Xbox Live, I don't know why this works but it does!
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???
I’ve been having issues with my Sons Xbox playing with an Open Nat and not Strict. He only has a wireless connection to his room and doesn’t have the wireless adapter for the Xbox. So we bridged the wireless connection through his laptop. This provided an internet connection for the Xbox.
In pfSense I created an Alias and listed all the ports required for Xbox Live and his games (80, 88, 1863, 3074, 22728, 33233), I then made a firewall rule for the Alias to allow these ports. We tried Port forwarding and UPnP and so on.
After many hours of trying different methods from the pfSense forums, nothing worked reliably. We could connect, but it was always a Strict Nat and wouldn’t allow him to play his games properly.
The setup that did not work:
OPT1 with DHCP_ON
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Netgear WNR2000v3 router (This router cannot by configured as an access point without bypassing security and slowing speed to 54mbits) - WAN set to get IP from DHCP server, SPI Off, Nat Open, LAN set as static IP
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Neatgear WAN connected to OPT1
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Laptop set to static IP-Wireless connection to Netgear WNR2000v3
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Xbox set to static IP-Bridged to LaptopWhat finally worked and I’m not understanding why, is the following, with NO port-fowarding and no UPnP configured in pfSence, we only have the open port Alias in the firewall rules.
This has been working for three days with a totally OPEN system listed in the Xbox menus.
OPT1 with DHCP_OFF
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Netgear WNR2000v3 router - WAN set to Static IP, SPI Off, Nat Open, LAN set as DHCP Sever
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Netgear WAN connected to OPT1
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Laptop set get IP from server-Wireless connection to Netgear WNR2000v3
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Xbox set to static IP-Bridge to laptopIP Assignments:
PfSense - OPT1= 192.168.2.1
Netgear - WAN = 192.168.2.2
Netgear - LAN = 192.168.4.1 << This is the screwy part, different Subnet
Netgear - LAN is DHCP Server
Netgear - LAN DHCP Server Range = 192.168.4.2 > 192.168.4.20
Laptop = Get IP from DHCP Server
Xbox = 192.168.4.14I’m still scratching my head!
???
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Anyone have any ideas? Or can someone test this config on thier system to see if it's just a fluke? As of today the Xbox is still working in Open mode on all games, my son has close to 50 games. Of that 50 at least 10 of them are the newest top games and most are the millitary type games, Black Ops, etc.
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Double NAT is always bad…. That's likely where the issues are coming into play. Turn of DHCP on your netgear router, and plug the OPT1 port from the pfsense into a lan port on your netgear instead. This will let the pfsense's DHCP server give your xbox and laptop an IP. You shouldn't need to do anything fancy for your xbox to get online. Just make sure that you have automatic outbound nat generation. It's under Firewall > NAT > Outbound. The xbox will be able to make the outbound connections which will let traffic flow back through the firewall on the ports it opens.
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Double NAT is always bad…. That's likely where the issues are coming into play. Turn of DHCP on your netgear router, and plug the OPT1 port from the pfsense into a lan port on your netgear instead. This will let the pfsense's DHCP server give your xbox and laptop an IP. You shouldn't need to do anything fancy for your xbox to get online. Just make sure that you have automatic outbound nat generation. It's under Firewall > NAT > Outbound. The xbox will be able to make the outbound connections which will let traffic flow back through the firewall on the ports it opens.
Thanks for the reply, I know about the double NAT. The problem is you can't use this wireless router to connect to OPT1 through one of it's lan ports. I have tried this multiple times and the router drops connection, bypasses its wireless security and falls back to from N to G routing. It's a terrible router as in features, but it all I have at the moment. NAT is turned off in the router and so is the SPI, so even though I am using the WAN port to connect to PfSense it's is at least working as a makeshift access point. I have been keeping my eyes open for an Open source firmware, but right now the firmware is only for Version 2 of the hardware and I have version 3. My other wireless systems in the house are all Cisco and running Tomato firmware. I needed an additional wireless for ym son and thought I would give Netgear a try, well you live and learn.
Thanks for your help.