Sophos SG 105w Rev 3

Sophos SG105w is a four-port router/firewall appliance with built-in Wireless AC networking. Architecture-wise, it's a very straightforward 64-bit PC, or, in OpenWrt terms, an x64 target.

SG 105w Rev.3 runs on an Intel Atom E3930 processor with 2 GB or RAM, and a 64 GB SSD. Wired networking is handled by an Intel I211 Gigabit Ethernet card, wireless, by a Qualcomm Atheros QCA986x/988x wireless AC card.

Connectivity options for management include two console ports (RJ-45 and micro-USB), two USB type A ports, and an HDMI port.

Sophos SG 105w has been confirmed to work with 22.03.2 for x86_64. Both the x86-64-generic-ext4-combined image and the generic-squashfs-combined image have been confirmed as working.

OpenWrt install URLs (either image will work):

x86-64-generic-ext4-combined image:

https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/22.03.2/targets/x86/64/openwrt-22.03.2-x86-64-generic-ext4-combined.img.gz

generic-squashfs-combined image:

https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/22.03.2/targets/x86/64/openwrt-22.03.2-x86-64-generic-squashfs-combined.img.gz

There are two ways to install OpenWrt on the SG 105w:

1. Take the SSD out of the device and write the installation image directly onto it
2. Boot the device from a USB stick and copy OpenWrt onto the device's SSD

The first method is rather self-explanatory, so let's spend some time on the second.

Make a bootable USB stick with OpenWrt on it. Then, before you turn on your SG 105w:

• Connect the port labeled LAN to an upstream router providing Internet access and DHCP service. To repeat, this is the port that OpenWrt will designate as WAN, never mind the label.
• Connect your command-and-control devices (either a console cable to a computer or a monitor to the HDMI port and a keyboard to one of the USB ports).
• Connect your bootable USB stick to the SG105w.

Next, turn on the SG 105w. The SG 105w should recognize the bootable USB media. If it doesn't and begins to load stock firmware instead, reboot the device, access BIOS by repeatedly pressing the Del od Esc key on boot and adjust boot device order as you would on a regular PC.

If all goes well, you will eventually see this message among others:

Please press Enter to activate this console.

When you see it, do as requested. You will be shown the OpenWrt logo and taken to the command line.

At this point, the SG 105w should be able to connect to the upstream device and the Internet. Verify that you have a connection. For example, send a ping to Google:

ping -c 3 google.com 

Next, verify the naming of the primary SSD; you will need it to install OpenWrt onto it. It's probably going to be sda, but it doesn't hurt to check. To check, install the lsblk utility:

opkg update && opkg install lsblk

Once that is done, run:

lsblk 

You will be shown a list of drives and partitions present on the system and their sizes. Most likely, the SSD will be identified as sda and the USB drive from which the device is now running, as sdb. You should be able to tell which is which just by looking at sizes.

Next, download and unzip the image file. The example below assumes that we are installing a SuashFS image of OpenWrt 22.03.2:

cd /tmp
wget https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/22.03.2/targets/x86/64/openwrt-22.03.2-x86-64-generic-squashfs-combined.img.gz
gunzip openwrt-*.img.gz

Now write OpenWrt onto the SSD:

dd if=openwrt-22.03.2-x86-64-generic-squashfs-combined.img bs=1M of=/dev/sda

The SSD should be ready to serve as a boot drive now. Halt the SG 105w:

halt

Wait until you see the message:

reboot: Power down

At this point, the power button on the SG105w should change from blue (the device is on) to red (the device is connected to power, but is off). Remove the USB stick from the SG 105w.

Whatever installation method you used, you should now have a device capable of wired LAN and WAN connections. Wireless, however, it still not configured. To enable wireless networking, turn the device back on and install a few additional packages:

opkg update && opkg install hostapd ath10k-firmware-qca988x kmod-ath10k

Then, configure wireless networking per OpenWrt documentation (either via LuCI or by editing /etc/config/wireless).

→ generic.sysupgrade

cd /tmp
wget https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/XXX/targets/x86/64/xxx.img.gz
gunzip openwrt-*.img.gz
sysupgrade /tmp/xxx.img.gz

→ generic.debrick

→ failsafe_and_factory_reset

The default network configuration is:

</WRAP>

→ hardware.button on howto use and configure the hardware button(s). Here, we merely name the buttons, so we can use them in the above Howto.

Front:
Insert photo of front of the casing

Back:
Insert photo of back of the casing

Backside label:
Insert photo of backside label

Note: This will void your warranty!

Main PCB:
Insert photo of PCB

→ port.serial general information about the serial port, serial port cable, etc.

How to connect to the Serial Port of this specific device:
Insert photo of PCB with markings for serial port

→ port.jtag general information about the JTAG port, JTAG cable, etc.

How to connect to the JTAG Port of this specific device:
Insert photo of PCB with markings for JTAG port

→ bootloader

None so far.

Space for additional notes, links to forum threads or other resources.

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