Installing gentoo on a Cisco ASA 5505

dj_farid · l33t Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Posts: 613

I have a Cisco ASA 5505 here, which I can do what I wan with :-)

Has anyone installed Linux on such a device?
I really would like to try it out, but could not find anything googling around.

I think it should be possible, to successfully turn it into a gentoo router. The CPU is a Geode LX, 500 MHz.
Anyone here done anything similar? How would I go about installing the system?

alex.blackbit · Advocate Joined: 26 Jul 2005 Posts: 2397

check which options you have to boot from. that's probably the best starting point.

i don't see any any ide or scsi interfaces here, only a card slot. maybe that's all you have.
i guess this beast does not have a vga adapter or a slot where you could attach one. do you have a serial console? i guess you will have to use that to interact with the system in the first place.

and even if you manage to boot linux... i am very unsure if you will be able to use the network interfaces, because the might be using proprietary cisco chips.

dj_farid · l33t Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Posts: 613

There is a 128 MB flash card where the Cisco IOS is living. I could take that card and copy a Linux kernel on it. I am just a little unsure of how, if possible to make the Cisco bios boot from it. I don't think that the Cisco proprietary bios boots from the first sector the same way as a "normal" bios does. The bios looks for a bin file there if I am not mistaken.
If the Cisco bios is somehow locked, I have no idea how to proceed.

There is a serial console where I can interact with the device. If I am not mistaken the console is controlled by the cisco bios. So if it is possible to boot Linux on top of the original bios, it would be possible to keep the console.

There are some links to pages for "Linux on Geode" here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amd_geode#AMD_Geode
Too bad that ASA 5505 is not listed.
Maybe the device is too expensive for anyone else having the same idea as me.

alex.blackbit · Advocate Joined: 26 Jul 2005 Posts: 2397

that this processor is a amd geode is not really the point, since it's simply a x86 processor. linux is known to work on that arch

you will have to try to find out what exactly is contained in that bin file.
try the usual tools, like file, hexdump, readelf, ...
and search on the internet too. there are specialized cisco forums.

dj_farid · l33t Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Posts: 613

I have ben searching the net for anything useful. I haven't found anything that could help me.

I don't think that it is possible in any easy way to replace the original bios with anything less locked down, since the mainboard is made by Cisco.
My guess is that it should not be too hard to boot an alternative OS after the bios has done it's thing.
But I am not a programmer, so I might be wrong.

If anyone knows any good sites that could help me...

alex.blackbit · Advocate Joined: 26 Jul 2005 Posts: 2397

i think you will not be able to do anything about the "bios" that is present on that board.
it would indeed be possible to boot a different os, that's for sure, but that requires a lot of knowledge.
all the guys who ported linux or a different os to a new arch had the same problems: where to get infos? how to debug?
your idea is quite nice, but i think it is not worth the effort.