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    My opinion is that pfSense is becoming unusable…

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Problems Installing or Upgrading pfSense Software
    27 Posts 17 Posters 4.7k Views
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    • A
      albegior
      last edited by

      After the release of 2.2 this project has become full of bugs and is unusable!

      I think it is not just my opinion, too bad, it was a nice project ….

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • dotdashD
        dotdash
        last edited by

        Nice troll. Why don't you post some specific concerns with 2.2 instead of inflammatory generalizations? There are a few issues, which are being addressed in 2.2.1, but none of them have made it unusable. I've got several systems doing great on 2.2, and a few I've chose to leave on 2.1.5 due to potential upgrade concerns.

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        • K
          kejianshi
          last edited by

          It depends - If you want to use pfsense on some certain incompatible hardware or using some not supported feature, then it could be an issue.  I want my coffee maker to double as my blender, for instance, but just because it won't doesn't make my coffee maker "unusable".

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • O
            octahexx
            last edited by

            i tend to agree every single upgrade ive done has broken the system in a new way everytime.
            unable to allocate swap space.
            packages breaking.
            or the system just breaking spewing strange errors.
            it feels like the big testing should perhaps be longer and less new version released in a  fast pace.

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            • H
              heper
              last edited by

              @octahexx:

              it feels like the big testing should perhaps be longer and less new version released in a  fast pace.

              perhaps they should be longer, perhaps they should not be longer ….

              perhaps there are just not enough people trying the snapshots when they are available .... "lets wait until its released before risking a broken system"  <== if that's the case, then waiting longer would be pointless

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              • H
                Heimire
                last edited by

                @octahexx:

                i tend to agree every single upgrade ive done has broken the system in a new way everytime.
                unable to allocate swap space.
                packages breaking.
                or the system just breaking spewing strange errors.
                it feels like the big testing should perhaps be longer and less new version released in a  fast pace.

                Packages are not maintained by the pfSense people.
                Asking that pfSense should be tested longer because some volunteers are not getting those packages updated fast enough is a stretch.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • W
                  Wolf666
                  last edited by

                  I started using pfSense with 2.2 beta, I built my appliance and I did not ever had any real/stopping problem. pfSense is far far the better firewall/routing OS I ever used.
                  Packages are well maintained by other brilliant guys, never had a problem with them, in particular Snort and pfBlockerNG (I have been a beta tester also).
                  I simply thank all pfSense Team for their work, I am showing my appreciation with a Gold subscription in order to support them to get pfSense better.

                  Modem Draytek Vigor 130
                  pfSense 2.4 Supermicro A1SRi-2558 - 8GB ECC RAM - Intel S3500 SSD 80GB - M350 Case
                  Switch Cisco SG350-10
                  AP Netgear R7000 (Stock FW)
                  HTPC Intel NUC5i3RYH
                  NAS Synology DS1515+
                  NAS Synology DS213+

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                  • O
                    oppland
                    last edited by

                    I've been using it for over a year and never had an upgrade problem.

                    In fact, I've never had any problem.  It just works (and very well).

                    SG-2440

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                    • T
                      tim.mcmanus
                      last edited by

                      @albegior:

                      After the release of 2.2 this project has become full of bugs and is unusable!

                      I think it is not just my opinion, too bad, it was a nice project ….

                      Probably more a reflection of the network admin than the project.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • johnpozJ
                        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                        last edited by

                        Lets be clear here - this guy was installing on a OLD ip530, what was that EOL and Support back in 2010 or something..  And sure looks like he got it installed to me from this thread

                        https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=89481.msg495079#msg495079

                        I have been running pfsense on hardware and vm for years and have never had an install/upgrade problem.. Then again I don't install to ancient - is that hardware listed to being supported for this version?  Its like people complaining of problems with 2.2 (freebsd 10.1) running on pre 5.5u2 versions of esxi.. Previous versions of esxi do not support 10.1 freebsd.. So why would they support pfsense that is on freebsd 10.1, etc..

                        I agree with tim – PEBKAC!!

                        An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                        If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                        Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                        SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                        • J
                          JasonJoel
                          last edited by

                          I understand your position John, but come on…

                          Just because you have never had an upgrade issue doesn't mean that others have not.  There are a number of upgrade issue posts on the forum, and I have had my pfSense made unusable 2x on upgrades. And that is on supported hardware, on a clean system with only 2 packages installed (and zero errors in logs, etc prior to upgrade).

                          So it CAN happen.

                          I like pfSense, so I'm not saying it is 'going downhill'. But I am saying that it isn't perfect, and not all issues are end user caused...

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • GruensFroeschliG
                            GruensFroeschli
                            last edited by

                            … on a clean system with only 2 packages installed ...

                            But there is your problem.
                            You are using packages.
                            Since most packages are not maintained by the core devs, you can not be sure that they still work after an upgrade.

                            If you are running pfSense in a production environment you really need to setup a test environment first to make sure that everything work before you upgrade your production devices.
                            Or just wait a few days/weeks before upgrading and observe the forum to see how things are going.

                            We do what we must, because we can.

                            Asking questions the smart way: http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • johnpozJ
                              johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                              last edited by

                              "not all issues are end user caused"

                              Agreed, but MANY of them are..

                              You can not expect pfsense devs to test every possible upgrade scenario on every possible hardware combination.  Especially with packages that are not part of the core code.

                              If you are running pfsense in production setup, no matter the hardware I can not believe you would go through an upgrade without testing?  Or at min a easy planned ahead rollback plan.

                              Everyone from the devs to the fans of pfsense would benefit from planned and documented upgrades, where issues could be reported with detailed information on failure or success.  What specific hardware, what specific packages.  The config prior to the upgrade, the config after the upgrade if it finished but stuff not working, etc.

                              I have no sympathy for admins that click upgrade in a production setup without any pre-thought to what could go wrong, etc.  Whats the saying plan for the worst hope for the best ;)

                              Personally I am not really a fan of upgrading with major version changes and normally would do a clean install with restore of configuration.  There is a big difference going from 2.2.1 to 2.2.2 then going from 2.1.5 to 2.2 or even more likely to have issues going from 2.0 to 2.2

                              Maybe part of your upgrade plan when your on such OLD hardware if in production setup is to take the time to do a hardware refresh and swap in with a clean install.  This allows you rollback to working system very quickly if something goes down hill.

                              So while not all problems are "user" related - yes there is going to be bug and problems with any system..  Can tell you have had more issues with upgrading cisco then ever had with updating pfsense for example..  But if you actually plan for what your doing vs just oh new version is out – click.. WTF what went wrong??  That damn pfsense is so unstable!!

                              Even on my home setup I take a snapsnot before I upgrade even to a minor version x.x.0 to x.x.1 etc..

                              An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                              If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                              Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                              SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • KOMK
                                KOM
                                last edited by

                                Or at min a easy planned ahead rollback plan.

                                x 1,000,000.  Before I upgrade, I have:

                                1. a snapshot
                                2. a full backup
                                3. a config.xml backup.

                                Doing an upgrade of anything without a rollback plan is just stupid, like going without insurance.

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • R
                                  robi
                                  last edited by

                                  That's also why I love CF-based NanoBSD. I never upgrade the CF card in the system. I always take a fresh CF with a freshly dd'ed image on it, restore the config from the previous version (using similar hardware usually put on a shelf for spare). When finished, just power off the live system, swap the CF card and power on.

                                  I still have the old CF card with the previous working version in my pocket, which I can pop back in if it turns out later that for some reason we don't like the upgrade. Some things can be detected weeks later…

                                  And it's also the fastest way to do the upgrade, you only have downtime during power on...

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • T
                                    tim.mcmanus
                                    last edited by

                                    @KOM:

                                    Or at min a easy planned ahead rollback plan.

                                    x 1,000,000.  Before I upgrade, I have:

                                    1. a snapshot
                                    2. a full backup
                                    3. a config.xml backup.

                                    Doing an upgrade of anything without a rollback plan is just stupid, like going without insurance.

                                    I'd like to add that I always have the installer for the version that I am currently running in the event I need to wipe and roll back.

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • D
                                      doktornotor Banned
                                      last edited by

                                      @robi:

                                      That's also why I love CF-based NanoBSD. I never upgrade the CF card in the system. I always take a fresh CF with a freshly dd'ed image on it, restore the config from the previous version (using similar hardware usually put on a shelf for spare). When finished, just power off the live system, swap the CF card and power on.

                                      I still have the old CF card with the previous working version in my pocket, which I can pop back in if it turns out later that for some reason we don't like the upgrade. Some things can be detected weeks later…

                                      And it's also the fastest way to do the upgrade, you only have downtime during power on...

                                      I guess you never noticed the previous working version is still there on the alternative slice…

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • R
                                        robi
                                        last edited by

                                        OFF topic:

                                        Lately it happened with several Windows 7 freshly installed HP machines in my environment that after a regular Windows Update procedure (which installed about 100 updates), after reboot, they just went BSOD. I had to reinstall them from scratch… and it happened again. Turned out a specfic update pack from Microsoft was the culprit. It's still inthere, they didn't remove it. Most probably because it doesn't generate the same error on other machines...

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • R
                                          robi
                                          last edited by

                                          @doktornotor:

                                          I guess you never noticed the previous working version is still there on the alternative slice…

                                          Thanks again for your valuable irronic input. Congratulations my friend.

                                          I also do some customizations on my systems by installing some special FreeBSD packages which I like to do not on the live system. This is more important than messing with slices, trust me (I've ran into it on 2 of my boxes).

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • JailerJ
                                            Jailer
                                            last edited by

                                            I will never quite understand people that will waste the time to complain and bash a product that they got for free.

                                            OP, no one is making you use this product. If you don't like it, leave. Better yet code something better yourself so you have a valid platform to complain from.

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