PPPOE connection problem

localhostx

I've just setup my first pfsense router and have problems with PPPOE. The router does not connect via PPPOE. I captured the following logs

Oct 5 01:36:38 ppp: [wan_link0] Link: reconnection attempt 2
Oct 5 01:36:38 ppp: [wan_link0] PPPoE: Connecting to ''
Oct 5 01:36:47 ppp: [wan_link0] PPPoE connection timeout after 9 seconds
Oct 5 01:36:47 ppp: [wan_link0] Link: DOWN event
Oct 5 01:36:47 ppp: [wan_link0] LCP: Down event
Oct 5 01:36:47 ppp: [wan_link0] Link: reconnection attempt 3 in 3 seconds
Oct 5 01:36:50 ppp: [wan_link0] Link: reconnection attempt 3
Oct 5 01:36:50 ppp: [wan_link0] PPPoE: Connecting to ''
Oct 5 01:36:59 ppp: [wan_link0] PPPoE connection timeout after 9 seconds
Oct 5 01:36:59 ppp: [wan_link0] Link: DOWN event
Oct 5 01:36:59 ppp: [wan_link0] LCP: Down event
Oct 5 01:36:59 ppp: [wan_link0] Link: reconnection attempt 4 in 2 seconds
Oct 5 01:37:01 ppp: [wan_link0] Link: reconnection attempt 4
Oct 5 01:37:01 ppp: [wan_link0] PPPoE: Connecting to ''
Oct 5 01:37:10 ppp: [wan_link0] PPPoE connection timeout after 9 seconds
Oct 5 01:37:10 ppp: [wan_link0] Link: DOWN event
Oct 5 01:37:10 ppp: [wan_link0] LCP: Down event
Oct 5 01:37:10 ppp: [wan_link0] Link: reconnection attempt 5 in 2 seconds

On the other hand, I found out that when I set the WAN interface as DHCP at first (instead of PPPOE) and then change it to PPPOE, pfsense is able to connect. However, I can't do that each time I reboot the router.

Do you have any idea about the problem? Thanks,

wallabybob

What is the make and model number of the device connected to the pfSense WAN interface?

What ISP are you using and what service?

I agree that what you describe is "unusual". Perhaps knowing a bit more about your environment will help.

localhostx

I am using an Intel D2500CCE Atom board with dual Intel NIC. So, my interface to both LAN and WAN are Intel NICs.

I know that, there is a fiber connection entering to our building and a switch is converting it to Ethernet. So I have a direct ethernet connection to that switch bu I don't know its make or model. The switch room was locked by the ISP :(

The name of the ISP is Turkcell SuperOnline. Probably you never heard it since it is operating in Turkey.

I found out that there are several PPPOE bugs in the pfsense however the one I am experiencing a little bit different than they.

wallabybob

Have you talked with tech support at the ISP? Are you supposed to use DHCP OR PPPoE?

Can you elaborate on what you do in @HakanTT:

I found out that when I set the WAN interface as DHCP at first (instead of PPPOE) and then change it to PPPOE, pfsense is able to connect.

localhostx

MY ISP is idiot. They are telling me that they only support the router that they gave me.

The connection is PPPOE. I configured other routers for this connection in the past.

So what I did to connect successfully is:
1- Turn on the router while it is configured for PPPOE
-> fails to connect
2- From interfaces, set the WAN as DHCP
-> still fails
3- Change connection type from DHCP to PPPOE again
-> connection is up and running

wallabybob

What version of pfSense are you running? I suspect you may not have the PPP interface correctly configured.

Also, what is the output of pfSense shell command```

/etc/rc.banner

localhostx

I am using 2.0.1 embeded (pfSense-2.0.1-RELEASE-1g-i386-nanobsd_vga)

Here is the output

[2.0.1-RELEASE][admin@pfSense.localdomain]/root(2): /etc/rc.banner
*** Welcome to pfSense 2.0.1-RELEASE-nanobsd (i386) on pfSense ***

WAN (wan) -> pppoe0 -> NONE (PPPoE)
LAN (lan) -> em0 -> 192.168.10.1

localhostx

This weekend I spent some time on the problem and finally found a workaround.

My configuration was set as follows.

Port: Interface:
–------ ----------
em0 (1st ethernet port) -> PPPOE
em1 (2st ethernet port) -> LAN

As I mentioned before, pfsense was not connecting via PPPOE if I don't set the em0 as DHCP first.

Since I have a static IP, I thought that I can assign a new interface as STATIC and try it with this configuration. So I assign an additional interface as STATIC. The final configuration became as follows.

Port: Interface:
–------ ----------
em0 (1st ethernet port) -> STATIC
em0 (1st ethernet port) -> PPPOE
em1 (2st ethernet port) -> LAN

The result was successful. with this configuration, everytime I boot the pfsense, it got connected via PPPOE.

However, I realize another problem. If I unplug the WAN cable and wait for a couple of minuets and then re-plug it, PPPOE was not connecting. I believe that this is the same problem which is described in this ticket ( http://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/1943 ).

Does anyone have any idea about why a static interface is required to connect PPPOE?

wallabybob

@HakanTT:

Does anyone have any idea about why a static interface is required to connect PPPOE?

I can't see why it should be.

My own configuration is a little more complex: I run two VLANs on rl0 which is connected to a VLAN capable switch, rl0 is of Interface type "None", one of the VLANs runs to my ADSL modem so runs PPPoE and has a static IP for communication with the modem itself to access its web GUI, the other VLAN also has a static IP and communicates with a server.

localhostx

I think I found the root cause of the issue.

As I said before, I had to set a static interface in order to connect to WAN via PPPOE.

My ISP requires constant mac address for the pppoe connection and I realize that pfsense actually can not spoof the MAC on PPPOE. Here is the tickect that I found. http://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/2641

Therefore, when I set a static interface and spoof my MAC via that inteface everything works fine.

Now I am awaiting a fix for the issue. There are lots of issues about PPPOE on pfSense

http://redmine.pfsense.org/projects/pfsense/roadmap