Bugs/Problems with Netgate Installer Beta

JeGr · Apr 24, 2024, 10:18 AM

Hi there,

I was testing the new installer in our lab and stumbled upon quite a few things that are more or less buggy or annoying so I wanted to point them out (version is 24.03-beta2):

config recovery should perhaps be an option up front like "install" or "advanced" so it's clearer one is found, instead of after hitting "install"
static mode network for WAN connectivity: that seems a bit broken or prone to errors and it's not well to communicate, what goes where. Examples: IP Address doesn't mention you to use CIDR adressing to include mask, if you enter an IP it gets auto-/24-ed. If I change that to our lab mask of /27 that seems to work, but
default gws are buggy: if I enter a correct GW inside a non-/24 mask, it's always nagging with "Cannot set WAN interface Default Gateway <IP>" when I want to continue. Setting it to /24 just to install works but it's simply wrong and annoying, I have to set it up wrong just to change it again after boot :/
DNS server cannot be left empty (why? unbound is available as a resolver so should work without any DNS set up? Otherwise just make it clear it HAS to be set at least temporarily, but normally I don't want to set it as I want to use the resolver later anyways!)
LAN dialogue is even worse. Setting another IP address in a non-192.168.1.x range and disabling DHCPD doesn't let you continue as the "Cannot set LAN DHCP Range!" - I don't have/want DHCP so why is it not ignoring and deleting the ranges? You have to enable it again, deleting DOES NOT work so you have to set it up unnecessarily. Annoying.
after importing a config before step #2, why do I have to configure network interfaces all the way instead of it being read from said config? That's tedious. Also why do I need to set up LAN at all if it's throwing away the config anyways in favor of the imported one I gave it. Also: if the imported config is from other network interfaces, the config won't boot properly and you are up with configuring interfaces yet again. It's simply tedious and annoying at that point having to configure or assigning them a third time over. Especially with the bug in DHCP using the wrong start/end addresses and you having to enter multiple IPs for nothing. It would have been enough to just have WAN to have internet.
after the install destionation / drive / mode (stripe/mirror) selection, I had it multiple times as VMs, that the drive seems to NOT have been recreated/wiped but instead it booted a formerly installed older version instead. Perhaps a thing with the VM but I never had that with the normal installers though. Makes me wonder where exactly the installer was downloading and installing things to if not to the drive.
also: config import was "selected"/shown while installing, but afterwards the system booted and had a fresh install. No config imported. Weird!

An additional one not related to the installer per se:

It correctly detects KVM/QEMU. Why is there no qemu VM package like the Open-VM-Tools package

Those are the things that we were hitting in the lab until now.

Cheers :)

Gertjan · Apr 24, 2024, 10:30 AM

@JeGr said in Bugs/Problems with Netgate Installer Beta:

(version is 24.03-beta2)

Is gone.
It was replaced by 24.03 RC last week. And that's gone also.
24.03 Release is out. Your observations are still valid ?

bmeeks · Apr 24, 2024, 12:03 PM

@Gertjan said in Bugs/Problems with Netgate Installer Beta:

@JeGr said in Bugs/Problems with Netgate Installer Beta:

(version is 24.03-beta2)

Is gone.
It was replaced by 24.03 RC last week. And that's gone also.
24.03 Release is out. Your observations are still valid ?

@Gertjan, I believe he is talking about the relatively new pfSense Online Network Installer described here: https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/install/netinstaller.html. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) it currently has a major/minor versioning scheme that mimics pfSense Plus, so it's easy to get the two different products confused .

The Installer is currently still in BETA, but it should pull down and install whatever pfSense version is "current".

stephenw10 · Apr 24, 2024, 10:32 PM

Yes 24.03-Beta2 is still (confusingly!) the current version of the Net Installer. Expect an update name/number shortly.

That's all good feedback though. Thanks!

JeGr · Apr 26, 2024, 12:16 PM

@bmeeks said in Bugs/Problems with Netgate Installer Beta:

@Gertjan, I believe he is talking about the relatively new pfSense Online Network Installer described here: https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/install/netinstaller.html. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) it currently has a major/minor versioning scheme that mimics pfSense Plus, so it's easy to get the two different products confused .

It's literally in the caption: "Installer Beta" :) Yes I'm reporting details about the installer beta not the images that can be installed which have other versions alltogether :)

lvrmsc · Jun 1, 2024, 1:46 PM

Point 3 (gw which can't be set unless IP is /24) is a nightmare. I only happened to bypass using /24 by accident.

All of the WAN/LAN settings does at the installer stage are completely lost when the installed system reboots. Need to redo it all with the command line wizard.

I do not see the point of the installer.
Is it so hard to let download either an ISO for pfSense CE or an ISO for pfSense+ ?
Or keep a single ISO for pfSense CE and keep the move to pfSense+ as an opt-in upgrade from the installed pfSense CE, as before. What were the issues which triggered this effort toward a far from sleek and complete global installer ?

stephenw10 · Jun 1, 2024, 1:46 PM

@lvrmsc said in Bugs/Problems with Netgate Installer Beta:

Point 3 (gw which can't be set unless IP is /24) is a nightmare. I only happened to bypass using /24 by accident.

That's fixed in the new version which is imminent.

@lvrmsc said in Bugs/Problems with Netgate Installer Beta:

All of the WAN/LAN settings does at the installer stage are completely lost when the installed system reboots. Need to redo it all with the command line wizard.

Yes, that's a feature that's coming. It would also be nice to pull the WAN settings from an imported or recovered config at that stage.

Gcon · Jun 15, 2024, 3:28 PM

@lvrmsc said in Bugs/Problems with Netgate Installer Beta:

I do not see the point of the installer.
Is it so hard to let download either an ISO for pfSense CE or an ISO for pfSense+ ?
Or keep a single ISO for pfSense CE and keep the move to pfSense+ as an opt-in upgrade from the installed pfSense CE, as before. What were the issues which triggered this effort toward a far from sleek and complete global installer ?

The point of the net installer for me is to be able to install 23.09.1. If you install CE and then move to pfSense+, it only gives you the option to move to 24.03 and no other version.

The second reason is that of convenience. I just did a netinstall over the top of another virtualised pfSense build and in no time at all I had everything reinstalled and it took in my previous config sitting on the disk. I was really impressed. I did have the issue of the /24 on the WAN being enforced and borking if I added /29, and the borking about the DHCP range when I have DHCP on the LAN turned off, but thankfully those issues were able to be worked around and bypassed.