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    Is it possible to set up a console over USB serial?

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
    20 Posts 3 Posters 6.9k Views
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    • G
      guardian Rebel Alliance
      last edited by

      Unfortunately I don't have a USB port on my pfSense box, so I don't have a choice.  I wonder if there is anyone here who knows FreeBSD well enough to know if it is possible or not.

      If you find my post useful, please give it a thumbs up!
      pfSense 2.7.2-RELEASE

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      • P
        Paint
        last edited by

        @guardian:

        Unfortunately I don't have a USB port on my pfSense box, so I don't have a choice.  I wonder if there is anyone here who knows FreeBSD well enough to know if it is possible or not.

        I did some more research on this….. I don't think the console will work over usb

        pfSense i5-4590
        940/880 mbit Fiber Internet from FiOS
        BROCADE ICX6450 48Port L3-Managed Switch w/4x 10GB ports
        Netgear R8000 AP (DD-WRT)

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        • G
          guardian Rebel Alliance
          last edited by

          Thanks… I was afraid of that.

          If you find my post useful, please give it a thumbs up!
          pfSense 2.7.2-RELEASE

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          • jahonixJ
            jahonix
            last edited by

            You can still use telnet or ssh to monitor your console, once your pfSense has booted up.

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            • G
              guardian Rebel Alliance
              last edited by

              @jahonix:

              You can still use telnet or ssh to monitor your console, once your pfSense has booted up.

              Thanks, yes I do that now… was just hoping not to have to pull a monitor off a PC to watch the FW boot.  Not the end of the world, don't have to boot very often, and as long as it boots within 2-3 minutes, I likely don't really need to see it live, I can just dmesg.

              If you find my post useful, please give it a thumbs up!
              pfSense 2.7.2-RELEASE

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              • jahonixJ
                jahonix
                last edited by

                @guardian:

                …hoping not to have to pull a monitor off a PC to watch the FW boot...

                Still 2 possibilities.
                a) Get a streaming device that converts your VGA to an IP stream to be viewed with any streaming receiver  OR
                b) look at your motherboard and find out what the white pin header at bottom center is. (see pic attached) Could be a serial port.

                71Awe-pCDmL.SL1026.jpg
                71Awe-pCDmL.SL1026.jpg_thumb

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                • G
                  guardian Rebel Alliance
                  last edited by

                  @jahonix:

                  @guardian:

                  …hoping not to have to pull a monitor off a PC to watch the FW boot...

                  Still 2 possibilities.
                  a) Get a streaming device that converts your VGA to an IP stream to be viewed with any streaming receiver  OR
                  b) look at your motherboard and find out what the white pin header at bottom center is. (see pic attached) Could be a serial port.

                  Thanks for the reply… Can't cost justify a)... likely cheaper to upgrade from a 4 to 8 port KVM switch.
                  b) is a possibility... not sure how I would do it though, or how I would work out the mechanics of an external connection without making the box look like a piece of crap.

                  Open to suggestions.  For now, I'll run it headless as long as it boots OK, and if it hangs for any reason, I'll have to pull the KVM leads off another box.  I might consider the serial mods on my FreeNAS box, it has a real serial port... then I have a spare KVM port.

                  If you find my post useful, please give it a thumbs up!
                  pfSense 2.7.2-RELEASE

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                  • jahonixJ
                    jahonix
                    last edited by

                    @guardian:

                    …the mechanics of an external connection without making the box look like a piece of crap...

                    Come on!
                    There are two (unused ?!!) holes for wireless antennas already in the box. Use a 3,5mm jack and install it in one of them. All you need are 3 pins for TX, RX and GND and a custom cable with a 3,5mm stereo connector to a db9 plug.

                    Or wire the db9 socket with 2m of small cable directly through the hole. I use small diameter AES/EBU microphone cables for that (2 leads and 1 screen). Done.
                    Something like that:
                    https://www.amazon.com/24AWG-Extra-Digital-Audio-Cable/dp/B00HRO5A02/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1470139237&sr=8-13&keywords=24AWG+AES%2FEBU+cable
                    Your local music store is happy to help you with that.

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                    • G
                      guardian Rebel Alliance
                      last edited by

                      Good point… I've been staring at the port side of the box because of where it's mounted, so I forgot about those holes, so I could see possibly doing that.

                      Only thing is, if that is a serial port, wouldn't it show in dmesg?  I don't have the FreeBSD background to know how to probe for the UART.

                      So before cracking open the case and risking physical damage I would want to:

                      Step 1: Detect the presence of a UART though software to determine if it exists and what it's hardware is.
                      Step 2: Determine if there is a driver for that hardware, and if it needs CTS/RTS flow control to operate.

                      If I get though 1 & 2, then I'd do a test with the box open, and if that passed, I'd worry about making it pretty, but unless I get 1 and 2 figured out first, don't want to put the effort into the physical stuff.

                      **An aside:
                      Also, how to you reassemble the unit.  I looked inside when I installed memory and SSD, and that heat sink arrangement looked pretty scary to put back together if the motherboard was removed. **

                      BTW… does your original image file have higher resolution of the components around that connector? When I looked at it, my first guess was that it was power to support a SATA device plugged into the SATA port.

                      If you find my post useful, please give it a thumbs up!
                      pfSense 2.7.2-RELEASE

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                      • jahonixJ
                        jahonix
                        last edited by

                        @guardian:

                        … does your original image file have higher resolution...

                        Me?
                        That's a picture from the Amazon article description. I don't know more about that unit than what's written here or there. I don't have one.

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                        • P
                          Paint
                          last edited by

                          @guardian:

                          Good point… I've been staring at the port side of the box because of where it's mounted, so I forgot about those holes, so I could see possibly doing that.

                          Only thing is, if that is a serial port, wouldn't it show in dmesg?  I don't have the FreeBSD background to know how to probe for the UART.

                          So before cracking open the case and risking physical damage I would want to:

                          Step 1: Detect the presence of a UART though software to determine if it exists and what it's hardware is.
                          Step 2: Determine if there is a driver for that hardware, and if it needs CTS/RTS flow control to operate.

                          If I get though 1 & 2, then I'd do a test with the box open, and if that passed, I'd worry about making it pretty, but unless I get 1 and 2 figured out first, don't want to put the effort into the physical stuff.

                          **An aside:
                          Also, how to you reassemble the unit.  I looked inside when I installed memory and SSD, and that heat sink arrangement looked pretty scary to put back together if the motherboard was removed. **

                          BTW… does your original image file have higher resolution of the components around that connector? When I looked at it, my first guess was that it was power to support a SATA device plugged into the SATA port.

                          I think your best bet is to switch one of your 8 KVM devices to use the serial console and change your pfSense box to that open KVM connection.

                          I agree that we should be seeing the serial port show up in dmesg if it was detected on the motherboard. Do you have any serial or com port settings in the BIOS?

                          I also agree that putting this machine back together may be difficult with the heatsink

                          pfSense i5-4590
                          940/880 mbit Fiber Internet from FiOS
                          BROCADE ICX6450 48Port L3-Managed Switch w/4x 10GB ports
                          Netgear R8000 AP (DD-WRT)

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