, they may prefer to purchase and install on their own.

The warranty is on the original hardware and for 12 months. Modification of the hardware could result in damage to these specific models (the fit is very tight). That's all I'm getting at.

[jvamos]

I didn't realize it was only time of purchase since the SG-2100 had a guide.

I am pretty good with small spaces. Is the replacement drive soldered?

Josh

[rcoleman-netgate]

@jvamos said in Upgrade M.2 storage on Netgate 4100:

Is the replacement drive soldered?

Pardon? The drive is a M+B m.2 NVMe.

[jvamos]

@rcoleman-netgate

OK thanks.

I don't understand why Netgate stopped documenting how to swap the drives.

[rcoleman-netgate]

@jvamos as I said earlier:

Modification of the hardware could result in damage to these specific models (the fit is very tight). That's all I'm getting at.

You could break the cover, disrupt the airflow, etc. This is not a system that can just get the cover taken off and get you a slot easily - the entire system relies upon that passive cooling and any damage it will likely cause damage to your system longterm

[hrx]

Hey there,

does anyone here have a recommendation for compatible SSDs for the 4100/6100.

We now have some of these series with defective eMMCs that are no longer under warranty and have to offer solutions for our customers.

Thank you very much for your support!

[stephenw10]

I can't recommend anything specific myself but there are a few threads in the Netgate Hardware section with reports of drives other users have fitted.

Steve

[hrx]

We found a Transcend NMVe M2. SSD (TE452T, 128GB), bought and installed it in the appliance. We were also able to install the pfSense software without any problems, but now a "warm start" no longer works.

This means, for example, that we cannot restart the pfSense software (via reboot). The system then no longer boots (the BlinkBoot UEFI loader no longer appears).

SSD specs are here: https://www.transcend-info.com/embedded/product/embedded-ssd-solutions/mte452t-mte452t-i

"Cold" restarts, i.e. power cycling, work.

Do you have any ideas?

Thanks

[stephenw10]

Hmm, nope not seen that on a 4100. What output do you see on the console?

[hrx]

There's no output anymore after i.e. restarting pfSense software:

---------------------------snip---------------------------

*** Welcome to Netgate pfSense Plus 23.09.1-RELEASE (amd64) on pfSense ***

Current Boot Environment: default
Next Boot Environment: default

WAN (wan) -> ix3 ->
LAN (lan) -> igc0 -> v4: 192.168.1.1/24
WAN2 (opt1) -> ix2 ->
WAN3 (opt2) -> ix0 ->
WAN4 (opt3) -> ix1 ->
LAN2 (opt4) -> igc1 ->
LAN3 (opt5) -> igc2 ->
LAN4 (opt6) -> igc3 ->

0. Logout (SSH only) 9) pfTop
1. Assign Interfaces 10) Filter Logs
2. Set interface(s) IP address 11) Restart webConfigurator
3. Reset webConfigurator password 12) PHP shell + Netgate pfSense Plus tools
4. Reset to factory defaults 13) Update from console
5. Reboot system 14) Enable Secure Shell (sshd)
6. Halt system 15) Restore recent configuration
7. Ping host 16) Restart PHP-FPM
8. Shell

Enter an option: 4

You are about to reset the firewall to factory defaults.
The firewall will reboot after resetting the configuration.
All additional packages installed will be removed.
Do you want to proceed [y|n]? y

Netgate pfSense Plus is rebooting now.
pflog0: promiscuous mode disabled
Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system process vnlru' to stop... done Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system process syncer' to stop...
Syncing disks, vnodes remaining... 0 0 0 0 0 0 done
All buffers synced.
Uptime: 2m38s
uhub0: detached

---------------------------snip---------------------------

That's it. After 10 minutes of waiting we pulled the plug and power-cycled. That of course works.

[stephenw10]

So when you reset the config? Does it do it when you reboot normally?

[hrx]

The reboot using menu #5 is giving the same result.
Also does a change of the boot priority order (by invoking the boot menu pressing F2) - so it's not related to the OS itself I'd say.

[stephenw10]

What do the LEDs show?

There some internal LEDs that may show something if it's stuck at some lower power state.

There's not much we can do there though. There's nothing to change.

[hrx]

It's the circle LED in solid orange.

[stephenw10]

Hmm, then it's failing to POST. The internal LEDs may tell you more but, as I say, there's nothing that can be set to affect that.

[hrx]

At the moment I would suspect it's related to what other users also experienced in https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/15110