[pfSense] Soekris 6501 installation question

[Jim Pingle]

>> On 1/23/2012 2:33 PM, David Miller wrote:
>> > On 1/23/12 1:52 PM, Jim Pingle wrote:
>> > Can memsticks be used as the flash drive to run a pfsense instance on a
>> > soekris, or do I need to use that to install to another type of flash on
>> > the system?
>> > 
>> Yes, but you should really be using NanoBSD if you choose that path.
>> Flash is way too short-lived to survive long with a full install for
>> extended periods.
> 
> Whiteboard level overview: Is there an easy way to install the nano image on the internal flash card in a soekris?  I don't have the right pieces to dd to the internal flash outside of the soekris; Can I boot off the memstick and scp a nano image onto flash?

You can boot the serial memstick (I updated it today for a customer so
it's actually even more geared toward running on the 6501), let it boot
all the way so it's on the network, then fetch the nanobsd image and
write it out from there (may take some fiddling, don't have the syntax
handy)

The serial memstick is now also set to still use the serial console
post-install, and it also defaults to em0 for wan, em1 for lan. Still
best to pick the embedded kernel during install. It's still SMP-capable,
but also set for the serial console.

Jim