"Branch" dropdown empty, /usr/local/etc/pfSense/pkg/repos/ empty - 2.7.2 CE

[McNubblet]

Heyas,

When going to System -> Update in the Web GUI, the Branch dropdown list is empty, and the following displays under Messages:

pfSense-repoc: si_get_packages: failed to run the pkg info command: /usr/local/sbin/pkg-static info -R --raw-format json-compact pfSense-pkg-\* 2>&1 pfSense-repoc: no pfSense packages installed 

This instance is running in Azure in a dev environment and is created from a VHD running in a local HyperV.

The HyperV VM is working perfrectly, however when I created the Azure VM from the VHD from HyperV it's totally wiped out the contents of /usr/local/etc/pfSense/pkg/repos/

I re-created the missing files on the Azure VM from the HyperV VM and rebooted, and the files have been removed again.

Am I missing something here?

Cheers,
Nub

[McNubblet]

I've redeployed to attempt to reproduce and i'm experiencing the same error, still occuring.

When going to System -> Update in the Web GUI, the Branch dropdown list is empty, and the following displays under Messages:

pfSense-repoc: si_get_packages: failed to run the pkg info command: /usr/local/sbin/pkg-static info -R --raw-format json-compact pfSense-pkg-\* 2>&1 pfSense-repoc: no pfSense packages installed 

When running the "Update from console" i get the following output:

cp: /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/pfSense.conf: No such file or directory
pfSense-repoc-static: si_get_packages: failed to run the pkg info command: /usr/local/sbin/pkg-static info -R --raw-format json-compact pfSense-pkg-\* 2>&1
pfSense-repoc-static: no pfSense packages installed
ERROR: It was not possible to determine pkg remote version
ERROR: It was not possible to determine pkg remote version
>>> Updating repositories metadata...
pkg-static: Unable to open '/usr/local/etc/pkg/repos//pfSense.conf':No such file or directory
No active remote repositories configured.
ERROR: It was not possible to determine pfSense-upgrade remote version
ERROR: It was not possible to determine pfSense-upgrade remote version
>>> Upgrading pfSense-upgrade... failed.

On the problem device, the file referenced is a link going nowhere:

[2.7.2-RELEASE][admin@pfSense720v1.az.build]/root: ls -la /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/
total 2
drwxr-xr-x  2 root wheel  4 Apr 11 13:25 .
drwxr-xr-x  3 root wheel  3 Dec  7 08:10 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 root wheel 26 Dec  7 07:09 FreeBSD.conf
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root wheel 56 Apr 11 13:25 pfSense.conf -> /usr/local/etc/pfSense/pkg/repos/pfSense-repo-2.7.2.conf
[2.7.2-RELEASE][admin@pfSense720v1.az.build]/root: ls -la /usr/local/etc/pfSense/pkg/repos/
total 1
drwxr-xr-x  2 root wheel 2 Apr 11 15:51 .
drwxr-xr-x  3 root wheel 3 Apr 11 15:51 ..
[2.7.2-RELEASE][admin@pfSense720v1.az.build]/root:

On the original device:

[2.7.2-RELEASE][admin@pfSense720v1.az.build]/root: ls -la /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/
total 2
drwxr-xr-x  2 root wheel  4 Apr 11 13:25 .
drwxr-xr-x  3 root wheel  3 Dec  7 08:10 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 root wheel 26 Dec  7 07:09 FreeBSD.conf
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root wheel 56 Apr 11 13:25 pfSense.conf -> /usr/local/etc/pfSense/pkg/repos/pfSense-repo-2.7.2.conf
[2.7.2-RELEASE][admin@pfSense720v1.az.build]/root: ls -la /usr/local/etc/pfSense/pkg/repos/
total 16
drwxr-xr-x  2 root wheel   8 Apr 11 14:09 .
drwxr-xr-x  3 root wheel   3 Apr 11 14:09 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 root wheel  16 Apr 11 14:09 pfSense-repo-2.7.2.abi
-rw-r--r--  1 root wheel  18 Apr 11 15:01 pfSense-repo-2.7.2.altabi
-rw-r--r--  1 root wheel 465 Apr 11 15:01 pfSense-repo-2.7.2.conf
-rw-r--r--  1 root wheel   1 Apr 11 14:09 pfSense-repo-2.7.2.default
-rw-r--r--  1 root wheel  30 Apr 11 14:09 pfSense-repo-2.7.2.descr
-rw-r--r--  1 root wheel   5 Apr 11 14:09 pfSense-repo-2.7.2.name
[2.7.2-RELEASE][admin@pfSense720v1.az.build]/root:

It looks like simply booting the VHD within Azure has done something weird.

[stephenw10]

pfSense CE is not intended to run in Azure. The Plus image has some additional integrations to allow it to run correctly.

Steve

[McNubblet]

@stephenw10 said in "Branch" dropdown empty, /usr/local/etc/pfSense/pkg/repos/ empty - 2.7.2 CE:

pfSense CE is not intended to run in Azure. The Plus image has some additional integrations to allow it to run correctly.

Steve

Thanks for the reply.

I'm running multiple other CE installs in front of dev environments flawlessly in Azure - what extra integrations are in the plus?

Does the CE appliance detect it's running in Azure and then cripple itself? I deployed a test appliance in HyperV from the same VHD and it worked fine, which suggests this might be the case.

Cheers.

[McNubblet]

Narrowed it down to pfSense-repoc and pfSense-repoc-static deleting the content of /usr/local/etc/pfSense/pkg/repos/ whenever it's run.

The command doesn't delete the content of /usr/local/etc/pfSense/pkg/repos/ when run on a HyperV VM.

It's listed as "pfSense dynamic repository client" and is internal with no source I could find, so unless it's a bug, it's intentional.

To stop it clearing out /usr/local/etc/pfSense/pkg/repos/ to at least be able to install packages (I doubt I'll be able to update):

cp /usr/local/share/pfSense/pkg/repos/pfSense-repo.conf /usr/local/etc/pfSense/pkg/repos/pfSense-repo-2.7.2.conf
cp /usr/local/share/pfSense/pkg/repos/pfSense-repo.conf.default /usr/local/etc/pfSense/pkg/repos/pfSense-repo-2.7.2.default
cp /usr/local/share/pfSense/pkg/repos/pfSense-repo.descr /usr/local/etc/pfSense/pkg/repos/pfSense-repo-2.7.2.descr
echo '2.7.2' > /usr/local/etc/pfSense/pkg/repos/pfSense-repo-2.7.2.name

mv /usr/local/sbin/pfSense-repoc /usr/local/sbin/pfSense-repoc.orig
mv /usr/local/sbin/pfSense-repoc-static /usr/local/sbin/pfSense-repoc.oric-static.orig

touch /usr/local/sbin/pfSense-repoc
chmod +x /usr/local/sbin/pfSense-repoc
cp /usr/local/sbin/pfSense-repoc /usr/local/sbin/pfSense-repoc-static

Gotta say, if this is intentional, it's pretty underhanded intentionally crippling the CE software if it's running under Azure to force users onto Plus. It runs fine otherwise.

[jwt]

@McNubblet

Azure virtual machines are different to on-prem Hyper-V, it might run the same virtual machine monitor code, but its functionality differs because of extra integration with Azure cloud.

Additionally, pfSense Plus has kernel and boot loader changes to let it run in Azure.

As a reminder, the pfSense trademark can only be used to refer to genuine pfSense software.

[McNubblet]

@jwt

Thanks for the reply.

Appreciate that there are the stated changes to Plus, they probably allow it to run more efficiently, however as I said, it runs fine without them.

CE boots fine, it packet filters, it VPNs, it forwards traffic, it routes, it does everything I need from a FW in front a dev environment. There's no way I will convince the powers-that-be to drop $$$ on a device in front of a dev environment. It's FAR cheaper running CE on a B1 device than the other MS alternatives.

Cheers,
Nub

[jwt]

@McNubblet $75/mo on a B1MS doesn’t seem like that bit a hit to run Plus.

[McNubblet]

@jwt

B1MS 1 Year reserved, P2 disk, 100GB data = $17 AUD / month, which is all covered by the credit included with the dev sub.

[rattle007_beat]

@McNubblet Great find, how did you end up figuring that out? I've been wasting y whole day on this.
I'm on a similar situation where I run pfsense CE on AWS and Azure VMs. I recenlty upgrade to 2.7.2 and the branches is now empty.
Is that the end of pfsense CE on cloud?

[stephenw10]

CE was never intended to run on AWS or Azure, where Plus is available.

As far as I know it's possible to run it in other cloud providers, GCP, Oracle etc.

[yurus]

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