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    Running pfSense on a meraki MX400

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    • I
      interrupt
      last edited by

      I have seen this successfully implemented. I have a project for my kid and his friends to do just that. Problem I don't have any real direction to provide to them. They are 9 and i am very old school going back to actually knowing Hollerith and being a beast with amigas. Having said that, is there any guide or support page that someone could direct me to so that I can give them a lead on how to either implement ore brick the mx400. Here is an image of the result "supposedly" .

      dd0ed17c-c44e-4dde-89d9-381267f1f96f-image.png

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      • stephenw10S
        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
        last edited by

        Looking at it that seems to be a badged Lanner appliance so I'd expect to be able to boot pfSense just fine.

        First thing I would do is hook up a serial console and see what's shown. Can it boot from USB? Can you access the BIOS setup?

        If neither then you may have to move the boot drive into something else to install to it.

        Steve

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        • stephenw10S stephenw10 moved this topic from Problems Installing or Upgrading pfSense Software on
        • I
          interrupt @stephenw10
          last edited by

          @stephenw10 you are absolutely correct. I forgot that it is lanner system and just branded. I completely forgot. It won't be here until probably next week. I just got it from eBay. Thanks for reminding me about the hardware origin. I completely forgot that. I mixed my own self up in my own mind. I forgot I looked at lanner for info. I completely forgot. Thanks.

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          • provelsP
            provels @interrupt
            last edited by provels

            @interrupt Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I used a second machine with video and a couple of throwaway NICs to install the base system and just get it on the Internet (and enable SSH), then moved the drive to the headless machine, connected to console port via serial, and reconfigured the new NICs when they were recognized at first boot. After that, I'd install packages, write rules, etc., from the web interface Fairly straightforward. Looks like a cool box! A little power hungry, but if the price is right.

            Datasheet

            Peder

            MAIN - pfSense+ 24.11-RELEASE - Adlink MXE-5401, i7, 16 GB RAM, 64 GB SSD. 500 GB HDD for SyslogNG
            BACKUP - pfSense+ 23.01-RELEASE - Hyper-V Virtual Machine, Gen 1, 2 v-CPUs, 3 GB RAM, 8GB VHDX (Dynamic)

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            • stephenw10S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by

              Merged the two threads here.

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              • J
                jfaubin @interrupt
                last edited by

                @interrupt

                Have you installed psense on the meraki?

                Regards!

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                • I
                  interrupt @jfaubin
                  last edited by

                  @jfaubin I've been so busy with other responsibilities and will plan on working on this project in April.

                  There is a CF170 4gig inside and I think that it is used for firmware? I really don't know. I'll ask a cisco friend to give me some info on that chip and what it is used for.

                  Cisco removed all ports for this device however I doubt they removed the functionality inside on the MB. I'll pick up a video cable and use that to see if I can get any video.

                  I'll report back.

                  This was originally a project for my kid and his friends but they blew it off and went back to playing roblox.

                  I'm an old man i guess but i'm raising a 10 year old and man is it a major trip.

                  Thanks for the inquiry.

                  Interrupt

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