how to set the default gateway in older version (2.3.2) of pfsense?
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I'm trying to help someone at a remote site to change their WAN configuration to support a new WAN connection and restore Internet connectivity.
Not only is this site remote to me, it is actually geographically remote and the connection is via a wireless link.
I cannot feasibly get a more knowledgeable tech on site, or reinstall pfsense, or upgrade pfsense (there is no Internet until I can get the new configuration working).
The new configuration is dead simple. I had them change the WAN from a static IP pointed at WAN_Gateway to DHCP.
When they made this change, it seems pfsense automatically created a new gateway called WAN_DHCP. Great.
I had them set the Monitor IP to 8.8.8.8 and it shows green and Online in Status -> Gateways. So, everything seems fine.But the client workstations can't reach the Internet or ping out anywhere.
Checking in Systems -> Routing, it is still showing the old WAN_Gateway as the "(Default)". I told my remote assistant to delete that gateway.
Well, after deleting it, it just turned grey (instead of disappearing as I would expect) and even grey it still says "(Default)".
I figure this must be causing the problem. Somehow I need to get the new WAN_DHCP gateway as the default.
In newer versions of pfsense I think you defined the default gateway in Systems -> General Setup, and then in the newest versions the setting was right there in Systems -> Routing.
But I searched high and low and I can't find any place to change the default gateway. I even checked if there were any rules in the firewall referencing the old gateway and nothing.
How to make this ghostly gateway completely disappear as it should and make the system use the WAN_DHCP gateway as it should?
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@zippydan I am afraid I don’t remember that far back. However in the spirit of helping, can they revert to a default configuration which would have DHCP WAN by default? Obviously without breaking their LAN connectivity. Then recreate or partial restore config file sections from a backup. If they get online at all they can allow you (or very temporarily “any”) to connect via the WAN IP to directly log in.
Is there an upstream ISP router they could try powering off?
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@zippydan
As far as I can remember, there is a checkbox in the gateway settings in System > Routing > Gateways > Edit gateway.Also ensure that the outbound NAT is operating in automatic mode.
Consider that the old gateway cannot be deleted if it is in use, for instance in a static route or in a policy routing rule.
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@viragomann said in how to set the default gateway in older version (2.3.2) of pfsense?:
@zippydan
Consider that the old gateway cannot be deleted if it is in use, for instance in a static route or in a policy routing rule.Yes, this is what I assumed as well - that the gateway is still referenced somewhere and can't be removed until all references are removed. However, the interface gives no further info about where the conflict might be and I can't find where other references might be. There are no static routes defined. There are very few rules defined in the firewall rules and none had anything listed in the Gateway column.
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Maybe get them to do a config backup, and email the file to you using different internet connection.
Then edit the config for your needs & email it back. Then talk them through restoring the new config ?