This walkthrough documents the cleanest recovery path for Netgate appliances running pfSense CE or pfSense Plus using a MacBook and the serial console this way we may avoid config loss, performing a factory reset, or a whipe/reinstall.

This is written as a practical runbook you can keep around for the next time someone locks themselves out.

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What This Fixes (and What It Doesn’t)

This procedure:

• Resets the admin webConfigurator password
• Preserves your full pfSense configuration
• Works even if the web UI is unreachable

This does not:

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Date: 2026-02-11
Host: FreeBSD jail host
Component: RACCT/RCTL + node_exporter textfile collector
Outcome: Per-jail RAM/VMEM/SWAP metrics in Prometheus/Grafana

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Making ZFS ARC Grafana Panels FreeBSD-Compatible

Steps taken to make an imported ZFS/Grafana dashboard work correctly on FreeBSD. Panels assumed Linux exporters and referenced metrics that do not exist on FreeBSD. The result was a dashboard full of empty panels. This walkthrough shows how the missing ARC kstats where identified, cleanly exported and refactored so that the panels reflect the real FreeBSD kernel state.

Host: clemente (10.10.0.1)
Stack: FreeBSD + node_exporter (textfile collector) + Prometheus + Grafana
Date: 2026-02-10

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Overview (Context & Goal)

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Date: 2026-02-08
Host: GhostBSD
Component: Ungoogled-Chrome

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Chromey Installer

Note 2025-11-02 23:04:26

This document packages everything needed to install, back up, restore, and run Ungoogled Chromium inside a Bastille jail named chromey

in the JailFox style and more. After going through the process you have a jailed ungoogle-chromium with full video and audio support, emojis and fonts etc.

Just in case the chicken came before the egg, the process starts with a robust Home backup/restore flow so your profile/configs survive rebuilds. Then it walks through the templates, scripts, mounts, X11 fixes, and the launchers.

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