fatal error - cannot restore 2.4.2 backup in 2.4.4

[goodthings]

I have the config of a failed pfsense appliance running 2.4.2 and am trying to replace it with a new appliance running 2.4.4. Both of them are Netgate SG-4680s.

When I restore the backup the firewall boots up but all interfaces are unresponsive. Is this a known issue or is there anything I can manually modify in the backup to fix this? Does anybody know where I can find the non-community version of 2.4.2 for Netgate devices in order to perhaps downgrade the newer appliance?

Loading configuration......done.
Updating configuration....
Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Cannot use string offset as an array in /etc/inc/upgrade_config.inc:5502
Stack trace:
#0 /etc/inc/config.lib.inc(378): upgrade_174_to_175()
#1 /etc/rc.bootup(125): convert_config()
#2 {main}
  thrown in /etc/inc/upgrade_config.inc on line 5502
PHP ERROR: Type: 1, File: /etc/inc/upgrade_config.inc, Line: 5502, Message: Uncaught Error: Cannot use string offset as an array in /etc/inc/upgrade_config.inc:5502
Stack trace:
#0 /etc/inc/config.lib.inc(378): upgrade_174_to_175()
#1 /etc/rc.bootup(125): convert_config()
#2 {main}
  thrownStarting CRON... done.
pfSense 2.4.4-RELEASE amd64 Thu Sep 20 09:33:19 EDT 2018
Bootup complete

FreeBSD/amd64 (Amnesiac) (ttyu1)

[Rico]

With Portal Access you can download 2.4.2 here https://portal.pfsense.org/firmware/memstick/old/

-Rico

[goodthings]

Unfortunately I don't have portal access.

In an act of pure desperation I searched github for the function "function upgrade_174_to_175()" and found that it relates to ipsec phase1.

The (non-functional) 2.4.2 config looked like this:

	<ipsec>
		<phase1></phase1>
		<logging>
			[...]
		</logging>
	</ipsec>

I compared it to other configs and manually deleted the empty "phase 1" element. The configuration upgraded successfully.

	<ipsec>
		<logging>
			[...]
		</logging>
	</ipsec>

That was a bit of a nightmare.

[mohscorpion]

for me happened as it was stuck in update and i reset the VM, so i restored the whole VM to old version and updated again .
this time i didn't pay attention to system appear to be hang, i waited till update finished and this time everything worked as it was supposed too

[jimp]

I've been looking for that one. Someone mentioned it here or on Reddit a week or two ago but I never got to see the config that triggered it.

Now that I have the error and the original config I can reproduce it and fix it.

https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/9083

Thanks!

[jimp]

I was able to reproduce it in a VM, and then confirm my fix corrected the issue. The patch is in place for our next release.

[webdawg]

This just happened to me too.

Exact same issue. I consoled into the device, removed the <phase1></phase1/> line, and was good to go.

The next release being? (it looks like 2.4.4-p1)....do you know when they release this?

I do not think I ever configured ipsec for this router, do you know how the phase1 line got in there?

[webdawg]

@jimp said in fatal error - cannot restore 2.4.2 backup in 2.4.4:

I was able to reproduce it in a VM, and then confirm my fix corrected the issue. The patch is in place for our next release.

Does this issue still exist in 2.4.4_1? That is, will i be hit with this problem if I upgrade to this revision? Can I please have an answer on this, I have a few devices to upgrade with similar configurations, and I do not want to be hit with this issue.

[jimp]

This problem is corrected in 2.4.4-p1. If you check the redmine entry linked above, you can see that it is marked as resolved with a target of 2.4.4-p1.

[DLeVasseur]

@goodthings said in fatal error - cannot restore 2.4.2 backup in 2.4.4:

Unfortunately I don't have portal access.

In an act of pure desperation I searched github for the function "function upgrade_174_to_175()" and found that it relates to ipsec phase1.

The (non-functional) 2.4.2 config looked like this:

	<ipsec>
		<phase1></phase1>
		<logging>
			[...]
		</logging>
	</ipsec>

I compared it to other configs and manually deleted the empty "phase 1" element. The configuration upgraded successfully.

	<ipsec>
		<logging>
			[...]
		</logging>
	</ipsec>

That was a bit of a nightmare.

Thanks for this bit of information. I was reinstalling from a rather old configuration file and my XML file just had a <phase1 /> line. After removing that the configuration installed properly.

Without removing that my dashboard was extremely slow to load and my NIC assignments would not persist on reboot.