FireWall-1 FAQ: /dev/fw0 Could Not Be Created
Please note: This content was from when I was operating my FireWall-1 FAQ site, which I stopped operating in August 2005. For some reason people still have links to this stuff on the Internet that people are still clicking on.
I am making this information available again AS IS. Given how old this information is, it is likely wildly inaccurate. I have no plans to update this information.
If you're still running versions of Check Point VPN-1/FireWall-1 where this information is still relevant to you, do yourself a favor and upgrade to a more recent release. If you happen to be running a current release and the information is useful, it's by happenstance :)
Q:
On an install or upgrade, I got an error saying that “/dev/fw0” could not be created. I assuming this is the device that firewall uses. Do you know why it might be having trouble creating it?
A:
You are correct that ‘/dev/fw0’ is the device that FireWall-1 uses. The following is a list of common problem that will cause the above error:
-
If you are running on SunOS, your kernel does not support loadable devices. Check your kernel configuration file (typically in /sys/
arch -k/conf). It should have the following line:options VDDRV # loadable modules
If not, you will have to add that line and regenerate a new kernel.
- If you are running on HP/UX, make sure that you are using the new kernel that was generated by fwinstall.
- If you are running Solaris, make sure that your machine has the command ‘modload’ (/usr/sbin/modload), which is part of the package ‘SUNWcsu’.
- Make sure you are running the installation process (or ‘fwstart’) as root.
