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    Multi physical interface with same subnet

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • J
      jaf
      last edited by

      @Derelict:

      How? When the router has a packet for 192.168.10.1 how is it supposed to know which interface to send it on?

      Tell your customer what's what.

      Well, machine can't be accessed by wan or the other lan, so if the router can NAT each machine differently knowing that machine are on different lan and interface…

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      • JKnottJ
        JKnott
        last edited by

        Yes, you are right, it's possible to change the IP on these machine, but I can't as they are not mine and the owner doesn't want to. It seems complicated for him (old machine), and after use it on my network he wants to use it with this address without changing anything.

        Well, it's then your responsibility to advise him.  Wishful thinking doesn't get very far, when it contradicts reality.

        PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
        i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
        UniFi AC-Lite access point

        I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

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        • JKnottJ
          JKnott
          last edited by

          @jaf:

          @Derelict:

          How? When the router has a packet for 192.168.10.1 how is it supposed to know which interface to send it on?

          Tell your customer what's what.

          Well, machine can't be accessed by wan or the other lan, so if the router can NAT each machine differently knowing that machine are on different lan and interface…

          NAT still has to know which interface to use.  If the same address is on both sides, how does it work?

          PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
          i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
          UniFi AC-Lite access point

          I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

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          • johnpozJ
            johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
            last edited by

            So let me get this right… There are more than one machine, and they both have 192.168.10.1 and you want to give them both internet access.  And you think it would be easier to run 2 pfsense boxes vs just having them change the IP of the one of these machines?

            At a total loss here..
            "the owner doesn't want to"

            Then tell him he can not be on your network ;)

            What is the relationship here - are you the customer, he is the customer?  Do you need this on your network, or does the owner?

            An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
            If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
            Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
            SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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            • J
              jaf
              last edited by

              @johnpoz:

              So let me get this right… There are more than one machine, and they both have 192.168.10.1 and you want to give them both internet access.  And you think it would be easier to run 2 pfsense boxes vs just having them change the IP of the one of these machines?

              At a total loss here..
              "the owner doesn't want to"

              Then tell him he can not be on your network ;)

              What is the relationship here - are you the customer, he is the customer?  Do you need this on your network, or does the owner?

              Yes, he is my customer, and customer is king…

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              • johnpozJ
                johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                last edited by

                He is your customer.. Why would he think he could connect to a network and not change the IP on multiple machines all having the same IP?  So while he is king, he is also mentally challenged when it comes to networking..

                Why is the box not just dhcp?  I mean really set it to dhcp and there you go done..  You can have as many boxes then without any issue.

                An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                • JKnottJ
                  JKnott
                  last edited by

                  Yes, he is my customer, and customer is king…

                  And if what he wants is impossible?  Assuming you set up NAT.  You will have 2 devices with the same IP address, but on opposite sides of it.  When the device behind NAT has traffic for it's twin on the outside, it will never leave that device, as it will assume it for itself.  When some other device has traffic for the device behind NAT, NAT will then have to decide which way to send the traffic.  It does this by comparing the destination address with the network addresses.  If both networks have the same address, there is absolutely no way for NAT to know which way to send that traffic.  What that customer wants is impossible.  King or not he has to be told and hopefully you won't lose your head!  ;)

                  PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
                  i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
                  UniFi AC-Lite access point

                  I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

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                  • johnpozJ
                    johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                    last edited by

                    Its not impossible just stupid… You would have to it like he showed with different nat device for very box that wants to use 192.168.10.1 so you could nat it to a different network..

                    Each box would have to be isolated from each other on their own network with a different nat box.  Utterly moronic...

                    An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                    If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                    Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                    SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                    • J
                      jaf
                      last edited by

                      @johnpoz:

                      He is your customer.. Why would he think he could connect to a network and not change the IP on multiple machines all having the same IP?  So while he is king, he is also mentally challenged when it comes to networking..

                      Why is the box not just dhcp?  I mean really set it to dhcp and there you go done..  You can have as many boxes then without any issue.

                      Sorry, I can't give here the full context of my customer. But believe me, if I ask this question, it's because I really need this configuration. If I can do it differently, I will do!

                      What that customer wants is impossible.  King or not he has to be told and hopefully you won't lose your head!  ;)

                      Sorry, I don't understand why it's impossible. Do you agree it's possible at least with 2 routers?
                      If not, I don't understand what's the purpose of lan with NAT if all lan must have strictly different subnet and address?

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                      • johnpozJ
                        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                        last edited by

                        You can do it - you would just need a box to nat every single box that wants to use the same address so you can put them all on different networks.

                        An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                        If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                        Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                        SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                        • JKnottJ
                          JKnott
                          last edited by

                          Sorry, I don't understand why it's impossible. Do you agree it's possible at least with 2 routers?
                          If not, I don't understand what's the purpose of lan with NAT if all lan must have strictly different subnet and address?

                          You need to understand how a device knows whether to use a router or direct connection to another device.  It is based on the IP address, the network address and the subnet mask.  The network address is determined by doing a logical AND of the host address and subnet mask.  This leaves only the network address.  Then, when the device wants to send traffic to another, it again uses the subnet mask to determine whether the other device is on the same network or reachable through a router.  If the other device has the same network address, it is assumed to be on the local network and the router, NAT or otherwise, will not be used.  This means that it is impossible for anything from that device to ever reach the network on the other side of the router, since both sides have the same network address.

                          You'll have to advise your customer that what he wants is not possible.  There's no way around it.

                          BTW, NAT was created to get around the IPv4 address shortage, though it's sometimes used to merge networks.

                          PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
                          i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
                          UniFi AC-Lite access point

                          I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

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                          • johnpozJ
                            johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                            last edited by

                            where did he say he was using same address on both sides?

                            An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                            If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                            Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                            SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                            • JKnottJ
                              JKnott
                              last edited by

                              @johnpoz:

                              where did he say he was using same address on both sides?

                              In the first post.

                              I have a configuration with 2 lan on 2 physical interfaces because my 2 lan have the same subnet and machines on LAN 1 and LAN 2 can have the same IP address.

                              PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
                              i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
                              UniFi AC-Lite access point

                              I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

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                              • johnpozJ
                                johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                                last edited by

                                Agreed he can not do that with 1 pfsense.  But he can do it with two - the picture he posted..

                                As long as the common wan network is different than 192.168.10 then he can attach multiple 192.168.10 devices to this common network via different nat boxes..  See attached example

                                2samenetworks.png
                                2samenetworks.png_thumb

                                An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                                If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                                Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                                SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                                • J
                                  jaf
                                  last edited by

                                  So it seems I have my answer of my question asked on the first post.
                                  It's impossible with 1 pfsense, I need 2.
                                  Thanks.

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                                  • johnpozJ
                                    johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                                    last edited by

                                    I said you could do it back n post #3
                                    https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=144526.msg786761#msg786761

                                    But you would need multiple nat boxes to do it.

                                    An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                                    If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                                    Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                                    SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                                    • JKnottJ
                                      JKnott
                                      last edited by

                                      @johnpoz:

                                      Agreed he can not do that with 1 pfsense.  But he can do it with two - the picture he posted..

                                      As long as the common wan network is different than 192.168.10 then he can attach multiple 192.168.10 devices to this common network via different nat boxes..  See attached example

                                      Will the computer on the left ever have to communicate with the one on the right?  Depending on what else is on the network, there could be some real FUN with port forwarding.  Regardless, it seems like a lot of trouble to avoid changing an IP address.

                                      PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
                                      i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
                                      UniFi AC-Lite access point

                                      I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

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                                      • J
                                        jaf
                                        last edited by

                                        @JKnott:

                                        Will the computer on the left ever have to communicate with the one on the right?

                                        No I say that on this post : https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=144526.msg786831#msg786831
                                        @johnpoz:

                                        I said you could do it back n post #3
                                        https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=144526.msg786761#msg786761

                                        But you would need multiple nat boxes to do it.

                                        My initial question was to know if it's possible with only 1 pfsense.
                                        I didn't know if this "strange case" can be solve by 1 pfsense, it seems it's too strange to be implemented.  :-\

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                                        • johnpozJ
                                          johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                                          last edited by

                                          You can not use 1 pfsense and have interfaces on the same network, and also have devices on this network having the same IP..

                                          Now if the IPs were different and you just needed to leverage connections to pfsense that could be done via bridge the ports..

                                          So if your machines/devices had IPs say 192.168.10.1 and 192.168.10.2 then you could bridge 2 interfaces on pfsense and that would work.  But in such a case its easier to just use a switch if you need multiple connections, etc. ;)

                                          An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                                          If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                                          Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                                          SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                                          • K
                                            kpa
                                            last edited by

                                            It's all down to routing. Imagine if you had the same subnet, for example 192.168.1.0/24, on two different interfaces. The routing table would have two entries for the same subnet like:

                                            
                                            Destination     Gateway
                                            192.168.1.0/24	link#1 ....
                                            192.168.1.0/24	link#2 ....
                                            
                                            

                                            If the system would be now asked to forward a packet to host 192.168.1.100 that is on the first (link#1) network, would it be able to decide which link (interface) to use? The answer is an absolute no because both entries in the routing table are equally wide (/24) so there is no way to decide which link to use.

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