VPN IPsec tunnel between pfSense and Cisco RV042G keeps disconnecting
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What is Status > System Logs, IPsec showing. Anything interesting?
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Hi Derelict,
Thank you for your quick response.
As I mentioned before there have never been any ipsec, firewall or vpn logs on pfSense since it was installed and configured or when vpn connection between pfSesne and Cisco was established despite the checkbox to log packets is ticked for these firewall and ipsec rules.
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Not sure where you expect us to go from there. Have you asked Cisco?
Logging packets has absolutely nothing to do with Status > System Logs, IPsec
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Yes, I did log a call with cisco and still waiting for their reply.
What's really interesting for me is how vpn status still appears as ''connected'' on Cisco side as no vpn connection established from pfsense to Cisco.
I've been struggling to figure out where the problem lies- on Cisco or pfSense side.![Cisco-pfSense VPN.PNG](/public/imported_attachments/1/Cisco-pfSense VPN.PNG)
![Cisco-pfSense VPN.PNG_thumb](/public/imported_attachments/1/Cisco-pfSense VPN.PNG_thumb) -
Hi again,
just to let you know that I received a reply from cisco support saying that based on provided screenshot they can see on Cisco that I setup aggressive mode while Pfsense is in main mode. On Cisco, PFS isn't activated while on Pfsense it seems. All the rest seems to be ok.
I did set an aggressive mode on both pfsense and cisco, and gave it a test and as result didn't work out. Then I set a main mode on both and tested it again, and didn't work either.
I don't know what else to try.
I've run out of ideas.
Thank you for your help.
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Hi Support,
Let give you a brief update on what happened on Friday 3/11/17. I did first reboot Cisco RV042G firewall/vpn and tried vpn connection from pfsense, and as result the vpn connection between pfsense and cisco got established but unfortunately it didn't last long and got dropped again.
Attached the latest cisco vpn logs taken after the vpn connection got dropped.
Hope these logs will help you a bit to figure it out.Thank you in advance.
![Cisco VPN logs.PNG](/public/imported_attachments/1/Cisco VPN logs.PNG)
![Cisco VPN logs.PNG_thumb](/public/imported_attachments/1/Cisco VPN logs.PNG_thumb) -
You keep posting Cisco logs to a pfSense forum. Where are the pfSense logs?
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Hi Derelict,
That's why I keep asking myself where are the pfsense logs.
As said before there haven't been any pfsense firewall/ipsec/vpn logs in Status- System Logs since I got it configured and when vpn connection was temporarily established. System logs are also turned on.
Could you please let me where else to look into so I can provide you with pfsesne logs.
Thank you in advance.
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By default they are there. Hard to say if someone changed the defaults.
Someone could have disabled the logs in Status > System Logs, Settings. There is a checkbox there to disable local logging. That page will also tell you if the logs are being sent to an external syslog server.
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Attached current pfSense logging settings.
Just to let you know that I've successfully configured OpenVPN on pfSesne and managed to establish openvpn connection to pfSense from my Win 10 machine. Checked OpenVPN status and as result my client connection came up but no any openvpn logs displayed (see a screenshot)
![pfSense logging 1.PNG](/public/imported_attachments/1/pfSense logging 1.PNG)
![pfSense logging 1.PNG_thumb](/public/imported_attachments/1/pfSense logging 1.PNG_thumb)
![pfSense logging 2.PNG](/public/imported_attachments/1/pfSense logging 2.PNG)
![pfSense logging 2.PNG_thumb](/public/imported_attachments/1/pfSense logging 2.PNG_thumb)
![pfSense logging 3.PNG](/public/imported_attachments/1/pfSense logging 3.PNG)
![pfSense logging 3.PNG_thumb](/public/imported_attachments/1/pfSense logging 3.PNG_thumb) -
That is strange. I would try resetting log files. If you are on pfSense 2.4.0 I would upgrade to 2.4.1 and reset log files.
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Hi Derelict,
Sorry for my delay.
Let me give you an update on this.
My pfSense was already upgraded to 2.4.1-RELEASE (amd64) version.
Finally I've managed to establish vpn ipsec tunnel by changing a negotiation mode from main to aggressive on pfSense as Cisco's negotiation mode was set to aggressive also and after restarting both devices. I've tried that before and it didn't work but it suddenly started working now, but I'm not sure how long vpn is going to be up and running (note: vpn connection has so far been up and running for more than 2 hours).
An another problem followed by since vpn ipsec tunnel was established and the problem is there is no ping or any packets going through the tunnel. I cannot ping or rdp to remote LAN or other way back.
Here are the ping results:
pfSense side:
pfSense WAN- Cisco WAN- ping test successfull 0% packets lost
pfSense LAN- Cisco WAN IP- ping test successfull 0% packets lost
pfSense LAN- Cisco LAN IP- variable- ping test either failed with 100% packets lost or successful with 0% packets lostCisco side:
Cisco WAN- pfSense WAN IP- ping test successfull 0% packets lost
Cisco LAN- pfSense LAN IP- variable- ping test either failed with 100% packets lost or successful with 0% packets lost, or partial 25%/75% packets lostDo I miss any firewall rules?
What should I do next? -
If it works unreliably it is not firewall rules.
Hard to say here what needs to be done on the Cisco side to allow pings to its LAN address.
If your pfSense firewall rules on LAN allow traffic to the remote network and the IPsec tunnel is up, that is all that needs to be done.
Rules allowing connections from the remote network go on the IPsec tab.