PfSense Hardware Migration? Different NICs?

[ineti]

Hi folks,

I've got a hypothetical question about hardware migration. I'm running pfSense on an Intel System with dual gigabit LAN. One interface is used as the WAN interface and the other is running a lot of tagged VLAN interfaces. My interfaces are em0 and em1, cause of the Intel network cards. My configuration has become very complex over the months - site to site vlans, dns overrides, lots of static routes etc. So I backup my config on a regulary basis.

Now my problem:

If my hardware fails and I want to import the config on another system that has non Intel network cards, the interfaces would have other names, e.g. rl0, bg0 etc. So my config would probably not fit.
What could I do to avoid this? Run a script over my backup config that replaces em0 and em1 with the new and fitting device names?

Thanks and greetings!

[joako]

Why don't you test it out and see exactly what happens?

I know without vlans you are asked to re-assign the interfaces. I think with vlans you would have to create the vlans first, and then assign the interfaces.

In theory what you say will work since the configuration is just xml.

[dhatz]

Edit the config.xml file and search-and-replace the old device name with the new one (e.g. em -> igb)