Wireless router > pfSense > ethernet

jamesgloucester · May 19, 2009, 2:06 AM

I've been trying to set this up for nearly 3 hours and have now given in and resorted to forum help :P

Not very good at putting what i'm doing in words but i'll give it a go:

What i'm trying to do is connect pfsense to my router via wireless and then have the rest of my network connect to pfsense via wire, however nothing connected on the network can get internet access with this setup, everything can connect to pfsense fine as i can access the webgui.

The problem to me seems to be the wireless link between pfsense and the router, although the router can see pfsense as it shows up in the attached devices list, showing the correct IP and MAC addresses. I assume (or rather hope!) that i'm overlooking some simple setting or something to get this all working nicely.

Other info that may help:
The router is a Netgear DG934G with BSkyB firmware
Wireless card is a Netgear WG311T
pfSense is version 1.2.3 RC1

Any help would be greatly appreciated, as would any questions that could lead to solving the problem ^_^

ktims · May 22, 2009, 4:08 AM

Can the pfSense machine ping the wireless gateway? Are you using pfSense as a NAT router or just a wireless bridge?

A common issue with this type of configuration is that you're doing NAT on the wireless box and NAT on pfSense, but using the same subnet. This won't work, you'll need to change one of the subnets so they don't overlap. (eg. wireless network is 192.168.1.0/24, LAN network on pf can't be the same or it won't find the gateway).

Doesn't it make more sense to just use a basic AP though instead of pf?

Grim0x · Jun 5, 2009, 7:48 PM

@ktims:

A common issue with this type of configuration is that you're doing NAT on the wireless box and NAT on pfSense, but using the same subnet. This won't work, you'll need to change one of the subnets so they don't overlap. (eg. wireless network is 192.168.1.0/24, LAN network on pf can't be the same or it won't find the gateway).

ah! so THATS why my PC cant ping the AP. Duh! smacks head.
Makes sense.

I have exactly the same setup.
My PC CAN, however browse the internet…

Pf sense must be doing some compensating.

Is there a method to change subnets on pf, ONLY OVER webgui? (considering DHCP is enabled on it?).

My PF sys has no monitor/keyboard ect - just power and lan cable. Because of where its set up, it would be a real hassle to take it back in and reconfigure!

ktims · Jun 5, 2009, 10:10 PM

Yeah you can change it in the webui. Not a big deal really, just change the DHCP server configuration first and then change the interface address, then release/renew on your client. Even if you break DHCP or something you can always statically configure the client to go in and repair the config.

Grim0x · Jun 6, 2009, 6:24 PM

@ktims:

Yeah you can change it in the webui. Not a big deal really, just change the DHCP server configuration first and then change the interface address, then release/renew on your client. Even if you break DHCP or something you can always statically configure the client to go in and repair the config.

I tried this last night.
And LOORD, the heachaces.

Its something that I've noticed with PF sense for a while now.
Its like if I fiddle around with the WAN/LAN interface options too much - I'm unable to connect to the router.
And even when I restore factory defaults - whatever sub level settings have thrown the system haywire, I cant revert!

The only thing I could do last night, and in the previous instances, was reinstall.

Ever had the like?