Using a hard-disk in a Watchguard Firebox X750e for cache/log storage

MacUsers

Nothing in particular, to be honest. I see Ultra ATA/33 on my x750e as opposed to ATA/100 on yours:

[2.2.2-RELEASE][root@wg550.home]/root: dmesg|grep ada1
ada1 at ata0 bus 0 scbus0 target 1 lun 0
ada1: <toshiba mk4026gax="" pa102d=""> ATA-6 device
ada1: Serial Number 65IF3453T
ada1: 33.300MB/s transfers (UDMA2, PIO 8192bytes)
ada1: 38154MB (78140160 512 byte sectors: 16H 63S/T 16383C)
ada1: Previously was known as ad1</toshiba>

It says ATA-6 device, so I was hoping to see UDMA5 in the next line but UDMA2 is the ATA-4, IIRC. I'm out of sys-admin business for while now, so may be talking rubbish as well. ;)

MacUsers

On a separate note, a really silly question (maybe): Is it worth putting a SSD in in WatchGuard/pfSense? Apart from speedy-boot, what added benefit over an PATA drive?

Guest

@MacUsers:

On a separate note, a really silly question (maybe): Is it worth putting a SSD in in WatchGuard/pfSense? Apart from speedy-boot, what added benefit over an PATA drive?

There are many IDE SSDs out to install inside and I really would go more with a SSD
rather then a IDE HDD because of less power, faster and not so hot.

stephenw10

They are massively faster so if you're using it as a squid cache it will help a lot. Someone recently posted some numbers from one in the main Xe thread.

https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=20095.msg501388#msg501388

Steve

NozeDive

Steve,

I know this is a really old post, but I'm hoping you were subscribed to it, and that this post reaches you.

I was hoping that you could go in to some more detail on the /etc/rc.embedded section of your post.

I followed your steps, modifying the device names to match my own set-up (i.e. using /dev/ada1s1a instead of /dev/ad1s1a) except I missed this in a few places. The end result was a system that would not boot correctly, and a file system that could not be re-mounted as read/write, so I ended up having to nuke the CF card and starting over.

That was totally my fault, but I'd like to try it again, which is why I'm hoping that you could go into a little more detail about what each section of the script in /etc/rc.embedded does.

In any case, I may end up using a spare 8GB USB flash drive rather than this 250GB SATA spinning rust drive i'm trying to use since that seems like overkill, but I'd really like to get this set-up to work too for academic reasons.

Again, I know this is an old topic, so if this does reach you, thanks for revisiting this post.

»Tony

(BTW I'm using a WatchGuard Firebox XTM 515)

Steve Evans

@NozeDive:

Steve,

I know this is a really old post, but I'm hoping you were subscribed to it, and that this post reaches you.

I was hoping that you could go in to some more detail on the /etc/rc.embedded section of your post.

I followed your steps, modifying the device names to match my own set-up (i.e. using /dev/ada1s1a instead of /dev/ad1s1a) except I missed this in a few places. The end result was a system that would not boot correctly, and a file system that could not be re-mounted as read/write, so I ended up having to nuke the CF card and starting over.

That was totally my fault, but I'd like to try it again, which is why I'm hoping that you could go into a little more detail about what each section of the script in /etc/rc.embedded does.

In any case, I may end up using a spare 8GB USB flash drive rather than this 250GB SATA spinning rust drive i'm trying to use since that seems like overkill, but I'd really like to get this set-up to work too for academic reasons.

Again, I know this is an old topic, so if this does reach you, thanks for revisiting this post.

»Tony

(BTW I'm using a WatchGuard Firebox XTM 515)

Hi Tony,

The code section of interest is below:

# If a hard disk is installed then mount that on /var
# otherwise use a ramdisk
harddisk="/dev/ad1s1a"
if [ -c $harddisk ]
then

This checks that /dev/ad1s1a exists as a character device.


        echo -n "Using /var physical disk..."
        mount -o noatime $harddisk /var

This mounts the partition (in this case partition 'a') on /var.


        # Ensure /var/run is removed on boot before daemons are started
        # It should arguably be a tmpfs, but this works fine
        rm -r /var/run

Remove the /var/run directory as nanobsd expects this to not persist across reboots, and whilst that would be true for a RAM disk, the rotating rust remembers.


        # sshd won't start if /var/empty exists on boot
        rm -r /var/empty

Similarly remove /var/empty.


else

The following is the original code which creates a RAM disk for /var..

        echo -n "Using /var memory disk..."
        mdmfs -S -M -s ${varsize} md /var

        # Create some needed directories
        /bin/mkdir -p /var/db

        # Ensure vi's recover directory is present
        /bin/mkdir -p /var/tmp/vi.recover/
fi

Steve

NozeDive

:)

Steve!

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply! I'm not sure how I missed your reply (I must have my email settings wrong) but I didn't see it until just now, and I wanted to make sure I thanked you for replying!

I did end up going with the 8GB thumb drive, FYI, but I used basically this same method to get it to work, and it's working well.

Thanks again!

–Tony

Love.IT.Again

I just installed a 120GB IDE HDD (Samsung) in my X1250e. It is currently running fine without the SD card. My problem now is how to fit the HDD inside? I can't find any tiny rails to use. Any suggestions and tips will be much appreciated. I am also planning to upgrade the memory which is currently 256MB. What's the maximum memory capacity can I install? Thanks a lot.

Guest

@Love.IT.Again

I just installed a 120GB IDE HDD (Samsung) in my X1250e.

If you want to use Squid as a caching proxy I suggest you to go with a IDE SSD drive that is
speeding up much and many things. Something like a "OWC Mercury Legacy Pro 120 GB SSD"
You will need an adapter from 3,5" to 2,5" for this, in the original version of the X1250e such
an adapter was selld together with this box. So you might be able with ease and for cheap one
of them over the Internet. (See the linked tutorial PDF document at the end of this post)

My problem now is how to fit the HDD inside? I can't find any tiny rails to use. Any suggestions and tips will be much appreciated.

I was only found one Blog where they talk about, if not really helpful please open or download
the Watchguard pfSense guide from the end of this post there is a caddy shown inside and
how to mount him into the X1250e series box.

I am also planning to upgrade the memory which is currently 256MB.
What's the maximum memory capacity can I install? Thanks a lot.

DDR2 533MHz 2GB modul, greater single modules of this ram are not on the market
able to get so I assume this might be than also the maximum in a single RAM module system.

A last if VPN becomes a really urgent part of your pfSense you could install or insert a Soekris vpn1411
miniPCI card that is supported under pfSense. Link

Watchguard pfSense guide

Love.IT.Again

@BlueKobold

Thanks a lot for the very informative reply. I really appreciate it a lot.

For the meantime, I will stick at my present hardware configuration while I try to learn PFSense.
Upgrading to SSD is part of my plan, but with the high price of IDE SSD, makes me think of buying a faster machine instead.

At the moment, the IDE HDD is mounted with a home made rail from a SPAM can. Making a better/nicer hdd caddy will be my next project.

Thanks again.

_ToXIc_

hi this is exactly what i'm looking for..

got all the steps but i got lost at the following.. not sure exactly what to do

@Steve:

Then modify /etc/rc.embedded to conditionally replace the mounting of the /var ramdisk thus:

echo -n "Setting up memory disks..."
mdmfs -S -M -s ${tmpsize} md /tmp

# If a hard disk is installed then mount that on /var
# otherwise use a ramdisk
harddisk="/dev/ad1s1a"
if [ -c $harddisk ]
then
        echo -n "Using /var physical disk..."
        mount $harddisk /var

        # Ensure /var/run is removed on boot before daemons are started
        # It should arguably be a tmpfs, but this works fine
        rm -r /var/run

        # sshd won't start if /var/empty exists on boot
        rm -r /var/empty
else
        echo -n "Using /var memory disk..."
        mdmfs -S -M -s ${varsize} md /var

        # Create some needed directories
        /bin/mkdir -p /var/db

        # Ensure vi's recover directory is present
        /bin/mkdir -p /var/tmp/vi.recover/
fi

echo " done."

Steve

_ToXIc_

do i just copy that script after whats already in the file? below is what i currently have

#!/bin/sh
#
# rc.embedded - embedded system specific startup information
# For pfSense

# Size of /tmp
USE_MFS_TMP_SIZE=`/usr/bin/grep use_mfs_tmp_size /cf/conf/config.xml | /usr/bin/cut -f2 -d'>' | /usr/bin/cut -f1 -d'<'`
if [ ! -z ${USE_MFS_TMP_SIZE} ] && [ ${USE_MFS_TMP_SIZE} -gt 0 ]; then
	tmpsize="${USE_MFS_TMP_SIZE}m"
else
	tmpsize="40m"
fi

# Size of /var
USE_MFS_VAR_SIZE=`/usr/bin/grep use_mfs_var_size /cf/conf/config.xml | /usr/bin/cut -f2 -d'>' | /usr/bin/cut -f1 -d'<'`
if [ ! -z ${USE_MFS_VAR_SIZE} ] && [ ${USE_MFS_VAR_SIZE} -gt 0 ]; then
	varsize="${USE_MFS_VAR_SIZE}m"
else
	varsize="60m"
fi

# Run some initialization routines
[ -f /etc/rc.d/uzip ] && /etc/rc.d/uzip start

echo -n "Setting up memory disks..."
mdmfs -S -M -s ${tmpsize} md /tmp
mdmfs -S -M -s ${varsize} md /var

# Create some needed directories
/bin/mkdir -p /var/db /var/spool/lock
/usr/sbin/chown uucp:dialer /var/spool/lock

# Ensure vi's recover directory is present
/bin/mkdir -p /var/tmp/vi.recover/
echo " done."

Capture.JPG_thumb

_ToXIc_

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