ISOmorphic Tools bootable flash creation for R80.40

[Abhishek_Singh1]

Hi Guys,

We have a deployment scenerio of deploying 100+ Standalone Checkpoint solutions with R80.40 (with latest hotfix) . As a solution I am planning to create an ISOmorph image using the CP ISOmorphic Tool . 

Unfortunately , it has the limitation to use filesyatem in FAT32 format only . But the R80.40 base iso is around 4.3 GB size , which is too large for a file supported in FAT32 format (max file size 4GB) .

Do we have other filesystem format supporting the bootable USB prep  , or any other iso available (size less than 4GB ) for this purpose ??

@PhoneBoy  --- Kindly suggest .

Tx,

Abhishek

[_Val_]

exFAT should also work. Make sure you use the latest version of ISOmorphic tool available. If we are talking about Check Point appliances, I would reconnect using Blink instead

[Abhishek_Singh1]

Hi Val ,

Actually we are deploying this in HyperV Virtual Environment (Open Server) , and the plan is to create a bootable flash drive using ISOmorphic Tool ==> which I will convert to vhdx template format == for Booting the VM .

Already done and tested this with R80.10 , but with the latest R80.40 --- am stuck with this limitation ( file greater tahn 4 gb not supported in FAT32 format). 

I will give exFAT a shot now.

[_Val_]

That seems to be over-complicating matters. Why not creating a generic VM image instead? Then just copy over, spin off and run a clish script to configure interfaces/IPs/etc. Why go over the whole install process for each machine? 

[Abhishek_Singh1]

Looks like exFAT is not working on boot process . Refer attached snap . Is there anything I need to change in VM settings to allow this ?

About blink -- Do we have any blink image for "Standalone Deployment"  ?

[_Val_]

Once again, you are trying to use something in a scenario which it was not designed for.

Both Blink and ISOmorphic are for installing physical appliances.

For virtual machines, please use the standard ISO. To speed up deployment, you can create a VM image, which saves lots of time on installation. If you do not want to us a VM image, use native ISO file to boot from. Same as ISOmorphic, minus virtual USB key

[alexeyn · Accepted solution]

Hey,
With latest ISOmorphic Tool the USB will be formatted to NTFS when iso is exceeds FAT32 limitation.
Are you preparing physical USB with R80.40 and getting FAT32 as a result? What is the windows version are you using?
Not sure regarding HyperV, I think it also supports NTFS bootable  device.

Thanks,

Alexey

[genisis__]

Just run into an issue with a USB built using the ISOmorphic tool.  The issue faced is described in sk122014.  It would seem sensible that the tool is updated to have some built in checks to avoid a scenario where the gateway has been totally destroyed before being told that we did not have enough space, better still give us the option to clear out and snapshots etc to ensure there is enough space.

Is this something that could be looked at?

[_Val_]

Are you installing an open server, or a Check Point appliance? If latter, it is better using Blink

[genisis__]

5600 appliance, to do a clean build of R80.40.

[genisis__]

Creating the USB without Jumbo works; so I feel having a check built into the tool would save allot of time, especially if we could also have the option to clear out the space (maybe snapshots).

[genisis__]

Update - did raise a ticket with TAC about this so that the issue is correctly highlighted to Checkpoint.

It was acknowledged, nothing has been done about it other then to raise this internally.

Case closed.

[Shira]

Hi,

We had a similar issue, so the solution for us was

R80.40

- Formatting pendrive with exFAT file system and then using isomorphic tool, and connecting pendrive with 2.0 usb port in laptop.

WR,

Shira

[genisis__]

Are you able to do a clean build embedded GAIA using ISOMorphic and script OS configurations?

[Chris_Atkinson]

Isomorphic isn't used for embedded Gaia USB preparation. 

The img file just goes direct on a blank USB.

Alternately the Zero Touch service might help with the script element.

[genisis__]

Is there a solution for this?

[Chris_Atkinson]

Depending on what your trying to achieve Zero Touch is an option (allows clish scripts).

[genisis__]

Zerotouch is one way but there are conditions to meet for this, mainly dynamically allocated IP on a directly connected internet connect.

In our cases only a few may meet this, most would be internal, additionally there may be cases where a clean install is required to utilise new functions and even just fix a problem that needs a rebuild.