So I wanted to create a cold spare of my pfsense PC. I did a ‘Diagnostics > Backup’ and chose everything as the screenshot shows. However after I restored it to the new box everything worked like a charm, but then i noticed pfblockerng was missing. Im assuming the backup feature excludes any packages, although I did notice OpenVPN was installed and configs were all intact. Is there a way to get everything on my pfsence including packages and configs backed up?
As far as I know the config of pfBlockerNG should be included in the backup, but the package itself has to be reinstalled manually.
As above, have you tried installing pfblocker, the settings should be in the backup file and it should use them when reinstalling
The default setting for installed packages is to back them up in the pfsense XML backup file. If you do a reinstall of pfsense and use the XML file the package settings are still there even if for some reason the packages don’t reinstall. When you install those missing packages the settings will go back in.
When you restore the XML, it should ask if you want the packages installed, should make it easier. Old versions did that.
Also note, you should save the installed ISO in a safe place, if you need to go back a version for some reason, the old stuff get removed as soon as a new version is released. If you don’t have it, you’ll have to find it and trust it has not been messed with.
So once I added back the pfblockerng package, and the other 2 packages Ihad on the original box then all was good.
Thanks!
Just dropping in my 2 cents. OpenVPN config worked ‘out-of-box’ because it isn’t a package, it’s part of the pfSense installation (only the OVPN client exporter is a package). So yes, exactly what everyone else said: the packages just need to be reinstalled and the restored configuration from the backup will apply 