Disable start up interface reassignment
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I can see handing the problem completely back to the console is safer for pfsense (if it does nothing then it can't make a mistake).
However it could be more helpful for the user.
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pfsense assigns interfaces based on the order however more data about past interface assignments is or could be recorded / displayed / matched.
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With the current design approach loss of one NIC disabled the function of all NIC on reboot, making rebooting a more expensive (in operator time) debugging technique.
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Mmm, an interface check at shutdown/reboot could mitigate that maybe?
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@stephenw10 Maybe but I think he’s suggesting this in the console:
(Msg about interface changes detected)
Old assignments used on previous boot (found in config file):
Ix0 WAN
ix1 LAN
ix2 OPTAssign interfaces:
(Choices) -
@SteveITS
Together with any other identifying information such as MAC address or bus address both for the old assignment and currently detected interfaces. -
Yes it would require the MAC/NIC relationships to be stored and displayed in order to know which NIC has gone AWOL. The user needs that info to re-assign/remove the appropriate interface.
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I have 1 pfSense instance where assignment script runs on every reboot. The big issue for me is that I can't reboot pfSense without manual intervention as it won't come up on it's own. I am adding and removing Nics the Virto driver and pfSense is adding them and removing them respectively live while booted. There are no Nic interface changes while rebooting. To get it to boot and where I don't have to rebuild rules is that I do have to add 2 Nic interfaces for the assignment script as it asks me to assign a Bridge interface and Ovpns interface to a physical Nic. Next time I'll rebuild the VPN and bridge configuration.
I do have other pfSenses where once in a while the script runs and I'm not making interface changes. But I can't say for sure a hypervisor update didn't change something in how it is representing the Nic interface to pfSense.
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A bridge or openvpn or any other virtual interface type is excluded from the interface check because they may not exist at that point. So whatever is triggering it is one of the other interfaces. What do you have assigned?
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I have 6 physical interfaces assigned. 1 PCI pass-through for WAN, 2 are VFs and 3 are bridges. All of the MACs are set in the VM config other than the PCI pass-through. For virtual interfaces there are 4, 3 ovpns and 1 bridge. The ovpns that is tied to the bridge that comes up in the assignment script along with the bridge. When I get a chance I'll redo that ovpns and bridge to see if it makes a difference.
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Hmm, I wouldn't expect an issue there then. What does that actually look like in the interface list?
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I have 2 issues. This pfSense won't boot without my intervention and that the assignment script asks me to assign a physical interface to the bridge and a opvns interface. If I don't give the a bridge and a opvns an interface I'm having to rebuild rules and routing.
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Yes, that's a problem at the console because those sub-interface types don't exist yet when you are presented with the menu. However the fact it is shown at all means one of the assigned 'physical' interfaces is not present.
What interfaces do you see listed at the console menu after it has booted correctly? -
All physical interfaces are present, none have been removed.
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Right but what does it show there? I can't guess what interface(s) are likely to be causing the problem without seeing that list. It doesn't have to include any IPs.
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I've had another problem — when my 4-port Chinese card went crazy after a firmware update, it started to randomly change the ports order on startup. I did not see startup reassignment this time, but it was a total mess, I replugged the cables almost every time it booted. It is clear that this will almost never happen during normal use, and just because of this, there is definitely no need to redo anything there.
But… it would be good to store MAC instead of just interface name. The fun thing is that LAGG, for example, already shows the MAC address, when you configure it in GUI, but don't use it anywhere.Simple case — you have 4 physical ports, for example igc0 to igc3. You have assigned igc0, igc1 to LAGG0 and igc2, igc3 to LAGG1. What will be happening if igc1 is dead?
I think it will just shift igc2 to LAGG0, becoming igc1 and igc3 is still in LAGG1, is not it?
If it is configured just as failover it will work as expected, util for some reason there is no more link on the LAGG0 igc0 and when it's happening the LAGG0 will be connected to the LAGG1 network as igc1 became Master.If interfaces are assigned using those LAGGs so I am not sure that startup reassignment will be started even if there is no one interface is left in LAGG.
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@w0w said in Disable start up interface reassignment:
my 4-port Chinese card went crazy after a firmware update
A pfSense upgrade? A BIOS update?
It would only be re-ordered in pfSense if the NICs appeared on the PCIe bus in a different order, which is hard to imagine. I'd guess only the PCIe bridge could do that, if it has one.
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@stephenw10 said in Disable start up interface reassignment:
A pfSense upgrade? A BIOS update?
Card firmware. As I already stated it is not happening in the wild, must be only me the lucky one
. I think it was zeroed MAC or even two ports got the same MAC address in the corrupted firmware update process. Nevermind, as I already said there is nothing to do with that on pf side.
But in case of disappeared port... Maybe there's something to improve. -
Urgh, that sucks! Were you able to recover? It could be generating a random MAC at each boot, a few drivers do that if they can't read the hardware MAC. However that still wouldn't affect the detection order so....
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@stephenw10 said in Disable start up interface reassignment:
Urgh, that sucks! Were you able to recover?
No. After few attempts flash became a read-only.
@stephenw10 said in Disable start up interface reassignment:
a few drivers do that if they can't read the hardware MAC. However that still wouldn't affect the detection order so....
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41 out of 41I don't know what exactly happened... I threw away this card a few months ago.
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I just had the assignment script headache hit again. I was expecting it as I moved a pfSense to another hypervisor and the WAN PCI pass-through nic had a different bus number. But the headache is the assignment script is asking me to assign ovpns and bridge interfaces to a hardware interface. This time it included an ovpns server and a ovpns client.
@stephenw10 What list do you want to see? Console or Gui?
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@w0w For note. Intel I350's have been rock solid for me in all aspects; pci pass-through, hypervisor bridge and VF. All while using either e1000 or virtio emulation and with IPS enabled. Zero complaints.
