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    Tutorial: Configuring pfSense as VPN client to Private Internet Access

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved OpenVPN
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    • DerelictD
      Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
      last edited by

      A better solution would probably be to turn on route-nopull, and policy route the port 25 traffic out your WAN.

      That way when PIA or the email server operator makes a change it doesn't break again.

      Or move to SSL/STARTTLS and use submit port 587 with authentication.

      Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
      A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
      DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
      Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

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      • L
        louicruz88
        last edited by

        Really!!! I looked but wasn't able to find ROUTE_NOPULL.
        Where can I find route-nopull option????

        @Derelict:

        A better solution would probably be to turn on route-nopull, and policy route the port 25 traffic out your WAN.

        That way when PIA or the email server operator makes a change it doesn't break again.

        Or move to SSL/STARTTLS and use submit port 587 with authentication.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • DerelictD
          Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
          last edited by

          @louicruz88:

          Really!!! I looked but wasn't able to find ROUTE_NOPULL.
          Where can I find route-nopull option????

          @Derelict:

          A better solution would probably be to turn on route-nopull, and policy route the port 25 traffic out your WAN.

          That way when PIA or the email server operator makes a change it doesn't break again.

          Or move to SSL/STARTTLS and use submit port 587 with authentication.

          https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=76015.msg501074;topicseen#msg501074

          Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
          A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
          DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
          Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

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          • C
            coolspot
            last edited by

            In the tutorial, manual NAT rules are required … is this still required for 2.2.1 and why is this?

            1. How come the OpenVPN wizard doesn't automatically add the NAT rules?
            2. How come pfSense automatic NAT rules doesn't do this for you?

            Just wondering why manual rules must be added.

            Thanks.

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            • D
              doktornotor Banned
              last edited by

              @coolspot:

              1. How come the OpenVPN wizard doesn't automatically add the NAT rules?
              2. How come pfSense automatic NAT rules doesn't do this for you?

              Because people usually do NOT want all their Internet-bound traffic go through some slow VPN tunnel.

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              • C
                coolspot
                last edited by

                @doktornotor:

                Because people usually do NOT want all their Internet-bound traffic go through some slow VPN tunnel.

                Great thanks, so I got my tunnel up and running… however, my performance is only ~40mbps.

                I'm running an Atom D525 CPU, what should be the expected performance?

                When I run TOP, my WCPU for OpenVPN hovers around 50% ... however, the other cores/threads are pretty idle.

                Here is my TOP output:

                last pid: 15026;  load averages:  1.02,  0.61,  0.43                                                                                  up 19+02:05:29  14:33:57
                210 processes: 7 running, 177 sleeping, 26 waiting
                CPU:    % user,    % nice,    % system,    % interrupt,    % idle
                Mem: 28M Active, 179M Inact, 542M Wired, 465M Buf, 7172M Free
                Swap: 16G Total, 16G Free

                PID USERNAME      PRI NICE  SIZE    RES STATE  C  TIME    WCPU COMMAND
                  11 root          155 ki31    0K    64K CPU2    2 440.2H  79.05% idle{idle: cpu2}
                  11 root          155 ki31    0K    64K CPU0    0 432.5H  78.66% idle{idle: cpu0}
                  11 root          155 ki31    0K    64K RUN    3 446.5H  76.56% idle{idle: cpu3}
                  11 root          155 ki31    0K    64K RUN    1 443.6H  68.16% idle{idle: cpu1}
                28854 root          52    0 21728K  5752K select  0  1:06  58.40% openvpn

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                • J
                  JimPhreak
                  last edited by

                  Has anyone gotten this setup to work with Plex Media Server?  From what I've seen, most can't get Plex to publish to the internet once connected to PIA.

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                  • DerelictD
                    Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                    last edited by

                    Has anyone gotten this setup to work with Plex Media Server?  From what I've seen, most can't get Plex to publish to the internet once connected to PIA.

                    Publish over PIA or over the internet bypassing PIA?

                    For the former, PIA has to forward a port to you.  Do they support that?

                    For the latter, it should be a simple matter of making sure Plex policy routes out your WAN instead of PIA.

                    If you want the same IP address to route some things over PIA and some over WAN you have to figure out how to identify the different traffic and policy route accordingly.

                    IMHO, Plex requiring a port forward open to any is fail and pretty much makes it a non-starter for me.

                    Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
                    A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
                    DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
                    Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

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

                      @Derelict:

                      Has anyone gotten this setup to work with Plex Media Server?  From what I've seen, most can't get Plex to publish to the internet once connected to PIA.

                      Publish over PIA or over the internet bypassing PIA?

                      For the former, PIA has to forward a port to you.  Do they support that?

                      For the latter, it should be a simple matter of making sure Plex policy routes out your WAN instead of PIA.

                      If you want the same IP address to route some things over PIA and some over WAN you have to figure out how to identify the different traffic and policy route accordingly.

                      IMHO, Plex requiring a port forward open to any is fail and pretty much makes it a non-starter for me.

                      PIA does support port forwarding but the port changes every time you get disconnected.

                      What do you use in place of Plex or do you just not have a media server you can access remotely?

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                      • Q
                        q54e3w
                        last edited by

                        I use AirVPN but you should be able to port forward a secure OpenVPN session into your LAN and then connect to Plex over the OpenVPN connection with usual subnet routing….thats how I do it anyway. Seems secure and was simple enough to do.
                        I agree with Derelict though - opening a media player to to the outside world directly feels like a unnecessary risk.

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                        • J
                          JimPhreak
                          last edited by

                          @irj972:

                          I use AirVPN but you should be able to port forward a secure OpenVPN session into your LAN and then connect to Plex over the OpenVPN connection with usual subnet routing….thats how I do it anyway. Seems secure and was simple enough to do.
                          I agree with Derelict though - opening a media player to to the outside world directly feels like a unnecessary risk.

                          I have a bunch of family and friends that connect to it and it's just not possible for me to set them all up as VPN clients unfortunately.  I realize having it open to the public is not ideal.  However given that fact, I'm trying to make it as secure and hidden as I can.

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                          • DerelictD
                            Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                            last edited by

                            As far as I know, you have to have the Plex port open to the world just to sign it into plex.  Doesn't have anything to do with who you allow access to it.

                            Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
                            A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
                            DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
                            Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • Q
                              q54e3w
                              last edited by

                              @JimPhreak:

                              @irj972:

                              I use AirVPN but you should be able to port forward a secure OpenVPN session into your LAN and then connect to Plex over the OpenVPN connection with usual subnet routing….thats how I do it anyway. Seems secure and was simple enough to do.
                              I agree with Derelict though - opening a media player to to the outside world directly feels like a unnecessary risk.

                              I have a bunch of family and friends that connect to it and it's just not possible for me to set them all up as VPN clients unfortunately.  I realize having it open to the public is not ideal.  However given that fact, I'm trying to make it as secure and hidden as I can.

                              Yes, I can see how that would be an added inconvenience.

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

                                When trying to start the VPN client connection configured for PIA, I receive the following error:

                                Cannot load CA certificate file /var/etc/openvpn/client1.ca (no entries were read) (OpenSSL)

                                I've gone through the certificate authority setup a few times and there doesn't seem to be much to it.  I did try to search through the forums for this error but didn't turn up anything that helped.  Can someone tell me what I might be missing?

                                Thanks

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                                • I
                                  iculookn
                                  last edited by

                                  Hi All

                                  I used some of this tutorial and others to get OpenVPN via giganews VyprVPN working on a new SG-4860 and everytyhing is fine (apart from slow)

                                  I just would like some help to confirm I have not opened up my network unnecessarily, so does this look all ok?

                                  Not sure about why I had to create rules in the 2 VPN tabs. I have configured it so most traffic will go via WAN, but any devices in the "VPN Systems" alias will go via the VPN.

                                  Thanks

                                  LAN.png
                                  LAN.png_thumb
                                  NAT.png
                                  NAT.png_thumb
                                  VYPr.png
                                  VYPr.png_thumb
                                  OPN.png
                                  OPN.png_thumb

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                                  • DerelictD
                                    Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                                    last edited by

                                    The rules on the VPN tabs have nothing to do with what traffic goes out which interface.  Those regulate what connections you allow into your router from the outside.  i would delete both of those rules.

                                    Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
                                    A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
                                    DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
                                    Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

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

                                      I folowed this guide for connecting to PIA through OpenVPN and the connection seems to be working great.

                                      However, I am having some questions/issues:

                                      Questions
                                      1. I am not able to complete the instructions as mentioned on step “Configure NAT Rules”. I am unable to create the NAT Rule for 127.0.0.0/8; it gives me an error

                                      You must supply a valid port for the NAT port entry

                                      Issues
                                      2. I am unable to see any of my other computers/services when connected through vpn to my network. I have created an OpenVPN connection that allows my to content to my intranet from outside and it works great when I am I disable the PIA VPN but not when it is enabled

                                      The number 1 above does not seem to be an issue unless it is realated to number 2.

                                      Number 2 is the most important.

                                      I appreciate any help with the above.

                                      Thank you!

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • DerelictD
                                        Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                                        last edited by

                                        You'll have to tell us what all the firewall rules are and what all the local networks, OpenVPN tunnel networks, etc, are.

                                        Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
                                        A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
                                        DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
                                        Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

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                                        • P
                                          pfanatic
                                          last edited by

                                          This is my settings for VPNing to my network:

                                          I have a Firewall: Rules – WAN
                                          ID =
                                          Proto = Ipv4 TCP
                                          Source = *
                                          Port = *
                                          Destination = WAN address
                                          Port = 1194 OpenVPN
                                          Gateway = *
                                          Queue = none
                                          Schedule = *

                                          and a Firewall: Rules - OpenVPN
                                          ID =
                                          Proto = Ipv4 *
                                          Source = *
                                          Port = *
                                          Destination = *
                                          Port = *
                                          Gateway = *
                                          Queue = none
                                          Schedule =

                                          also the OpenVPN: Server is
                                          Protocol / Port = UDP / 1194
                                          Tunnel Network = 172.16.2.0/24

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                                          • DerelictD
                                            Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                                            last edited by

                                            That doesn't give anyone enough information to help you.  There is probably a routing problem between all the networks involved.  You only told us what the tunnel network is.

                                            Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
                                            A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
                                            DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
                                            Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

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