Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    Strange issue - not sure how to fix

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
    93 Posts 3 Posters 17.3k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • johnpozJ
      johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
      last edited by

      Because unbound not running.. Why don't you turn off pfblocker for a bit and see if you continue to have issues.

      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

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • P
        pfguy2018
        last edited by

        @johnpoz said in Strange issue - not sure how to fix:

        Because unbound not running.. Why don't you turn off pfblocker for a bit and see if you continue to have issues.

        My previous post showed that unbound IS running. That's what makes this so perplexing.

        I am at work now, but when I return home, I am going to give your suggestion of disabling pfBlocker a shot to see what I can discover.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • P
          pfguy2018
          last edited by

          Popping back in here. I think the issue might be solved. After searching these forums, I came across a post in this thread (https://forum.netgate.com/topic/147092/curl-error-7-on-all-downloads/8) that noted curl errors in pfBlockerNG after the default WAN gateway had been changed. I have been observing the same errors when pfBlockerNG updates, and lo and behold, my default gateway had also changed from what I had originally set. I changed it back to what it should be, and instantly DNS began to resolve. However, I am not sure how/why this unintended gateway change occurred, or how to prevent it from happening again.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • johnpozJ
            johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
            last edited by

            @pfguy2018 said in Strange issue - not sure how to fix:

            my default gateway had also changed from what I had originally set.

            Meaning what exactly.. You have more than 1 wan interface? Your using PPPoE? Your using a VPN? What do you mean your gateway changed?

            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

            P 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • P
              pfguy2018 @johnpoz
              last edited by

              @johnpoz said in Strange issue - not sure how to fix:

              @pfguy2018 said in Strange issue - not sure how to fix:

              my default gateway had also changed from what I had originally set.

              Meaning what exactly.. You have more than 1 wan interface? Your using PPPoE? Your using a VPN? What do you mean your gateway changed?

              Yes - I have several outgoing interfaces set up due to VPN use. The default has always been the WAN (non VPN) interface (for many years). At some point this got changed (without any intervention on my part), and re-setting it seems to have fixed the DNS issue. I will continue to monitor to see if this remains fixed. But I have no idea how/why the change happened in the first place, and whether it might occur again.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • johnpozJ
                johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                last edited by

                Well if you pull routes from your vpn service, its possible that becomes the default..

                If your going to use a vpn service - its best to not pull routes from them, even though pretty much all their guides say to, or don't mention it (and its default)..

                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

                P 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • P
                  pfguy2018 @johnpoz
                  last edited by pfguy2018

                  @johnpoz

                  Where would I adjust that setting for VPN?

                  Also - interestingly - the default interface became one of the incoming VPN servers that are run on my pfSense box (I have several). Not sure if that is relevant or not.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • johnpozJ
                    johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                    last edited by

                    In your vpn client setting, check the box that says do not pull routes..

                    routes.jpg

                    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

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • P
                      pfguy2018
                      last edited by pfguy2018

                      Thanks. Is there an equivalent setting for the VPN servers that I run on the pfSense box? I don't actually have any VPN clients set up on pfSense

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • johnpozJ
                        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                        last edited by

                        What do you want your clients to do, do you want them to just come to pfsense for your network(s).. Then don't set it to be the default route..

                        clients.jpg

                        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

                        P 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • P
                          pfguy2018 @johnpoz
                          last edited by

                          @johnpoz

                          I do want the clients to use pfSense for all traffic - in order to make use of pfBlocker NG when outside the network. So I would want to keep that box checked I think.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • johnpozJ
                            johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                            last edited by

                            Yes if you want all traffic to go through pfsense to get to the internet then you would leave that checked..

                            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

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • P
                              pfguy2018
                              last edited by

                              So is that going to cause the default gateway to change on pfSense again, without any intervention on my part? I would like to keep the default locked to the WAN, as I have set.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • johnpozJ
                                johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                                last edited by johnpoz

                                Huh?? Your vpn server your running has ZERO to do with pfsense being a client to some vpn service.

                                I would like to keep the default locked to the WAN

                                What?? You setting rules on your lan to force clients out dhcp wan or vpn services has ZERO to do with what pfsense and services running on pfsense use to get to the internet.

                                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

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • P
                                  pfguy2018
                                  last edited by pfguy2018

                                  I get that. But as I noted above, somehow the default gateway for pfSense got changed to one of the VPN server gateway interfaces on its own - I did not make that change. This seems to have been the cause of the DNS resolution problems I have been experiencing. I am trying to figure out how to prevent that from occurring again.

                                  To clarify - the setting I am referring to is under system/routing/gateways. That is where the incorrect default gateway got set somehow.

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • johnpozJ
                                    johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                                    last edited by johnpoz

                                    @pfguy2018 said in Strange issue - not sure how to fix:

                                    one of the VPN server gateway interfaces on its own

                                    No it DIDNT!! It did what it was told - if you pull routes from your vpn service - are you?? Then that would become the default route... If you have failover set for your multiple wans, and something fails then it would failover..

                                    That is where the incorrect default gateway got set somehow.

                                    And lets see what you have in there...

                                    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

                                    P 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • P
                                      pfguy2018 @johnpoz
                                      last edited by

                                      @johnpoz

                                      No failover set. I will have to check each of my VPN clients to see if any of them are set up to pull routes from the VPN service. But I am not sure how that could change the default gateway set on the pfSense box they are connecting to.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • johnpozJ
                                        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                                        last edited by johnpoz

                                        WTF does you vpn clients have to do with anything??????????????????

                                        Oh let me think about it for 2 seconeds = NOTHING!!!

                                        Do you have pfsense being a vpn client to some vpn service or not?? Your devices connecting to pfsense has NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING!!

                                        What do you have in your gateways?

                                        setup.jpg

                                        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

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • P
                                          pfguy2018 @johnpoz
                                          last edited by

                                          @johnpoz said in Strange issue - not sure how to fix:

                                          And lets see what you have in there...

                                          When I checked earlier, it was set to the wrong gateway (it was set to one of the VPN server interfaces). Now it is set to the correct gateway and everything is working again.

                                          We seem to be having difficulty understanding each other. I will try to break this down again:

                                          1. While troubleshooting the issues I have described in this thread, I came across another post that noted curl errors for pfBlockerNG updates, which I had also been noticing in association with my inability to access feedly.com. The post indicated that the default gateway had been changed under system/routing/gateways, and changing it back to the correct setting fixed the problem.
                                          2. I checked my own instance of pfSense, and discovered that under system/routing/gateways, the wrong default gateway had been set. The default gateway was set to one of my OpenVPN server interfaces, when it should have been set to WAN. I had never initiated this change, and I have no idea how this setting got changed.
                                          3. I corrected the choice of default gateway, and immediately, DNS resolution by Unbound started working again.
                                          4. I am wondering how this change happened, and how I can prevent it from occurring again.
                                          5. I understood (perhaps incorrectly) that you suggested that if my VPN clients are set to pull routes from the VPN server when connected, this could somehow have changed the setting for the default gateway under system/routing/gateways. I am wondering how this could be, and if so, how to prevent this setting from being changed.

                                          I hope that is clearer.

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • johnpozJ
                                            johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                                            last edited by

                                            By default the gateway selection will be automatic... In that case pfsense will and can use the gateway it best determines to use.. This is not always the correct one... But you would want that if you have actually multiple wans and you want it to fail over to something on loss of connectivity.

                                            If you going to use a vpn service to hide your traffic from your isp... Then you need to correctly set that up for how you want to use it.. Do you want pfsense traffic to go out it? If so then pull routes and set pfsense to use that gateway.. There is are also things you can do as a kill switch so traffic will not flow if the vpn down..

                                            How you want your resolver or dns to flow is another thing.. do you want its resolving to use the vpn, or not? If you do - to be honest the best solution is to move your dns off pfsense so its easier to policy route the traffic.

                                            Here is the thing - if you have issues with connectivity then yes dns will have problems - be it actual problem, or problem with say your vpn blocking all dns other than to theirs.. Have seen that..

                                            Pfblocker while its trying to update its lists, can cause delay in unbound working.. So if that has problems updating - that could also cause problems.

                                            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

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • First post
                                              Last post
                                            Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.