EX SSL-VPN: EX6000 or EX7000 Appliance Will Not Boot After Running Factory Reset

Description:

A SRA EX6000 or EX7000 appliance loaded with appliance version 9.0.2 will not boot after running the factory_reset_tool utility. The console output shows the folowing:

GRUB Loading stage1.5.
GRUB loading, please wait...
4
3
2
1

rootnoverify (hd1)
hanoaer(h1)1

Workaround:

Warning SonicWall strongly recommends that users not familiar or comfortable with the "vi" command or the command line contact SonicWall product support for assistance. Always back up your configuration before performing hand edits. Use the command line at your own risk.

Please see KB item #2500 for some suggestions on enabling SSH access to the appliance and getting onto the command line.

This problem is known to happen only if factory_reset_tool has been run twice and can be avoided by following KB: 5980 before running factory_reset_tool the second time. However, if you have not run factory_reset without following the KB article then run the recovery step listed below:

• Get a serial console access to the appliance and press the ESC key as soon as you get to the "GRUB loading" screen
• You should see a screen something like this:
  ***************************************************************************
  * chain *
  ***************************************************************************
• At this point, type 'c' to enter the GRUB command prompt and run the followng command sequence (listed in bold text below):
  grub> root (hd1,5)
  Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
  grub> kernel /boot/bzImage root=/dev/sda6 console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8
  [Linux-bzImage, setup=0x1c00, size=0x191661]
  grub> boot
• You will see the initial boot message and the console screen stuck at "Starting Aventail Management Console"
• Now connect a laptop to the internal interface of the appliance using serial console and perform the initial configuration using the websetup URL: https://192.168.0.10:8443/websetup
• After the initial setup, log in to AMC and enable SSH.
• SSH to the appliance and edit the /etc/fstab file and append the following line at the end:
  /dev/hda1 /cf ext2 ro,auto 0 1
• Mount /dev/sda1 as shown below:
  mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
• Edit a file to change the boot options:
  vi /mnt/boot/grub/menu.lst
• The file should look like this before editing:
  
  title fsl-purr 2.4.20 (sda1)
  root (hd0,0)
  kernel /bzImage root=/dev/ram0 init=/sbin/init ramdisk_size=131072 console=tty0 console=ttyS0,9600n8
  initrd /initrd.gz
  title SCSIPartition6 (sda6)
  root (hd0,5)
  kernel /boot/bzImage root=/dev/sda6 console=tty0 console=ttyS0,9600n8 quiet
• The following text shows which options should change based on text that is bolded:
  
  title fsl-purr 2.4.20 (sda1)
  root (hd1,0)
  kernel /bzImage root=/dev/ram0 init=/sbin/init ramdisk_size=131072 console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8
  initrd /initrd.gz
  title SCSIPartition6 (sda6)
  root (hd1,5)
  kernel /boot/bzImage root=/dev/sda6 console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8 quiet
• Edit /etc/inittab and change the following entry:
  T0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 9600 vt100
  
  to this:
  
  T0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 115200 vt100
• Reboot the appliance. You should now be able to see output on the serial console.

See Also:

KB item #5980