Installation

Hello, I am very new to m0n0wall and learning. I have read instructions but still have questions.
old computer with the CD drive, no hdd, 3 nics, I can set the motherboard to boot from USB flash drive.
I am trying to install and boot m0n0wall onto USB flash drive.
which method of installation do you suggest that I should use?
1) run the CD with cdrom-1.33.iso then choose option to install onto usb (since there is no other HDD, it installs to the usb)
2) generic-pc-1.33.img, use physdiskwrite to write this image onto usb flash drive.

I tried both methods and both times system boots fine, however, in method 2, when I pull the usb flash drive out, program says cannot find the media and system re-boots. I was expecting the program to continue run, I thought, m0n0wall would create the ram area and run from it so the usb will have fewer access to it.
I was wondering if method 2 is the correct way to install and run from usb.

thank you,
smith

I don't think You should pull out the USB drive, it's not meant to work that way, however I've found out that due to m0n0's efficient nature it could run and continue to run on damaged HDDs, and due to this ability it saved me some precious network uptime in delicate and difficult situations and circumstances.

someone who is much smarter than me may correct me, but #2 is what you should do.  I'm guessing that when you did #1 and you unplugged the usb key you had the same issue of the system rebooting?  if the answer is no, #1 did not exhibit the same thing, then I'd do #1.  however, that said, #2 is what I would have done.

Is there anyway to tell if the program is running completely from the ram disk and not accessing the usb flash media constantly?
I intend to keep the USB flash drive in when program is running but I am curious if by using the method 2, i am doing it right.

when m0n0wall starts to boot, it says on the screen something like it found or established the c drive as hdd....and then screen scrolls quickly on and on.
I wonder if anywhere I should find message something like "created RAM disk of such and such size"?
In my box, I only have the USB flash drive, perhaps the bios detects that the HDD is connected to the USB.

Let me ask you, does either method OK to use to install onto the USB flash drive?

thank you for your time.

If you want to see the boot messages, then from the WebGUI go to the /exec.php page and run this command: dmesg

I don't run m0n0 from USB here, I use CF and do not remove the card from a running system even though it is externally accessible. But all my USB flash drives have an LED that blinks when the drive is accessed. Do yours have such an LED, and if so does it blink all the time?

the USB that I am using is an older kind and it does not have an LED. I will check using the one with an LED.
can you please confirm that for my setup (no HDD and no CDROM), generic-pc-1.33.img should be OK to install by physdiskwrite on an USB flash drive and should behave running the program off from the ram?

thank you very much,
smithrock

[writing]

The issue to be concerned with for flash drive installations is of anything is repeated writing to the drive which can lead to eventual wearing the device out.

m0n0wall does not write to drives except for the initial installation and subsequent user made changes to the configuration file.

generic-pc-1.33.img is fine for your situation.

Also on the /exec.php You could run the "mount" command without any arguments to see what's mounted where and how.