Unexplained Behavior on a Network Interface 192.168.1.2

azizth

In a hotel's network setup with pfSense as the firewall and Unifi for networking equipment, I am facing a puzzling issue with the Administration network.

Here is the configuration of my pfSense firewall with six network interfaces:

192.168.1.0/24 - Administration
172.16.0.1/24 - Management
172.16.144.1/22 - Guest

The Admin interface of pfSense is set to 192.168.1.2.

Although the Admin interface is configured with an any-to-any rule in the firewall, it is impossible to ping it from within the Administration network (even from the pfSense interface itself). However, it is pingable from the other networks.

Moreover, PCs in the Administration network, when configured with DHCP, have no access to the network. When their IPs are set manually, they can access the internet via 192.168.1.2, but they still cannot ping the Admin interface — not even with a traceroute.

I tried assigning the Administration network to a different network card, deleting the configuration, and starting from scratch. Still, the issue persists. This behavior is inexplicable to me, especially since all other networks are functioning correctly without any problems.

Could you please help me resolve this?

stephenw10

Check the dhcp leases. Make sure it's actually pfSense handing out the leases. A rogue dhcp server might explain this.

Try a pcap on the admin interface while you're trying to ping it. Make sure the pings actually arrive.

Gertjan

@azizth said in Unexplained Behavior on a Network Interface 192.168.1.2:

Moreover, PCs in the Administration network, when configured with DHCP, have no access to the network

The show use and yourself why ?!!

ipconfig /all

and you see everything about the lease : the IP, the gateway which must be 192.168.1.2, the DNS that must be 192.168.1.2 etc.

Just for my own curiosity why 192.168.1.2 and not 192.168.1.1 ?
192.168.1.1 has been tested by millions, and doesn't need any thoughts.
Changing it to 192.168.1.2 is like opening a can of worms, which isn't a big deal, but look again, you can't see the bottom of the can.