Problems installing latest pfsense

stephenw10

Right so you're using the 'full' install type, installed from a CD (or memory stick equivalent).
With a DOM I would use a Nano image which prevents damage to the module due to limited writes. Have you had pfSense installed on this before?

Steve

timreichhart

Steve
very first time on this machine and dom so how would I install this? use an flash drive or what?

timreichhart

Steve
any thoughts on how to do this?

stephenw10

So to use the NanoBSD images you just have to write them to the module directly, there's no install process as such. The easiest way to do that is probably to put the module into another computer that's running some other OS and then download and write the image from there. See:
https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Installing_pfSense#Embedded

Steve

timreichhart

So Steve what happens if I don't have any other computer to put the Dom in? What can I do about that ?

stephenw10

Other options might be;
Use a USB-IDE adapter to connect the DOM to whatever else you do have. I assume you have a laptop or something that doesn't have IDE.
Boot the Neoware from a Linux USB stick then download and write the image directly from there. You might have an issue doing this if you don't have enough RAM in the Neoware to extract the image into.
Potentially you could do it from the pfSense live CD/USB image but it's not really setup for that.

Steve

robi

I've experienced problems connecting DOMs to other computers or USB-IDE adapters, many DOMs use unstandard pinouts (reverse, mirrored IDE pinouts). This is the case for example for DOMs in some HP Thin Clients.

But there IS hope, HP provides a way to create a bootable USB stick which you can copy gzipped dd images on (just like NanoBSD images of pfSense are) and with a simple menu-based utility booted from that stick, you can write the image to the DOM without even having to open the case.

Check this out: http://www.hp.com/sbso/busproducts-thinpro.html?jumpid=in_r2910_dtSLBox/heasmith

start virtual machine
insert a usb stick in your PC
attach to vm
switch to admin mode in vm (Administrator password: "root")
control panel > management > thinstate

thinpro image
make a copy of
create a bootable USB flash drive
choose usb stick attached
…
remove usb stick

add custom images to the /images directory on the stick
Just copy the pfSense NanoBSD image which corresponds to your DOM disk size. The .dd.gz file created by the above utility in the /images directory can be safely deleted. You just need the bootable OS on the key...

Done this on several HP t5730 Thin Clients so far with pfSense, I guess it should work on other models too, as long as they can boot from USB. It's gunzipping the image straight through dd writing it uncompressed to the flash. Just as it should be, displays nice progress bar. You can even make a backup of existing contents of the DOM with this utility, it'll create a compressed image of it on the stick.

timreichhart

Well I still cant get the pfsense go onto the DOM and when I plug in an CF with adapter it dont even see it at all so is the CF card be under like HDD-FSD?

stephenw10

You mean in the bios? If you're using a cf-ide adapter it should appear as a standard hard drive.

Steve

timreichhart

Yes in bios and its not showing up in bios as an hard drive.

stephenw10

I have read that some CF cards cannot operate in 'ide mode' though I've yet to find one myself.

Steve

Guest

Can't find any details on a neoware CA17:

http://h20566.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/kb/docDisplay/?DocLang=de&docId=emr_na-c01383411&docLocale=de_DE&jumpid=reg_r1002_dede_c-001_title_r0001&ac.admitted=1412920697645.876444892.199480143

Can you give some details on the hardware?

timreichhart

Here is the images:

stephenw10

Not quite sure what we're looking at there.
So you're booting from a USB stick, yes? What image exactly is on the stick? Is that as far as it boots?

Steve

timreichhart

Steve
right now I am booting off of the flash drive but I want DOM be doing this since flash drive can only do so many reads and writes before it quits.

stephenw10

So it boots fine from USB but you've not written the DOM yet?
Both are flash devices subject to limited writes.

Steve

timreichhart

Steve
that is correct it boots fine from usb but I have not gotten the DOM write to pfsense since I cant figure out how to do that since there is no option for 99 in this.

robi

Use the method I just posted to copy the image to the DOM: https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=82540.msg452130#msg452130

Guest

The problem appears to be persistent…

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1041144185

stephenw10

It appears the image you have on the USB stick is one of the the Nano images, yes? There is no option to install from there, it's not intended to be install media. Will it boot from the memstick image on a USB stick? That will give you the option to install the 'full' version of pfSense.
I would still try to run Nano from a DOM though. Others have run full with no issues.

Steve