NSA320 ssh/dhcp issues when removing serial connection

[krovetz]

I recently upgraded an NSA320 running an older alarm installation. As soon as I did, I could no longer connect via ssh.

I decided to start from scratch. Using serial I issued "run to_stock", then updated the 320 to it's latest firmware using the NSA web-updater, then followed the installation instructions to fresh install the 320 with alarm.

First thing I noticed was that /etc/ssh/sshd_config needed PermitRootLogin uncommented and set to yes to allow the default name/password of root/root to be accessed via ssh. But, having done that, I had ssh access to the 320 over the network.

Here's the weird part... Once I disconnected the serial connection and rebooted I could no longer ssh into the box. Upon boot, it did not get an IP via DHCP, and so is unavailable over the network. Reconnecting the serial and rebooting makes networking work again.

[WarheadsSE]

This is a semi-known issue, and has been super annoying to trace out.


AFAIK, this happens on everything but the vendor kernel. It is likely related to their WoL support hackery.