PfSense on a Riverbed Steelhead
-
Nice!
Interesting that it's apparently at a different address in FreeBSD/pfSense.
I wouldn't expect you to have to ifconfig up the interface assuming it is assigned and enabled. Usually in that sort of setup the relays disconnect the physical ports but the OS can always see the NIC chip.
Steve
-
Yeah, different drivers so different reference address I guess.
You're right re "ifconfig up" requirement, under pfSense anyway. Going through the nic assignment process and ticking the "Enabled" box gets them up and running.
-
Ok I wrote a full soup-to-nuts howto on this whole thing but it keeps getting flagged as spam and won't post. Any pointers?
The issue seems to be the text related to shellcmd entries in the pfSense config file. I literally dare not include it here or this post would be blocked. :(
-
Try again. I upvoted your posts so you have the required rep level, 5, that should avoid the filter.
It looks like you wrote this and then deleted it a number of times. I could try to recover those?
Steve
-
@stephenw10 Thanks for the upvote and please delete those other posts. I'll try posting the whole thing right now...
-
@stephenw10 No joy, still getting flagged as spam.
-
Hmm, maybe a combination of the IP you're coming from? Maybe remove any links you have in the post?
-
@stephenw10 There are not links :) . Just this piece seems to be the problem.
<shellcmd>smbmsg -s 0x48 -c 0x55 -o 6 0x03 0xfc 0x01 0xfe 0x66 0x99</shellcmd> </system> -
Ok that's weird :)
-
WARNING: These instructions apply to older 32bit CX-250/550 Steelheads. Steelheads in the CX-570/770 and possibly the x55 generation, have BIOS settings for controlling bypass NICS. Please do not use the method below if your Steelhead offers BIOS controls.
Here’s what I hope is a full soup-to-nuts process for getting pfSense 2.3.5 up and running on these boxes with all 4 nics active…
Prep work and nic mapping info:
-Remove the internal USBDOM boot device, label it and keep it safe incase you ever want to run as a Steelhead again
-Remove the internal HDD (remove the whole drive cage, just 3 screws and lift the cage straight up and out)
-Optional: Label and put the original HDD aside and keep it safe incase you ever want to run as a Steelhead again-Nic mapping in pfSense compared to front panel labeling:
em0 = LAN0_0
em1 = WAN0_0
em2 = Primary
em3 = AuxBIOS setup:
-Connect to serial port using 9600 8,none,1 then power up-Hit Delete key during BIOS initialization, use “minnow” when prompted for a password and change these settings…
-Exit Menu -> Load Optimal Defaults (do this first)
-Advanced Setting Menu -> Configure Remote access -> Serial Port Mode “115200 8,n,1”
-Optional: Boot Menu -> Quick Boot “Disabled” (this will give you more time to hit the Delete key and plug USB devices in in the future)
-Boot Menu -> Boot Settings Config -> USBDOM Boot Only “Disabled”
-Boot Menu -> Boot Device Priority (should not need to be changed, but take note and adjust if needed)
-Exit Menu -> Save Changes and Exit -> Hit Enter twice to save changes
Note regarding the roundabout installation instructions below:
Unfortunately attempting to install pfSense 2.3.5 directly to an internal SATA drive fails, getting stuck with messagings like…
(ada0:ahcich0:0:0:0): CAM status: Command timeout
(ada0:ahcich0:0:0:0): Retrying command
FWIW newer versions of FreeBSD have no such issue, v12.1 for example installs directly to an internal SATA drive just fine.pfSense 2.3.5 Installation:
-Switch your serial port terminal settings to 115200 8, none, 1 (you should never have to crawl at 9600 again)-Insert a USB key with the installer in the top USB port on the front panel (shows as da0 in pfSense)
-Connect a SATA drive via USB-to-SATA adapter to the bottom USB port on the front panel (shows as da1 in pfSense)
—Note my SATA drive would not power up from a cold start, I had to plug it in after power-up, during the memory count-Power up and the box should automatically boot from the USB key
—If not, leave the USB key and SATA drive connected, reboot into the BIOS and set to boot off the USB key and reboot-Hit “I” to launch the Installer or let it boot automatically
-Install pfSense per standard instructions (Quick/Easy Install worked for me)
-Choose “Embedded kernel (no VGA console, keyboard”) when prompted
-Reboot when prompted and power down
-Remove the USB key
-Move the SATA drive to the top slot of the internal drive cage and this will now show up as ada0
—Note if you install a 2nd drive in the bottom bay it will show up as ada1-Power-up and pfSense should boot from the internal SATA drive
-Configure the LAN and WAN ports to em2 and em3 (my recommendation is em2=LAN em3=WAN)
—Why not use em0 and em1 for LAN and WAN? Because em0 and em1 CAN be set to bypass/bridge mode which causes them to act as a hard wired crossover coupler. This is the normal mode of these nics when running Steelhead software. In that state, EVERYTHING will pass between them like a wire, regardless of power being on or off. Not good for a firewall unless you have a special need for this capability.
—Special note regarding POE and em0/em1: These boxes have a design defect related to POE so you MUST use the supplied 2-port dongle if you intend to connect em0 and em1 to POE ports. Doing so without the dongle risks damaging your POE devices.
—If you want to play with the bypass/bridge mode, just issue the below command at a shell prompt… Final word of warning, DO NOT connect both ports to the same switch when you do this. It’s the same as doing so with a crossover cable.
smbmsg -s 0x48 -c 0x55 -o 8 0x02 0xfd 0x01 0xfe 0x00 0xff 0x88 0x77Automatically enable em0 and em1 so you can use them as normal nics:
-Drop to shell and add the following to /boot/loader.conf.local to load the smbus drivers
ichsmb_load=“YES”
smb_load=“YES”-Follow pfSense docs to modify your config.xml to with shellcmd to issue the following smbmsg command just above the </system> line…
<shellcmd>smbmsg -s 0x48 -c 0x55 -o 6 0x03 0xfc 0x01 0xfe 0x66 0x99</shellcmd> </system>-Basic workflow for modifying your config.xml if you don’t want to read the docs, do the following via the Web UI…
1: Main Menu-> Diagnostics -> Backup & Restore Menu -> Download configuration as XML (it will download via your browser)
2: Edit the downloaded file adding the smbmsd command just above the existing line containing </system>, save the edited file
3: Click the Choose File button, select the edited file, click the Restore Configuration button
4: pfSense should restore the file and automatically rebootUpon reboot, and toward the end of the boot process you should hear a nice “click” sound from the bypass relays, enabling em0 and em1, and you should have 4 usable nics under pfSense
-
Ha. Maybe the few more upvotes I gave you.... though the level is set at 5.
You can use the shellcmd package to add that without manually editing the config.
-
@stephenw10 Just glad it worked! Roger on using shellcmd package, I have not tried it.
-
Excelent tutorial @Okijames ! I am currently running pfSense235 from a usb stick and as i can now access all ports, i will make an hdd install and follow it to configure the steelhead 250 i got.
A little off topic but this unit came with 1gb pc2-3200 ecc rec ram stick and an empty dimm slot. You have any idea of that is the max ram this can take using both slots?
cheers,
Paulo -
@pauloalb Max RAM I have tried is 4GB in my 550s using 2 2GB pc2-3200 ECC sticks. The 250/550 are based on the same "Minnow" chassis and motherboard so will likely be ok with 4GB too.
-
So this thread prompted me to dig though boxes in the o'l garage and I found a Steelhead 770. Decent specs on this puppy.
-CPU Xeon E3-1125C v2 (4core 2.5Ghz)
-RAM 4GB with 2 x 2GB DDR3 ECC sticks in two of four available slots.
-2 2.5" SATA drives (320GB 72K HDD, 160GB Intel DC S3500 SSD)
-NICS 6 Intel Gigabit NICs total
-2 "normal" NICs as Primary and Aux,
-4 (2 pairs) bypass type NICs.
-NIC bypass control is available in the BIOS plain as dayInstallation of pfSense 2.4.4 was a breeze. All 6 NICs show up, no smbus shenanigans needed.
I'm happy with my APU2 for pfSense, but this thing is just begging to replace it. Someone stop me! :)
-
@Okijames said in PfSense on a Riverbed Steelhead:
Steelhead 770
Only drawback to a box like that might be power consumption.. Its going to how much higher than your APU2?
And fans - how much louder is it going to be?
-
Yeah hard to beat the APU2 in terms of power consumption and noise.
But it's probably not that bad. I would guess ~30W. No clue about noise. I they gave the cooling setup right it need not be loud but...Steve
-
Thanks @johnpoz!
Yeah, 3-4x on the power consumption. Fans, though pretty quiet, are 100% louder than the fanless APU2.
Thinking I'll bump up the RAM and disk capacity and use it to experiment with various Container platforms.
-
Is it a SD770? From quick look those are about 50W idle - so more like 5-6x your apu2, and noise looks like about 45dba.. While not all that bad - sure isn't quiet..
-
CX-770 currently idling at ~27W, not bad. And honestly the fans are pretty quiet, faint background noise sitting right next to me on a desk. Might be near silent if I replaced them with some nice Noctuas.
Under load though, I'm sure it wouldn't be quite so pleasant.
