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Update and/or upgrade of OPNsense in GCP

Considerations:

Time: from v24 to v25 it took around two-three hours to complete upgrades.

Prepare

Console

gcloud config set disable_usage_reporting false
gcloud config set accessibility/screen_reader false

gcloud auth login
? gcloud auth login --no-browser
gcloud auth list
gcloud config set account (account)

gcloud projects list
gcloud config set project (project)
gcloud config list project

gcloud compute regions list
gcloud config set compute/region europe-north1

gcloud compute zones list
gcloud config set compute/zone europe-north1-c


Backup

Take a snapshot

gcloud compute disks list
? gcloud compute disks list --filter="users:instance='gcp1fw1'" --zone=europe-north1-c
# no dots allowed in the name
gcloud compute snapshots create gcp1fw1-2025-05-03-1256 --source-disk='gcp1fw1' 
gcloud compute snapshots list

Perform update

This can be performed over WebUI or CLI:

WebUI

screenshots here

CLI

Connect to OPNsense console (in my case, I do it from jumphost within GCP)

ssh root@10.166.0.x

Choose 8) Shell

# Unlock to permit updates
opnsense-update -U

uname -a
opnsense-version
# seelct and update base
opnsense-update -b
opnsense-update -B
# select and update kernel
opnsense-update -k
opnsense-update -K

? pkg clean -a
? pkg update -f
pkg upgrade -n
pkg upgrade
opnsense-shell reboot
? reboot


pkg info


# Lock to avoid updates
opnsense-update -L

After

Clean

gcloud compute snapshots list
gcloud compute snapshots delete gcp1fw1-2025-05-03-1256
gcloud compute snapshots list

for archive

ASCII logo changed

Last login: Mon Apr  7 15:23:47 2025 from 10.166.0.x
----------------------------------------------
|      Hello, this is OPNsense 25.1          |         @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
|                                            |        @@@@         @@@@
| Website:     https://opnsense.org/         |         @@@\\\   ///@@@
| Handbook:    https://docs.opnsense.org/    |       ))))))))   ((((((((
| Forums:      https://forum.opnsense.org/   |         @@@///   \\\@@@
| Code:        https://github.com/opnsense   |        @@@@         @@@@
| Reddit:      https://reddit.com/r/opnsense |         @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
----------------------------------------------

to


Last login: Sat May  3 14:05:23 2025 from 10.166.0.x
------------------------------------------------
|       Hello, this is OPNsense 25.1           |           :::::::.
|                                              |           :::::::::.
|  Website:     https://opnsense.org/          |        :::        :::
|  Handbook:    https://docs.opnsense.org/     |        :::        :::
|  Forums:      https://forum.opnsense.org/    |        :::        :::
|  Code:        https://github.com/opnsense    |         `:::::::::
|  Reddit:      https://reddit.com/r/opnsense  |           `:::::::
------------------------------------------------