Restoring backup config to old device

[ebbvee]

I restore config to another device but I have click the apply changes without reassign interfaces, Now I cannot connect. Please advise, Im new to PFSense and restoration

[Rico]

Reassign the Interfaces using the local console.

-Rico

[ebbvee]

@Rico
Hi Rico, can you elaborate how to connect to local console? sorry I am new to this, first time to do restoration.

[Rico]

Depending on which device you are using pfSense. For any standard PC the local console is your VGA and keyboard. ;-)
Check https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/hardware/console-types.html

-Rico

[ebbvee]

@Rico
i restore config from SG-4860 to PFSense VK-T40E2

[Rico]

So you need the serial console:
https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/solutions/vk-t40e/connect-to-console.html
https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/hardware/connecting-to-the-serial-console.html

-Rico

[stephenw10]

There are 6 NICs on the SG-4860 and only 3 on the VK-T40E (APU). You might have some that cannot be used.

The NICs are different there too. It should asked you to re-assign them before rebooting. But they can be assigned at the console afterwards.

Were both firewalls running the current pfSense version, 2.4.4p2? Or at least the same version?

Steve

[ebbvee]

@stephenw10 hu steve if it is different version? what to do? i was stuck on this still I cannot connect to the device

[stephenw10]

You should never restore a config from a newer version into an older version. More recent versions include a code to warn you of that but if your VK-T40E was running a much older version it may have caused an issue when you imported a 2.4.4p2 config into it.

Whatever happened you need to connect to the serial console on the VK-T40E and see what is happening there.

Steve

[ebbvee]

@stephenw10 hi Stephen Thanks for your response and I also tried to connect to serial console using putty but nothing will show up.
Any idea how to fix this?

[stephenw10]

If there's no output at all on the serial port the hardware is dead. You should always see something from Coreboot even if there's no media present.

The only possible exception to that is if you've disabled the serial port in Coreboot. In which case you can reset the Coreboot values to default by powering up with the reset button pressed:
https://pcengines.ch/howto.htm#serialconsole

However it's much more likely your terminal setup not correct. Try 38400baud or 9600.

Steve