How to install OPNsense on a Netgate SG-5100 - USB console issues

[Patrick M. Hausen]

@jackman what steps did you try and at which point does the installation fail?

[jackman4]

Hi @pmhausen

Actually i'm a linux guy not really comfortable with bsd. I'm learning .

I didn't try anything for now. I need to figure out which bootloader is and how to boot from media.
 i'll try with this :

https://docs.opnsense.org/manual/install.html

I'll try to add some other m2 disk :

https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/solutions/sg-5100/m-2-sata-installation.html

As i'm not comfortable i don't want to brick the appliance.

Any advice on needed precautions would be very appreciated.

[Patrick M. Hausen]

You need a bootable medium (USB?) and find out how to get at the bootloader prompt to pick it for booting. You can then boot all the way - unless you specifically start an installation you won't break anything. The system will run in a "live mode" from that USB key, so you can try if it works without touching the internal drive.

Use the "serial" image and write it to USB with dd on your Linux system.

[jackman4]

Ok

It looks quite simple then.

I'll read some dmesg logs to dig for firmware problems, try some confs and read some logs before installing.

I think i'll `dd` the whole drive before installing anything.

Will give some input if i succeed.

 Thanks for your help.

[Patrick M. Hausen]

If you can boot the OPNsense install medium successfully, it is also a live FreeBSD system. So you can use it to dd your internal disk to some remote system via ssh.

The internal drive is probably /dev/ada0. camcontrol devlist will tell you.

[Splodge]

Appreciate this is an old thread, but replying in case anyone searches in the future.

To install opnSense on SG 5100, you need to boot with serial console attached (via USB), when prompted, press esc to enter bios.
Reset all settings to default.
Download and burn the opnSense *serial* image to a USB

Power off the SG 5100, insert the opnSense USB and reboot
Give it a few mins and it will reboot into the opnSense installer, and you can install to either onboard MMC or added SSD.

I have personally done this a few times on both 5100 & 6100 - both work great with opnSense serial image - no need to change any settings

[Splodge]

And in case it’s useful, they both run 1 gig symmetrical PPPoE fine. (With appropriate PPPoE tunbles set)
Idle power consumption with 2 x 1g cables connected is 11w for 5100 and 14w for 6100