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    Openvpn tap 2.4.2_RELEASE-p1 does it work?

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved OpenVPN
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    • jimpJ
      jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
      last edited by

      @simon.lock:

      Thank you Jimp for you reply. You certainly are correct regarding the the "server-bridge" directive I've just checked it out. I already push "route-gateway 192.168.148.1", where the IP specified is that of my LAN interface, as an option. But still fail to gain access to the internet and to resolve names from the unbound DNS Resolver when connected. Do you specify the LAN interface directly or the created bridge interface "BR0" in my case (LAN+TAP) as the Bridge Interface in the tap server configuration page?

      I've also specified pass any rules for both the TAP interface and the created bridge "BR0" interface without any luck.

      Must be something in your settings yet. My tap bridge user gets an IP address from the LAN subnet, it can query unbound just fine, and once I push it a route-gateway it can reach the Internet through the bridge. NAT shouldn't be a concern since it's the same subnet as LAN, same with unbound ACLs, the LAN subnet is already allowed. As long as the firewall passes it through it should work.

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      • jimpJ
        jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
        last edited by

        I added a GUI option to 2.4.3 which can push a route-gateway based on the selected bridge interface. It should make things easier/more obvious for users hitting that barrier.

        https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/8267
        The commit will show up there in a few moments.

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        • S
          simon.lock
          last edited by

          Thank you again for this Jimp. It will certainly prove very valuable to many others in the next version of pfSense. I however had already implemented the route-gateway directive after viewing the initial complaints shown in openvpn GUI client logs.

          I have created an interface for the openvpn tap server (ovpns2) and called it TAP
          I've created a bridge interface (BRIDGE0) and called it BR0 which combines TAP with LAN

          In the openvpn server configuration page which "Bridge Interface" should I select? BR0, TAP or LAN? I've tried all combinations without success.

          In PfSense Viewing Status / Interfaces (shown attached)

          The TAP Interface always shows "In/Out errors 0/1" might this be the cause of my problems?

          pfsInterfaces.JPG
          pfsInterfaces.JPG_thumb

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          • jimpJ
            jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
            last edited by

            In OpenVPN you select the local interface that the VPN is bridged to, so LAN is the Bridge Interface.

            What settings are on the TAP interface in the GUI? It should really just be the enable checkbox and the name, other settings left at 'none'.

            Can you show the rest of your OpenVPN configuration? You can mask any private info, but please try to keep at least the last first and last octet of any networks you have filled in, along with their subnet masks.

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            • S
              simon.lock
              last edited by

              Thanks Jimp your feedback is much appreciated. My TAP interface is simply enabled, given a name and a description and nothing more.

              The openvpn generated configuration is listed below:

              dev ovpns2
              verb 1
              dev-type tap
              dev-node /dev/tap2
              writepid /var/run/openvpn_server2.pid
              #user nobody
              #group nobody
              script-security 3
              daemon
              keepalive 10 60
              ping-timer-rem
              persist-tun
              persist-key
              proto udp4
              cipher AES-256-CBC
              auth SHA512
              up /usr/local/sbin/ovpn-linkup
              down /usr/local/sbin/ovpn-linkdown
              client-connect /usr/local/sbin/openvpn.attributes.sh
              client-disconnect /usr/local/sbin/openvpn.attributes.sh
              local 109.xxx.xxx.65
              engine rdrand
              tls-server
              mode server
              username-as-common-name
              auth-user-pass-verify "/usr/local/sbin/ovpn_auth_verify user TxxxxU= true server2 1194" via-env
              tls-verify "/usr/local/sbin/ovpn_auth_verify tls 'server' 1"
              lport 1194
              management /var/etc/openvpn/server2.sock unix
              max-clients 10
              push "dhcp-option DOMAIN simon.lan"
              push "dhcp-option DNS 192.168.148.1"
              push "dhcp-option DNS 8.8.8.8"
              push "dhcp-option DNS 8.8.4.4"
              push "block-outside-dns"
              push "register-dns"
              push "dhcp-option WINS 192.168.148.101"
              push "redirect-gateway def1"
              ca /var/etc/openvpn/server2.ca
              cert /var/etc/openvpn/server2.cert
              key /var/etc/openvpn/server2.key
              dh /etc/dh-parameters.4096
              crl-verify /var/etc/openvpn/server2.crl-verify
              tls-crypt /var/etc/openvpn/server2.tls-crypt
              ncp-ciphers AES-256-GCM:AES-128-GCM
              compress lz4-v2
              push "compress lz4-v2"
              passtos
              persist-remote-ip
              float
              push "route-gateway 192.168.148.1"

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              • jimpJ
                jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
                last edited by

                Nothing stands out there that I can see. The only difference in mine is that I'm using slightly different compression, ciphers/auth, and not pushing as many DNS servers.

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                • S
                  simon.lock
                  last edited by

                  Thanks Jimp. The additional dns servers were only added in the hope of getting to the internet through the tunnel and because the pfsense dns doesn't respond when connected. The compression, ciphers and auth must be correct and valid because I always successfully connect.

                  Could it be that the openvpn tap interface always shows an error (The TAP Interface always shows "In/Out errors 0/1" might this be the cause of my problems?). That's my only remaining guess.

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                  • jimpJ
                    jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
                    last edited by

                    No a single error wouldn't mean anything, and mine shows the same (one single output error).

                    Check your firewall rules, logs, and when you're attempting connections, check what the state table looks like when traffic from the client is trying to reach the internet.

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                    • S
                      simon.lock
                      last edited by

                      Thanks for eliminating the one single output error on my TAP interface as being the cause of my problems. I have no complicated rules in place whatsoever and will need to bring my laptop from work, so I'll have 2 computers on my home LAN, to do proper diagnosis of the states table while connecting. Might even try to investigate using wireshark.

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                      • S
                        simon.lock
                        last edited by

                        I'm sure openvpn tap problems are directly related to dns.

                        I can connect every time, access mapped drives and even see machines listed in the windows 10 network and also access their samba shares. I can also connect to local web services on my LAN by ip address.

                        The Internet access problems and names not resolving when using the openvpn tap server are dns related despite the "route-gateway xx.xx.xx.xx" directive.

                        My network card receives the correct dns settings etc but still cannot communicate with the dns resolver.

                        In addition to this almost every time I make a change to the openvpn tap server settings and press the save button, the unbound dns resolver service stops running and I then need to restart it manually. Might this be a bug?

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                        • S
                          simon.lock
                          last edited by

                          Hi Jimp

                          I did as you suggested but unfortunately I'm no nearer to a solution. I hope you might be able to point me closer to the right direction.

                          When I connect to my OpenVpn tap server from a laptop tethered to my iPhone for an Internet connection, I can connect every time.

                          I receive the expected IP address 192.168.148.244 and my network adapter lists 192.168.148.1 as the DNS server which is the local IP address of my pfSense box.

                          Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : simon.lan
                            Description . . . . . . . . . . . : TAP-Windows Adapter V9
                            Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-FF-62-D8-1A-D2
                            DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
                            Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
                            IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.148.244(Preferred)
                            Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
                            Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 17 January 2018 13:13:22
                            Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 17 January 2019 13:13:21
                            Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
                            DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.148.0
                            DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.148.1
                            Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 192.168.148.101
                            NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

                          The DHCP Server listed however, looks somewhat strange as it lists my subnet as the DHCP Server. I've not seen that before.

                          This is a "print route - 4" from the connected laptop.

                          IPv4 Route Table

                          Active Routes:
                          Network Destination        Netmask          Gateway      Interface  Metric
                                    0.0.0.0          0.0.0.0      172.20.10.1      172.20.10.2    20
                                    0.0.0.0        128.0.0.0    192.168.148.1  192.168.148.244    259
                            109.154.145.65  255.255.255.255      172.20.10.1      172.20.10.2    276
                                  127.0.0.0        255.0.0.0        On-link        127.0.0.1    306
                                  127.0.0.1  255.255.255.255        On-link        127.0.0.1    306
                            127.255.255.255  255.255.255.255        On-link        127.0.0.1    306
                                  128.0.0.0        128.0.0.0    192.168.148.1  192.168.148.244    259
                                172.20.10.0  255.255.255.240        On-link      172.20.10.2    276
                                172.20.10.2  255.255.255.255        On-link      172.20.10.2    276
                              172.20.10.15  255.255.255.255        On-link      172.20.10.2    276
                              192.168.148.0    255.255.255.0        On-link  192.168.148.244    259
                            192.168.148.244  255.255.255.255        On-link  192.168.148.244    259
                            192.168.148.255  255.255.255.255        On-link  192.168.148.244    259
                                  224.0.0.0        240.0.0.0        On-link        127.0.0.1    306
                                  224.0.0.0        240.0.0.0        On-link  192.168.148.244    259
                                  224.0.0.0        240.0.0.0        On-link      172.20.10.2    276
                            255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255        On-link        127.0.0.1    306
                            255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255        On-link  192.168.148.244    259
                            255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255        On-link      172.20.10.2    276

                          Attached below is a screen shot of the Status Page for OpenVPN. All looks completely normal to me. (TAPStatus.JPG)
                          However, I've noticed that when I disconnect the client from the OpenVPN session, that pfSense still shows the session as connected.

                          I've also attached both the OpenVPN log files (verbosity=6) for my TAP adapter (TAP_Svr_Log.txt) and also the states table when connected. (TAP_Adapter_States.txt)

                          I've obscured my public IP to show ww.xx.yy.zz and my Common Name to myCN.

                          I can see that many calls from my adapter to the dns server are being made (port 53) but I'm not sure what MULTIPLE:MULTIPLE means.

                          e.g.

                          TAP udp 192.168.148.244:61989 -> 192.168.148.1:53 MULTIPLE:MULTIPLE 4/4 332B/552B
                          TAP udp 192.168.148.244:59203 -> 192.168.148.1:53 MULTIPLE:MULTIPLE 4/4 276B/496B
                          TAP udp 192.168.148.244:53117 -> 192.168.148.1:53 MULTIPLE:MULTIPLE 4/4 248B/940B
                          TAP udp 192.168.148.244:63584 -> 192.168.148.1:53 MULTIPLE:MULTIPLE 4/4 248B/312B

                          Thanks very much in advance. I'm sure the solution must be something trivial that I'm missing.

                          ![TAPStatus .JPG](/public/imported_attachments/1/TAPStatus .JPG)
                          ![TAPStatus .JPG_thumb](/public/imported_attachments/1/TAPStatus .JPG_thumb)
                          TAP_Svr_Log.txt
                          TAP_Adapter_States.txt

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                          • S
                            simon.lock
                            last edited by

                            OpenVPN TAP solution

                            Block Outside DNS
                            This prevents DNS working period. Regardless of whether the client is a Win 10 machine or not. Win 7 is also affected. This must NOT be enabled for TAP.

                            Redirect IPv4 Gateway

                            Doesn't work properly for both TUN and TAP solutions. I had to disable this option and add the statement: push "redirect-gateway def1" to the custom options. This makes it the last statement in the generated conf files. It's subtle but without doing this the public IP address used by the connected clients is NOT the public IP address used by pfsense.

                            TAP now connect, clients use the correct tunnelled public IP address, I have internet access and “some” sort of DNS resolution from pfsense Resolver.
                            DNS Resolver works perfectly with TUN.

                            DNS generally resolves to a hostnames but not the fully qualified names including the DNS Default Domain name. I shouldn't have to specify DNS Default Domain in the configuration as the clients connect by DHCP. But even specifying an entry for DNS Default Domain makes no difference.

                            I think the OpenVPN TAP solution need some refinement. I hope this helps someone.

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                            • X
                              xel
                              last edited by

                              Thank you could achieve your TAP bridge simon.lock.

                              Can you give us how your final config looks like..?

                              I was trying the custom```
                              push "redirect-gateway def1";

                              
                              Cheers.
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