Netgate 7100 1U - Check Boot order

MyNetworkRocks

Hi all,

I have added a while ago a second disk to my 7100 1U the firewall is solid and just forgot about it (of course been doing all the relevant OS and package updates through the GUI). I notice that my Netgear firmware it out of date: SystemNetgate Firmware Upgrade

Current Firmware Version01.00.00.11
Latest Firmware Version01.00.00.20

I noticed the warning though ->

Updating the firmware (Coreboot) on the Netgate 7100 causes the device to lose customizations to its default boot order.

In the default boot order if the device has multiple disks (e.g. On-board eMMC plus an add-on SATA device), the device will prefer to boot from the add-on disk rather than the on-board eMMC.

For most users this behavior is correct and expected, but if someone with this configuration has manually opted to boot from eMMC instead of an add-on disk, this boot order preference change must be reconfigured after updating the firmware

I just wanted to make sure which boot order I had before I try this as I really dont want to be trouble shooting over the holidays. Is there a command on SSH that I could check what the boot order is?

If memory serves me correctly I installed to the second HDD not the eMMC but I want to make sure. Also if the install was on the second HDD not the eMMC and I perform the firmware upgrade do I need to restore from back up etc (i.e. it loses all configs) or will it just do a firmware update and keep all config etc.
Would appreciate the guidence.

stephenw10

The firmware update will default the boot device value in the BIOS but won't change anything on the drives.

You should be able to see what device you're booting from currently using a combination of the commands: `glabel status' and 'mount -p'

To change the boot device you need to set it in the BIOS setup using the serial console.

Most importantly though you will only be able to upgrade the firmware there from 23.05.1. 23.09(.1) currently has a bug preventing that. So you if you have that or an earlier version installed to the other boot device you may be to boot to that and run the update. Or if you are running ZFS you can probably roll back to a BE snapshot from 23.05.1 Otherwise you may need to install 23.05.1 in order to run the firmware upgrade.
Open a ticket with us to get the install image for that if you don't have one: https://www.netgate.com/tac-support-request

Steve