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    WI-Fi extender without internet

    General pfSense Questions
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    • X
      xplozia
      last edited by

      @NogBadTheBad:

      Do you have "Block private networks and loopback addresses" ticked if you do untick it.

      Yes, are ticked

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • X
        xplozia
        last edited by

        @Gertjan:

        And what about the LAN firewall rules ?

        Consider also packet capturing on pfSense on the LAN.
        Disconnect / remove all device except one on the extender.
        Activate the capturing, see what comes in, and gets out.
        UDP port 68 works, as DHCP works.
        Do you see the ICMP arrive ?
        Other (TCP) ?

        Thanks!
        I have set "DHCP Static Mappings" for few devices. I changed, IP for my phone, on pfSense, from192.x.x.102 to 192.x.x.111, and after connected my phone, to the wirelsess router I received 192.x.x.111 IP and the same IP when I connected my phone to WI-FI Extender.
        I captured traffic for my phone and I have, where 192.168.10.1 is my pfSense:
        For wireless router:
        192.168.10.1.53:
        172.217.16.110.80:
        172.217.16.110.80:
        172.217.16.110.80:
        172.217.16.110.80:
        172.217.16.110.80:
        172.217.16.110.80:
        172.217.16.110.80:
        172.217.16.110.80:
        192.168.10.1.53:
        169.60.79.74.5222:
        185.60.218.170.443:
        185.60.218.170.443:
        185.60.218.170.443:
        185.60.218.170.443:

        For Extender:
        192.168.10.1.53:
        192.168.10.1.53:
        157.240.9.170.443:
        192.168.10.1.53:
        192.168.10.1.53:
        192.168.10.1.53:
        192.168.10.1.53:
        157.240.9.170.443:
        157.240.9.170.443:
        192.168.10.1.53:
        192.168.10.1.53:
        192.168.10.1.53:
        192.168.10.1.53:
        192.168.10.1.53:
        192.168.10.1.53:
        157.240.9.170.443:

        In my Wi-FI extender you can see only 53 and 443 ports  :(

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        • NogBadTheBadN
          NogBadTheBad
          last edited by

          @xplozia:

          @NogBadTheBad:

          Do you have "Block private networks and loopback addresses" ticked if you do untick it.

          Yes, are ticked

          If Block private networks and loopback addresses is ticked and your other device is using  rfc1918 address space pfSense will block it.

          Untick it, rfc1918 address space is :-

          10.0.0.0        -  10.255.255.255  (10/8 prefix)
          172.16.0.0      -  172.31.255.255  (172.16/12 prefix)
          192.168.0.0    -  192.168.255.255 (192.168/16 prefix)

          Andy

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

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • X
            xplozia
            last edited by

            @NogBadTheBad:

            @xplozia:

            @NogBadTheBad:

            Do you have "Block private networks and loopback addresses" ticked if you do untick it.

            Yes, are ticked

            If Block private networks and loopback addresses is ticked and your other device is using  rfc1918 address space pfSense will block it.

            Untick it, rfc1918 address space is :-

            10.0.0.0        -  10.255.255.255  (10/8 prefix)
            172.16.0.0      -  172.31.255.255  (172.16/12 prefix)
            192.168.0.0    -  192.168.255.255 (192.168/16 prefix)

            I Untick it, but the problems persist. The extender shoult copy the router settings

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            • X
              xplozia
              last edited by

              I'm out of other ideas. :(

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • X
                xplozia
                last edited by

                Problem solved!

                :D

                I reinstalled the pfSense an I reconfigurated step by step. The problem was with "Create an ARP Table Static Entry for this MAC & IP Address pair." because I configurated static mapping for few devices. When I have checked on "Create an ARP Table Static Entry for this MAC & IP Address pair."  the connexion with WIFI extender not working. Without this check, all is fine.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • T
                  thecompyoda
                  last edited by

                  @xplozia That absolutely fixed the exact same problem I was having. Not sure why setting static ARP entries for static DHCP clients would cause the issue, but once I removed that setting from each static DHCP assignment, my repeater is working perfectly again. Nice work!

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                  • stephenw10S
                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                    last edited by

                    It's because using a wifi repeater the local access point only sees the MAC address of the repeater and not clients. Thus when you have static ARP set replies never reach the clients.
                    Wireless repeaters suck for a number of reasons including that. 😉
                    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_repeater#Drawbacks

                    Steve

                    JKnottJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • JKnottJ
                      JKnott @stephenw10
                      last edited by

                      @stephenw10 said in WI-Fi extender without internet:

                      It's because using a wifi repeater the local access point only sees the MAC address of the repeater and not clients.

                      You may wish to take a look at a WiFi frame. You'll see the end point MACs are completely separate from the WiFi addresses. There is even a 4th address field for bridges (repeaters). Also, I don't think WiFi repeaters would sell very well, if static ARP was required to make them work. It seems to me the problem may be elsewhere.

                      BTW, these O'Reilly books from Matthew Gast are excellent references. He's an engineer on the IEEE 802.11 committee.

                      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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                      • stephenw10S
                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                        last edited by stephenw10

                        Mmm, I thought that. Seems like it should still be one layer 2...
                        But I'm seeing multiple references showing the opposite. As I'm reading it's setting static ARP that prevents them working correctly, hence mostly they just work.
                        I guess more research needed...

                        Steve

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