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Using EAP Refresh 1 ISO to build a test XG

rfcat_vk

I have sent using a J1900 based box for various varsions of XG. So I decided to move the MR-9 to my E# box and use the J1900 as the EAP test box.

In summary a very painful exercise.

The EAP ISO has a new install process or at least the startup screen shows the SFLoader starting first, then you are offered 18.0.0.113 install with the standard question Y to install. All going well, takes awhile and when you get to the end the remove install software and enter y to reboot.

Nothing appears to be happening after the screen is cleared and a message booting 18.0.0.113 appears. Waited awhile, restarted the XG, again same screen, disk activity, buy no screen updates. Waited longer this time and console appears requesting password, this is good. Check various settings including setting the time. Tried logging in to the GUI, no success, waited, checked W10n for address assignment, it ha a valid address, but no connection.  Restart again, but no access. 

So a fresh install, same process as above, but this time waited longer (no screen activity) and eventually I was able to login to the GUI with finish install screen. Go through the normal steps and add XG device ID which synchronises but doesn't go any further. So restart browser, no joy. Restart XG and wait even longer, login via GUI and found installation is completed. What the heck?

Bugs,

GUI - insights doesn't't update even overnight

Notifications - goes fine until I change the state of the management port, then the circle of busy. Refresh browser and can use other GUI tabs. Check the notification page, still spinning. Restart XG, notification page still spinning. After initial use console does not respond until the XG is restarted.

I decide the J1900 is just too slow to make any changes or look at various logs.

Time to use a bigger box based on an e3-1240 v3. Way faster, but even less information during installation because the build software does not cooer to known how to configure a display card. 

Another install this time watching disk lights and the CD drive, guessed at answers based on previous installation experience. waited a short time until the NIC lights started flashing and logged into the GUI to be presented with the finish install screen. Same process as the J1900 installations but way faster.

Changed some of the notifications during the finish screen process because there were more screens presented.

Restarted and was able to login to see the normal XG GUI. Change a couple of rules and change MTA to legacy. Then tried to up date notifications and again the perpetual ball of busy.

 

Observations

1/. default MTA configuration and firewall rule appears to leave the XG open as a mail relay. Lots of failed relay attempts logged.

2/. Install process does not appear to have been checked very thoroughly

3/. something wrong with the console setup during installation

4/. No default video drivers provided in the ISO.

 

E3-1240 runs rings around J1900 for management. Both performed well for the speed test on my 50/20 data service

Yes, I know a long rant.

Ian

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  • 0

    Hi Ian,

    My J1900 box has really been struggling with management since v17, at first I thought it was the PCIe SATA SSD I was using but when I switched types of SSD it made no changes.

    I'm getting ready to relegate the J1900 to "basic features" only for later versions of the XG, sadly.

    I'm also looking at an e3-12xx series processor for my next home XG box.

    Emile

  • 0 in reply to Emile Belcourt

    Hi Emile,

    The E3-1240 is an overkill, but that was all I had installed in a case.

    I looked at upgrading to the e3-1225 v6 and found the cost wan't worth it, no performance improvement and no power saving. If you need a new box, the e3-1225v6 will do the job very well,

    Mine sits around 20w except at restart time.

    The J1900 did work very well with the UTM 9.6, the interface was quite snappy before I migrated it to the XG.

    Ian

    XG115W - v20.0.2 MR-2 - Home

    XG on VM 8 - v21 EAP

    If a post solves your question please use the 'Verify Answer' button.

  • 0 in reply to alda

    Hi Alda,

    Thank you for your suggestion but apart from the AES-NI, the E3845 and J1900 are exactly the same processor albeit the J1900 has burst frequency and a higher base clock.

    For my needs and my upcoming WAN speeds, i'll need the high frequency Xeon territory, moar powah!

    Emile

  • 0 in reply to Emile Belcourt

    Hi Emile,

    I have try to build by UTMs and XGs using miniTIX server motherboards with a lower power E3.

    I have number of miniITX server motherboards about to be recycled because I can't get CPUs for them. I tried the I3 and I5 and they were just too power hungry.

    The e3-1240 I am using is also power hungry because it has to have an extra video card and I can't get V3 processors so it has to be a new board that will take V5 or V6 CPUs.

    At this stage I have an e3-1225v5 running with 4 ports, 6gb (8 installed).

    The issue I have with the current batch of server motherboards is they have one supported NIC and one unsupported so I need to add an additional card.

    I have intel mini ITX server boards sitting around.

    Ian

    XG115W - v20.0.2 MR-2 - Home

    XG on VM 8 - v21 EAP

    If a post solves your question please use the 'Verify Answer' button.

  • 0 in reply to rfcat_vk

    Hi Ian,

    Yeah, I'm musing about an LGA1150 Supermicro micro-atx board, I really haven't decided whether I want a low power mini PC or go mid power ITX/uATX, they cost about the same. Where I am electricity is quite cheap so I'm relatively nonplussed for an up to 150w regular consumption.

    I have Quad port Intel Gigabit cards and a few other networking bits lying around so I could do a build my own, might price it up and see what I can get.

    Emile

  • 0 in reply to rfcat_vk

    I've been eyeing up this board: SuperMicro X10SLM-F

    2 ports I210 Intel Gigabit and a IPMI port and I can find the board for around 75-125 depending on who I nab it from. It also has an aspeed BMC so theoretically no dGPU required plus several PCIe slots. Even just consuming one PCIe slot you can have a 6 port firewall.

    But i'm really eyeing up an X10SDV board, dual 10GbE and dual 1GbE ports as standard in a mini-itx format...

    Emile

  • 0 in reply to Emile Belcourt

    Hi Emile,

    that is the one I am using (X10SLM-F) the e3-1240 v3 and it requires a display card. You need to purchase extra software to get the BMC going as far as I know. If you get the e3-1225 it will work well.

    Ian

    XG115W - v20.0.2 MR-2 - Home

    XG on VM 8 - v21 EAP

    If a post solves your question please use the 'Verify Answer' button.

  • 0 in reply to Emile Belcourt

    Everything AES related is 4 to 6 times faster with AES-NI instructions set.

    An enormous difference for anything encrypted AES.

    A comparaison:  http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/111/Intel_Atom_E3845_vs_Intel_Celeron_J1900.html

    Paul Jr

  • 0 in reply to Big_Buck

    Hello Paul,

    Oh yes, absolutely, but I don't do much AES related stuff on my XG firewall so I focused on compute/speed over that.

     

    Ian, I'll likely get an e3-1225v3 based system but I am very interested in finding out more about those X10SDV boards as those D-1518 processors look tasty.

    Emile

  • 0 in reply to Emile Belcourt

    Hi Emile,

    Yes, but a little bit on the slow side otherwise for a configure and set arrangement they would be excellent.

    Ian

    XG115W - v20.0.2 MR-2 - Home

    XG on VM 8 - v21 EAP

    If a post solves your question please use the 'Verify Answer' button.

  • 0 in reply to Emile Belcourt

    Hello Emile,

    I can recommend the X10SDV board. I've been using it for over a year and a half. I have installed the X10SDV-6C-TLN4F model with the ESXi v6.7 hypervisor. If you would like to use RAID drives in conjunction with the ESXi hypervisor on this board, you need to use the hardware RAID controller, because the ESXi hypervisor does not support integrated Intel SW RAID controller. I use the Adaptec RAID 6405E RAID controller, but I recommend using an additional RAID chip cooler for this controller because it gets hot enough.

    Regards

    alda

  • 0 in reply to alda

    Hi Alda,

    Yeah, looking at the reviews and discussions on the board is that it is a very toasty piece of kit and active cooling is a must.

    If you can get the board with enough interfaces, the RAID is definitely a good option. I'm looking at the dual 10GbE 4C boards and then i'll just slap in an Intel i210 quad port NIC for good measure.

    Really curious as to what kind of speeds i could push through it but at around £400 it's not a test and measure, it's a "you've decided" issue!

    Emile

Reply
  • 0 in reply to alda

    Hi Alda,

    Yeah, looking at the reviews and discussions on the board is that it is a very toasty piece of kit and active cooling is a must.

    If you can get the board with enough interfaces, the RAID is definitely a good option. I'm looking at the dual 10GbE 4C boards and then i'll just slap in an Intel i210 quad port NIC for good measure.

    Really curious as to what kind of speeds i could push through it but at around £400 it's not a test and measure, it's a "you've decided" issue!

    Emile

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