2.4.5p1 ISO too large for CD
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@rosmaniac unsure where you are downloading from but wouldn't trust anything but the official source. A simple google search yielded
https://www.pfsense.org/download/
The download size is 372 megabytes rounded up, well under the size of a CD.
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@gabacho4 Thanks for the reply, but the raw download size is the compressed ISO. Uncompress that ISO and see what size it is. Looking at my directory of downloaded ISO's:
[lowen@localhost iso]$ ls -lh pfSense-CE-2.4.*.iso -rw-rw-r--. 1 lowen lowen 579M Jan 18 15:30 pfSense-CE-2.4.3-RELEASE-amd64.iso -rw-rw-r--. 1 lowen lowen 654M Jan 18 16:49 pfSense-CE-2.4.4-RELEASE-amd64.iso -rw-rw-r--. 1 lowen lowen 665M Jan 18 16:49 pfSense-CE-2.4.4-RELEASE-p3-amd64.iso -rw-rw-r--. 1 lowen lowen 704M Jan 18 16:49 pfSense-CE-2.4.5-RELEASE-amd64.iso -rw-rw-r--. 1 lowen lowen 718M Jan 16 10:50 pfSense-CE-2.4.5-RELEASE-p1-amd64.iso [lowen@localhost iso]$CD's top out at 700MB. 2.4.4p3 will fit; 2.4.5-RELEASE will not. And, of course, the official source only has 2.4.5p1. At least I was able to find 2.4.4p3, better than 2.4.3.
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@rosmaniac very interesting indeed. I just tried myself and sure enough I get the same results. You've certainly informed me. I've been using the USB installer for years and never really paid attention since it has 16 gigs of space. I guess the only thing you can do is use an older version and then update once installed. That or make the case for why updated hardware would be needed, if even only for a DVD drive.
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@gabacho4 A DVD drive would be a possibility, if I can find one cheap enough. Client is a non-profit, and the servers in use are all donated boxen. I'll keep the older 2.4.4p3 ISO around for reinstall cases, and see if I can't get some newer hardware from donors..... but I felt like I should report this, since I hadn't seen anything in the release notes, install docs, or the forum that warned me. Glad I didn't need to do this in an outage/emergency situation!
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I would hope you can get a DVD drive for nothing almost anywhere, unless it's some quirky form factor for the server.
The 2.5 USB images are now >1GB. I have to retire all my old flash drives.
Good excuse to get new ones though!
Steve
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@rosmaniac said in 2.4.5p1 ISO too large for CD:
@gabacho4 A DVD drive would be a possibility, if I can find one cheap enough. Client is a non-profit, and the servers in use are all donated boxen. I'll keep the older 2.4.4p3 ISO around for reinstall cases, and see if I can't get some newer hardware from donors..... but I felt like I should report this, since I hadn't seen anything in the release notes, install docs, or the forum that warned me. Glad I didn't need to do this in an outage/emergency situation!
In the US, computer stores like Micro Center sells bulk DVD drives for $15 to $20 each, regular price, even cheaper when they are on sale. DVD drives seem to be something that you only use a few times a year and if you leave them in a computer case, they tend to get full of dust and then don't read correctly. I usually just connect them when I need to use one and then disconnect it so it doesn't get full of dust.
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@jdeloach These are Dell servers with laptop form-factor drives. I just need to check if they're Dell-proprietary or not.
Again, I'm not complaining about the image size; I'm just mentioning it so it's known that this could be a problem if you download the currently-available image and find out you can't boot it and need to get a pfSense box back online and don't have a DVD drive readily available while the client complains that their internet is down.... ya know, posting for informational purposes.
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@stephenw10 Useful info, thanks. When an image overflows media size, it needs to be documented, in my opinion, somewhere. This recently happened to the CentOS 8 install images, which now are too large for a dual-layer DVD (not that it matters, since I'm moving off of CentOS due to the change in support for version 8.x, but that's off-topic). And overflow an 8GB USB stick; need a 16GB stick, which are cheap as dirt, but still when you aren't expecting the need to upsize media it's easy to get caught in a bind.
For pfSense this especially applies since older images aren't available any more for official download.
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@rosmaniac I'd be curious to know how old the boxen you are working with are. No DVD drive and issues with USB suggests they are dated. Understand your client is a non-profit but I don't think it's fair to you or Netgate for that matter, that someone using antiquated tech would complain about an outage exacerbated by the inability of their systems to support basic functions. Nothing lasts forever, especially in the tech sphere. The upgrade from older pfsense versions to current can be tricky sometimes too due to upgrading the FreeBSD versions and other changes.
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@rosmaniac said in 2.4.5p1 ISO too large for CD:
For pfSense this especially applies since older images aren't available any more for official download.
Hi,
is it clear or not?
when it is constantly evolving an OS and / or NGFW it contains more things - it is a pleasure
installing old images is suicidal moment...
this is a firewall, so the old image(s) 2.4.4 - 2.4.3 does not include new vulnerability fixes, there are extra package dependencies due to each version, etc....
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@gabacho4 said in 2.4.5p1 ISO too large for CD:
@rosmaniac I'd be curious to know how old the boxen you are working with are. No DVD drive and issues with USB suggests they are dated. ..
I was just providing what I considered to be useful information that the current images do not boot off CD drives, which are documented as supported hardware, anymore, that's all. The age of the machines (old, but reliable) is irrelevant for informational purposes. I'm not asking for the images to be reduced in size.
@DaddyGo I've been running a *nix for 30 years; familiar with progress I am, understand the Netgate reasoning I do, but caught in a bind I be. 2.4.4p3 is still supported by Netgate according to Netgate's docs so it's not 'suicide' to use that media to install from. This is not my first rodeo; I've read the release notes and know what the potential exposure is; I do this kind of stuff for a living. I'm not even asking for the old versions' images to be restored; just simply providing information that if you only have a CD drive in your firewall you need to be aware that 2.4.5 and later will not fit on that media, even though the ISO is billed as CD/DVD, implying it will work on CD media.
Client is happy, and machine is back online. Once I have time to tear into one of the spares I'll see what kind of DVD drives I need to look for on eBay.
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You can still install 2.4.4p3 and then upgrade to current. Minimal risk.
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@rosmaniac said in 2.4.5p1 ISO too large for CD:
implying it will work on CD media.
They do make 90min CDs, I believe all the way up to 99min or 870MBs.. So while this image is a tad over your 80min/700MB CDR.. It still fits on CD..
But to be honest - who actually uses CD media these days..I had to dig through my shelf.. And I did find a few single 700MB CD-Rs.. Not even sure why I kept them? Not even sure why I have any dvds to be honest.. I do have some BDs I burn home movies to for archive reasons..
But your point is valid I guess.. There should prob be mention that specific size CD is required like 90Min.. Or change to DVD for the description of what optical media you can burn too.
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I still have some mini CD-Rs here I can't bring myself to throw away. I think they were like ~220MB. Never try to use one in a slot loading drive, ask me how I know!
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Yeah - guess many of techy guys are hoarders by nature. I just recently got rid of like 6 old floppy drives I had on the shelf.. And an old superdisk drive, you remember the ones that could fit 120MB on disk that looked just like normal 3.5, and it would even read normal 3.5 floppies.. They were way better than the old zip drives and slightly more space ;)
But now that you can carry around 128GB usb thumb on your keychain.. Shoot I have a bunch of 32GB sticks in my draw that I do use now and then to give friends and family media.. I just say keep them... I have like 10 more in the drawer ;)
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@johnpoz said in 2.4.5p1 ISO too large for CD:
@rosmaniac said in 2.4.5p1 ISO too large for CD:
implying it will work on CD media.
They do make 90min CDs, I believe all the way up to 99min or 870MBs.. ...
But your point is valid I guess.. There should prob be mention that specific size CD is required like 90Min.. Or change to DVD for the description of what optical media you can burn too.Yeah, 90 and even 100 minute CDRs are available, mainly for those who want their 90-minute and 100-minute cassette mix tapes to fit on CD.... but the Verbatims I have are all 700MB. Yow, those higher-capacity discs are quite a bit more expensive.... $15 will get 100 Verbatim 700MB inkjet-printable CDR's (I use these for audio production purposes doing low-volume CD releases for local musicians who want actual CD releases, so I happened to have those in-hand to do this re-install); 25 100-minute/900MB discs are $25. I can likely buy the DVD drive for that amount.
Yeah, a simple note about the image size is all I'm after. Mentioning the higher capacity CDs would of course be fine, but if 2.5 and up are going to be >1GB why not just drop the CD entirely?
Thanks for taking the time to reply.
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@rosmaniac point well made. Thanks again for illuminating me personally on the size of the image.
This conversation had reminded me of how far technology has come in a matter of only a few years. Seems like only yesterday I was installing Windows 95, one 3.25 floppy at a time x 14 (or so). I do miss the grinding and humming sound of those drives. People knew you were busy just by that sound! Maybe Netgate can create a retro installation package made up of 20 or so of those floppies for us older folks. I'm not willing to try punch cards...
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Not sure if fond memories ;) hehehe
Getting to disk X and having a read error...
Not sure why I have fond memories of going around to all the machines and installing the co-processors in the 486 machines ;)
And do recall having to actual add tcp to our windows 3.1 machines.. Seems like yesterday sometimes!
edit:
I looked - I thought I had some 800MB CDRWs laying around - I must of tossed them.. Did find a old box of 3.5 floppies though.. Why and the F did I keep these, when I threw out all the 3.5 drives ;) heheheh -
@johnpoz said in 2.4.5p1 ISO too large for CD:
Why and the F did I keep these, when I threw out all the 3.5 drives ;)
Because they have all that BTC stuff on them?
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Haha - I wish ;)
Like that guy that threw away like 7k bitcoins.. And now is trying to get permission from the dump to go diving for the drive..
https://news.bitcoin.com/man-accidentally-threw-away-hard-drive-with-7500-bitcoins-million-landfill/
I would of transferred them to modern storage years and years go if that was the case..
