Successful Install on Watchguard Firebox X700!
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hi all!
I'm just getting into this pfsense/firebox thing and I'm really confused on which Image to use to load up pfsense on my Hitachi 40GB laptop drive which I will install in the x700. Can anyone point me to the right image I need or link.ps. keep in mind its a clean install of the latest pfsense which I do believe is 2.0RC3 if 'im not mistaken.
Thanks ;D
Lee -
The latest version is the daily build from the snapshot server however 2.0r3 is probably fine unless you find a specific bug that needs fixing.
On a hard drive you can use the full install version. The easiest way to do this is boot the install CD, built from the ISO image, in a laptop. Install to the hard drive and then transfer to the firebox. You will need to boot up the laptop into pfsense once in order to turn on serial console. When you first boot the image in the firebox it will probably fail to boot and you will have to manually enter the location of root.
It's really much easier to use a CF card! ;)
Steve
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@stephenw10,
Cool didn't know about the Snapshot server link .. thanks for that. Sounds good I will download the ISO image file and follow the instructions as exaplained earlier in this post. Now if I wanted to go with the CF would I still use the ISO image or is there a different one that is recommended to be used with a CF card? I read something about an embedded edition but didn't get if that was something CF or HD specific.Thanks
Lee -
If you use a CF card you need to use the NanoBSD image (a special version of FreeBSD for embedded applications). You can find them on the snapshot server or the main download site. E.g. here: http://snapshots.pfsense.org/FreeBSD_RELENG_8_1/i386/pfSense_RELENG_2_0/nanobsd/pfSense-2.0-RC3-1g-i386-20110905-0445-nanobsd.img.gz
You need to write the image directly to the CF card with some appropriate software like physdiskwrite as described here: http://m0n0.ch/wall/physdiskwrite.php
You can use any of the images that will fit on your card (1GB image on a 4GB card is fine) however manufacturers seem to continuously reduce the actual size of their cards so you may find the 4GB image doesn't fit on your 4GB card. Just use the 1GB image. ;) There is almost no advantage to using a bigger image.
Steve
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@Steve,
Thanks you very much. I will try to find me a cheap 2GB-4GB CF card. I do have 10+ laptop HD's sitting around but I prefer the CF solution to avoid any mechanical issues that might arise with those older beat up Laptop HD's :D. I might need to kick up the Installed RAM on the x700 from factory 256MB to 512MB since the writes go towards the RAM instead of the CF as far my understanding goes from what I've read.Regards,
Lee -
The NanoBSD image has no swap, mounts the partitions noatime to prevent writes to the card when reading files and all logs are sent to ram. The CF card will not suffer from write failure with 256MB.
Steve
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Ok cool.
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Hey guys, I've been reading through this thread for a while.
I've been considering picking up a used X700 off of ebay, mostly for nostalgia reasons as a couple jobs back we used Watchguard as our primary firewall/router/vpn source. So the idea of picking one up and using pfsense on it is very intriguing.
But…I'd really like to limit my headaches.
What is the easiest way to get this working? I don't plan to swap out the cpu or add additional memory, this is really for my home network so at most we're talking a VPN tunnel or two, a couple PCs, and QoS. Overkill I know. I also have a spare 40gb notebook IDE drive in its the easiest way.
Thanks guys, appreciate all the effort that has gone into this!
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Using a hard drive requires some modification to the case as there isn't drive caddy provided, just a blank.
To install to the drive you will need to first install it into a laptop (or pc via an adpater) and boot that from the pfSense install CD. Then follow the prompts to install to the drive. You will have to boot the laptop into pfSense in order to turn on serial console access in the GUI. When you swap it back into the firebox it will likely ask you for the location of the root partition as the path will have changed. Once it's booted you can change that.Using a CF card is far easier. Just write the NanoBSD image to the card, insert it into the firebox and boot. Unfortunately the current pfSense (2.0 release) has a strange bug that can cause the serial console to not appear after the initial setup. There's a workaround for it though in the forum.
If it were me I'd go the CF route. ;)
Steve
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Just picked one of these up for cheap. Does anyone have a junk one that would be willing to sale me the drive bay cover?
Thanks
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Where abouts are you?
Steve
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Tampa Florida. Ill pay shipping plus what ever u want for the item.
thanks
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I don't actually have a spare one myself and I'm in the UK anyway but perhaps someone closer can help you out.
Steve
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So firebox arrived, And i got pfsense on it. But if i do a hard power off, and then try to power back on, i get nothing on console. It even had an ipaddress on the Lan side, and i was able to access. But after the hard power off, i get no ipaddress.
Anyone seen this before?
Thanks
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The serial console problem has been seen by several users see this thread:
http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,34814.15.html
It is not yet well understood but the workaround seems to be effective.Not sure about the LAN not coming up. Did you set a static IP?
Steve
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this does not seam to be my problem, I get a full boot one time, and then if i turn it off it will not boot the next time. if i wait 5 mins with the power off system will boot up fine. I tried an image of monowall and it did not do this. So i am not sure if it is the cf cards i am using, but that seams to be the only difference.
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Hmm. So does it reboot if you issue a reboot command from the GUI, without physically de-powering it?
Have you checked the CMOS battery? If it's flat it can cause the bios to not boot on each initial power up.
Different sized CF cards? UDMA capable CF cards can cause a problem, you have to disable UDMA either in pfSense (usually is by default) or the bios.Steve
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if i reboot it from the web page or from the console it powers down, but will not come back up until i wait 5 min or so.
Ill check the cmos battery this evening. It came with a 32mb card i think. and i am using a 4gb card the card is the first thing i thought of and ill have to order one.
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If it doesn't do it with a monowall image then I doubt it's a problem with the card.
Does it show anything on the console when you reboot?Steve
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i have not tried monowall on the 4gb cf, i am about to do that. And no nothing on the console at all.
