Reinstall Smoothwall Appliance Hardware or Virtual Machine

 

Reinstalling Smoothwall is the quickest way to get your Smoothwall running again, while preserving your current settings and logs. The Smoothwall Support Team may request that you complete the steps outlined in this article.

If an error occurs during any step of this process, contact Smoothwall Support.

 

Before you begin

You’ll need:

• A keyboard to use the arrow keys to navigate, Tab to select options, and Enter to confirm them.
• If using Smoothwall hardware, a USB drive that can store at least 1GB, as the installation ISO IMG file is around 700 MB.

Step 1: Download the Smoothwall installation software

1. Go to software.smoothwall.com
2. Enter your On-Premise Appliance Software Serial Number.
3. Select Go to download the Smoothwall installation ISO.
   
   • If using a VM, attach the ISO file to the Smoothwall VM as a virtual CD or DVD using the Hypervisor's VM settings. Ensure the CD or DVD is set to be available from boot.
   • If using Smoothwall hardware:
     
     1. Write the image of the ISO to the USB drive. We recommend using etcher.io.
     2. Insert the USB drive into your Smoothwall On-Premise Appliance box.

Step 2: Run the installation commands

Boot the Smoothwall ISO using BIOS on legacy hardware or BIOS-only Hypervisors, or UEFI on current hardware or Hypervisors that support UEFI.

Using BIOS

Image 1: The boot prompt for the BIOS installer.

 

At the boot prompt, you can choose which action to take.

• To start the interactive installation, press enter. Use this option if you want to choose your own settings, reinstall the OS on top of an existing installation or have a manual backup of settings you want to migrate.
• To perform a non-interactive installation where your existing settings and logs are kept, enter auto and press enter.
• To perform a clean non-interactive installation where your existing settings and logs are not kept, enter autoclean and press enter. The system will be set back to its default settings, where the IP address of your first interface is set to 192.168.110.1/24

You can also combine the additional options with your boot prompt:

• Enter haltwhendone after defining your installation type to shut the appliance down after installation. For example: ‘autoclean haltwhendone’
• Enter enabledhcp after defining your installation type to set Ethernet Port 1 as a DCHP client awaiting a lease from a local DHCP server. For example: ‘autoclean enabledhcp’
• Use both in combination by entering autoclean enabledhcp haltwhendone to keep the default IP address on the first interface as 192.168.110.1/24 and request an IP from a local DHCP server.

Using UEFI

Image 2: The UEFI installer screen.

 

On the UEFI installer screen, use the arrow keys to choose an option:

• Smoothwall linux: Starts the interactive installation. Use this option if you want to choose your own settings, reinstall the OS on top of an existing installation or have a manual backup of settings you want to migrate.
• Smoothwall linux (auto): Performs a non-interactive installation where your existing settings and logs are kept.
• Smoothwall linux (autoclean): Performs a clean non-interactive installation where your existing settings and logs are not kept. The system will be set back to its default settings, where the IP address of your first interface is set to 192.168.110.1/24

Step 3: Interactive installation

Follow the instructions below if you selected the interactive installation. If you selected the (auto) or (autoclean) option, skip to step 3 of this section.

1. If you are reinstalling the OS on top of an existing installation, you’ll see the Software UTM screen with a message: ‘Currently running Software UTM. Do you wish to migrate settings?’
   
   • Select No to proceed with the interactive installation and choose your settings. On the Welcome screen, select Ok.
   • Select Yes to migrate these settings instead of choosing your settings. This does the same thing as if you had selected Smoothwall linux (auto) using UEFI or entered auto using BIOS.
   • Select Cancel to stop the installation and return to the boot menu.
2. On the Proceed with install? screen:
   
   • Select Ok to begin the installation.
   • Select Cancel to stop the installation and return to the boot menu.
3. Wait for Smoothwall to install.
   
   • If successful, you’ll see a Congratulations! screen. Select Ok and the system will reboot.
   • If you see an error, contact Smoothwall Support.
4. The next steps depend on the initial option you selected, and the action you took on the Software UTM screen:
   
   • If you selected auto or autoclean or selected Yes on the Software UTM screen, Smoothwall will finalise the install, and you’ll be taken to the command line interface login prompt once the install is complete.
   • If you did not select auto or autoclean, and selected No or the Software UTM screen did not appear, you’ll need to configure your settings:
     
     1. On the Restore configuration screen:
        
        • If you’re not migrating manual backup settings from another Smoothwall, select No.
        • If you are migrating a manual backup of settings from another Smoothwall, select Yes and select the USB image to restore.

          Important

          Don’t import a Failover setup archive here. If you need to reinstall a failover, use the instructions in Reinstall a Failover instead.

     2. On the Choose keyboard layout screen, use your arrow keys to select your regional keyboard layout.
     3. On the Set hostname screen, enter the hostname of your Smoothwall.
     4. On the Select default interface screen, select the network port to use for administration of the Smoothwall.
     5. On the Enter IP address screen, enter the IP address and Subnet mask. If you’re routing traffic to another network, enter the Gateway address for the network’s administration interface.
     6. Set the admin user password for signing in to Smoothwall through your browser. Enter the password again to confirm.
     7. Set the root user password for signing in to the command line interface. Enter the password again to confirm.
     8. Smoothwall will finalise the install, and you’ll be taken to the command line interface login prompt once the install is complete.

Image 3: The Command Line interface for your Smoothwall.

 

Step 4: Access the reinstalled Smoothwall

1. If you have connected the Smoothwall to the network defined earlier for the admin interface, you can sign in to Smoothwall through your Browser.
2. Use the admin user credentials you set during the installation.
3. Work through the registration steps in the On-Premise Appliance Admin UI.