Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    Expanding address space on LAN - What concerns do I have to watch for?

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
    25 Posts 5 Posters 2.4k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • stephenw10S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by

      As long as nothing else is already using 172.16.2.0/24 it should be easy to do. You only need to change that on the LAN interface config itself and the DHCP range running on it.

      Anything using DHCP will be updated when the lease is renewed.

      If you have any statically configured devices those will need to be manually updated in order to reach devices in the new range.

      Steve

      S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • S
        SteveITS Galactic Empire @stephenw10
        last edited by

        @stephenw10 said in Expanding address space on LAN - What concerns do I have to watch for?:

        Anything using DHCP will be updated when the lease is renewed.

        If you have any statically configured devices those will need to be manually updated in order to reach devices in the new range.

        Note this a good reason to use DHCP reservations instead of static IPs on a large network. :)

        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!

        johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
        • johnpozJ
          johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @SteveITS
          last edited by

          @SteveITS I would say even on a small network - all of my devices are just reservations..

          An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
          If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
          Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
          SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

          JKnottJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • JKnottJ
            JKnott @johnpoz
            last edited by

            @johnpoz

            Same here. The only devices that have a static config are my main desktop computer and pfSense. Everything else has has static mapped DHCP.

            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...

            TangoOverswayT 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • TangoOverswayT
              TangoOversway @JKnott
              last edited by

              @JKnott

              @JKnott said in Expanding address space on LAN - What concerns do I have to watch for?:

              Same here. The only devices that have a static config are my main desktop computer and pfSense. Everything else has has static mapped DHCP.

              My static IP addresses are all mapped through the DHCP server. I wouldn't even do that, but I've used a few programs here and there that, for some stupid reason, require me using the IP address of the other machine on my LAN to connect. They're not high security apps and, on my LAN (and I suspect most LANs), a hacker with a bit of experience could ghost a MAC address and get the same IP address just like stealing the name. So I really don't see any reason for a program to use an IP address instead of the hostname.

              JKnottJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • JKnottJ
                JKnott @TangoOversway
                last edited by

                @TangoOversway

                I use static mapping for convenience. The host name is just part of the config.

                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...

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • TangoOverswayT
                  TangoOversway
                  last edited by

                  Just verifying that I did this as discussed and it worked. All my systems on the LAN use DHCP and any assigned addresses are handled by the DHCP server in pfSense. All I did was go to the General Configuration page and change the mask to 23 bits instead of 24 and saved and applied that. Now I have a 512 address range instead of 256.

                  JKnottJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                  • JKnottJ
                    JKnott @TangoOversway
                    last edited by

                    @TangoOversway said in Expanding address space on LAN - What concerns do I have to watch for?:

                    Now I have a 512 address range instead of 256.

                    Wait till you go to IPv6 and have an 18.4 billion, billion (2⁶⁴) address range. 😉

                    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...

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • TangoOverswayT
                      TangoOversway
                      last edited by

                      Okay - found more trouble with this.

                      I put one Raspberry Pi in the new address space and it can't reach the internet. When I changed the IP address back to within the old subnet I was using, the Pi could reach the internet. There was no problem, under either setting, with communication on my LAN.

                      I checked firewall rules and don't see anything that I think would limit traffic to the original address space.

                      What's going on and what do I need to do so a device in the new address space can reach the internet?

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

                        @TangoOversway Usually, that means a subnet mask is wrong on the Pi or pfSense, and it can’t talk to the “other” part of the subnet.

                        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!

                        TangoOverswayT 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • TangoOverswayT
                          TangoOversway @SteveITS
                          last edited by

                          @SteveITS

                          @SteveITS said in Expanding address space on LAN - What concerns do I have to watch for?:

                          Usually, that means a subnet mask is wrong on the Pi or pfSense, and it can’t talk to the “other” part of the subnet.

                          If that were the case on the Pi (which is using DHCP, so it's getting the info from pfSense), then I would think it wouldn't be able to communicate with the rest of my LAN.

                          So would that narrow it down to a firewall rule on the LAN in pfSense?

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

                            @TangoOversway well for instance a wrong mask might let a device talk to .1-.255 but not .256-.511.

                            Firewall rules would apply to Internet traffic but not internal traffic. So yes that could block internet.

                            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!

                            TangoOverswayT 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • TangoOverswayT
                              TangoOversway @SteveITS
                              last edited by

                              I checked my firewall rules. I don't remember making these, but there was a time when I was experimenting with various VPNs and it's possible I added some rules at the time, but I don't remember leaving any behind. Here's my firewall LAN rules - are these default rules?

                              Screenshot 2024-02-25 at 6.13.50 PM.png

                              johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • johnpozJ
                                johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @TangoOversway
                                last edited by

                                @TangoOversway those are just default ones - make sure you check in floating tab for any rules.

                                An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                                If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                                Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                                SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

                                TangoOverswayT 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • TangoOverswayT
                                  TangoOversway @johnpoz
                                  last edited by

                                  Okay, looked at NAT, I see some that specify a specific address range:

                                  Screenshot 2024-02-25 at 6.16.53 PM.png

                                  (Note: I originally was talking about a 172.16.1 subnet, but I'm using 172.16.7 as the original and 172.16.6 as the new one.)

                                  Those last two NAT rules that specify the 172.16.7 subnet - are they default rules? (I'm thinking I may have made those when experimenting with VPNs and may have forgotten to delete them.)

                                  johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • stephenw10S
                                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                    last edited by

                                    Are your outbound NAT rules set to manual? If so you would need to update them.

                                    TangoOverswayT 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • johnpozJ
                                      johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @TangoOversway
                                      last edited by

                                      @TangoOversway yeah if you messed with some vpn, most of their shit guides tell you to move to manual nat, when all that is needed is hybrid.

                                      An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                                      If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                                      Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                                      SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • TangoOverswayT
                                        TangoOversway @stephenw10
                                        last edited by

                                        @stephenw10

                                        Yes, set to manual. So by "update," I take it you mean to specify my new address range in the rule, as opposed to some kind of system update or anything like that, right?

                                        If I'm not running any VPNs or anything fancy, do I need those rules? Are they normal or default pfSense rules?

                                        johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • johnpozJ
                                          johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @TangoOversway
                                          last edited by johnpoz

                                          @TangoOversway even if you were running vpn, there is no need to be set to manual for your outbound, you can just use hybrid and create the rule you want to nat to your vpn connection.

                                          I would switch it back to auto, and delete any of those manual nats..

                                          An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                                          If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                                          Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                                          SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

                                          TangoOverswayT 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • TangoOverswayT
                                            TangoOversway @johnpoz
                                            last edited by

                                            @johnpoz

                                            So, assuming I'm not running anything extra, can I just delete those two rules last in the list? And if so, any others I should delete while I'm at it? Or would it be better to extend the address range for those two?

                                            johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • First post
                                              Last post
                                            Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.