I tried pfSense 2.1 snapshot of yesterday which supports a newer FreeBSD version. There I got a bit further. It recognises the disk, can partition it but hangs on 35% of the following command: /usr/local/bin/cpdup -vvv -l -0 /usr /mnt/usr

Any idea?

This thread has the same issue.  You have to go into BIOS and disable multicore and any other power saving features to get past the 35%.  Once its installed, just enable those features back in the BIOS.

http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,61799.msg333848.html#msg333848

Issue was only patched 2 hours ago thats why the problem hasnt been resolved yet in previous snaps.

https://github.com/pfsense/pfsense/commit/a80cb9ca40fb5b485d03d7b64a3fd99a7a15b880

Need to try the next snapshot after 20130504-0557

Maybe the Docs should be updated then

http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/What_are_Floating_Rules%3F

Floating rules are parsed before rules on other interfaces. Thus, if a packet matches a floating rule and the Quick option is active on that rule, pfsense will not attempt to filter that packet against any rule on any other interface.

Just experienced this as well on 2 totally different machines. 

Took a while but by turning off virtualization, disabling multicore and any other cpu features for saving power , installing with ethernet cables unplugged and unplugging the usb keyboard right after it starts installing pfSense to the hard drive, only then have I managed to get it to install without stopping at 36%.  Seems one specific setting is not the key but all of them combined.

http://communities.vmware.com/message/2052507

Did i read that correctly that ESXi reads the BIOS time as UTP and vSphere sets the correct timezone?

You're in India so picking a NTP server closer to you might make it more accurate.

Put the following as a NTP server instead of 129.6.15.28

0.asia.pool.ntp.org

Only thing I can think of is that possibly you have an NTP server setup in your vSphere Client which makes your ESXi the time server and not pfSense.

That IP address in your status is from an ntp server from this site http://www.mattnordhoff.com/ntp.html

Do you know how that could be?  Does that site look familiar to you?

I use 3 NTP servers in case one should be down.  The status page should show the servers you have setup in General Setup.

Try using 129.6.15.28 as an NTP Time Server in General Setup.  That IP is to time-a.nist.gov which is a Stratum 1 server

@verbal

Your Network Time Protocol status pic shows 2 IP addresses under Server and Ref Id, neither one of these is valid for 0.pfsense.pool.ntp.org.

@rakeshvijayan

Your Network Time Protocol status pic shows a Private IP address for Server.  In the GUI, check under System/General Setup and enter a valid IP address for a time server thats not within your LAN.  Try using 129.6.15.28 as an NTP Time Server in General Setup.  That IP is to time-a.nist.gov which is a Stratum 1 server

[/conf/config.xml]

Also take a look in the /conf/config.xml file in the [cron] section to see what is listed there (and how many times).

Looks normal enough, no duplicates.

Code:

<cron>
<item>
<minute>0</minute>
<hour>*</hour>
<mday>*</mday>
<month>*</month>
<wday>*</wday>
<who>root</who>
<command>/usr/bin/nice -n20 newsyslog</command>
</item>
<item>
<minute>1,31</minute>
<hour>0-5</hour>
<mday>*</mday>
<month>*</month>
<wday>*</wday>
<who>root</who>
<command>/usr/bin/nice -n20 adjkerntz -a</command>
</item>
<item>
<minute>1</minute>
<hour>3</hour>
<mday>1</mday>
<month>*</month>
<wday>*</wday>
<who>root</who>
<command>/usr/bin/nice -n20 /etc/rc.update_bogons.sh</command>
</item>
<item>
<minute>*/60</minute>
<hour>*</hour>
<mday>*</mday>
<month>*</month>
<wday>*</wday>
<who>root</who>
<command>/usr/bin/nice -n20 /usr/local/sbin/expiretable -v -t 3600 sshlockout</command>
</item>
<item>
<minute>1</minute>
<hour>1</hour>
<mday>*</mday>
<month>*</month>
<wday>*</wday>
<who>root</who>
<command>/usr/bin/nice -n20 /etc/rc.dyndns.update</command>
</item>
<item>
<minute>*/60</minute>
<hour>*</hour>
<mday>*</mday>
<month>*</month>
<wday>*</wday>
<who>root</who>
<command>/usr/bin/nice -n20 /usr/local/sbin/expiretable -v -t 3600 virusprot</command>
</item>
<item>
<minute>30</minute>
<hour>12</hour>
<mday>*</mday>
<month>*</month>
<wday>*</wday>
<who>root</who>
<command>/usr/bin/nice -n20 /etc/rc.update_urltables</command>
</item>
<item>
<minute>*/5</minute>
<hour>*</hour>
<mday>*</mday>
<month>*</month>
<wday>*</wday>
<who>root</who>
<command>/usr/bin/nice -n20 /usr/local/bin/php -f /usr/local/pkg/snort/snort_check_cron_misc.inc</command>
</item>
<item>
<minute>*/5</minute>
<hour>*</hour>
<mday>*</mday>
<month>*</month>
<wday>*</wday>
<who>root</who>
<command>/usr/bin/nice -n20 /usr/local/sbin/expiretable -t 3600 snort2c</command>
</item>
<item>
<minute>3</minute>
<hour>0</hour>
<mday>*/1</mday>
<month>*</month>
<wday>*</wday>
<who>root</who>
<command>/usr/bin/nice -n20 /usr/local/bin/php -f /usr/local/pkg/snort/snort_check_for_rule_updates.php &gt;&gt; /tmp/snort_update.log</command>
</item>
</cron>

I'll report back what I see tonight when it updates again just after midnight

Looking through my own update logs in response to Asterix' issue I noticed the following:

Code:

Starting rules update...  Time: 2013-04-15 00:03:01
Downloading Snort VRT md5 file...
Starting rules update...  Time: 2013-04-15 00:03:01
Downloading Snort VRT md5 file...
Starting rules update...  Time: 2013-04-15 00:03:01
Downloading Snort VRT md5 file...
Checking Snort VRT md5 file...
Snort VRT rules are up to date.
Downloading Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5 file...
Checking Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5.
Snort GPLv2 Community Rules are up to date.
Downloading EmergingThreats md5 file...
Checking EmergingThreats md5.
Emerging Threats rules are up to date.
The Rules update has finished.  Time: 2013-04-15 00:03:57

Checking Snort VRT md5 file...
Snort VRT rules are up to date.
Downloading Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5 file...
Checking Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5.
Snort GPLv2 Community Rules are up to date.
Downloading EmergingThreats md5 file...
Checking EmergingThreats md5.
Emerging Threats rules are up to date.
The Rules update has finished.  Time: 2013-04-15 00:05:31

Checking Snort VRT md5 file...
Snort VRT rules are up to date.
Downloading Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5 file...
Checking Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5.
Snort GPLv2 Community Rules are up to date.
Downloading EmergingThreats md5 file...
Checking EmergingThreats md5.
Emerging Threats rules are up to date.
The Rules update has finished.  Time: 2013-04-15 00:06:28

Cron only has the 'check for rule updates' command listed once.  I only have Snort running on one interface and I confirmed there is only one instance of the Snort process running but it seems to have attempted the download 3x simultaneously last night.  Any thoughts Bill?

Update:  Looking at my other 2 boxes, they both show two simultaneous attempts at Update time.

What does your Snort Update Log state?  I saw in my own update logs where Snort was down a few days ago at a certain time after midnight and my download failed.  Could just be a possible download failure which resides on snort.org side of things which will resolve itself later.

Will take a while Bill before others get used to checking on their update logs as well as the system logs when they have issues.  Great feature to have now, thanks to Bmeeks.

In regards to the md5 files, I just removed them with one command to make things a little easier to force the rules update.

Code:

rm /usr/pbi/snort-amd64/etc/snort/*.md5

Thanks Bill, seems to be working just fine now.

Bill, at midnight on the 12th and the 13th, the Community Rules got updated without issue.  Another possible scenario seems to be at play in addition here as well.

Out of curiosity I forced an update and it looks like my classification.config file got overwritten to be blank again.  Looking at the update logs, ET and Snort VRT were already up to date and the only ruleset to get actually updated was the Community Rules.

It has automatically updated a couple of times in the last 2 days and I haven't had a problem with the classification.config file.  Wondering if I just shot myself in the foot by just forcing the update.

Code:

Starting rules update...  Time: 2013-04-11 00:03:00
Downloading Snort VRT md5 file...
Starting rules update...  Time: 2013-04-11 00:03:00
Starting rules update...  Time: 2013-04-11 00:03:00
Downloading Snort VRT md5 file...
Downloading Snort VRT md5 file...
Checking Snort VRT md5 file...
Snort VRT rules are up to date.
Downloading Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5 file...
Checking Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5.
Snort GPLv2 Community Rules are up to date.
Downloading EmergingThreats md5 file...
Checking EmergingThreats md5.
Emerging Threats rules are up to date.
The Rules update has finished.  Time: 2013-04-11 00:03:35

Checking Snort VRT md5 file...
Snort VRT rules are up to date.
Downloading Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5 file...
Checking Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5.
Snort GPLv2 Community Rules are up to date.
Downloading EmergingThreats md5 file...
Checking EmergingThreats md5.
Emerging Threats rules are up to date.
The Rules update has finished.  Time: 2013-04-11 00:06:47

Checking Snort VRT md5 file...
Snort VRT rules are up to date.
Downloading Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5 file...
Checking Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5.
Snort GPLv2 Community Rules are up to date.
Downloading EmergingThreats md5 file...
Checking EmergingThreats md5.
Emerging Threats rules are up to date.
The Rules update has finished.  Time: 2013-04-11 00:07:30

Starting rules update...  Time: 2013-04-12 00:03:01
Downloading Snort VRT md5 file...
Starting rules update...  Time: 2013-04-12 00:03:01
Downloading Snort VRT md5 file...
Starting rules update...  Time: 2013-04-12 00:03:01
Downloading Snort VRT md5 file...
Checking Snort VRT md5 file...
Snort VRT rules are up to date.
Downloading Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5 file...
Checking Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5.
There is a new set of Snort GPLv2 Community Rules posted. Downloading...
Done downloading Snort GPLv2 Community Rules file.
Extracting and installing Snort GPLv2 Community Rules...
Installation of Snort GPLv2 Community Rules completed.
Downloading EmergingThreats md5 file...
Checking EmergingThreats md5.
There is a new set of EmergingThreats rules posted. Downloading...
Checking Snort VRT md5 file...
Snort VRT rules are up to date.
Downloading Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5 file...
Checking Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5.
Snort GPLv2 Community Rules are up to date.
Downloading EmergingThreats md5 file...
Done downloading EmergingThreats rules file.
Extracting and installing EmergingThreats.org rules...
Checking EmergingThreats md5.
There is a new set of EmergingThreats rules posted. Downloading...
Installation of EmergingThreats.org rules completed.
Copying new config and map files...
Done downloading EmergingThreats rules file.
Extracting and installing EmergingThreats.org rules...
Installation of EmergingThreats.org rules completed.
Copying new config and map files...
Checking Snort VRT md5 file...
Snort VRT rules are up to date.
Downloading Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5 file...
Checking Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5.
Snort GPLv2 Community Rules are up to date.
Downloading EmergingThreats md5 file...
Checking EmergingThreats md5.
Emerging Threats rules are up to date.
The Rules update has finished.  Time: 2013-04-12 00:05:11

Updating rules configuration for: WAN ...
Restarting Snort to activate the new set of rules...
Updating rules configuration for: WAN ...
Restarting Snort to activate the new set of rules...
Snort has restarted with your new set of rules.
The Rules update has finished.  Time: 2013-04-12 00:05:18

Snort has restarted with your new set of rules.
The Rules update has finished.  Time: 2013-04-12 00:05:55

Starting rules update...  Time: 2013-04-13 00:03:01
Starting rules update...  Time: 2013-04-13 00:03:01
Downloading Snort VRT md5 file...
Downloading Snort VRT md5 file...
Starting rules update...  Time: 2013-04-13 00:03:01
Downloading Snort VRT md5 file...
Checking Snort VRT md5 file...
There is a new set of Snort VRT rules posted. Downloading...
Checking Snort VRT md5 file...
There is a new set of Snort VRT rules posted. Downloading...
Done downloading rules file.
Downloading Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5 file...
Checking Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5.
There is a new set of Snort GPLv2 Community Rules posted. Downloading...
Done downloading Snort GPLv2 Community Rules file.
Extracting and installing Snort GPLv2 Community Rules...
Installation of Snort GPLv2 Community Rules completed.
Downloading EmergingThreats md5 file...
Checking EmergingThreats md5.
There is a new set of EmergingThreats rules posted. Downloading...
Done downloading EmergingThreats rules file.
Extracting and installing EmergingThreats.org rules...
Installation of EmergingThreats.org rules completed.
Extracting and installing Snort VRT rules...
Using Snort VRT precompiled SO rules for FreeBSD-8-1 ...
Installation of Snort VRT rules completed.
Copying new config and map files...
Checking Snort VRT md5 file...
Snort VRT rules are up to date.
Downloading Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5 file...
Checking Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5.
Snort GPLv2 Community Rules are up to date.
Downloading EmergingThreats md5 file...
Checking EmergingThreats md5.
Emerging Threats rules are up to date.
The Rules update has finished.  Time: 2013-04-13 00:06:38

Updating rules configuration for: WAN ...
Restarting Snort to activate the new set of rules...
Snort has restarted with your new set of rules.
The Rules update has finished.  Time: 2013-04-13 00:07:22

Done downloading rules file.
Snort VRT rules file download failed.  Snort VRT rules will not be updated.
Downloading Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5 file...
Checking Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5.
Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5 file download failed.  Community Rules will not be updated.
Downloading EmergingThreats md5 file...
Checking EmergingThreats md5.
EmergingThreats md5 file download failed.  EmergingThreats rules will not be updated.
The Rules update has finished.  Time: 2013-04-13 00:07:44

Starting rules update...  Time: 2013-04-13 16:15:19
Downloading Snort VRT md5 file...
Checking Snort VRT md5 file...
Snort VRT rules are up to date.
Downloading Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5 file...
Checking Snort GPLv2 Community Rules md5.
There is a new set of Snort GPLv2 Community Rules posted. Downloading...
Done downloading Snort GPLv2 Community Rules file.
Extracting and installing Snort GPLv2 Community Rules...
Installation of Snort GPLv2 Community Rules completed.
Downloading EmergingThreats md5 file...
Checking EmergingThreats md5.
Emerging Threats rules are up to date.
Copying new config and map files...
Updating rules configuration for: WAN ...
Restarting Snort to activate the new set of rules...
Snort has restarted with your new set of rules.
The Rules update has finished.  Time: 2013-04-13 16:15:30