(solved)Automatic Boot from USB harddrive

acjohnson

I've actually been having the same issue but wanted to search the internet plenty before posting. Glad I waited.

I have tried the above mentioned fix and it works. I am also using pfsense v2.0 beta 5 and the file on my box was actually /boot/loader.conf

This file is empty by default and it is there specifically to add overrides to the default loader configuration.

I am liking the idea of using pfsense to boot off of a flashdrive that is plugged directly to the motherboards usb header using an adapter. This way the flash drive will not get messed with, plus it's almost as good as a solid state drive because it will likely never go bad.

Seems to me that pfsense loads most of what it does into memory so a slow usb flash drive should affect perf much should it? (besides swap of course)

Also, will this file be preserved after an update?

jimp

Don't touch loader.conf - use loader.conf.local - create it if it does not exist.

loader.conf.local is not touched by the upgrade process, but loader.conf may be overwritten.

morocon

After a short check, it seems that what i'm looking for is not in loader.conf.

I took a picture of the menu i would like to modify:

I would like menu "3 Boot PFsense Using USB device" to take place as "1 Bot Pfsense [default]". I did not find any mention on this subject in loader.conf.

Coudl some one put light on this?

Thanks

jimp

You cannot change the default of the boot menu in that way.

I'm not sure how many different ways I can tell you this in the same thread, but you need to edit /boot/loader.conf.local and add

kern.cam.boot_delay=10000

It does not already exist there, you need to add it, not edit the value.

The boot menu option only sets that variable. Adding it to loader.conf.local sets the value the same way.

morocon

@jimp:

You cannot change the default of the boot menu in that way.

I'm not sure how many different ways I can tell you this in the same thread, but you need to edit /boot/loader.conf.local and add
kern.cam.boot_delay=10000
It does not already exist there, you need to add it, not edit the value.

The boot menu option only sets that variable. Adding it to loader.conf.local sets the value the same way.

You could repeat it as long as you want, it doesn't work at all. Same result! If i'm not in front of the computer and select option 3 from the menu, PFsense did not boot up and just comes to prompt waiting for me to give instruction.

Delay is not what i'm waiting for…How could i explain you this. I want the device to start on USB hard drive (where Pfsense is installed) even if i do not have keyboard nor screen. If it is not possible just say it.

jimp

But I'm telling you that all option 3 does it set precisely that variable and nothing else related to bootup. It sets two others but they are related to network cards, not booting. Behold:

From our beastie.4th patch that drives the menu:

+		dup bootusbkey @ = if
+			s" 0" s" hw.mca.enabled" setenv
+			s" 0" s" hw.bce.tso_enable" setenv
+			s" 10000" s" kern.cam.boot_delay" setenv

So if you want to try adding the other two to /boot/loader.conf.local as well, try:

hw.mca.enabled=0
hw.bce.tso_enable=0
kern.cam.boot_delay=10000

Make sure when you edit that file that it's named properly (all lower case letters) and you probably should edit it from the shell with vi or ee to be safest.

acjohnson

morocon-

Have you even tried adding these options to the file yet? If you try it you may be pleasantly surprised that it works just as jimp has been telling you.

Sorry for causing the confusion with the loader.conf.local file. Didn't realize I had to create it. I have just tested it and it works great.

Thank you!

morocon

Yes i have tried! but it did not boot on USB drive

here is my beastie start section, i suspect something wrong in it


: beastie-start
	s" beastie_disable" getenv
	dup -1 <> if
		s" YES" compare-insensitive 0= if
			exit
		then
	else
		drop
	then
	beastie-menu
	s" autoboot_delay" getenv
	dup -1 = if
		drop
		10
	else
		0 0 2swap >number drop drop drop
	then
	begin
		dup tkey
		0 25 at-xy
		dup 32 = if nip 0 swap then
		dup -1 = if 0 boot then
		dup 13 = if 0 boot then
		dup bootkey @ = if 0 boot then
		dup bootacpikey @ = if
			acpienabled? if
				s" acpi_load" unsetenv
				s" 1" s" hint.acpi.0.disabled" setenv
				s" 1" s" loader.acpi_disabled_by_user" setenv
				s" 0" s" hw.mca.enabled" setenv
				s" 0" s" hw.bce.tso_enable" setenv
			else
				s" YES" s" acpi_load" setenv
				s" 0" s" hint.acpi.0.disabled" setenv
                                s" 0" s" hw.mca.enabled" setenv
                                s" 0" s" hw.bce.tso_enable" setenv
			then
			0 boot
		then
		dup bootsafekey @ = if
			s" arch-i386" environment? if
				drop
				s" acpi_load" unsetenv
				s" 1" s" hint.acpi.0.disabled" setenv
				s" 1" s" loader.acpi_disabled_by_user" setenv
				s" 1" s" hint.apic.0.disabled" setenv
                                s" 0" s" hw.mca.enabled" setenv
                                s" 0" s" hw.bce.tso_enable" setenv
			then
			s" 0" s" hw.ata.ata_dma" setenv
			s" 0" s" hw.ata.atapi_dma" setenv
			s" 0" s" hw.ata.wc" setenv
			s" 0" s" hw.eisa_slots" setenv
			s" 1" s" hint.kbdmux.0.disabled" setenv
			s" 0" s" hw.mca.enabled" setenv
			s" 0" s" hw.bce.tso_enable" setenv
			0 boot
		then
		dup bootusbkey @ = if
			s" 0" s" hw.mca.enabled" setenv
			s" 0" s" hw.bce.tso_enable" setenv
			s" 10000" s" kern.cam.boot_delay" setenv
			0 boot
		then
		dup bootverbosekey @ = if
			s" 0" s" hw.mca.enabled" setenv
			s" 0" s" hw.bce.tso_enable" setenv
			s" YES" s" boot_verbose" setenv
			0 boot
		then
		dup bootsinglekey @ = if
			s" 0" s" hw.mca.enabled" setenv
			s" 0" s" hw.bce.tso_enable" setenv
			s" YES" s" boot_single" setenv
			0 boot
		then
		dup escapekey @ = if
			2drop
			s" NO" s" autoboot_delay" setenv
			exit
		then
		rebootkey @ = if 0 reboot then
	again
;

previous

I'm not confident with freebsd bash coding, but i suposed somewhere at the beginning of this section is defined what dup menu will be loaded as default. I would like ti to be bootusbkey. Unfortunatly, and even with modification you recommended, it doesn't start, but just come to a prompt that talk about vfs.mountfrom.options whish should have been set to read write.

jimp

Nothing is wrong with that. As you can see the section I posted is within the part you posted (mine just had the +'s because it was from a patch file not the actual file, and I trimmed the surrounding irrelevant text).

If the menu option worked but adding it to loader.conf.local does not, then you must not be putting the right values into loader.conf.local or the file isn't in the right place, or something else must be wrong.

Further, you need to give exact precise error messages and not "a prompt that talk about vfs.mountfrom.options". Take a cell phone picture of the screen if you have to, but be precise.

morocon

here it is:

http://pfsensepict.dyndns.org

jimp

Sure that's the right URL?

Host pfsensepict.dyndns.org not found: 3(NXDOMAIN)

morocon

oops, try again, it should be working now that i activated it! :)

jimp

Remove this from /boot/loader.conf and /boot/loader.conf.local

autoboot_delay="3"

It probably is ignoring the other lines because it says there is a syntax error on that line.

morocon

Thaanks, do you have a sample of how it should be written?

jimp

/boot/loader.conf should probably be empty.

And if you want to mimic option 3 exactly, /boot/loader.conf.local should only contain:

hw.mca.enabled=0
hw.bce.tso_enable=0
kern.cam.boot_delay=10000

Nothing else.

morocon

@jimp:

/boot/loader.conf should probably be empty.

And if you want to mimic option 3 exactly, /boot/loader.conf.local should only contain:
hw.mca.enabled=0
hw.bce.tso_enable=0
kern.cam.boot_delay=10000
Nothing else.

Ok i will do so.

I found a file call loader.conf (<>loader.conf.local)where the " autoboot_delay="3" " is writen, what should i do with this one?

jimp

Remove it from both files.

morocon

@jimp:

Remove it from both files.

You are the hitman jimp!

Ok i guess there was some thing wrong in my usb drive, so i decided to start from scrash and re-install f sense on it.

Then i create the file /boot/loader.conf/local (as you recommended it) including

hw.mca.enabled=0
hw.bce.tso_enable=0
kern.cam.boot_delay=10000

Then reboot, then….Miracle! It works!!

Thanks guys

MrKoen

Same situation here. I'm using a 2,5 inch USB disk drive for my pfSense server. I needed to press 3 in the pfSense boot menu to get it to work. Using the steps outlined in this forum topic I was able to have it boot using USB support automatically. I have put the easy steps together in a tutorial at http://www.zomers.eu/knowledge/pfSense/Pages/Configure-pfSense-2.0-RC1-to-boot-from-USB-disk.aspx

Guest

Awesome . thanks for the help.