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    Full time connection between Pfsense and Raspberry PI

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • X
      xman111
      last edited by

      Hey guys, looking for a way to connect my house and my parents house with a VPN. I don't really want to run another pfsense box at their house. I have a Raspberry PI that i wanted to hook up at their house, and I have pfsense with a working Openvpn server at my house. What is the best way to keep them both connected so I can backup files to their house without messing with or routing their internet through the VPN? any help would be much appreciated.

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      • stephenw10S
        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
        last edited by

        Configure an OpenVPN client on the RPi and put it behind the remote router.
        Connect to it via SSH or however you need to. If you are routing traffic across the VPN to the remote subnet it will need to NAT'd leaving the RPi to allow the remote devices to reply.

        Steve

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        • X
          xman111
          last edited by xman111

          thanks a lot stephen. is there a better way to connect between the two houses? i will be backing up my unraid server at my house to my freenas server at my parents house. would like to be able to browse my freenas server from my house, transfer files, etc. Also, how would i be able to choose what traffic goes out the internet (my parents computer) or talks to each other (my freenas). everything on their networks is on one subnet, pretty much those 2 devices and a unifi AP.

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          • NogBadTheBadN
            NogBadTheBad
            last edited by

            @xman111 said in Full time connection between Pfsense and Raspberry PI:

            freenas server

            What device is doing their routing ?

            Is the Raspberry PI sat on their LAN ?

            Andy

            1 x Netgate SG-4860 - 3 x Linksys LGS308P - 1 x Aruba InstantOn AP22

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            • stephenw10S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by

              I've not tried it but I imagine you could setup the OpenVPN client on the FreeNAS box itself and avoid any routing issues.

              Just use the tunnel IP of the FreeNAS box to connect to it from your network.

              Steve

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              • johnpozJ
                johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                last edited by

                What router do they have? Does it support any vpn technology? If so just create s2s between your sites and you will be able to get to any device on their network. This would be the optimal way to do what your wanting to do.

                But if all you want is access to files on your freenas - then sure just have your freenas vpn to your pfsense box.

                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 2.7.2, 24.11

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                • X
                  xman111
                  last edited by xman111

                  thanks for the reply guys. at their house, they just have an Asus router that does PPTP vpn. I just bought the pi to experiment with, don't have to use it for the VPN, it was just an option. I am working on rsync with ssh between the servers now.

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                  • johnpozJ
                    johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                    last edited by

                    @xman111 said in Full time connection between Pfsense and Raspberry PI:

                    router that does PPTP vpn

                    So a NO then - since that is not a viable solution and hasn't been secure for like 5 years.

                    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 2.7.2, 24.11

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                    • X
                      xman111
                      last edited by

                      ya, exactly John, a big no.

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                      • johnpozJ
                        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                        last edited by

                        You can run a vpn endpoint on the inside of their network for a site to site bit is more complex and not as robust and leads to its own sort of issues - hairpinning and asymmetrical being 2 big ones.

                        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 2.7.2, 24.11

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                        • X
                          xman111
                          last edited by

                          ya i can barely get ssh rsync going between the two servers :)

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                          • X
                            xman111
                            last edited by

                            If I already have pfsense running as an openvpn server, would it make more sense to get the Freenas box or Raspberry PI to run as a client? can packets travel either way, ie. it wouldn't matter if it is the client or the server?

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                            • stephenw10S
                              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                              last edited by

                              It shouldn't matter for a site to site tunnel. So, yes, setup the FreeNAS as a client and give it a try.

                              Steve

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                              • X
                                xman111
                                last edited by

                                thanks man.

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