PfSense-pkg-pfBlockerNG-2.0.17 breaks package manager - need help

[dsefcik]

I installed pfSense-pkg-pfBlockerNG-2.0.17 via the web gui package manger on 2.3.1-RELEASE p5 and everything installs fine and when I enabled it I lost the ability to use the package manager, when selecting the menu the package manager just spins and then shows "Unable to retrieve package information" and the Dashboard now also shows "Unable to check for updates" so something has gone wrong. Since I have sync'd servers I installed this on both and now both have this problem. I tried to manually uninstall with pkg remove and it did uninstall but the problem still exists and I do not know how else to try and resolve so I could use some help please.

TIA…

[BBcan177]

How did you configure the pkg? Did you block USA in the Country blocking settings? Check the Alerts tab to see the IPs/Domains that are being blocked. You can either suppress or create a whitelist.

If your using the resolver, is the service running?

Can you run this command from the pfSense box?

ping pkg.pfsense.org

[dsefcik]

The only block I enabled was the china country set but when I realized the Dashboard status was broken I disabled pfBlocker and there was no change. Then I noticed package manager was also broken so I could not remove the package so then I removed it manually but that did not change the package manager or Dashboard status. I also verified all of the firewall rules were removed.

Yes, ping to pfsense works

/root: ping pkg.pfsense.org
PING pkg.pfsense.org (162.208.119.39): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 162.208.119.39: icmp_seq=0 ttl=53 time=70.019 ms
64 bytes from 162.208.119.39: icmp_seq=1 ttl=53 time=70.027 ms
64 bytes from 162.208.119.39: icmp_seq=2 ttl=53 time=70.065 ms

[BBcan177]

It's probably a coincidence that the pkg/dashboard issue came about at the same time? Check the system.log for any other clues. If the pkg is Uninstalled, there are no firewall rule from the pkg and DNS if functioning then it seems to be something else? Maybe try a reboot?

[dsefcik]

Nothing in logs, reboot did not help, other pfsenses boxes work fine.
I am rolling back VM snapshots but would like to resolve this as I want to use pfBlocker.

TIA

[dsefcik]

Just rolled back both machines with VM snapshots and everything is back to normal so something with that package made 2 systems stop talking to pfsense package systems(?). Unless you have any other suggestions all I can try next would be to create a test system or roll back the snapshots to the broken version again and try some other suggestions.

[BBcan177]

I have not seen this issue myself. But I noticed the following in reddit:

https://js4.red/r/PFSENSE/comments/4v3jxp/unable_to_view_packages_system_updates_after/

I don't believe the issue to be with the pkg.

[dsefcik]

Yep, I saw that also..thanks.
I will have to build a test system.

[dsefcik]

I think pkg manager is broken, I installed rsync and it also had the same effect, upgrading to 2.3.2 in the console fixed the broken pkg manager but I still need to test pfBlocker but suspect it will be fine.

https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=115777.0

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[RonpfS]

https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=116223.0

[larsnextware]

Hi,

Just installed 2.3.2 on a 2.3.1p5 with pfBlocker and after that I'm unable to get pfBlocker going.

I uninstalled pfBlocker (when running 2.3.2) and then reinstalled it again, but no pfBlocker shows up in the menu.

Anyone else encountered this?

Best regards,
Lars

[RonpfS]

@RonpfS:

Well during installation pfBlockerNG download the MaxMind GeoIP database … it probably crashes and the installation doesn't complete.  :o

[RonpfS]

@larsnextware:

Hi,

Just installed 2.3.2 on a 2.3.1p5 with pfBlocker and after that I'm unable to get pfBlocker going.

I uninstalled pfBlocker (when running 2.3.2) and then reinstalled it again, but no pfBlocker shows up in the menu.

Anyone else encountered this?

Best regards,
Lars

Fix removed because it doesn't seems to be related to GeoIP issue

[RonpfS]

You may need to increase it to 400M or 500M if this fails

[RonpfS]

Another fix removed. Until we can pinpoint the issue.

[RonpfS]

removed

[RonpfS]

So it looks that after a reboot the installation went fine without fixing any file on his system.

[mdima]

Same issue here, same fix. After uninstalling, rebooting and reinstalling everything worked (2.3.2-RELEASE (amd64))

UPDATE: That was valid only on one box, on the other it is still not present :S
UPDATE2: I traced this entry as error while reinstalling:

PHP ERROR: Type: 1, File: /usr/local/www/pfblockerng/pfblockerng.php, Line: 728, Message: Allowed memory size of 134217728 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 36 bytes)pkg: POST-INSTALL script failed

UPDATE3: Ok, got to the root of the problem. During the upgrade done yesterday (2.2.6 to 2.3.1 and immediately to 2.3.2) one box was changing architecture, from AMD64 to i386 :S
I will have to perform a fresh install then restore the config.

but that's wired…

[dsefcik]

@dsefcik:

I think pkg manager is broken, I installed rsync and it also had the same effect, upgrading to 2.3.2 in the console fixed the broken pkg manager but I still need to test pfBlocker but suspect it will be fine.

https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=115777.0

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Just an update, after upgrading both systems to 2.3.2 I was able to install pfBlocker fine and it seems to work as expected, thank you for your help.