X750e pfsense 2.1?

stephenw10

It's listed on the pfSense dashboard in the System Information widget. E.g.

Platform 	nanobsd (1g)

Steve

sp00ky

Okey, but mine just says "nanobsd (4g) "

ah, so its 4GB ?

stephenw10

So you're using the 4GB image. There's no need to do that really, you'll never use the extra space it provides. Like I said I use the 1GB image on all my CF cards which are mostly 2GB, some 4GB. Mostly it's because it writes to the card much quicker in my ancient USB1 CF card reader. ::)

Steve

sp00ky

HA! :) well ive got a brand new usb 3.0 cf card reader ;)

So anyway, i'wont having any problem using the gui updater? My VPN-settings and vpn-connections will be the same?

stephenw10

It should update fine. As I said if you're at all worried use a new card and restore the config.

Steve

power_matz

Hi,
what about the four ethernet ports on the right side of a X750e. I read about some errors in the driver under 2.0.
Will they work without any problems under 2.1?

Are they a better choice because of speed? Or should I go with the four ports on the left? I think they use another driver.

Matthias

stephenw10

There is a problem with the msk driver for the four right hand ports and unfortunately it hasn't been fixed in 2.1. However there is a simple fix:
https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/PfSense_on_Watchguard_Firebox#Known_Issues_2
I haven't seen any reports of problems after applying that.

The four ports on the left are using the sk driver and do not have any known issues. You are correct in saying that they are slower than the msk ports though. This is because they are connected via a single pci bus where as the msk ports are pci-express.

Steve

yahway69

Hello guys,

yesterday I finally be able to boot pfsense 2.1 on a HDD on my x750e.

Following some configuration issue under pfsense, I decide to restart from the beginning and I select the option that permit to restore the firewall to the original configuration.

But since this, I could not connect to the console using the following settings : 9600 8N1 while it's working before the reset. I got weird caracters

The 9600 settings works well when I boot to the CF card but not to the HDD.

I could access the bios using the 115200 8N1 settings.

Thanks for your help?

stephenw10

Did you select the embedded kernel when you installed or did you enable a serial console in the standard kernel?

The factory default setting in the standard kernel would have disabled the serial console. It looks like what you're seeing there is the result of the wrong serial baud rate. That might be the result of the BIOS redirect code attempting to redirect the VGA console in which case it would be at 115200. I've only ever seen that happen successfully once.

Steve

yahway69

I select the embedded kernel during the first installation.

Following your reply I deceided to reinstall pfsense on the HDD .
Once again I've selected Embedded Kernel and now console connection using 9600 .. settings works again.

I thinks that the reset option propose through pfsense modify the serial baud rate???

Another question, each time I boot the x750e, I need to select option 7, enter command "set hw.ata.ata_dma=0" + command "boot" after that, I have to enter command "ufs:/dev/ad1s1a" in order to boot correctly in pfsense.

Is it possible to automated these step so each time I reboot the appliance I get directly pfsense?

thanks

stephenw10

What size disk are you using? You shouldn't have to disable dma, that will slow down the box quite a bit. Have you read this: https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/PfSense_on_Watchguard_Firebox#Booting_from_HD_3

You can automate both those things if you have to. Add the dma command to /boot/loader.conf.local. Create that file. Edit /etc/fstab to change the location of root and swap.

Steve

yahway69

The HDD is a Toshiba 40 Go . If I don't enter the dma command, pfsense won't boot up. I only got a lot of DMA error like ad0 : DMA_ERROR…..same for ad1.

I found the edit file section under pfsense and added the command. I will reboot it to test if it's working.

I also installed WGXEPC to reduce FAN noise. works great.

I also enabling speedstep command, is there a way to measure idle power consumption?

thanks

stephenw10

Hmm, odd. Do you still have the cf card in? Did you try booting in verbose mode?

There's no way of measuring the consumption from the box. I used a plugtop style power meter as has eveyone else as far as I know. You should be aware that the standard Celeron CPU doesn't support speed-step so the power savings are minimal.

Steve

yahway69

CF card still in ( without the HDD won't boot up).

I've rebooted the box with all the command entered in the loader file and pfsense boot's like a charm.

I will try to delete dma commande and boot in verbose mode to see what append.

I also want to reduce the consumption of the box.the pfsense doc talk about PicoPSU.

Do you know a good model to use?

thanks

power_matz

Hi Steve,

thank you for your reply regarding the ethernet ports.

I encounter one strange problem. I used IGMP proxy under 2.01 without any problems on the right-hand ports.
When I use one them with 2.1 it isn't working anymore.

Was there a change in the driver?

Matthias

stephenw10

@yahway69:

I also want to reduce the consumption of the box.the pfsense doc talk about PicoPSU.

Do you know a good model to use?

The box doesn't use more than 50W so any model PicoPSU should work. I think my own dc-dc board is rated at 90W, it's also a wide input model that allows me to power it from both any old laptop power brick or a battery.

You will need to swap out the psu to take full advantage though. Choose a low speed 400MHz fsb model.

Steve

stephenw10

@power_matz:

Was there a change in the driver?

Which driver? There probably was whichever driver you mean, there were a lot if changes between 2.0.X and 2.1.

What are you using the igmp proxy for? What's not working? I may not be able to help much as don't use it myself.

Steve

power_matz

I mean the driver for the right hand ethernet ports, of course.
I am using IGMP for IPTV multicasting. Under 2.0 these port worked (in conjunction with bridging) perfect. Under 2.1 the picture is freezing some sec then staring again. Also the media receiver is getting an new IP via DHCP every 2 secs.

chpalmer

@power_matz:

I mean the driver for the right hand ethernet ports, of course.
I am using IGMP for IPTV multicasting. Under 2.0 these port worked (in conjunction with bridging) perfect. Under 2.1 the picture is freezing some sec then staring again. Also the media receiver is getting an new IP via DHCP every 2 secs.

edit= See below- better explanation than I left. :)

stephenw10

Ah, sorry I thought you might be refering to the IGMP code.
Sounds like the interface is flapping which is a known issue when bridging is involved with some drivers. Try this fix:
http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,66908.msg367991.html#msg367991

Steve

Edit: Dammit typed too slow. ::)