Changing WAN IP

vonskippy · Dec 16, 2010, 11:25 PM

Our branch office ISP is changing their IP scheme, so we have to change our public static IP on the WAN interface.

Since the office is 3 hours or so away (and actually IS uphill and snowy both ways) I'd like to do this remotely if possible.

I'm assuming once I make the change in the INTERFACES-WAN section and hit SAVE I'm committed (and booted out of the webgui)?

Any way to safe guard the transition?

What's the best way to do this?

Are there any other changes I need to make (or worry about)?

Thanks for the help/suggestions/offers of life insurance.

wallabybob · Dec 17, 2010, 1:39 PM

It may be too late for this, but there are times when its handy to have alternate access such as a dial up modem on the console of the router.

pfSense supports multiple IP address blocks on interfaces, see sections 6.7 and 6.8 of the pfSense book. So you could configure pfSense WAN interface for both address blocks, negotiate with the ISP to have addresses in both blocks forwarded to pfSense for a short period, test both address blocks work, cut over to use the new address block, update DNS registrations and then remove the old address block from your configuration.

vonskippy · Dec 21, 2010, 9:55 PM

Just to followup, the change over went as smooth as can be.

Changed IP in WAN settings - hit SAVE.

Lost connection.

Called Telco - gave the go ahead to make IP change.

Clicky Clicky

Ping Monitor shows new IP in place.

Adjust IP in WebGUI Bookmark - login (ok new cert) - voila! all is well.

Good Job PFSENSE Team for making such a rock solid Firewall App - I really (really!) did not want to drive 2.5 hours to make the change in person.