Install PFsense on CF
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What is the best way to install pfsense on a CF drive?
TB
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Load the image for nanobsd or, if you've got a high quality card, just install the full version as you would to a hard drive.
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Thanks but how do I do that?
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Do which? You were given 2 options (and obviously haven't used the forum's search function).
For installing the image, that depends on the OS you're running on the machine you'll be writing the image on. For a full install, boot from the CD and select the install option.
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@TeaBagger:
Thanks but how do I do that?
Apparently, that's a secret…
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Apparently, that's a secret…
If it is a secret, it's a well documented one, that's been covered a number of times in the forum.
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Load the image for nanobsd or, if you've got a high quality card, just install the full version as you would to a hard drive.
Wouldn't installing the full version to a CF card (baring a Microdrive) kill the card eventually?
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Yes.
But if you use an industrial-grade CF, they are built with SLC flash instead of MLC flash (100k vs 10k cycles) and usually contain similar balancing controllers as you find in an SSD, meaning these 100k become fast 1000k cycles or more.
If you have a CF with say 8 GB, (divide 8GB by the average amount of writes multiplied with the number of write-cycles), this can lead easily to several years life-time. -
Wouldn't installing the full version to a CF card (baring a Microdrive) kill the card eventually?
Yes, but take a look through the forum, some of the developers have been doing that without problems. It comes down to the nature of your system and the quality of your card.
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All of my pfSense boxes at work use full installs on Transcend 8GB SLC CF cards. They're about $100 each but will last basically forever.
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Wouldn't installing the full version to a CF card (baring a Microdrive) kill the card eventually?
It's also worth reminding folks that the "micro hard drive" form of CF cards have basically infinite write cycles as well. They aren't very common these days, but you can usually find them on ebay for very little. If you go this route, do NOT get Seagate branded drives as they won't boot on FreeBSD. I have used the Hitachi brand successfully (and the IBM brand before it was sold to Hitachi).
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I bought a 4GB Seagate microdrive on eBay. It wouldn't work with FreeBSD when plugged into a CF to IDE adapter which was plugged into a motherboard IDE connector but did work when I connected it through a USB "card reader".
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Which method is better running pfsense on a DOM or of CF flash?
a 2 GB DOM on Ebay is roughly 35$ a quality 8 GB CFlash is a little over 100$.
IS 2GB enough for the DOM?
Trying to decide a non HD solution, I will be installing this form a remote location and I need this system bulletproof since i can't reinstall it, if I need to.
Thanks
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I've used a 1GB DOM for a couple of years without apparent problem. 2GB may not be enough if you are planning to use packages that are heavy disk users (e.g. squid).
I suspect you could see filesystem problems if you get a powerfail while the configuration file is being updated. I have seen file system problems and configuration file corruption when pfSense 2.0 BETA was panicing when rum devices were enabled.
