NG-1100 update issues

pvswie

@SteveITS
Thanks for the reply. Yes I have an additional package installed and no, I did not uninstall it before the update. I never did. Is that your recommendation or is it a strict requirement.

Anyway: I followed your link but get into an endless loop of pages. Either the website is broken or such a request is no longer an option. Netgate changed their support some time ago and I have no clue of whether it impacts this.

Is there any other way to get a install image for a NG-1100. Maybe another user that has a copy?

Kind regards,
Peter

SteveITS

@pvswie the link near the top of that page goes to the form at https://www.netgate.com/tac-support-request for me…? Try go.netgate.com. That’s the only place to get firmware.

Per the upgrade guide https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/install/upgrade-guide-prepare.html#packages
“The safest practice is to remove all packages before upgrading to a new release. The upgrade process will handle packages automatically, but packages are frequently a source of problems. To ensure a smooth upgrade, note the installed packages, remove them, perform the upgrade, and then reinstall when the upgrade is complete.”

In short it’s supposed to uninstall/reinstall for you but can get wonky if upgrading both the OS and PHP for example. We uninstall “big” packages like pfBlocker and Suricata but leave smaller ones like Apcupsd. Again I’m just brainstorming for you as there seems to be something that triggers on some 1100s but obviously not all of them.

pvswie

@SteveITS Thanks for the reply.
I used a different browser and PC and managed to issue a request.
I entered the S/N and NDI of both failing devices. Lets wait to see whether that works

Kind regards
Peter

stephenw10

Mmm, it looks like you defaulted the config before the upgrade which would have uninstalled any packages.

It also does look like it failed to upgrade completely. The upgrade log from /conf might show more.

pvswie

@stephenw10
I will start by trying to recover one NG-1100 only, the first one where I am not 100% sure how I got the NG-1100 into this error.

If you tell me how to get access to this upgrade log in /conf I can try to get a copy and submit it to you.
In case you are interested: please be aware the micro-usb console also fails to login due to the missing /etc/rc.initial

Maybe I can boot from a USB disk and access the internal flash disk like that. If so you have to direct me to the image to load on the USB and boot the 1100

Kind regards
Peter

stephenw10

It depends how far it's booting. If you can reach a prompt you can just check it from the command line.

If you just need to recover it though you can just use the recovery image to reflash it. Open a ticket with us to request the image:
https://www.netgate.com/tac-support-request

pvswie

@stephenw10
No, neither ssh nor the USB/serial console works so no chance using that.

Are there any options to get access to the file system through the boot menu or maybe during the steps as described in https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/solutions/sg-1100/reinstall-pfsense.html. A simple indication of where to start is sufficient for me, I am a BSD/linux command line user.

stephenw10

It looks like you can see the loader menu at the console though?

You may be able to select single user mode there and recover the config file from there.

pvswie

@stephenw10
Hi,

I finally got into trying to extract files/folders from a malfunctioning 1100.
Yes, I manage to get into single user mode. and am able to start /bin/sh
A few messages up you mentioned 'The upgrade log from /conf'. In single user mode:

I do find /conf, its a symbolic link to /cf/conf which does not exist
Logging in on a 23.09 operational device I found I need to do mount -t zfs pfSense/ROOT/default/cf /cf. This gives me a /cf/conf folder.
There indeed is a upgrade_log.txt file in this folder but its contents are not very useful: 84 bytes consisting of 2 lines stating the repository is updating and that 23.09 is available

I can basically provide you any file(s) but you need to tell me which.

Kind Regards,
Peter

stephenw10

You should see upgrade_log.latest.txt after an upgrade has run.

Can you mount the cf dataset manually as shown here?:
https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/troubleshooting/single-user-mode.html#re-mount-zfs-volumes-as-read-write