pfSense+ 23.05 - Interface assignments lost on reboot

[Mamdouh 0]

Hello!

I've got a Protectli Vault FW6C – 6 Port Intel i5 7200U Dual Core, 32GB RAM, and 265GB SSD with Coreboot firmware.
https://protectli.com/product/fw6c/

I used to run pfSense CE v2.6 on it without any problems at all, but once I upgraded to pfSense+ 23.05 and rebooted the FW6C, it just lost all the interface assignments. So I had to fix that via console and everything went fine. But unfortunately it happened again with I updated to pfSense+ 23.05.1. I fixed them again like before.

Then I thought maybe the Coreboot firmware is causing this, so I flashed it back to the normal BIOS (The latest best version of my vault). So I run it for few days until I had to reboot the firewall for some changes, and OMG it just happened again.

So please if you've got any idea to fix this for good or something I have to do in pfSense or my vault, kindly let me know.

Thanks,

[stephenw10]

Are you running tailscale? Do you have the interface assigned?

It should not be and that's a common cause of stopping at the interface assign prompt.

Steve

[Mamdouh 0]

@stephenw10 Many thanks for your reply. Yes I'm, and no I've not assigned an interface for it. Because I've read about it long time ago that the routing for Tailscale doesn't need an assigned interface. All what I needed to reach out my internal LAN is to advertise route on Tailscale configuration.

[stephenw10]

Ok, shouldn't be a problem then.

So I assume when you reboot it stops at the interface assign prompt at the console?

It does that because some interface you have assigned does not exist at that point. What interfaces do you have assigned? Anything unusual?

[Mamdouh 0]

@stephenw10 So I assume when you reboot it stops at the interface assign prompt at the console?
That's correct

I've 6 interfaces assigned for my home network:

em0 WAN
em1 LAN16 Mgmt
em2 LAN17 Users
em3 LAN18 IoT
em4 LAN19 VoIP+IPCams
em5 LAN20 Guests

No VLANs interfaces at all.

I was planning to re-design my home network and use LAGG with all VLANs that I need on it, but that will take some time to re-configure everything. Willing to do so is that will make life easier, because clearly start to run out of NICs in my vault. Also want to configure my VPN soon but don't know how should I do it.

[stephenw10]

Hmm, nothing exotic there, about as vanilla as you can get!

Any errors shown before that in the boot log? Perhaps one of the NICs failing to attach?

[Mamdouh 0]

@stephenw10 Yeah I like simple easy configs

I couldn't find any errors to be honest. I am always afraid to encounter any reboots of the FW or a power failure, because it could happen again.
and as I mentioned earlier, was working perfectly while running pfSense 2.6

I think fresh installation with LAGG setup is right action to do and track all of my new configurations during that. Won't setup any Tailscale or VPN for while until I make sure it's rock solid setup, then start doing the other things. Maybe something is left out of the packages after the upgrade.

Thank you for your help, will keep you posted just in case something came up.

Best regards,

[stephenw10]

You can check the boot log in Status > System Logs > OS Boot. You should be able to see all the NICs detected and attached.