netgate 2100 wan2 w/ DHCP - no joy... yet
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Seems I've run out of any new ideas, so here I am...
I'm on a new 2100 (I have previously configured a 3100 similarly) and have refreshed firmware to 23.01. I have fiber service (sonic), and a cable service (comcast). Plugging in the fiber service in the default WAN port seemed to work effortlessly. Now to setup the switches, assignments, and vlan configs to allow me to do the same for the cable connection with a vlan/switch interface.
I followed these instructions for configuring a vlan on port 4:
https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/solutions/netgate-2100/configuring-the-switch-ports.html#configuring-the-switch-portsI followed these instructions for configuring an OPT interface as an additional WAN:
https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/solutions/netgate-2100/opt-wan.html#configuring-an-opt-interface-as-an-additional-wanThe 2nd set of instructions deviated from what I want because I would like to have a cable service connected with DHCP as opposed to static IP.
I think I've done most of the things described in the instructions although one thing is I tried to create a gateway because without static IP defined in the Interface there's no built-in option to do so - at least that has been my experience.
BUT, I suspect my problem might be that the port is misconfigured in the first place. In the dashboard Interfaces list, WAN2 shows up as Up - Other <full-duplex> 0.0.0.0.
If I switch the 2 wan lines between WAN and LAN 4 (where I have the WAN2 defined) the cable is detected and then fiber dies on Port 4. So the services are working. I originally set this up on port 1 (next to the WAN port) and when it didn't work, I decided to more closely follow the script and use port 4.
I don't remember this level of frustration or my failure to understand how to create a WAN2 when I did this on my 3100. At this point, I'm just trying to get this 2100 preconfigured, somewhat basically, because next week I will be setting it up on a farm with Starlink and T-Mobile Home Internet both of which use CGNAT. That's where I expected the fun to begin; not on setting up a WAN2 for cable.
Please... which checkbox or service did I miss?
Thanks for any tips.
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@chrisjx
Upfront : I've never used a 2100.
What I know, is that the 4 'LAN' ports are all 'LAN' port, so these 4 ports behave like a switch.
The '2100' doc ( https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/solutions/netgate-2100/opt-wan.html#configuring-an-opt-interface-as-an-additional-wan ) alrady said the magic word : you have to create a 'VLAN'. See here (the first link you showed).
Look at the image under "step 9" : you have an interface with a VLAN ID 4084.
This OPT1 port is now VLAN tagged, and needs to have a device on the other side ( ! ) that is also set up to use this identical VLAN ID 4084.( and now you know why, if you want a router, you should use a device with separate ports, as many as possible, and at least 3, and not a router with switched ports like an ISP router - or the 2100. If you want a switch, they are cheap, add a switch
)So you have to use a VLAN capable switch 'on the other side of the OPT1' interface - or a device that can be set up to use this VLAN ID, to have the tag '4084' removed.
Maybe the starlink router can do this, that I can't tell you.Btw : I hope I'm wrong here. I know enough about VLAN so I know that I should stay away from them, as it means that more devices have to be managed.
VLANs can be useful of course.
They can be useful of course. -
@gertjan I think I've discovered the answer for my problem...
I came across a note about comcast blocking traffic which pings and the answer was to turn off monitoring on the gateway. Voila. That worked.
I tested it by turning monitoring back on and it still worked. That seems a little flaky to me and I suspect it will come back to haunt me... but for now i'm clad it's framed up pretty well.
I did create the 4084 vlan and assigned it to a default Interface OPT1. Then in the Interface settings I renamed the OPT1 to WAN2.
I also created a gateway for WAN2 manually and had to set a NAT in outbound for WAN2.
Thank you for your help.
