Announcing YAIFO 4.5!

Yaifo 4.5 has several new features and a new architecture. You can download Yaifo 4.5 from SourceForge. Below is a summary of some of the changes in this release:

• Support for sgi added
• Add ‘get-files’ target to copy authorized_keys and ssh_host*_key files
• Add SNAPSHOT=yes|no to default to snapshots directory
• Add install target (requires REALLY=YES environment variable)
• Start adding landisk support – not complete

Announcing YAIFO 4.4!

There are no new features in Yaifo 4.4 besides bringing Yaifo in sync with OpenBSD 4.4. Thanks to Seth for helping me test and finding some problems.

You can download Yaifo 4.4 from SourceForge.

Announcing YAIFO 4.3!

For the yaifo release accompanying OpenBSD 4.3, I decided to match OpenBSD’s version number. From this point forward, only one version of yaifo will be active. I will not backport updates for older versions of OpenBSD… who is “upgrading” to older versions anyway? So the current OpenBSD release and some recent version of -current will be supported.

You can download Yaifo 4.3 from SourceForge.

Announcing YAIFO 0.5!

The OpenBSD installer with a terrible name has a new update to coincide with the release of OpenBSD 4.2. New in Yaifo 0.5:

• amd64 has been tested and is working (it worked with version 0.4, but I didn’t have a way to test).
• macppc added.
• cleanall make target actually does clean all now.
• I started to take more ownership of the project (not just functionality) including updating the readme, copyrights and cvs $Id$ tags.
• Added boot.conf to build a kernel with console redirection (to make yaifo + soekris work properly).
• Changed the message at the end of an upgrade/install to recommend reboot over halt (because halting a server 1000 miles away would be just plain stupid).
• Update to OpenBSD 4.2.
• Use a standard sshd_config and customize sshd through command line options in net.sh.

Download yaifo-0.5 for OpenBSD 4.2.

New story of mine on The OpenBSD Journal:

I wrote about how I went about setting up my new Soekris net5501:

I recently purchased a new Soekris net5501 to replace my beige box firewall. I had previously set up a net4501 but I wasn’t happy with it and sold it to a friend. Large file transfers would grind it to a halt and the performance wasn’t as good as my beige box. The net5501 has increased horsepower (faster processor, more memory) and a better network chipset (vr(4)). And, most of all, because there are 4 network ports! At my house I have 3 network + my FiOS connection. I have my internal LAN (wired with full access to everything), my wireless network (requires authentication and has limited access to the LAN) and my DMZ (for my web server; no access to the LAN or wireless networks).

For my installation, I use Yaifo so I don’t have to deal with a serial console or setting up pxeboot. (I actually did hook up a serial console to update the bios, which I’ll discuss later). Also, I use a custom rc and a flashdist-like system so I can mount my CF read-only. My “fdlite” script doesn’t rely on a customized install like flashdist. It does use some of the device modifications Chris uses to make the read-only / work properly, though.

Read more at The OpenBSD Journal.