Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    Using a hard-disk in a Watchguard Firebox X750e for cache/log storage

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Hardware
    49 Posts 11 Posters 16.4k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • stephenw10S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by

      What does your modified rc.embedded look like?
      You should see the various messages from the modified script in the boot log, are you seeing those? Are they correct?

      Steve

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • S
        Steve Evans
        last edited by

        The memory device /dev/md1 is still being created/mounted so as Stephen says you've got an issue with the startup script.

        Steve

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • S
          sg1
          last edited by

          No.  I see now, that it is incorrect.  I still have the original being mounted due to it.  My question is, where specifically in the original rc.embedded do I change with the Steve's changes as there are other calls in the script that I am not sure are needed or not.  Apologies, just new to the pfsense and Watchguard platforms so I am sure my questions are on the the dumber side….  The original rc.embedded is below:

          rc.embedded - embedded system specific startup information

          For pfSense

          Size of /tmp

          USE_MFS_TMP_SIZE=/usr/bin/grep use_mfs_tmp_size /cf/conf/config.xml | /usr/bin/cut -f2 -d'>' | /usr/bin/cut -f1 -d'<'

          if [ ! -z ${USE_MFS_TMP_SIZE} ] && [ ${USE_MFS_TMP_SIZE} -gt 0 ]; then
                  tmpsize="${USE_MFS_TMP_SIZE}m"
          else
                  tmpsize="40m"
          fi

          Size of /var

          USE_MFS_VAR_SIZE=/usr/bin/grep use_mfs_var_size /cf/conf/config.xml | /usr/bin/                                                                                 cut -f2 -d'>' | /usr/bin/cut -f1 -d'<'
          if [ ! -z ${USE_MFS_VAR_SIZE} ] && [ ${USE_MFS_VAR_SIZE} -gt 0 ]; then
                  varsize="${USE_MFS_VAR_SIZE}m"
          else
                  varsize="60m"
          fi

          Run some initialization routines

          [ -f /etc/rc.d/uzip ] && /etc/rc.d/uzip start

          echo -n "Setting up memory disks…"
          mdmfs -S -M -s ${tmpsize} md /tmp
          mdmfs -S -M -s ${varsize} md /var

          Create some needed directories

          /bin/mkdir -p /var/db

          Ensure vi's recover directory is present

          /bin/mkdir -p /var/tmp/vi.recover/
          echo " done."

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • S
            Steve Evans
            last edited by

            Here is the complete patched /etc/rc.embedded.

            #!/bin/sh
            #
            # rc.embedded - embedded system specific startup information
            # For pfSense
            
            # Size of /tmp
            USE_MFS_TMP_SIZE=`/usr/bin/grep use_mfs_tmp_size /cf/conf/config.xml | /usr/bin/cut -f2 -d'>' | /usr/bin/cut -f1 -d'<'`
            if [ ! -z ${USE_MFS_TMP_SIZE} ] && [ ${USE_MFS_TMP_SIZE} -gt 0 ]; then
            	tmpsize="${USE_MFS_TMP_SIZE}m"
            else
            	tmpsize="40m"
            fi
            
            # Size of /var
            USE_MFS_VAR_SIZE=`/usr/bin/grep use_mfs_var_size /cf/conf/config.xml | /usr/bin/cut -f2 -d'>' | /usr/bin/cut -f1 -d'<'`
            if [ ! -z ${USE_MFS_VAR_SIZE} ] && [ ${USE_MFS_VAR_SIZE} -gt 0 ]; then
            	varsize="${USE_MFS_VAR_SIZE}m"
            else
            	varsize="60m"
            fi
            
            # Run some initialization routines
            [ -f /etc/rc.d/uzip ] && /etc/rc.d/uzip start
            
            echo -n "Setting up memory disks..."
            mdmfs -S -M -s ${tmpsize} md /tmp
            
            # If a hard disk is installed then mount that on /var
            # otherwise use a ramdisk
            harddisk="/dev/ad1s1a"
            if [ -c $harddisk ]
            then
            	echo -n "Using /var physical disk..."
            	mount -o noatime $harddisk /var
            
            	# Ensure /var/run is removed on boot before daemons are started
            	# It should arguably be a tmpfs, but this works fine
            	rm -r /var/run
            
            	# sshd won't start if /var/empty exists on boot
            	rm -r /var/empty
            else
            	echo -n "Using /var memory disk..."
            	mdmfs -S -M -s ${varsize} md /var
            
            	# Create some needed directories
            	/bin/mkdir -p /var/db
            
            	# Ensure vi's recover directory is present
            	/bin/mkdir -p /var/tmp/vi.recover/
            fi
            
            echo " done."
            
            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • S
              sg1
              last edited by

              Thank you so much Steve!  Works perfectly.  Thanks for your patience….

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • A
                atrocity
                last edited by

                only my result of a x5500e with a ide SSD from CWC :

                /dev/ad1s1a
                        512            # sectorsize
                        57872344064    # mediasize in bytes (53G)
                        113031922      # mediasize in sectors
                        0              # stripesize
                        40448          # stripeoffset
                        112134          # Cylinders according to firmware.
                        16              # Heads according to firmware.
                        63              # Sectors according to firmware.
                        OW140822AS1514144      # Disk ident.

                Seek times:
                        Full stroke:      250 iter in  0.040570 sec =    0.162 msec
                        Half stroke:      250 iter in  0.037379 sec =    0.150 msec
                        Quarter stroke:  500 iter in  0.125276 sec =    0.251 msec
                        Short forward:    400 iter in  0.093555 sec =    0.234 msec
                        Short backward:  400 iter in  0.096201 sec =    0.241 msec
                        Seq outer:      2048 iter in  0.169674 sec =    0.083 msec
                        Seq inner:      2048 iter in  0.123082 sec =    0.060 msec
                Transfer rates:
                        outside:      102400 kbytes in  1.124830 sec =    91036 kbytes/sec
                        middle:        102400 kbytes in  1.128009 sec =    90779 kbytes/sec
                        inside:        102400 kbytes in  1.125042 sec =    91019 kbytes/sec

                seems that i don't have to tune anything.
                I will make the same test with a x750e soon, will let you know if somebody is interrested :)
                Regards

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • stephenw10S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  What tool are you testing that with? Did you enable TRIM? Be interesting to see how those figures vary over time once you've moved a few gigs across the drive.

                  Steve

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • A
                    atrocity
                    last edited by

                    hi,

                    i simply use this :

                    diskinfo -tv /dev/ad1

                    Trim … i did a try to enable it, but our server don't want it.
                    Don't remember the problem or the error, sorry.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • S
                      Steve Evans
                      last edited by

                      Good to see how quick this can run. If my ISP increases speed x5 I may have to get an SSD!

                      Steve

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • S
                        Steve Evans
                        last edited by

                        Having updated to 2.2 the support for my hard-drive now appears rather worse.

                        The atacontrol utility which did exactly what I needed has been superseded by camcontrol. This reports that the disk is in polled mode.

                        $ camcontrol negotiate /dev/ada1 -v 
                        Current parameters:
                        (pass1:ata0:0:1:0): ATA mode: PIO4
                        (pass1:ata0:0:1:0): ATAPI packet length: 0
                        (pass1:ata0:0:1:0): PIO transaction length: 8192
                        (pass1:ata0:0:1:0): tagged queueing: disabled
                        ata0: SIM/HBA version: 1
                        ata0: supports SDTR message
                        ata0: scan bus sequentially
                        ata0: HBA engine count: 0
                        ata0: maximum target: 1
                        ata0: maximum LUN: 0
                        ata0: highest path ID in subsystem: 0
                        ata0: initiator ID: 0
                        ata0: SIM vendor: FreeBSD
                        ata0: HBA vendor: ATA
                        ata0: HBA vendor ID: 0x8086
                        ata0: HBA device ID: 0x266f
                        ata0: HBA subvendor ID: 0x8086
                        ata0: HBA subdevice ID: 0x266f
                        ata0: bus ID: 0
                        ata0: base transfer speed: 3.300MB/sec
                        ata0: maximum transfer size: 131072 bytes
                        

                        I should be able to set the disk to UDMA33 mode however, this is what I get.

                        $ camcontrol negotiate /dev/ada1 -v -U -M UDMA33 -a
                        User parameters:
                        (pass1:ata0:0:1:0): ATA mode: UDMA2
                        (pass1:ata0:0:1:0): ATAPI packet length: 0
                        (pass1:ata0:0:1:0): PIO transaction length: 131072
                        (pass1:ata0:0:1:0): tagged queueing: enabled
                        ata0: SIM/HBA version: 1
                        ata0: supports SDTR message
                        ata0: scan bus sequentially
                        ata0: HBA engine count: 0
                        ata0: maximum target: 1
                        ata0: maximum LUN: 0
                        ata0: highest path ID in subsystem: 0
                        ata0: initiator ID: 0
                        ata0: SIM vendor: FreeBSD
                        ata0: HBA vendor: ATA
                        ata0: HBA vendor ID: 0x8086
                        ata0: HBA device ID: 0x266f
                        ata0: HBA subvendor ID: 0x8086
                        ata0: HBA subdevice ID: 0x266f
                        ata0: bus ID: 0
                        ata0: base transfer speed: 3.300MB/sec
                        ata0: maximum transfer size: 131072 bytes
                        Unit is not ready
                        (pass1:ata0:0:1:0): TEST UNIT READY. CDB: 00 00 00 00 00 00 
                        (pass1:ata0:0:1:0): CAM status: CCB request was invalid
                        Test Unit Ready failed
                        

                        I've tried all manner of variations. Any ideas to get camcontrol to do what a simple

                        atacontrol mode ad1 UDMA6
                        

                        would do before?

                        Thanks,

                        Steve

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • stephenw10S
                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                          last edited by

                          Haven't you alread set ata0 to PIO4 only though?
                          The HD and CF are on the same IDE channel right?

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • S
                            Steve Evans
                            last edited by

                            Hi Stephen,

                            This is what I'm trying to get my head round at the moment, reading the FreeBSD documentation to better understand the nomenclature.

                            If I boot without specifying

                            hint.ata.0.mode=PIO4
                            

                            I see the following on the console

                            ada0 at ata0 bus 0 scbus0 target 0 lun 0
                            ada0: <sandisk sdcfh-004g="" hdx="" 6.02=""> CFA-0 device
                            ada0: Serial Number ABZ042211193008
                            ada0: 66.700MB/s transfers (UDMA4, PIO 512bytes)
                            ada0: 3815MB (7813120 512 byte sectors: 16H 63S/T 7751C)
                            ada0: Previously was known as ad0
                            ada1 at ata0 bus 0 scbus0 target 1 lun 0
                            ada1: <st9402115a 3.01=""> ATA-6 device
                            ada1: Serial Number 5PV09ZED
                            ada1: 100.000MB/s transfers (UDMA5, PIO 8192bytes)
                            ada1: 38154MB (78140160 512 byte sectors: 16H 63S/T 16383C)
                            ada1: Previously was known as ad1</st9402115a></sandisk>
                            

                            Rather than

                            ada0 at ata0 bus 0 scbus0 target 0 lun 0
                            ada0: <sandisk sdcfh-004g="" hdx="" 6.02=""> CFA-0 device
                            ada0: Serial Number ABZ042211193008
                            ada0: 16.700MB/s transfers (PIO4, PIO 512bytes)
                            ada0: 3815MB (7813120 512 byte sectors: 16H 63S/T 7751C)
                            ada0: Previously was known as ad0
                            ada1 at ata0 bus 0 scbus0 target 1 lun 0
                            ada1: <st9402115a 3.01=""> ATA-6 device
                            ada1: Serial Number 5PV09ZED
                            ada1: 16.700MB/s transfers (PIO4, PIO 8192bytes)
                            ada1: 38154MB (78140160 512 byte sectors: 16H 63S/T 16383C)
                            ada1: Previously was known as ad1</st9402115a></sandisk>
                            

                            As you point out, this setting affects them both. I've been trying to understand what granularity of control the driver gives me. From the ata man page there's the following which suggests per device control, but I don't currently understand what "specified device" means exactly.

                            @https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=ata(4)&sektion=:

                            hint.ata.X.devX.mode
                                limits the initial ATA mode for the specified device on the specified channel.

                            hint.ata.X.mode
                                limits the initial ATA mode for every device on the specified channel.

                            I'm not sure how the master/slave IDE arrangement maps onto the above. Any pointers much appreciated!

                            Thanks,

                            Steve

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • stephenw10S
                              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                              last edited by

                              Pretty sure the CF slot is always master if a CF card is in it so I would think it's dev0.

                              On my test box here which I haven't set loader.conf.local on it will boot if I use:

                              Hit [Enter] to boot immediately, or any other key for command prompt.
                              Booting [/boot/kernel/kernel] in 4 seconds...
                              
                              Type '?' for a list of commands, 'help' for more detailed help.
                              OK set hint.ata.0.dev0.mode=PIO4
                              OK boot
                              Booting...
                              
                              

                              So I'd say you're good with that.

                              Steve

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • S
                                Steve Evans
                                last edited by

                                Thank you sir, you're a scholar and a gentleman!  :)

                                Your suggestion works a treat. I clearly had a bit of a mental block on what "devX" could be. I'd tried "0", but it hadn't occurred to me to used "dev0".  :-[ I'm clearly not familiar enough with FreeBSD naming conventions.

                                [code]ada0 at ata0 bus 0 scbus0 target 0 lun 0
                                ada0: <sandisk sdcfh-004g="" hdx="" 6.02="">CFA-0 device
                                ada0: Serial Number ABZ042211193008
                                ada0: 16.700MB/s transfers (PIO4, PIO 512bytes)
                                ada0: 3815MB (7813120 512 byte sectors: 16H 63S/T 7751C)
                                ada0: Previously was known as ad0
                                ada1 at ata0 bus 0 scbus0 target 1 lun 0
                                ada1: <st9402115a 3.01="">ATA-6 device
                                ada1: Serial Number 5PV09ZED
                                ada1: 100.000MB/s transfers (UDMA5, PIO 8192bytes)
                                ada1: 38154MB (78140160 512 byte sectors: 16H 63S/T 16383C)
                                ada1: Previously was known as ad1

                                I'm now getting the performance I need for my disk used for logs and caching.

                                diskinfo -tv /dev/ad1
                                /dev/ad1
                                        512             # sectorsize
                                        40007761920     # mediasize in bytes (37G)
                                        78140160        # mediasize in sectors
                                        0               # stripesize
                                        0               # stripeoffset
                                        77520           # Cylinders according to firmware.
                                        16              # Heads according to firmware.
                                        63              # Sectors according to firmware.
                                        5PV09ZED        # Disk ident.
                                
                                Seek times:
                                        Full stroke:      250 iter in   7.926598 sec =   31.706 msec
                                        Half stroke:      250 iter in   6.203416 sec =   24.814 msec
                                        Quarter stroke:   500 iter in   9.877891 sec =   19.756 msec
                                        Short forward:    400 iter in   3.476113 sec =    8.690 msec
                                        Short backward:   400 iter in   2.381591 sec =    5.954 msec
                                        Seq outer:       2048 iter in   0.197696 sec =    0.097 msec
                                        Seq inner:       2048 iter in   0.179296 sec =    0.088 msec
                                Transfer rates:
                                        outside:       102400 kbytes in   3.135350 sec =    32660 kbytes/sec
                                        middle:        102400 kbytes in   3.745807 sec =    27337 kbytes/sec
                                        inside:        102400 kbytes in   5.382397 sec =    19025 kbytes/sec
                                
                                

                                Steve</st9402115a></sandisk>

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • stephenw10S
                                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                  last edited by

                                  Nice! I'm going to have to try that sometime.  :)

                                  Steve

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • stephenw10S
                                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                    last edited by

                                    In testing the HD issue I ran that benchmark. Thought my result might ammuse you:

                                    [2.2-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/root: diskinfo -tv /dev/ada0
                                    /dev/ada0
                                            512             # sectorsize
                                            20003880960     # mediasize in bytes (19G)
                                            39070080        # mediasize in sectors
                                            0               # stripesize
                                            0               # stripeoffset
                                            38760           # Cylinders according to firmware.
                                            16              # Heads according to firmware.
                                            63              # Sectors according to firmware.
                                            32K60131T       # Disk ident.
                                    
                                    Seek times:
                                            Full stroke:      250 iter in  11.840086 sec =   47.360 msec
                                            Half stroke:      250 iter in   8.878876 sec =   35.516 msec
                                            Quarter stroke:   500 iter in  15.334866 sec =   30.670 msec
                                            Short forward:    400 iter in   8.639504 sec =   21.599 msec
                                            Short backward:   400 iter in   7.131472 sec =   17.829 msec
                                            Seq outer:       2048 iter in   0.282496 sec =    0.138 msec
                                            Seq inner:       2048 iter in   1.086055 sec =    0.530 msec
                                    Transfer rates:
                                            outside:       102400 kbytes in  23.521335 sec =     4353 kbytes/sec
                                            middle:        102400 kbytes in  20.436978 sec =     5011 kbytes/sec
                                            inside:        102400 kbytes in  48.862760 sec =     2096 kbytes/sec
                                    
                                    

                                    Something not right.  ::) Yet:

                                    [2.2-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/root: dmesg | grep ada
                                    ada0 at ata0 bus 0 scbus0 target 0 lun 0
                                    ada0: <toshiba mk2018gap="" m1.42="" a="">ATA-5 device
                                    ada0: Serial Number 32K60131T
                                    ada0: 100.000MB/s transfers (UDMA5, PIO 8192bytes)
                                    ada0: 19077MB (39070080 512 byte sectors: 16H 63S/T 16383C)
                                    ada0: Previously was known as ad0
                                    Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ada0s1a [rw]...</toshiba> 
                                    

                                    Just a knackered old drive? Works fine though, as long as you're not in a hurry!

                                    Steve

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • S
                                      Steve Evans
                                      last edited by

                                      Ouch. Not much use as a cache though as it's no faster than fiber broadband!

                                      Steve

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • M
                                        MacUsers
                                        last edited by

                                        @stephenw10:

                                        [2.2-RELEASE][root@pfSense.localdomain]/root: dmesg | grep ada
                                        ada0 at ata0 bus 0 scbus0 target 0 lun 0
                                        ada0: <toshiba mk2018gap="" m1.42="" a="">ATA-5 device
                                        ada0: Serial Number 32K60131T
                                        ada0: 100.000MB/s transfers (UDMA5, PIO 8192bytes)
                                        ada0: 19077MB (39070080 512 byte sectors: 16H 63S/T 16383C)
                                        ada0: Previously was known as ad0
                                        Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ada0s1a [rw]...</toshiba> 
                                        

                                        I was just looking in some old posts - Does it mean you have TRIM enabled on your TOSHIBA MK2018GAP drive?

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • stephenw10S
                                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                          last edited by

                                          No. I'm pretty sure that device is way too old to support TRIM
                                          TRIM only applies to SSDs anyway.

                                          Steve

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • M
                                            MacUsers
                                            last edited by

                                            That's what I knew as well but this line in your dmesg:

                                            ada0: 100.000MB/s transfers (UDMA5, PIO 8192bytes)

                                            made me think otherwise.

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • First post
                                              Last post
                                            Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.