Successful Install on Watchguard Firebox X700!

Aziz

Sorry, didn't mean hot swap, even cold swap would be fine. There's a space for some sort of caddy thoughI don't think a 3.5" HD would fit (and even if it did, where do I get the caddy??), an a 2.5" on its own would just be loose in the case.

By the way, how would you connect a SATA 2.5" laptop to the motherboard, what kind of adapter would be needed?

stephenw10

This caddy fits almost perfectly. It fits a 2.5" pata laptop drive.
You would need some sort of adapter to fit a sata drive and it then wouldn't fit in the caddy. They seem to be easily and cheaply availbale though.
It's a shame Watchguard didn't use sata as it's built into the chipset on that board but not implemented.

Steve

hmeister

@Aziz:

Hi Guys, I have a X1250e and opened it up. I had a thought; could one of these be used to put in a cold swap 2.5" hard drive?

It fits into a PCI slot and allows you to put a laptop HD in.

I've put in a PCI NIC I had lying around and it seems like it would fit almsot perfectly! You'd just have to drill a couple of small holes into the mounting bracket so it can be screwed into the Firebox itself.

Aziz - I was looking at this too…
Been trying to do what you are and you can purchase a 44pin to sata.
My only concern is there is micro-sata and reg-sata and I think this holder is the regular sata.
At least - when I looked at the specs on their website I was trying to see this in the technical data but it was not obvious. The 44pin to sata adapters are out there, you would just need one to fit the height requirement and remove the existing hotswap adapter. I am thinking that the front could be modded to slide in and yes - NO hot swap - but a managable way cold swap.

I found another good solution. We are starting to use M-25 INTEL SSD's at work and the INTEL SSD drives arrive with a 2.5 to 3.5 mounting plate that fits right into the existing drive trays on the Watchguards... It slides right in - still have to pull the cover to attach the ribbon cable.
OCZ has one on http://www.amazon.co.uk/OCZ-Mounting-Bracket-Solid-Drives/dp/B002I8MUU0/ref=pd_cp_computers_1 that is similar to the INTEL drive tray and these fit the slot - at least the INTEL drive tray that comes with tne m25SSD does. Works well enough on the x700 but not as slick as the one you found here… And it looks like you have the X-box like Steve...

atxgo

As recommended by others in this thread, I put in some 40mm Scythe Mini Kaze fans in the case and a Papst 60mm over the CPU. The problem was that I wasn't really happy with the ventilation on the CPU fan, as the top cover of the x700 sat too flush against the top of the fan. So I decided it was time to do some case modding. First, I used an angle grinder to cut out an area in the top cover just bigger than the CPU fan, then I covered it with a simple case fan screen salvaged from an old Lian Li case. See pics below for final version.

I don't have a temperature meter, so I don't know what effect this had on the overall case cooling, but assume it's pretty good since the hot air off the CPU is being directly expelled from the case.

stephenw10

I particularly liked your backdrop of clamps, mallet and chisel! :D
I agree though, the fan runs too close to the case to allow adequate air flow.

Steve

hmeister

@atxgo:

As recommended by others in this thread, I put in some 40mm Scythe Mini Kaze fans in the case and a Papst 60mm over the CPU.

atxgo - Man - that grinder rocks - I could destroy a few x700's with that puppy… Nice mod! I think yours came out better than what I could do! (WOW) :)

atxgo

Thanks. The grinder with a metal cutting blade sawed through the case top like butter. Once I had the layout marked, it probably took me only about 90 seconds to cut out the entire square. ;D

Here is a closer image of the fan grill. It is made of aluminum, and the circular pattern is embossed, so the whole assembly sticks up maybe 3/16 of an inch off the top of the case. The embossing probably isn't necessary since the fan seems even with the top of the case, but I used it because it was the best solution I had on hand.

If you noticed the black edge around the square cutout, that was where the angle grinder burned the red paint when I was cutting it out. Under normal lighting conditions, it isn't very noticeable, but the light from the camera flash is highlighting it in this picture. If I were setting my x700 in a highly visible location, I probably would have touched it up with some red paint, but I didn't bother because I am mounting the unit in a rack.

cvstealth

I've had an x700 running stable for 2-3 months then all of the sudden it started to flake out. At first the backlight on the LCD would say on solid and the power LED would be a very faint orange. Now I get no response from the LCD, the power/arm/disarm LEDs don’t light and the only response I see is the fans spinning. I've tried to pull the CMOS battery out to get the BIOS to reset but still get nothing on serial console. Anything else to try or has the unit faulted at this point?

stephenw10

Try re-seating the CPU and the ram. If they work loose then you can get similar symptoms.
Then try using a different power supply that's also a likely suspect.

Steve

cvstealth

@stephenw10:

Try re-seating the CPU and the ram. If they work loose then you can get similar symptoms.
Then try using a different power supply that's also a likely suspect.

Steve

Thx for the reply, I tried the original memory stick that came with the unit but will try to reseat the CPU when I get home. Do you know of any vendors that just sell the individual PSUs or do those need to be pulled from other Watchguard units?

stephenw10

Hmm, I was under the impression that the PSU used a standard ATX connector, as it does in the X-peak and X-e boxes. Now I look at some internal photos I'm not so sure.

Steve

hmeister

Stevew
the x700 has a proprietary PS. It sits on the left side… -

cvstealth - Yes, I would reseat the memory but in my opinion your symptoms are pointing at something else like the power supply. Hopefully it will be the PS and not the system board... I have looked online for parts for these units as I have 2 now and have not found anything... You may have to buy again and just keep this one for parts....
http://cgi.ebay.com/Watchguard-Firebox-X700-Security-Firewall-VPN-R6264S-/220793958256?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3368586f70#ht_1159wt_932

H.

cvstealth

After some investigation the connector on the cable that connects the PSU and mainboard was charred on the end closest to the PSU. My guess is the PSU is toast and since it's proprietary the unit is now destined as spare parts for someone. As much of a fun project that this was I think I'm going to look to an ALIX board for my next setup.

stephenw10

Well that's a sad outcome. :(
It may be possible to recover the PSU. Just because the connector has been damaged doesn't mean the PSU is dead.
The connector, usually just one or two pins, has been damaged because it got hot. It got hot because there was a bad connection between the pins of the plug and socket which meant that all the current had to pass through a small area. As it gets damaged the area of good connection gets smaller which increases the heat and hence the rate of damage. It may be possible to simply clean up the pins, crimp up the socket slightly and re connect it. Obviously it depends of the level of damage. Alternatively you could take the connector off the PSU and solder the cable to directly.

Steve

hmeister

@cvstealth:

After some investigation the connector on the cable that connects the PSU and mainboard was charred on the end closest to the PSU. My guess is the PSU is toast and since it's proprietary the unit is now destined as spare parts for someone. As much of a fun project that this was I think I'm going to look to an ALIX board for my next setup.

bummer…
If you find parts let us know...
H.

StuartW

@cvstealth:

After some investigation the connector on the cable that connects the PSU and mainboard was charred on the end closest to the PSU. My guess is the PSU is toast and since it's proprietary the unit is now destined as spare parts for someone. As much of a fun project that this was I think I'm going to look to an ALIX board for my next setup.

Hi,

I've got an x1000 with a faulty MB (fried RTC it seems) that I'm breaking for spares. You're welcome to the PSU for the cost of postage & packing. Not sure where in the world you are…

StuartW

cvstealth

@StuartW:

Hi,
I've got an x1000 with a faulty MB (fried RTC it seems) that I'm breaking for spares. You're welcome to the PSU for the cost of postage & packing. Not sure where in the world you are…
StuartW

Sorry to hear about your faulty unit too but would love to take you up on the offer for the PSU, I'll send you a PM to get everything setup.

woc38

I'm using pfSense 1.2.3 on a X700 [full install on harddisk] for over a year now, and I'm very pleased with it.
Modifications:

replaced default 256MB module with a 512 MB (Kingston KVR133X64C3/512)
replaced default 3 case-fans with 3 Noiseblocker XM2 fans, used 2 Y-fan-cables and attached them to the fan2 connector on the motherboard
replaced default CPU fan with a similar new Titan radial fan (TFD-B6015M12B) and used a Zalman Fan Mate 2 to control its speed and noise.
replaced the cryptocard with a TP-Link TL-WN861N WL300 (Atheros 5416 chipset), drilled 2 holes and connected 2 U.FL to RP-SMA Pigtails
activated the LCD with the instructions found around here. Did not play with the arm/disarm leds yet.

With the recent 2.0RC's I was thinking about upgrading. I wanted to leave my existing 1.2.3 install intact, so I search for my 4GB Hitachi microdrive:

wrote pfSense-2.0-RC3-4g-i386-20110621-1821-nanobsd.img with Win32DiskImager
placed it in the CF slot in the X700 and it booted fine
via a serial cable I did the initial setup. After the setup, the webinterface is reachable.
via the webinterface I did an upgrade to 2.0-RC3 built Mon Jul 4 17:29:15 EDT 2011
I activated the LCD with stephenw10's package

So far so good. Now I'm configuring and testing this version.

Things I encountered so far:

I'm getting good speeds (98Mbit via FTP) at 50-55% CPU (basic setup, no extra packages or large ruleset)
As others noticed, the console menu via serial cable is not working. After a reboot it stops at "Bootup complete". When rebooting or shutting down, it does not give the root warning message (System going down IMMEDIATELY), but it gives some final messages on the console:
Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system process vnlru' to stop…done Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system process bufdaemon' to stop...done
Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system process `syncer' to stop...
Syncing disks, vnodes remaining...0 0 0 done
All buffers synced.
Uptime: 2h41m43s
Rebooting...
It looks like the Firebox is "temporarily" disabling the console output?!?
SSH is working fine. Would like to see this problem solved…
@jdetmold:

anyone else find that a reboot from the gui does nothing on 2.0?

Reboot and shutdown (X700 halts, no power off) from the webinterface and SSH terminal is working, it only takes more then 2 minutes after you answered "yes" before anything happens.
Sometimes the Firebox does not actually reboot after the command via gui or SSH. The console says rebooting… but nothing hapens, no boot messages appear in the console, the LCD keeps showing "pfSense shutting down". Then I need to switch the unit off and back on. Can not reproduce at will, so far it happens at random.
LCD locked up after transferring 2 large files (3 GB each) via FTP. It showed LCDproc Server Cli:0 Scr:0. Other data is not accessible. It happened 1 time, I couldn't reproduce so far.

First questions:

Any news on the console menu problem? Does this problem also exists with the 1.2.3 -> 2.0RC3 upgrade route, or with a HD install?
Any news on the slow reboots? Does it have something to do with uniprocessor or SMP? Which one should I use for these Fireboxes?

Nicklas

Question, I was able to build in a HD in the x700, but before closing it down, I was wondering can I leave the CF card in it?
If I leave it in do I need to change the jumper position (SCF1) to let it boot from the HD? Any help much appreciated :-)

woc38

Just as a follow-up on the things I encountered installing 2.0RC3:

Installed 1.2.3 nanobsd on a microdrive. Boots fine and gives console menu. Did an upgrade to 2.0RC3 via the webinterface. Upgrade was successful, but there is no console menu. It just stops after "Bootup complete".
Installed 2.0RC3 full on a HD (via the USB installer) on a different machine, enabled serial console via the webinterface, edited /etc/fstab and placed the disk in the Watchguard. It boots and starts fine, but also no console menu after "Bootup complete".
The HD supports some SMART (Attributes Data but no error logging or self tests). When I wanted to view all SMART information, the console suddenly gives output:

Bootup complete
ad2: (fw1.dh.local) (FAILURE - SMART status=51 <ready,dsc,error>error=4<aborted>ttyu0)

*** LBA=12734209Welcome to pfSen
se 2.0-RC3-pfSenad2: se (i386) on fw1FAILURE - SMART status=51 <ready,dsc,error>error=4 <aborted>***

WAN (w LBA=12734214an)
-> re5 -> 172.16.0.2 (DHCP)
LAN (lan) -> re1 -> 192.168.10.1

Logout (SSH only) 8) Shell
Assign Interfaces 9) pfTop
[…]
Enter an option:

Then I get a lot of these error messages


calcru: runtime went backwards from 13179 usec to 12445 usec for pid 27125 (sshlockout_pf)
calcru: runtime went backwards from 6291 usec to 6035 usec for pid 26753 (getty)

Also for other services (minicron, cron, dnsmasq, apinger, php, etc)
Does anybody knows what these messages mean? I read something about the clock ticking backwards, but, what to do about it?

After the initial error message I can use the console. A reboot is working at normal speed (do not have to wait 2 minutes before something is actually hapening). After the reboot, the console halts at "Bootup complete" until I invoke a new SMART error.
After some time the console stops responding again. After generating another SMART error I can access it again

My guess is that something is stopping pfSense from writing the menu to the console until some other data is explicitly written to console.
Can anybody confirm the same? Or has anybody a working console right now?</aborted></ready,dsc,error></aborted></ready,dsc,error>