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    No Serial Console Menu

    2.0-RC Snapshot Feedback and Problems - RETIRED
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    • M
      Micro
      last edited by

      Hi all pfsensors,
      I'm facing the same issue as you on my pfsense.
      My pfsense box which is a watchguard Firebox X700 is actually running the embedded pfsense v1.2.3.
      With this release of pfsense, serial console is working perfectly.

      I would like to migrate to pfsense 2.0 RC1 and the serial console menu is not displayed.
      In the Web GUI, the serial interface is checked but nothing after "Bootup Complete" message.

      I'm running the Embedded kernel version in order to redirect the console output on serial interface and the ttys config file is all commented after install.
      So I modified the file to make the following line active (removed the sharp at the beginning of the line):
      ttyu0  "/usr/libexec/getty PC"  cons25  on    secure

      Unfortunately, serial console still doesn't display the menu  :'(

      SSH menu is working well but in case of mistake in configuration, the serial link is the best way to get back control on the system so I would like this link to work.

      If anybody has an idea to make it work, it would be nice.

      Thanks for your help.

      The biggest security issue is …. you !!!

      HW : Watchguard Firebox x700
      CPU : Intel Celeron 1.2GHz
      RAM : 256MB

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      • J
        jonallport
        last edited by

        Bump!

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        • R
          ramaza
          last edited by

          I have the same problem on my Firebox X700 and pfSense 2.0 RC3. I am unable to activate the serial console through webinterface or by using ssh and editing /etc/ttys.

          Boot messages are shown on serial console so cabling and everything else should be ok.

          Regards,
          Franz

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          • stephenw10S
            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
            last edited by

            Is your box an upgrade or fresh install of 2.0?
            I don't really see why that make any difference but it seems to.

            Steve

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            • R
              ramaza
              last edited by

              Its a fresh install of 2.0 RC3 on a 60Gigabyte Harddisk. The harddisk was moved to Firebox after initial installation and /etc/fstab had to be modified to allow normal boot without user interaction. Seems to be a well known and necessary procedure for Firebox.

              At first I tried the "enable serial console" option in the webinterface and rebootet. But except from the usual boot messages there was no reaction at the serial console. Afterwards I tried to modify /etc/ttys without any success.

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              • A
                adjuster
                last edited by

                I was also facing this issue on my Firebox X500. I simply solved this by invoking /etc/rc.initial by adding it to /etc/rc just before exit 0 at the end. Seems to be working just fine, except if I hit enter or ctrl-C in the menu. Then the behaviour isn't perhaps what it should be: /etc/rc get run again and at least web configurator dies.

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                • stephenw10S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  Hmm, interesting. This issue is going to become a problem for all X-core users when 2.0 is released.

                  Steve

                  Edit: Is anyone in this thread not using a Watchguard Firebox?
                  Seems very strange. It would appear that it's not a case of the console being sent somewhere other than the serial port but rather the script that displays the menu and subsequent actions is not being called.
                  Presumably something hardware related is stalling the script before it can run. Where is rc.initial called from?

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                  • D
                    dfwbt
                    last edited by

                    Ok,

                    Using the info found in here, and an old x500 laying around my house, I have come up with this "Band Aid" solution….

                    ssh into your pfSense equipped firebox, get to a command prompt, and issue the following commands -

                    mount -u -w /
                    cd /usr/local/share/misc
                    pkg_add -r wget
                    wget http://www.cps-texas.com/serialbandaid.sh
                    pkg_add -r nano
                    nano -w /etc/rc

                    (At this point you will be in the nano text editor.....)

                    Add the following lines just BEFORE exit 0 at the end of the file -

                    --- COPY BELOW ---

                    Firebox serial console "Band-Aid" Loop Fix

                    /usr/local/share/misc/serialbandaid.sh

                    --- END COPY ---

                    Hit Ctrl-X, y to save, and you're done.....

                    reboot your firebox, and VIOLA!! you now should have a functional serial console menu, complete with trapping CTRL-C, Enter, etc....

                    -Andy

                    Andrew Miffleton
                    Voice Network Technician
                    DFW Business Telephones, Inc.
                    1260 Shiloh Rd.
                    Plano, Texas 75074
                    (972)424-4242 x455
                    http://www.dfwbt.com

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                    • stephenw10S
                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                      last edited by

                      Nice.  :)
                      After looking through the many startup scripts I'm still none the wiser about where or how the rc.initial script is intended to run. Neither can I see what makes the X-core so 'special'. The serial console works just fine on other Watchguard hardware.

                      You can use fetch instead of wget and ee instead of nano, both are included in pfSense.

                      This is a good workaround though, thanks.

                      Steve

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                      • A
                        adjuster
                        last edited by

                        @dfwbt:

                        Ok,

                        Using the info found in here, and an old x500 laying around my house, I have come up with this "Band Aid" solution….

                        ...

                        wget http://www.cps-texas.com/serialbandaid.sh

                        Great! Thanks a lot!

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