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    pFSense Beginner - How to Configure WAN

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • R
      rcoleman-netgate Netgate @Chrisan
      last edited by

      @chrisan With cable modems you might have to reboot to get it to work. 192.168.100.1 is the default "monitor" IP of the cable modem, this is super common with Netgear modems (I've owned dozens).

      Reboot the modem, connect pfSense WAN, set to DHCP and it should be good.

      Ryan
      Repeat, after me: MESH IS THE DEVIL! MESH IS THE DEVIL!
      Requesting firmware for your Netgate device? https://go.netgate.com
      Switching: Mikrotik, Netgear, Extreme
      Wireless: Aruba, Ubiquiti

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        Chrisan @rcoleman-netgate
        last edited by

        @rcoleman-netgate Hey Ryan thanks I'll give that a try. Have a couple other things to move on to at the moment but will report results and close the loop when I try your suggestion.. Thx again.

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          Chrisan @Chrisan
          last edited by

          @chrisan Hey Ryan and all,
          Thanks for the help so far but I am doing something wrong and not able to make it work, I unplugged the cable modem then plugged it back in to let it reset, I then connected the cable from the psSense computer to the cable modem. Then reset the WAN interface to IPV4 via DHCP. "No" for IPV6 via DHCP and "Enter" for no IPV6 address. Still no internet access for the one LAN computer I am testing this on. A couple pics are attached. Note message "network is unreachanble" on the one pic. I would think that is not normal?
          Thx, ChrisRouter 2.jpg Router 1.jpg

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            rcoleman-netgate Netgate @Chrisan
            last edited by

            @chrisan I would simply, if possible, factory default and boot the system without the cable modem connected/configured. Get into the GUI.

            Then set your WAN interface to igb3

            Then connect your cable modem

            Ryan
            Repeat, after me: MESH IS THE DEVIL! MESH IS THE DEVIL!
            Requesting firmware for your Netgate device? https://go.netgate.com
            Switching: Mikrotik, Netgear, Extreme
            Wireless: Aruba, Ubiquiti

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              Chrisan @rcoleman-netgate
              last edited by

              @rcoleman-netgate Hello, I unplugged all cables from the NIC and hit option 4 to reset to factory defaults. Then 5 to reboot the pPSense machine. When it came back up it still showed
              WAN ==> igb3
              LAN ==> igb2
              which struck me as odd as I thought option 4 would reset everything.

              Anyway, by GUI I'm not sure if you meant the web interface or the interface from the pFSense machine but the point was moot as I can no longer access the web interface after the reset. So I set the WAN to DHCP again using option 2. Then plugged the WAN cable in but the computer on the LAN still can't access the internet. Thoughts?
              Thx, Chris

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              • R
                rcoleman-netgate Netgate @Chrisan
                last edited by

                @chrisan said in pFSense Beginner - How to Configure WAN:

                which struck me as odd as I thought option 4 would reset everything.

                It should. You're running an old release of pfSense CE. Is there a reason you're doing 2.5.2 instead of 2.6?

                Ryan
                Repeat, after me: MESH IS THE DEVIL! MESH IS THE DEVIL!
                Requesting firmware for your Netgate device? https://go.netgate.com
                Switching: Mikrotik, Netgear, Extreme
                Wireless: Aruba, Ubiquiti

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • S
                  SteveITS Galactic Empire @Chrisan
                  last edited by

                  @chrisan If you use Diagnostics/Traceroute to say 8.8.8.8 how far does it get?

                  Pre-2.7.2/23.09: Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
                  When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to restart, or more depending on packages and device speed.
                  Upvote 👍 helpful posts!

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                    Chrisan @SteveITS
                    last edited by

                    @steveits Hi Steve, thanks for responding. My setup is really messed up and I can no longer access the web interface for some reason. I'm going to try Ryan's suggestion for now and install 2.6 and start over.
                    Chris

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                      Chrisan @Chrisan
                      last edited by

                      @chrisan This project is getting to be a real cluster. I attempted to install 2.6 and the install seemed successful. But when I rebooted 2.5.2 launched. Thinking I reinstalled the old software by mistake I went through the install process again. It didn't really say the version being installed anywhere but the default file partition scheme was ZFS, and I believe that was first launched on 2.6. Not really sure what to do now except maybe reformat the SSD and start over.

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                        rcoleman-netgate Netgate @Chrisan
                        last edited by

                        @chrisan Do you have multiple hard drives running ZFS installs? If so it might boot to the older release.

                        Ryan
                        Repeat, after me: MESH IS THE DEVIL! MESH IS THE DEVIL!
                        Requesting firmware for your Netgate device? https://go.netgate.com
                        Switching: Mikrotik, Netgear, Extreme
                        Wireless: Aruba, Ubiquiti

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                          Chrisan @rcoleman-netgate
                          last edited by

                          @rcoleman-netgate One SSD and that's all. One NIC with 4 ports and my humble goal was to just configure one as WAN and one as LAN and try to get it to work for an internet connection. That's it. Real simple. So far I have failed and probably won't work on it again until next weekend.
                          Thx, Chris

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                            rcoleman-netgate Netgate @Chrisan
                            last edited by

                            @chrisan I would verify that you wrote 2.6-RELEASE to the flash drive (by writing it again) and giving it another run. There's no reason a new install should show 2.5.2 unless it failed to commit the write to a drive that it was already on. That said it could explain the factory reset not working if your SSD is switched to read-only mode.

                            Ryan
                            Repeat, after me: MESH IS THE DEVIL! MESH IS THE DEVIL!
                            Requesting firmware for your Netgate device? https://go.netgate.com
                            Switching: Mikrotik, Netgear, Extreme
                            Wireless: Aruba, Ubiquiti

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                              Chrisan @rcoleman-netgate
                              last edited by

                              @rcoleman-netgate Ryan, I have already installed it at least twice but I will try again just for grins. And I tend to agree, I think their is a write issue with the SSD.

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                                Chrisan @Chrisan
                                last edited by

                                @chrisan Tried again, twice. No success. Going to knock off for the evening. Thx for the help so far.

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                                • stephenw10S
                                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                  last edited by

                                  That sure reads like a bad SSD. I would expect to see a bunch of errors at boot and during the install though.

                                  As a test you can probably install to another USB drive and then boot from that. I would not recommend doing that for anything but a test though.

                                  Steve

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                                    Chrisan
                                    last edited by

                                    Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone!
                                    I had a few moments today to dive back into my pFSense project. Here is where I am at:

                                    1. Successfully installed V2.6
                                    2. Verified NIC ports using the autodetect option so I know I'm plugged in correctly
                                    3. Configured WAN to DHCP both V4 and 6
                                    4. Configured LAN to the default IP options
                                    5. Got into the webGUI and worked through the setup wizard until I got to the Setup Completed screen
                                    6. The last setup wizard screen presented some options like "take a survey." I couldn't connect on any of them. And couldn't connect on some popular websites like Yahoo that I tried. I tried to reset the cable modem a couple times with no luck.

                                    My setup: Netgear Nighthawk cable modem ===> pFSense computer ===> desktop computer with a known good NIC. That's it nothing else.

                                    Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thx

                                    A couple shots from my work today:
                                    IMG_0674.jpg IMG_0673.jpg

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                                    • JKnottJ
                                      JKnott @Chrisan
                                      last edited by

                                      @chrisan

                                      Normally, you set the WAN to DHCP and the ISP provides all the details. I haven't had a manual config since I first got an Internet connection, back in the early 90s, when I used SLIP over a dial up modem.

                                      BTW, you may want to use a newer version of pfSense. The current version is 2.6.0. Do an update when you get connected.

                                      PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
                                      i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
                                      UniFi AC-Lite access point

                                      I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

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                                      • JKnottJ
                                        JKnott @Chrisan
                                        last edited by

                                        @chrisan

                                        No need to hide RFC1918 addresses. They're irrelevant off your LAN.

                                        PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
                                        i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
                                        UniFi AC-Lite access point

                                        I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

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                                          Chrisan @JKnott
                                          last edited by

                                          My WAN is configured to DHCP. I'm already on version 2.6.0. I didn't really configure anything manually, just went with the defaults and then got into the webgui and went through the setup wizard.

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                                            Chrisan @Chrisan
                                            last edited by

                                            @chrisan Here is the sequence that finally got my computer connected to the web:

                                            1. Reset Net gearCM1100 modem by pulling power and waiting 30 seconds or so, plug back in.
                                            2. Plug WAN cable into pFSense box
                                            3. Hit option 4 to "reset to factory derfaults" and reboot pFSense

                                            Chris

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