pfSense on Watchguard M370

stephenw10

You still need to install in something else as there is no way to make it boot USB, the BIOS is locked.
You could potentially write the install image to mSATA and add a SATA drive to install to. But that still means writing the image to mSATA in something else. You might as well install to it dircetly at that point.
One you install to it, in the other device, you may need to boot into pfSense to enable the serial console if it's not a serial device and then it will configured with the NICs in that device. If they (or it) are not igb the interfaces will need to be re-assigned at the console in the m370 when the drive is moved across.

Steve

zero67

@stephenw10 said in pfSense on Watchguard M370:

If they (or it) are not igb the interfaces will need to be re-assigned at the console

Can I re-assign NIC at the console with Putty (serial)? There is a how-to guide to do this at the console?

stephenw10

Yes, you can. There's a menu at the console and re-assigning the interfaces is an options on it. It's pretty self explanatory.
If you boot the first time pfSense will automatically assign igb0 as WAN and igb1 and LAN. You should have a console cable anyway though. It's much easier to recover from the console if you get locked out etc.

For reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDqRIu2zhoQ&feature=youtu.be&t=1536

Steve

howdoyouturn69

@zero67 said in pfSense on Watchguard M370:

Hi Bob, can u explain hot to I can install pfSense on my M370? I buyed in error this machine "High Availability (HA) Device" and I cant activate it without another M370. I think with pfSense I will have full functionality.
Thanks a lot

Is the same problem I face with them, trying to save some bucks, and realize that the HA devices are not self activated, need another device in the network to get the activation from them.

Really f... twisted license mechanism.

Since I've installed mine, had no issue so far using the firmware, add 16GB RAM to it, and is flying.

I even have 2 extra spare mSata with the firmware at a basic stage, in case I need to replace it in a future, for whatever reason. And a backup of the configs to deploy in case a disaster.

Regards.

zero67

I tryed to install version 2.4.5-p1 on my pc with new mSata but when I move SSD to firebox M370 freeze on boot:

On my pc pfSense boot and working fine. How I can do?

stephenw10

Did you enable the serial console as I said you would need to if the install machine is not using serial?
https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/book/config/advanced-admin.html#serial-terminal

If not boot it on the PC and do that first.

Steve

zero67

@stephenw10 said in pfSense on Watchguard M370:

Did you enable the serial console

Hi, all working fine now! Thanks a lot

zero67

Hi all,

I have found best installation mode for pfSense on Firebox M370. You need only mSata to Sata adapter and another mSata SSD (I buyed 2 mSata SSD Trascend 64GB to keep original):

download and install balenaEtcher for Windows here:
https://www.balena.io/etcher/

attach adapter mSata to pc (with SSD1 mount on)

download latest version of pfSense:
https://www.pfsense.org/download/

extract image
start balenaEtcher and press flash from file
choice pfSense-CE-memstick-serial-2.4.5-RELEASE-p1-amd64.img
select target and flash SSD1 (be carefully to choice SSD!)
remove SSD1 from adapter
mount SSD1 to Firebox M370 slot
mount SSD2 to mSata to Sata adapter
connect mSata to Sata adapter to SATA1 on Firebox M370 motherboard
connect serial port to pc and start Putty
switch on Firebox M370
install pfSense
switch off Firebox M370
remove SSD2 from adapter and mount to Firebox M370 slot
switch on Firebox M370

That's all!

zero67

@stephenw10 said in pfSense on Watchguard M370:

./WGXepc64 -l green

Hi stephenw10, I try to do ./WGXepc64 -l green and all working fine (shield led become green). How I can do it on firebox startup?

thanks

stephenw10

Yes. Use a Shellcmd: https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/development/executing-commands-at-boot-time.html

zero67

This post is deleted!

stephenw10

Easier to use the Shellcmd package to avoid any xml errors. That looks correct though. (edit: gotta be inside the <system> tags)

Check the file permissions. It's probably running OK as root/admin but not the normal shellcmd user.

Steve

zero67

@stephenw10

I put shell command in the wrong place... ahh! All working fine now. Thanks for everything!!!

valepe69

@melozo hi, can you give me some links where to buy these cheap modules? Thanks

stephenw10

Yes let me know if you find that source!

They are waaaaay outside my 'experimental' price range here.

Steve

droid.dron

Hi @stephenw10

Thank you for putting so much effort and covering information about WatchGuard hardware and pfsense. I recently received XTM800 and wondered if it is possible to unlock bios for it. Before I used some
manuals for M400 and they work but didn't find info about XTM800.

Thank you!

stephenw10

The BIOS on the XTM800/1500 is not locked it just doesn't have console redirect to allow using the serial console.
There are other threads better suited for questions regarding that. This one maybe.

Steve

requiemshymn

Hi @stephenw10 ,

I recently replaced my firewall with a WG M370 that was donated to me and I was succesfully able to flash it with pfsense 2.5.1 CE. I'd like to thank you for the work and documentation for getting pfsense working on this box. I'm still a beginner and learning.

The only issue I have right now is when trying to get your WGXepc script working. It errors out on me whenever I try to run it via ssh, and using shellcmd to schedule it doesn't seem to work either. (I also couldnt get "." to execute the script either so I had to install bash not sure if this is part of my problem either).

Does the script still work for the latest version of pfsense 2.5.1 CE? I've attached a screenshot of the error I am getting. Thanks for any insight!

wxgepc error.PNG

stephenw10

It's not a script. That's the C code you would use to compile it. Download the compiled 64bit version (or compile it yourself) then run that:

[21.05-RELEASE][admin@m470.stevew.lan]/root: ./WGXepc64
Found Firebox M370/470/570/670.
WGXepc Version 1.5 5/6/2020 stephenw10
WGXepc can accept two arguments:
 -f (CPU fan) will return the current and minimum fan speed or if followed
    by a number in hex, 00-FF, will set it.
 -f2 (System fan) will return the current and minimum fan speed or if followed
    by a number in hex, 00-FF, will set it.
 -l (led) will set the arm/disarm led state to the second argument:
    red, green, red_flash, green_flash, red_flash_fast, green_flash_fast, off
 -b (backlight) will set the lcd backlight to the second argument:
    on or off. Do not use with LCD driver.
 -t (temperature) shows the current CPU temperature reported by the
    SuperIO chip. X-e box only.
Not all functions are supported by all models

Steve

requiemshymn

@stephenw10 Thanks very much! That worked for me and thanks again!