Revised New Build
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O.K. great, thanks to the two of you for posting informative responses to my questions. I found a SATA DOM that will fit in the server chassis, but it costs in the neighborhood of $140-$230! I think I will go with a USB thumb drive: a top-rated 4 GB unit at New Egg runs about $11–if it ever fails, replacing it would be cheap. Regarding the latter, do you think that 4 GB is sufficient or should I go with 8 GB? Also, which version of the embedded firmware should I use? Please keep in mind I would like to use the IPMI (ver. 2) feature of the motherboard, so I assume I should use one of the VGA versions? And which size? If you can elaborate on how to change the default boot timeout, I would additionally appreciate that information. I will shut down the log reporting features.
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4GB will be fine.
There are some interesting notes on running pfSense on that board here:
http://www.servethehome.com/supermicro-x7spehfd525-8gb-ddr3-ipmi-pfsense-freenas-unraid-linux-power-consumption/Here is info on the boot delay:
http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Boot_Troubleshooting#Booting_from_USBI've never used IPMI so can't help you there. ;)
Steve
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AFAIK the IPMI is living its on life and not OS dependent. I use it often on my Dell SC1435.
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There are some interesting notes on running pfSense on that board here:
http://www.servethehome.com/supermicro-x7spehfd525-8gb-ddr3-ipmi-pfsense-freenas-unraid-linux-power-consumption/Thanks for link. :)
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Thanks again, guys, the information you have supplied is exactly what I needed and the article on the PfSense application of the motherboard I was considering was interesting and informative. I went ahead and ordered all my components from New Egg yesterday. Hopefully, they will arrive in time that I may assemble them this weekend. I ordered a 4 GB USB thumb drive along with an internal 6-inch header to USB-A cable. I should be able to strap the thumb drive somwhere inside the chassis with a plastic wire tie. I can always replace it with something more elegant at a later date. Once I get the rig up and running, I will consider purchasing a riser card and a Viking PCI ADSL-2 modem card (if I can find a vendor that sells them in the USA). I will assume that the correct version of the PfSense embedded firmware that I will need to download (I'd like to run the 64-bit version) is "pfSense-2.0.1-RELEASE-4g-amd64-nanobsd_vga.img" ???
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Unless you have bought a particularly long USB drive you should just be able to plug it into the internal USB socket on the board.
That is the correct image if you need VGA. That board has a serial port though so you could use the standard Nano image with a null modem cable. Either way you will probably be faced with a mount root error the first time you boot. Don't panic! That's normal, you simply have to tell pfSense where your USB drive is connected and then edit the fstab so it knows next time.
Steve
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Thanks stephenw10, I goofed in assuming the on-board headers did not include a USB-A port. I just purchased a mini-USB device at Staples and loaded the firmware on it as the USB drive I purchased through New Egg is indeed too tall to plug into the onboard USB-A port. I received all my other hardware in the mail today and will assemble it tomorrow. Wish me well.
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Up-n-Running! And it's already a heck of a lot faster than my old Trendnet router! Now I have to make sure all logging is turned off.
:D
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Logging is all to ram only so no worries there. If you used the NanoBSD image it's all taken care of anyway. No need to worry about flash memory life.
Steve
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O.K., thanks Steve. I may buy a SATA DOM eventually–USB works but it takes a long time to boot!
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How long? How often do you plan on re-booting!?
My machine is usually up until there's either a new release or I do something to kill it. ::)Steve
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Once it is fully configured I plan to leave it on continuously without rebooting. It takes ca. two minutes for PfSense to boot up after the motherboard posts.
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That's similar to my Firebox booting from CF. Not unusually slow.
Steve
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By the way, it turned out I did not have to do any compensation for the boot to USB option. I have rebooted my build several times and have not run into such a problem. I just purchased an ADSL2+ PCI card (it is made in Australia and I had to buy it from a vendor in Europe). It will take a couple of weeks to arrive, but I plan to use it to bypass my external DSL modem.
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The Vikiking card from Traverse? (They also seem to have re-branded as rocksolid electronics)
I ran their earlier Pulsar ADSL card under IPCop for years, totally reliable.Steve
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"The Vikiking card from Traverse?"
Yes, I guess I'll have to adjust the settings to get it to work with my Verizon DSL service.
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When using Snort in the embedded version of PfSense that I am using, will the updates download to RAM or will they write on my solid state memory? I don't want to install anything that will do periodic memory writes. ???
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Hmm, I'm not too sure about this but if it's available for embedded installs then someone else has probably already thought of it.
How often does snort update? Even the most basic flash memory still has a large number of writes in it's lifespan.Steve
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stephenw10:
You mentioned you had experience with something similar to the Viking card. I was able to install the card in my PfSense router and place it in bridge mode. I adjusted VPI/VCI to 0 and 35 per the Westel modem I use with my Verizon DSL account. All seemed to go well until I plugged my DSL telephone line into the card. The power and LAN lights are on but the DSL light just flashes slowly–the card does not appear to be trying to negotiate a sync with the DSLAM in my local central office. I will check to see if it a simple problem with my phone cord, but it seems odd that everything else has gone o.k. with the setup and then the card will not sync to my DSL service. I already tried changing the settings between ADSL2, ADSL2Plus, etc. Any ideas? ???
