SOLVED - Installation help please

[loganx1121]

I have a Dell recoverpoint Gen 5 server I got from work that I'm trying to install opnsense on.  I've tried using the "vga" .img file and wrote it to USB with both Rufus and passmark, but I keep getting "Mounting from ufs:/dev/ufs/OPNseense_Install failed with error 19" message.  Then it brings me to the "mountroot" prompt but I can't do anything there except ctrl+alt+delete.

I changed the USB bios setting to "hard disk", and I tried hitting 3 at the initial prompt to escape to boot loader and did the "set kern.cam.boot_delay="10000" then boot command but I get the same result.

My boss let me take this thing home and I was hoping I could get it to work with OPNsense so I didn't have to spend money building a new box, so any help would be greatly appreciated.  I've been at it for 2 days now and I'm running out of ideas. 

[Pocket_Sevens]

I am in no way an expert but I'm going to ask a few questions to see if we can generate any ideas?

1. Which version of OPNsense are you using?  19.1?  19.7?

2. Are you using the 32bit or 64bit version?  I think the Gen 5 server uses Xeon processors that are 64bit but I'm not sure. 

3. Are you able to run OPNsense right from the USB drive without installing?

[loganx1121]

1 - 19.7

2. - Yes there are 2 Xeon CPUs, 24 total cores, I believe they are 64 bit

3 - I'm not sure how to do that?


I read a few articles where people couldn't get this to work until they wrote the image using dd in linux.  Wondering if that's worth a shot since I'm running out of ideas.

[loganx1121]

So far I've tried the vga download and the serial, but error 19 on both. 

[Pocket_Sevens]

Using Linux is worth a shot.

When I wrote the OPNsense file to usb, I used my Mac to create an I install usb.  The file I used was OPNsense-19.7-OpenSSL-vga-amd64.img.  When I booted from the usb, there was a point in the boot process to assign interfaces.  So, I said I wanted to assign my interfaces and assigned my WAN/LAN accordingly.  The boot process finished and I was able to log in (using 192.168.1.1) and configure as needed.  I let OPNsense run for about two days before running the installer.  The great thing is, when it installs, it also installs the config.

[loganx1121]

I'll spin up a linux VM and try it.  That's the same image I am trying to use.  Kind of feeling it shouldn't be this hard though

[loganx1121]

I installed linux mint on a laptop instead of a VM.  Per the instructions on the site...

Linux

dd  if=OPNsense-##.#.##-[Type]-[Architecture].[img|iso] of=/dev/sdX bs=16k

USB wasn't detected in the bios....wasn't detected on the linux laptop either.  Had to put it in my windows machine and format FAT32.  Going to try the linux USB writer now...

[loganx1121]

Ok well, the Image writer tool built into linux mint didn't help either.  Same thing.  BIOS won't even detect the USB now.  Played with the BIOS settings a bunch but nothing.

Is it really supposed to be this much of a pain to install this?

[loganx1121]

Also tried burning the .iso to a DVD.  Same thing there...error 19

[bartjsmit]

PowerEdge servers with iDRAC have a virtual disk function that lets them boot directly from an ISO image you upload. Is there any such feature in the recoverpoint?

Bart...

[loganx1121]

When I boot it, it says there's a virtual disk in there, but I don't know how to access it, or get rid of it for that matter.  Also says hit "ctrl+G" to enter raid configuration but that just seems to hang and not do anything.  Read somewhere that I had to disable legacy USB in BIOS to get that to work but it didn't seem to help.

Not sure how I would get the image into the IDRAC even if I wanted to?

[banym]

Maybe there is a newer bios version for the server? Looks like some missbehaviour with the disk management of the uefi or bios?

If you are on Windows I use Win32DiskImager to write any kind of images to usb sticks or dd if I am on Mac or Linux.

If you can choose go for UEFI boot, there you can see if the uefi loader is loaded before FreeBSD loader comes into action.

Had some boards in the past that had to be updated to boot correctly.

By the way, that machine is huge and will burn a lot of energy just to do firewalling or run some network services.

[loganx1121]

Finally got it.  Of all the stupid things all it took was to reset the BIOS to default settings. 

[loganx1121]

These are the specs of the machine I'm using

https://www.itinstock.com/emc-recoverpoint-gen5-server-2x-six-core-e5-2620-2x-300gb-hdd-8gb-ram-kybfp-37123-p.asp

Except mine has 12GB of RAM.  Also has 4 NICs

[banym]

nice to hear it works now!
btw. if you dig into it you could test if AHCI settings where the problem.
please add a resolved tag to the subject of the first post in this tread.

that machine should be capable of alot of services and should deliver good performance.