[SOLVED] OPNsense on Compact Flash

[jramshur]

pfSense has the NanoBSD package tailored for embedded systems using flash memory such as Compact Flash. According to the pfSense website "Flash memory can only handle a limited number of writes, so the embedded version runs read only from flash, with read/write file systems as RAM disks."

With that in mind...can OPNSense be used safely on Compact Flash systems? If so, then what is the proper way to set it up?

[franco]

We removed the read-only layer as it was convoluted and sometimes not working as expected. Our Nano(BSD) images use the /var and /tmp memory disks by default to prolong card lifetimes still.

In short: yes, please use the "nano" image we do provide:

https://pkg.opnsense.org/releases/mirror/

[jramshur]

Great. What about systems that have CF and hard disk? I have a pfsense box that uses the HD for cache. Is the preferred method to use the HD for cache? If so, then would this be easily setup?

[franco]

What do you want to cache? If you have both, I'd recommend the hard disk install.

Otherwise, you'll have to fiddle with partition layouts or daemon setups, fdisk'ing the other disk by hand. I am not aware of any automated multi-part installation across two different disks.

Maybe you mean ARC for ZFS: we don't have ZFS fully supported.

[jramshur]

I think it was setup for squid to use the HD as cache so as not to continually write to the CF. It is similar to this one
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pfsense-2-2-2-ITX-Firewall-Router-1-WAN-3-LAN-60GB-CACHE-/321777533380?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4aeb6f81c4.

I'm new to pfsense and just assumed there were some benefit to installing it on the CF card.

[franco]

If you have enough RAM a MFS/TMPFS is probably better than the hard disk for caching (unless you want to cache more than a few GB). CF is the cheap alternative to a HD, so having both seems like a waste. The HD is definitely better in terms of overall performance.