[Bug 206355] Installer interferes with manual network setup, preventing netinstall from succeeding

[bugzilla-noreply at freebsd.org]

https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=206355

            Bug ID: 206355
           Summary: Installer interferes with manual network setup,
                    preventing netinstall from succeeding
           Product: Base System
           Version: 10.2-RELEASE
          Hardware: Any
                OS: Any
            Status: New
          Severity: Affects Many People
          Priority: ---
         Component: bin
          Assignee: freebsd-bugs at FreeBSD.org
          Reporter: venture37 at geeklan.co.uk

It appears that the installer makes changes to configuration which result in
network installation failing, either the loss of resolv.conf which means the
hostnames of mirrors cannot be resolved or reseting the routing table, causing
previously setup routes to be lost.

My scenario is trying to provision virtual machines in an environment where the
allocated IP addresses are also allocated specific MAC addresses. The allocated
IP addresses are in a different subnet to the IP address of the host, yet ISP
expects the use of the same gateway as the host. This means that you have to
setup the routing table manually. So I boot the guest. At the "Welcome to
FreeBSD" menu I choose shell & configure the network, also creating a
resolv.conf. Everything works, I confirm I can connect to a host on the outside
via TCP & ping some other hosts.
Exit & choose install
Configure keymap, hostname, distribution select, as I have a minimal ISO, I'm
told "No installation files were found on the boot volume" and I move onto the
"Network Configuration" section.
Select interface say no to configuring IPv4 or IPv6 & proceed with install as
normal, fetching dist files will fail.

When the install has failed, exit & drop back to shell.
netstart -rn will show that routing table is as you configured it but
/etc/resolv.conf has been overwritten by a symlink which nolonger exists
# ls -l /etc/resolv.conf 
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  31 Aug 12 15:45 /etc/resolv.conf ->
/tmp/bsdinstall_etc/resolv.conf

If you restart the install & at the "Network Configuration" section. you say
yes to configuring IPV4 and no to using DHCP. You'll be presented with the
details you entered manually (ip adress, mask, gw). proceeding through the
install will result in again failing to fetch dist files. Dropping to the shell
& running netstat you'll find that your changes to the routing table have been
lost.

-- 
You are receiving this mail because:
You are the assignee for the bug.