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.

As seen in the comments from a previous post, recent ssh changes caused Yaifo’s sshd server to stop working. The fix was very simple: include an /etc/login.conf in the Yaifo image file.

I just bought a Soekris Net5501. I was hoping that Yaifo would provide a convenient method for installing OpenBSD on the CompactFlash card I’ll be using in my new Soekris firewall. After a few tweaks, it does!
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First things first: Yaifo is now available via CVS. And (obviously) I set up a SourceForge Project, but I haven’t done much with it yet.

I also set up a new category on my website for Yaifo so that it has its own page. I haven’t decided yet, but I think I’ll just have the SourceForge Project Homepage redirect to the page here.

I will still generate tarballs for downloads, but you can get the latest and greatest from CVS:

cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@yaifo.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/yaifo login
cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@yaifo.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/yaifo co -P yaifo

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