Diskless pfSense-Box via NFS and TFTP

[cleem]

Hi pfSense-Gurus

i managed to setup my Atom-Based Computer to boot pfSense Live-Media (ISO and IMG) via PXE and NFS.

First i copied the content of the IMG/ISO rootfs to an export on my NFS-Server (192.168.1.100).
NFS-Locations are:

ISO: /pfsense/rootfs_cd/
IMG: /pfsense/rootfs_usb/

after that i modified /pfsense/rootfs_X/etc/fstab and commented out the entries of the ISO/IMG Media.

Then i copied the contents of the /boot directory's of the different Medias (IMG and ISO) to my tftp-server (192.168.1.10).

ISO: <tftproot>/bootfiles/pfsense/2.1.3_cd/boot/
IMG: <tftproot>/bootfiles/pfsense/2.1.3_usb/boot/</tftproot></tftproot> 

after this i added the following to my isc-dhcp's static lease configuration:

host wall.net.home {
hardware ethernet       XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX;
fixed-address           192.168.1.1;
ddns-hostname           wall;
next-server             192.168.1.10;
#option root-path       "192.168.1.100:/pfsense/rootfs_cd/";
option root-path        "192.168.1.100:/pfsense/rootfs_usb";
filename                "pfsense/2.1.3_usb/boot/pxeboot";
#filename               "pfsense/2.1.3_cd/boot/pxeboot";

}

Depending on the active option-root-pats and filename line in my dhcp-config (#) i can boot the pfSense-System ISO or IMG Release.
This Setup working properly with NFS-hosted root-filesystem :))

I configured my System via web interface, exported config.xml via Import/Export-Feature and placed the File at the /conf.default folder.
Now i can Boot diskless pfSense System with my individual Configuration, with some Limitations (e.g. no Packet Installation –> Proxy)

Unhappy with these Limitations i tried to install pfSense to the systems internal HDD - in mind to move the HDD-hosted rootfs to NFS later on.
Setup was done without an issue.
I managed to move the HDDs rootfs to my NFS-Server:

HDD: /pfsense/rootfs_hdd/

and modified DHCP option root-path to:

option root-path       "192.168.1.100:/pfsense/rootfs_hdd/";

Now i don't know which boot file option (DHCP option "filename") to set.
If i choose the /boot/pxeboot -File system Startup fails.. and System states Kernel not found.
Is pxeboot-File of IMG/ISO Distribution unable to handle HDD-Installed Kernels?

Any Ideas to get this solved?

Regards
Clem

[Supermule]

May I ask why??

[mcdonnjd]

@Supermule:

May I ask why??

The geek factor? It does sound like a fun project, though I wouldn't want to run it myself that way myself. I would want it installed locally so I don't have to worry about the NFS server going down and bringing down the whole network since the firewall/router would go down as well.

In terms of actually getting it to work, try getting a regular FreeBSD machine booting via PXE first. I forget exactly how to do that, I'd have to check how I did it at work. Then just apply that to pfSense and it should work, unless the code that allows it has been removed.

Once again, on a firewall, I don't think I would want to rely on another server working in order for it to work.