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

    Failover routing

    Expired/Withdrawn Bounties
    4
    21
    14.7k
    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.
    • A
      aldo
      last edited by

      we have 500 - 1000 us for a failover routing solution for pfsense.
      I would be considered on the tools used and the practicality of deployment with a dynamic routing protocol
      feel free to post some ideas of how this could be done and we can start
      depositing some funds to make some progress.

      alan 8)

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • S
        sullrich
        last edited by

        When you say dynamic failover routing protocols, would carp count?

        If so, I can help you with a fully redundant solution.  Contact me at sullrich@gmail.com

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • P
          pcatiprodotnet
          last edited by

          Would the already built in OLSR.org mesh software suffice for this?  I gathered from the forums that it just needs a GUI.
          If OLSR gui or other development suggestions appeal to us, we would add $300 hundred or more to this bounty.
          We want pfSense to do something like this…
          http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/etel/2006/02/10/free-mesh-networking-with-metrix-pebble.html?page=2
          And, does olsr route IP only or any protocol (ie. pass ethernet traffic as a common ethernet switch would)

          • Pete C.
          • Internet Professionals, LLC
          • pc@ipro.net
          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • A
            aldo
            last edited by

            possibly see the next post for an outline of exactly what we are trying to achieve

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • A
              aldo
              last edited by

              Dynamic failover routing.

              The idea that we are looking for is proberly not carp scott. But I will outline it to you and you can judge for your self.

              Wan1–------------------------|
                                                        |
                                                     Pfsense ------------- lan
                                                         |
              Wan2(internal ospf network)--

              If wan 1 is up use this route and broadcast this route via ospf or similar via wan 2 to allow other nodes to use this gateway.

              If wan1 is down broadcast the fact and use the ospf routing table for finding the next gateway on wan2.

              I was thinking that if the gateway feature was used in pfsense to assess wheather wan1 was active if it was not use wan2.

              There are other pfsense boxes at the edge routing points of the ospf network.

              lan
                                                 |
                                                 |
                             Wan1--------pfsense
                                                 |
                                                 |
                                                 Wan2(ospf)------ospf network------|
                                                                                               |
                                                                                               |
                                                                                               |
                                                Lan                                          |
                                                  |                                            |
                                 Wan1--------pfsense                                    |
                                                   |                                           |
                                                   |                                           |
                                                 Wan2(ospf)-------ospf network-----|---(etc)
                                                                                                |
                                                                                                |
                                                Lan                                           |
                                                 |                                             |
                                                 |                                             |
                                              Wan1--------pfsense                       |
                                                 |                                             |
                                                 |                                             |
                                              Wan2(ospf)-------ospf network-------

              And so on and so forth there are about ten routes on the ospf network Varying in size and type. The core ospf network works fine. But to use Pfsense on the edge boxes would be great.

              Looks forward to a reply. If you don’t think it is what you where think let me know and I will post it to this bounty section.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • J
                jeroen234
                last edited by

                olsr can do this
                you need a pfsense server with 3 network cards
                wan,lan,opt1

                give all the pfsense opt1 network cards ipadress in the same network range
                open a shell on the pfsense server
                cd /usr/local/etc
                nano olsrd.conf
                type this in:

                DebugLevel      2
                IpVersion      4
                ClearScreen    yes

                HNA IPv4 routes

                syntax: netaddr netmask

                Example Internet gateway:

                0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0

                Hna4
                {
                #  Internet gateway:
                #  0.0.0.0      0.0.0.0
                #  more entries can be added:
                #  192.168.1.0  255.255.255.0
                #10.141.254.0    255.255.255.0
                10.141.250.0    255.255.255.0
                0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0
                }

                close the file with control + X
                the 10.141.250.0 in the file is the local lan network you want to broadcast to the olsrd mesh so that clients on a other olsrd pfsense server can conect to that
                the 0.0.0.0 in the file is telling the olsrd mesh that tiss olsrd node has a internet conection and that olsrd pfsense servers can use that one if don't have 1 or lost one

                start olsrd
                olsrd -i xl0 >> /dev/null &
                replace xl0 with youre opt1 card

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • A
                  aldo
                  last edited by

                  do the other boxes with the ospf netowrk need to have oslr as well i guess to allow for the routing to go cleanly
                  is there anyway of importing oslr routes into ospf to stop a redesign of an already functioning ospf network.

                  looks like you might have an answer is this theroy or practical. does it really work what sort of hardware requirements

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • J
                    jeroen234
                    last edited by

                    all the pfsense servers need to run olsrd witch is all ready on the pfsense server instald by default
                    more info on olsrd you find here:
                    http://www.olsr.org/
                    olsrd is most used on wireless networks
                    so that you can put a node on a high tower and forget about the routing stuf
                    you do only the local routing stuf
                    the rest olsr will find out by him self
                    if one node breaks down the olsrd network will route the routes around the problem
                    if a new node is installed and has a faster route then a -> b then the network will use the faster route
                    so it's not only reporting of it has internet or not
                    its also reporting witch nodes it can see and how fast the route to them is and wat routes a laying behind the olsrd network node that don't use olsrd like the local lan network
                    so that that can be conect from all the olsrd servers

                    youre network will look somving like this:

                    lan 10.0.0.0/24
                                                      |   
                                                      |
                                  Wan1–------pfsense 1
                                                      |
                                                      | 
                                    192.168.1.1  opt1 (olsrd)------olsrd network ------|
                                                                                                    |       
                                                                                                    |
                                                                                                    |
                                                      Lan 10.0.1.0/24                          |       
                                                        |                                            |
                                      Wan1--------pfsense 2                                  |
                                                        |                                          |
                                                        |                                          |
                                      192.168.1.2  opt1(olsrd)---------olsrd network-----|---(etc)
                                                                                                    |
                                                                                                    |
                                                      Lan  10.0.2.0/24                        | 
                                                      |                                            |
                                                      |                                            |
                                Wan1--------pfsense 3                                        |
                                                      |                                            |
                                                      |                                            |
                                  192.168.1.3    opt1(olsrd)--------olsrd network--------|
                                                                                                    |                   
                                                                                                    |
                                        Lan  10.0.3.0/24                                      | 
                                                      |                                            |
                                                      |                                            |
                                                -pfsense 4                                        |
                                                      |                                            |
                                                      |                                            |
                                  192.168.1.4    wan(olsrd)--------olsrd network-------

                    pfsense server 1 on 192.168.1.1 will report
                      it has internet and a direct route to 10.0.0.0/24
                      a route to node 192.168.1.2
                      a route to node 192.168.1.3
                      a route to node 192.168.1.4
                      a route to 10.0.1.0/24 via 192.168.1.2 / 192.168.1.3 / 192.168.1.4
                      a route to 10.0.2.0/24 via 192.168.1.3 / 192.168.1.2 / 192.168.1.4
                      a route to 10.0.3.0/24 via 192.168.1.4 / 192.168.1.2 / 192.168.1.3
                      a route to 0.0.0.0 via 192.168.1.2
                      a route to 0.0.0.0 via 192.168.1.3

                    pfsense server 2 on 192.168.1.2 will report
                      it has internet and a direct route to 10.0.1.0/24
                      a route to node 192.168.1.1
                      a route to node 192.168.1.3
                      a route to node 192.168.1.4
                      a route to 10.0.0.0/24 via 192.168.1.1 / 192.168.1.3 / 192.168.1.4
                      a route to 10.0.2.0/24 via 192.168.1.3 / 192.168.1.1 / 192.168.1.4
                      a route to 10.0.3.0/24 via 192.168.1.4 / 192.168.1.1 / 192.168.1.3
                          a route to 0.0.0.0  via 192.168.1.3
                      a route to 0.0.0.0 via 192.168.1.1

                    pfsense server 3 on 192.168.1.3 will report
                      it has internet and a direct route to 10.0.2.0/24
                      a route to node 192.168.1.1
                      a route to node 192.168.1.2
                      a route to node 192.168.1.4
                      a route to 10.0.0.0/24 via 192.168.1.1 / 192.168.1.2 / 192.168.1.4
                      a route to 10.0.1.0/24 via 192.168.1.2 / 192.168.1.1 / 192.168.1.4
                      a route to 10.0.3.0/24 via 192.168.1.4 / 192.168.1.1 / 192.168.1.2
                      a route to 0.0.0.0 via 192.168.1.1
                      a route to 0.0.0.0  via 192.168.1.2

                    pfsense server 4 on 192.168.1.4 will report
                      it has a direct route to 10.0.3.0/24
                      a route to node 192.168.1.1
                      a route to node 192.168.1.2

                    a route to node 192.168.1.3
                      a route to 10.0.0.0/24 via 192.168.1.1 / 192.168.1.2 / 192.168.1.3
                      a route to 10.0.2.0/24 via 192.168.1.3 / 192.168.1.1 / 192.168.1.2
                      a route to 10.0.1.0/24 via 192.168.1.2 / 192.168.1.1 / 192.168.1.3
                      a route to 0.0.0.0 via 192.168.1.1
                      a route to 0.0.0.0 via 192.168.1.2
                      a route to 0.0.0.0 via 192.168.1.3

                    pfsense server 4 don't has internet and use pfserver 1,2 or 3 for its internet conections depending on witch one it can reache fast

                    if ospf can read the kernal routes then it can use the routes that olsrd add's or removes from the kernal routing tabels

                    olsrd self don't read from these tabels it has tabels with routing info and info of time it takes to make a conecting to a node on a route
                    and witch nodes has witch routes to witch nodes etc etc

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • P
                      pcatiprodotnet
                      last edited by

                      …[olsr] will always use ipadresses…
                      Is there any way to get OLSR to pass regular ethernet (MAC) traffic, such as using VPN over OLSR all done in pfSense, or other trick?
                      Another possibility if the above won't work: Can pfSense in Bridge mode also do "spanning tree protocol"?  If so, is this possible solution worthy?
                      Thank you for the helpful replies,
                      -Pete

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • S
                        sullrich
                        last edited by

                        @pcatiprodotnet:

                        Another possibility if the above won't work: Can pfSense in Bridge mode also do "spanning tree protocol"?

                        Yep, on non-wireless bridges it does this by default.

                        @pcatiprodotnet:

                        If so, is this possible solution worthy?

                        Not really sure.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • P
                          pcatiprodotnet
                          last edited by

                          on non-wireless bridges it does this by default.
                          How do you enable it on Wireless bridges?  And, is using it over wireless known to be problematic?

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • S
                            sullrich
                            last edited by

                            Why would you want it on wireless?

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • P
                              pcatiprodotnet
                              last edited by

                              Why would you want [spanning tree protocol] on wireless?
                              I though it might route wireless bridged ethernet traffic around down wireless nodes.  I guess not.

                              My Goal:  LANs in multiple buildings all linked together by ethernet Bridge over wireless Mesh (I assume olsr.org is the best).

                              Perhaps using OLSR plus "ethernet over IP" (such as VPN) to pass ethernet MAC traffic wirelessly between sites, all accomplished in pfSense, could make it appear to every PC in every building that they are on the same "local" ethernet LAN.  Is this posssible?  If so, how do I configure pfSense to do this?

                              Thanks, -pc

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • A
                                aldo
                                last edited by

                                we are using a routed networ rather than a bridge network.
                                we have nodes with there own internet connection and a large
                                netowrk to link them all together.

                                if an internet connection fails on a node then we manually reconfigure
                                the routes onto our ospf backbone to use another route.

                                if you network is in anyway going to grow use routing and not bridging
                                it will be far more stable in our experiance.

                                each of our nodes support 30 -100 wireless clients

                                we presently have 8 nodes and a 20 box backhaul system.

                                I think there are issues with oslr and ospf. from my recent reviews it  seems that
                                oslr routes in the kernal are not recognised correctly by ospf. (but don't really know as
                                we dont really have any knowledge of oslr)

                                We where thinking of working with the load balancing pool features in pfsense.
                                but this might not work to well either because it does not seem to touch the
                                routing table. Is this true.

                                Maybe if we can consilidate some thoughts a little better we can do something here.
                                are there many more thoughts from the core team. would this be worth you spending
                                your time on. or are we a little to far over in the left field.

                                we have no choice but to spend money on it so i would love to give some to the
                                fine pfsense team

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • P
                                  pcatiprodotnet
                                  last edited by

                                  if you network is in anyway going to grow use routing and not bridging it will be far more stable in our experiance.
                                  Thanks for the tip aldo!  I'm a Programmer, but new to networking/wireless, and I appreciate any expert advice.
                                  I had desired Bridging so a single Captive Portal could control all clients, but that may not be a good idea either.
                                  -Pete

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • A
                                    aldo
                                    last edited by

                                    you could still do this with routing. if you dont use nat on one side of the network
                                    just route through it. captive portal could still work for you.

                                    i know the drama of design is a far differnet one that the doing of it though
                                    continually fraught with try to do stuff but not spent money.

                                    i think i would prefer to be a prgrammer then maybe your only limitation is
                                    how large your brain is.

                                    good luck i willl take some time with oslr in the next week and see what
                                    it can do. i think it might be more powerful than i think, even if it
                                    is a very immature product

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • J
                                      jeroen234
                                      last edited by

                                      @pcatiprodotnet:

                                      …[olsr] will always use ipadresses…
                                      Is there any way to get OLSR to pass regular ethernet (MAC) traffic, such as using VPN over OLSR all done in pfSense, or other trick?
                                      Another possibility if the above won't work: Can pfSense in Bridge mode also do "spanning tree protocol"?  If so, is this possible solution worthy?
                                      Thank you for the helpful replies,
                                      -Pete

                                      olsrd will work on vpn just use the vpn interface as the interface for olsrd then on both sides of the vpn
                                      if the interface can route then olsrd can work on it

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • P
                                        pcatiprodotnet
                                        last edited by

                                        Is an olsr node capable of accepting RIP route information on its non-olsr interface?
                                        Thanks, -pc

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • J
                                          jeroen234
                                          last edited by

                                          yes but olsrd will not read the kernal routes
                                          so info from rip can be rewirten by olrsd

                                          just like rip is rewriting the kernal routes that  olsrd has put in

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • A
                                            aldo
                                            last edited by

                                            just wondering about wheather anyone has come up with any great ideas here. it seems one of the core issues ould lie in how pfsense managed a dynamic routing table.
                                            do we think that the changes made to olsrd would allow this to happen or that olsrd only works well within a subnet.

                                            has anyone had any time to test what scott has done so far. i am an ospf bgp player so this olsrd is new to me. we would definately consider it if it looks like it might be a practical solution.

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