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Create PfSense.md #13

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Create PfSense.md
pkubaj Aug 30, 2017
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pkubaj Aug 31, 2017
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PfSense ISO is cd9660
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In order to boot PfSense via iPXE,
you need to do the following:

1. Download ISO from https://nyifiles.pfsense.org/mirror/downloads/pfSense-CE-2.3.4-RELEASE-amd64.iso.gz

You should also check the SHA256 hash:
`sha256 -c 610b2a8c696e1d1854845d553ce8540debaab9d78ed6c15ce83872eaeac9d05f pfSense-CE-2.3.4-RELEASE-amd64.iso.gz`
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@mek-x mek-x Sep 1, 2017

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I believe this is redundant. Please choose between providing the hash in command to execute or asking people to check it using the site. IMHO, I'm not a huge fan of putting such "harcoded" values in documentation (it's doing redundancy with the image owner's site).

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@pkubaj pkubaj Sep 1, 2017

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I have removed the info about website. SHA256 is hardcoded, because the command uses it.


2. Extract the ISO contents to a directory called
`images/pfsense` in TFTP root:
`gzip -d pfSense-CE-2.3.4-RELEASE-amd64.iso.gz`

In order to extract the contents, you need to mount
the ISO with following commands (example from FreeBSD):
`mount_cd9660 /dev/$(mdconfig -a -t vnode -f pfSense-CE-2.3.4-RELEASE-amd64.iso) /mnt`
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@miczyg1 miczyg1 Sep 1, 2017

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@pkubaj on Debian like systems it would be easier to use this:
mount -o loop pfSense-CE-2.3.4-RELEASE-amd64.iso /mnt and then rsync.
It also mounts an ISO image to target directory and creates a device node with name loopX.
I do not have mount_cd9660 command.
I got some errors when running rsync:

rsync error: some files/attrs were not transferred (see previous errors) (code 23) at main.c(1183) [sender=3.1.1]

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@mek-x mek-x Sep 1, 2017

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Considering that most of our target audience (and our validation team) use Linux, please provide examples using some modern, popular distro (e.g. Debian). FreeBSD examples are also welcome, but shouldn't be the only one - sorry :)

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@mek-x mek-x Sep 1, 2017

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@miczyg1 it looks that rsync couldn't transfer some files attributes exactly (like read/write/execute permissions).

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@pkubaj pkubaj Sep 1, 2017

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@mek-x is right and this shouldn't really matter.


To mount the ISO from GNU / Linux use:
`mount -o loop pfSense-CE-2.3.4-RELEASE-amd64.iso /mnt`

Then:
`rsync -avvP /mnt/ /srv/tftp/images/pfsense/`
You need to have `rsync` installed.

2. Relevant entry in DHCP server config:
`option root-path /srv/tftp/images/pfsense;`
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@miczyg1 miczyg1 Sep 1, 2017

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@pkubaj I would appreciate to prepare a solution for a network without running DHCP server on linux machine. Please provide necessary kernel command line with nfs options if possible. I will be able then to reproduce it

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@pkubaj pkubaj Sep 1, 2017

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Sorry, this time you must adjust to the standard :)
https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/network-diskless.html
"In order to provide the files needed for an operating system to boot over the network, a PXE setup also requires properly configured DHCP, TFTP, and NFS servers"

`/srv/tftp/images/pfsense` is the path to the extracted ISO.

3. Relevant entries in PXELINUX config:
```
label PfSense
menu label PfSense
pxe images/pfsense/boot/pxeboot
```
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@pietrushnic pietrushnic Aug 30, 2017

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@pkubaj why don't you add this entry to our configuation of PXE server ?

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@pkubaj pkubaj Aug 30, 2017

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sure


The path `images/pfsense/boot/pxeboot` is relative to TFTP root directory.
It's a path to the PXE loader in the extracted PfSense installation image.

Unfortunately, there's no mechanism for unattended installation of PfSense.
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@pietrushnic pietrushnic Aug 30, 2017

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@pkubaj any reference about that ?

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@pkubaj pkubaj Aug 30, 2017

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There's just no reference to unattended installation in the docs or in the official forum. It's possible though too install with Foreman.
https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Installing_pfSense - nothing here
Other people also ask about it:
https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=87212.0
https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=61112.0
https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=66024.0

Also, OPNSense, which forked from PfSense, also doesn't support it.

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@pietrushnic pietrushnic Aug 31, 2017

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@pkubaj please add this information as note to documentation. It would be very helpful for future developers.

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@pkubaj pkubaj Sep 1, 2017

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Done.

PfSense documentation doesn't mention this:
https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Installing_pfSense