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    PfSense looses connection every 28-30 days.

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • J
      jacksnack2
      last edited by

      Yesterday the remote user had to physically restart the modem. An IP was then obtained.
      Other times if I can ssh in I simply restart the PfSense box. (And DNS seems to start serving the subnets) See original post.

      Yes, that is it from dhclient.
      A 'good' entry would be something like this, I assume:
      Apr 30 22:32:08 host dhclient: RENEW
      Apr 30 22:32:08 host dhclient: Creating resolv.conf

      system.log shows nothing regarding links during the time in question.
      Apr 30 15:58:40 host sshd[30847]: Bad protocol version identification '' from 125.64.94.212 port 33564
      Apr 30 15:58:40 host sshguard[5379]: Attack from "125.64.94.212" on service 100 with danger 10.
      Apr 30 15:58:40 host sshd[31019]: Bad protocol version identification '\026\003\001' from 125.64.94.212 port 35787
      Apr 30 15:58:40 host sshguard[5379]: Attack from "125.64.94.212" on service 100 with danger 10.
      Apr 30 18:12:00 host syslogd: exiting on signal 15

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      • stephenw10S
        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
        last edited by

        Hmm well both restarting the modem and the pfSense box re-negotiates the Ethernet link there. You might try just pulling th link and reconnecting it.
        Otherwise I think you'd have to get connected from the LAN side and see what is really happening, what works, what doesn't work.

        Steve

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        • J
          jacksnack2
          last edited by

          Thanks Stephen.

          It is my experience that NICs rarely fail. Apart from a hardware problem, do you have any ideas what is causing this issue every 28-30 days?

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          • J
            jacksnack2 @johnpoz
            last edited by

            @johnpoz Thanks for the input.

            I originally blamed BIND as well, but with the complete loss of the IP lease yesterday, I assumed other factors are at work.

            "How is that clients behind not resolve but pfsense can? Are you pointing pfsense to other than itself? Maybe your bind just went offline if that is what is providing your users dns?"

            I am assuming this has something to do with BIND. But more importantly it appears a result of the DHCP Lease in some way. I only disabled dpinger 30 days ago. I assume dpinger worked its magic to restore the IP address, but routing tables were hosed in the process.

            Yesterday dpinger had been disabled already, so I assume this is why the IP collapsed completely.

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            • GertjanG
              Gertjan @jacksnack2
              last edited by Gertjan

              @jacksnack2 said in PfSense looses connection every 28-30 days.:

              Looks like dhclient is having issues.

              You gave a list with mostly dhcp server logs, the process that hands out IP's on your LAN.

              These are the details from the DHCP client : :

              Apr 30 17:18:31 hostanme dhclient[8918]: send_packet: No route to host
              Apr 30 17:18:33 hostanme dhclient[8918]: send_packet: No route to host
              Apr 30 17:18:35 hostanme dhclient[8918]: send_packet: No route to host
              Apr 30 17:18:39 hostanme dhclient[8918]: send_packet: No route to host
              Apr 30 17:18:50 hostanme dhclient[8918]: send_packet: No route to host
              Apr 30 17:19:28 hostanme dhclient[8918]: send_packet: No route to host
              

              Conclusion : the WAN interface is down .... (doesn't exist).

              edit : btw : why do your LAN client called "PHN-LPC06TU0C" have to repeat server times their DHCP request (DISCOVER), pfSense received it and replied with an OFFER, and the LAN clients wait 5 seconds to send out another DISCOVER.
              After several tries the LAN client finally accepts (receives ??) the OFFER and acknowledges with an ACK ....
              A set of bad network cables ? Network overload ? VLAN issues ? Bad wifi connection ?

              No "help me" PM's please. Use the forum, the community will thank you.
              Edit : and where are the logs ??

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              • DerelictD
                Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                last edited by

                Look at the DHCP logs and filter on process dhclient and post what's there.

                The interval from before it fails to after it recovers would be most telling.

                My hunch is the WAN port is asking for a renewal and not getting it then reverting to a full DHCP request and not getting that either, then the lease expires and it just stops working - which would probably be an ISP/modem problem. All pfSense can do is ask for a renewal. The server has to respond to it.

                Something else you might want to do is just start a Diagnostics > Packet Capture on WAN for UDP 67, set it for something like 1000000 packets and just let it run. Stop it after it fails. Even better would be to try something like disconnect/reconnect ethernet or restart the modem to see if you can get a capture including a recovery too.

                Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
                A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
                DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
                Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

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                • J
                  jacksnack2
                  last edited by jacksnack2

                  @Derelict I have attached filtered DHCP logs as you suggested.[0_1556895346233_dhcp.log.filtered](Uploading 100%) dhcp.log.filtered.txt

                  Thanks all for your help.

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                  • DerelictD
                    Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                    last edited by

                    Please use wireshark to filter what you want to show and upload the actual pcap.

                    Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
                    A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
                    DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
                    Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

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                    • J
                      jacksnack2
                      last edited by

                      Thanks again all,

                      I have enabled Wireshark and will report back when more information is available.

                      I should also note that the previous router did not seem to have these issues, It was a Netgear router. I replaced it with PfSense because the PfSense box sports faster interfaces and more functionality.

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                      • johnpozJ
                        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                        last edited by

                        @jacksnack2 said in PfSense looses connection every 28-30 days.:

                        I have enabled Wireshark and will report back when more information is available.

                        What dude - just download the pcap from pfsense info wireshark - filter out what you don't want to show with wireshark... Save the pcap and upload 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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                        • J
                          jacksnack2
                          last edited by

                          Sorry, I don't know what "What dude" means.

                          I understand how to use Wireshark.

                          Derelict advised to "Stop it after it fails". It may take weeks before another failure event takes place.

                          Until then Wireshark will show normal traffic. I doubt this is of any use.

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                          • DerelictD
                            Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                            last edited by Derelict

                            That's why I said just let it run for 1000000 packets on WAN filtered on UDP port 67.

                            If you want to tie up a laptop or something running wireshark that's cool too.

                            Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
                            A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
                            DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
                            Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

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                            • J
                              jacksnack2
                              last edited by jacksnack2

                              Hello,

                              It was about ~35 days this time.

                              pcap uploaded filtered.pcap .

                              The pfsense machine was not rebooted, only the modem.

                              After a reboot, a new IP address was assigned. Connections are now normal.

                              Thanks Again.

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                              • DerelictD
                                Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
                                last edited by Derelict

                                Another case of the ISP device simply stopping responses to DHCP Requests and DHCP Discovers.

                                It looks to me like there is another MAC address out there making DHCP requests.

                                1051 2019-06-04 16:20:05.338922 0.0.0.0 68 255.255.255.255 67 DHCP 64 538 9.496981000 0x0000 (0) DHCP Discover - Transaction ID 0x4b38b221

                                Ethernet II, Src: ac:ec:80:79:2e:77, Dst: ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

                                I'm assuming your WAN port MAC address is:

                                Ethernet II, Src: 38:60:77:04:e8:2c, Dst: ac:ec:80:79:2e:75

                                I do not know why what looks like the ISP modem would be making DHCP requests on that network but it seems fishy to me.

                                If pfSense renews the lease every 2 hours for a month then it just stops getting a response when issuing identical requests, it is a problem with the modem, not pfSense. Look for yourself. What is the difference between the requests in Frames 1,3,5, and 7 that did receive a response vs the requests in 9,10,11,12, etc that did not?

                                I would certainly put 192.168.100.1 in the Reject leases from area on the WAN configuration if it is not already there.

                                I don't see that pfSense is doing anything wrong here. The modem simply stops responding, apparently.

                                Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
                                A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
                                DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
                                Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

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                                • stephenw10S
                                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                  last edited by

                                  Ok, so you can see in the pacp that it renews the IP s few times but then the DHCP server stops responding. it keep trying and eventually starts broadcasting for any DHCP servers. Then it looses it's own DHCP lease but keeps sending requests.

                                  Then after sometime the modem starts up it's dhcp server and gives the pfSense WAN a private IP.

                                  You probably want to prevent that happening by adding 192.168.100.1 to the 'Reject leases from' field on the WAN DHCP setup.

                                  However that doesn't explain why the remote dhcp server stopped responding.

                                  Steve

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                                  • chpalmerC
                                    chpalmer
                                    last edited by chpalmer

                                    @jacksnack2 said in PfSense looses connection every 28-30 days.:

                                    Arris TM822G

                                    Arris TM822G while not listed below it is a Puma 5 modem and has issues. Quite old actually if I remember right. Its a telephone modem so it would get an address of its own bridge mode or not.

                                    Badmodems.com

                                    POS.

                                    Replace the old sparkplugs before any further diagnosis is the norm in my book.

                                    Triggering snowflakes one by one..
                                    Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4590T CPU @ 2.00GHz on an M400 WG box.

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                                    • J
                                      jacksnack2
                                      last edited by

                                      Thank you all for the quick feedback.

                                      I am a Linux Admin by trade, although networking does occasionally fall under my perview :>

                                      I blocked the modem IP as suggested. Also, I have re-enabled dpinger as this allows the router to re-obtain a lease. However the issue is the while obtaining a lease via dpinger, DNS resolution fails for internal clients. A router reboot is required.

                                      I don't see a solution here. But again, I do appreciate the help.

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                                      • johnpozJ
                                        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                                        last edited by

                                        @jacksnack2 said in PfSense looses connection every 28-30 days.:

                                        while obtaining a lease via dpinger,

                                        Huh? Dpinger doesn't have anything to do with renewing a dhcp lease??

                                        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

                                        J 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • J
                                          jacksnack2 @johnpoz
                                          last edited by

                                          @johnpoz dpinger does not directly deal with leases, but it does fire actions:

                                          /usr/local/sbin/pfSctl
                                          -c "service reload dyndns ${GW}"
                                          -c "service reload ipsecdns"
                                          -c "service reload openvpn ${GW}"
                                          -c "filter reload" >/dev/null 2>&1

                                          I can state the when dpinger was enabled, the router held an IP address, even though DNS did not work internally.

                                          This allowed me to ssh into the machine and reboot.

                                          Once I disabled dpinger, no IP address existed for the WAN.

                                          Are you saying this is a coincidence?

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                                          • johnpozJ
                                            johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                                            last edited by

                                            None of that would have anything to do with dhcp lease renew..

                                            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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