Can't write to config.xml | Using ESXi

Kingkoopa · Oct 4, 2012, 6:31 PM

I've done quite a few searches and couldn't find anything to help me, so I thought I would try to ask here.

I'll give a description of my hardware first.
PowerEdge T300
Core2Duo 1.86Ghz (soon to be Quad Xeon)
12GB RAM
2x 73GB SAS
4x 1TB Sata
PERC 5i Raid
PCI-X Intel dual Gigabit Ethernet

73GB drives in RAID 1
1TB drives in RAID 5

Base OS installed is ESXi 5.1
All VMs are installed on the Raid 1 array

I have the latest pfSense installed on ESXi using my 2 onboard Ethernet ports for WAN and LAN. I gave it one of my cores, and 512MB of the RAM. I also allocated 8GB of hard drive space to it.

The problem I'm having is that I can't change any settings after it is installed. I run the LiveCD installation and then install to the hard drive no problem, but when I go into the webGUI and try to change a setting, I have an error in the top left that says 'unable to open /cf/conf/config.xml for writing write_config' (It is something like that, I'm not at my place infront of the server). I had a friend with experience in pfSense Teamview into my computer to mess around with pfSense. He said that / is mounted as read only and can't be changed. I have tried both the i386 build, as well as the amd64 build. I have tried installing multiple times with multiple methods to no avail. If I could get some help and/or insight I would greatly appreciate it. pfSense is up and running right now on the server, but I'm stuck with the default settings.

Also, I have also installed a VM with Windows 7 for my samba server, and it is working perfectly. No problems with read or write permissions.

Thanks in advance for any help.

podilarius · Oct 4, 2012, 6:38 PM

I have not had this problem and I have put pfSense on multiple different ESXi installs. It almost sounds like the embedded version. What type of interface did you use for the HDD (IDE, SCSI,…)? What version are you trying to install (2.0, 2.1, 1.2)? What OS type did you put in when you created the VM?

natelabo · Oct 4, 2012, 9:04 PM

You didn't leave the LiveCD connected to the VM did ya? I did this and had the same problem.

Kingkoopa · Oct 8, 2012, 2:23 AM

@podilarius:

I have not had this problem and I have put pfSense on multiple different ESXi installs. It almost sounds like the embedded version. What type of interface did you use for the HDD (IDE, SCSI,…)?

I have all of the HDs on my PERC 5 card. The two 73GB OS drives are on the SAS Backplane and the four 1TB drives are split up, 2 on the SAS backplane using the SATA interface, and 2 on a SFF-8484 to SFF-8482 1-to-4 cable. I have SAS interposers for all four 1TB SATA drives, but am not using them.

@podilarius:

What version are you trying to install (2.0, 2.1, 1.2)?

I am trying to set up the latest stable build, 2.0.1. I have downloaded and tried installing pfSense-2.0.1-RELEASE-amd64.iso and pfSense-2.0.1-RELEASE-i386.iso

@podilarius:

What OS type did you put in when you created the VM?

I selected FreeBSD 32bit and 64bit for whichever build I was installing. Right now, I have the 64bit installed.

@natelabo:

You didn't leave the LiveCD connected to the VM did ya? I did this and had the same problem.

No, right after I installed to the hard drive, I unmounted the .iso in the VM.

podilarius · Oct 8, 2012, 2:36 PM

Once you boot up, check the system log for errors. Also, drop to the command prompt and see if you can "touch /cf/conf/me" and "rm /cf/conf/me".

Kingkoopa · Oct 8, 2012, 5:05 PM

I had a friend that had some experience with pfSense teamview in and mess around. One thing I remember him doing was a touch command for the conf folder. It failed and said that it was read-only.

podilarius · Oct 8, 2012, 5:59 PM

try dropping to command line and putting in "fsck /dev/ad0s1a" and see if there are any errors. Did you find anything in the logs?

Kingkoopa · Oct 8, 2012, 7:00 PM

I did do a fsdk, but I didn't put any of those extra commands behind it. The fsdk came and said the file system was ok, but i still have the problem with not being able to change any settings.

If someone wants to, we can set up a time for you to teamview into my computer so you can check out the settings. PM me if you want to. I'm really stumped.