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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

      That is the default behavior.

      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
        psykix
        last edited by

        I set this all up today and had it working fine.

        I'm using route-nopull because I actually only need 1 server to use the VPN.

        I then got a message from pfSense to say that dyndns had updated, so must have had a dynamic IP change.

        Then I realised that my true public IP was visible.

        Restarted the VPN and still the same - although it appeared to be intermittent with some sites reporting my true IP and some reporting the VPN IP address.

        I'm not sure what has happened so I've currently removed the route-nopull option and disabled the firewall rule which forces the server to use the PIA interface.

        Any ideas?

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        • DerelictD
          Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
          last edited by

          Yeah your rules must be wrong. How about letting us see them?

          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
            psykix
            last edited by

            It's disabled at the moment, but these are my firewall rules.

            I would have preferred to keep it on everything but BBC iPlayer stopped working due to I presume the VPN address being blocked by them, and I couldn't figure a way to allow BBC iPlayer to bypass the VPN, since it seems to use multiple IP addresses I suspect.

            rules.PNG
            rules.PNG_thumb

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            • P
              psykix
              last edited by

              Rule details :-

              rule2.PNG
              rule2.PNG_thumb

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              • DerelictD
                Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                last edited by

                Doesn't show what we need to see. Just post your LAN rules list.

                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
                  psykix
                  last edited by

                  I did above it…

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                  • DerelictD
                    Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                    last edited by

                    With the rule disabled it's not going to work.

                    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
                      psykix
                      last edited by

                      Yes, I know. I disabled it because I removed the route-nopull since I needed the VPN to be working.

                      I'll try again with route-nopull and enable the rule again.

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                      • P
                        psykix
                        last edited by

                        Ok, so I have the rule enabled. I have the route-nopull option.

                        privateinternetaccess shows my VPN address and says I am protected.

                        However, 2 other sites for showing IP addresses are showing my ISP public address, not the VPN one :-(

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                        • DerelictD
                          Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                          last edited by

                          You sure your tunnel is staying up?

                          There's really nothing that can cause what you think you're seeing.

                          Unless there's something severely wrong with that beta version you're using.

                          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
                            psykix
                            last edited by

                            I'm not sure. It seems to be staying up.

                            I realised that I also have a free ipVanish account, so I'll give things a whirl with that and see how I get on :-)

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                            • DerelictD
                              Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                              last edited by

                              Which IP test sites are showing the VPN address and which are showing WAN address?

                              Is it consistent?

                              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
                                psykix
                                last edited by

                                The ipvanish site shows that I am protected, and it is the correct VPN ip address.

                                The BBC iPlayer site refuses to work because it knows I am behind a VPN - which is expected behaviour.

                                However, www.whatsmyip.org shows my proper public IP address, and my ISP details.

                                Also, http://mxtoolbox.com/WhatIsMyIP/ shows my proper details, and not the VPN ip address.

                                Very odd.

                                I also deleted the config and reconfigured from scratch - same result.

                                If I remove the firewall rule and the route-nopull from the config, then I get consistent results that I behind the VPN.

                                Strange!

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                                • DerelictD
                                  Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                                  last edited by

                                  Don't know what to tell you.

                                  I just ran updates to my betas and tried it and it works just fine.

                                  You'll have to look at states or something to see what's going on.  SOMETHING you have is routing traffic out the default gateway. Have you created any floating rules?

                                  Are you positive about the source IP address?

                                  LAN-rules.png
                                  LAN-rules.png_thumb

                                  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
                                    psykix
                                    last edited by

                                    Unless of course it is going out using IPV6, but it shouldn't be - I have IPV4 as preferred.

                                    I don't know if it makes any difference that the 192.168.1.15 server that I want protected with the VPN a) it's a VM and b) it has teamed NICs

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                                    • DerelictD
                                      Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                                      last edited by

                                      If it was going out IPv6 I think both of those sites would be showing you an IPv6 address.

                                      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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                                      • DerelictD
                                        Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                                        last edited by

                                        I've never messed around with windows NIC teaming. If it utilizes multiple IP addresses there's your problem. Put them all in an alias and use that as your source address list. A packet capture on LAN will show you what's happening.

                                        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
                                          psykix
                                          last edited by

                                          They are just teamed into one IP address.

                                          It's very odd..

                                          I've just gone back to having everything protected as that works fine.

                                          Any idea how I can add a rule to get BBC iPlayer to bypass the VPN?

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                                          • P
                                            psykix
                                            last edited by

                                            It does also make me wonder if I have missed something, although I have redone the tutorial from scratch 3 times now.

                                            Just to test, I created a rule for my client PC which is just normal PC single NIC and I get exactly the same results.

                                            PIA website says I am protected and shows the VPN IP address. The others still display my ISP and unprotected public IP :-(

                                            I am just baffled…

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