Migration from pfSense to OPNsense without installation?

[der.opnsense.praktiker]

Hi all,

is there a way to go from a running pfSense system to OPNsense without installing OPNsense first?

I know the backup-and-restore-method to replace pfSense by OPNsense, but that doesn't work for remote devices.

My concern is: how can I migrate to OPNsense on hardware devices, which are not physically close to me?

Both pfSense and OPNsense run the same operating system, so I hope there is some update path.

I imagine some kind of migration script, that runs on pfSense, collects the OPNsense packages, converts the configuration and magically converts the device to OPNsense.

Cheers,
-Markus

[fabian]

Such a thing does  not exist but there is a script for a hard replacement in a running FreeBSD installation (not sure if it works):

https://github.com/opnsense/update/blob/master/bootstrap/opnsense-bootstrap.sh

[der.opnsense.praktiker]

Well, the script

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opnsense-bootstrap.sh brings the OPNsense packages to the local system. This seems to run and complete successfully.
However, after a reboot all hell breaks loose: lots of error messages and not even the

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opnsense-shell output is visible.
I will dive a little deeper into that script issue, but I guess that's not the right way to bring up a stable installation of OPNsense.

[chemlud]

...yeah, you can even shoot yourself into the foot and as it hurts you conclude you might shoot in the knee to see how this does... ;-)

[mimugmail]

The whole process of bringing a pfSense to a OPNsense is highly unstable.
Both systems should be considered as own distributions without any automatic migration path.

Only stable way is to configure a new device, send it over and switch. Also there should be a person able to open a connection to LAN via hotspot.

This would be the usual way to migrate (and I did that more than once)

[der.opnsense.praktiker]

I guess you are right. I was just hoping there is a simple way...
Thanks for the discussion.

[franco]

Config.xml has diverged over the years, less for us than others, but the end result is the same: you cannot login so manual editing is required if you know what to look for.


Cheers,
Franco