[SOLVED] Installing OPNsense nano image without serial cable connection ?

[jstrebel]

Hi, what are the reasons for the current requirement the image install needs initial setup with a serial connection? Considering the fact that newer PC do not have anymore a serial interface it would help in this situations to enable a installation. My suggestion is to "preset" the first Interface with a fixed IP address.
I am eager to hear your opinions.
Jakob

[franco]

Hi Jakob,

there is still a ticket that revolves around the auto-configuration on first boot, and we are unsure how to solve it. It's complicated by the fact that the serial image is indeed a dual image and also supports VGA, but when the default configuration (em0 and em1 configured as LAN and WAN) are not available, the boot will stall, which is probably what you are seeing.

We know all the possible network interfaces, but the auto-configuration doesn't want to translate them. I will take a closer look. Maybe for 15.7 we can find a neat way.

See: https://github.com/opnsense/core/issues/5


Cheers,
Franco

[franco]

Hi again,

the ticket is closed in time for 15.7 today. What I've done is:

o Make the network card assignment always trigger on first boot.
o Give the network card assignment a timeout of roughly 10 seconds to choose manual configuration which waits for user input like before.
o If no key was pressed, the auto assignment will run and chose the first card it finds as LAN, the second one as WAN (or not depending on your hardware port count).
o Autoassign will reset your LAN/WAN settings so be careful there, but on the other hand it'll always start a DHCP server on the LAN port so that the firewall can be accessed using 192.168.1.1 even without a static assignment (think plugging a Laptop into LAN).


Cheers,
Franco