New to pfSense --- looking for general help with setup
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Hello pfSense community,
I am new to pfSense and am looking for some general assistance with my implementation. Patience is appreciated, as I'm new to pfSense and my general networking knowledge is on the weaker end of the spectrum.
BACKGROUND
- I've started on the pfSense journey because I want to have VPN enabled at the router layer for a subset of devices in my local network (ie. devices that cannot have VPN enabled locally).
- The intention is to enable NordVPN on pfSense, once I have everything else properly configured.
- DHCP and DNS are running on a dedicated server
DIAGRAM
CURRENT CHALLENGES AND GENERAL QUESTIONS
- During the initial config of pfSense, if I config only the WAN port on 1.1.1.3, the config completes and I can access the web GUI at that IP. However, as soon as I config a LAN port (eg. NIC2 = LAN = 1.1.1.4), the web GUI goes down and I can no longer reach either IP. Obviously, I'm doing something wrong but I'm not quite sure what it is.
- For the Workstations that will connect to the pfSense router, should those be able to reach my DHCP server, or does the current design prevent that from happening? There will only be two server, so static IPs shouldn't be an issue --- just wondering how this should work and if there is a better way of doing things.
- My understanding is that when daisy chaining a pfSense router with another router, that the WAN port on the pfSense router should connect to the LAN port on the upstream router. Is that correct?
Sorry for the mish-mash of questions --- just trying to better my knowledge and get this set up correctly.
Thanks in advance!
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@Paes Why are you using public IP-Space? Maybe get an ASUS router, they have VPN capabilities.
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Assuming 1.1.1.1 is just an example subnet you still need to use different subnets on each side of pfSense. The "NICs" in the ISP router are probably just ports on it's internal switch so can be in one subnet but pfSense routes between each of it's interfaces so they much all be in different subnets.
So set the pfSense LAN to something else like 192.168.100.1/24.
Since the workstation in then not in the same layer 2 segment as your DHC server it will use pfSense for DHCP. -
@stephenw10 Thanks for the response. Yes, I was using an example subnet. I will try your suggestions and see if I can get things going. Cheers!
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@stephenw10 --- After making the subnet change to the pfSense LAN, that resolved the connectivity issue. I now have an issue with the NordVPN config, but I'll create a separate thread for that. Thanks again for the help!
