Roku TV - pfSense - OpenVPN - : Netflix, Hulu, QVC won't stream at all, Prime streams fine
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Hi Folks. I have this issue also. I set the firewall up as shown. But I have a Roku3 and as far as I understand, DHCP is required, so I cant set the IP address to a fixed. Is there another way for me to isolate the Roku traffic? What if I plugged the Roku into its own port on the firewall? Right now I have a switch that the Roku is plugged in to and a home run to the firewall. Thanks in advance for the help.
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@bill1 said in Roku TV - pfSense - OpenVPN - : Netflix, Hulu, QVC won't stream at all, Prime streams fine:
What if I plugged the Roku into its own port on the firewall?
If this port isn't part of a switched set of port on the firewall, this means that this device will live in it's own network, using it's own DHCP server using a different DHCP pool.
@bill1 said in Roku TV - pfSense - OpenVPN - : Netflix, Hulu, QVC won't stream at all, Prime streams fine:
DHCP is required, so I cant set the IP address to a fixed. Is there another way for me to isolate the Roku traffic?
Just create a static DHCP lease for it.
These type of lease are - should be - outside the DHCP lease pool.
See what @stephenw10 said just above. -
So, is this it? Put it on its own port AND create a static lease for it ? Or just create a static lease for it and use the firewall ruls for the IP addresses as above?
Currently the OPT ports are configured to bridge to the LAN.
As far as a static DHCP lease, i will have to figure that out. It seems straight forward if the Roku was on its own port, but not sure how to call out the Roku for the DHCP lease. Sorry for the noob questions, thanks for helping. -
@bill1 you call out the devices for static leases by their MAC addresses.
https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/dhcp/dhcp-server.html
Jeff
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@bill1 said in Roku TV - pfSense - OpenVPN - : Netflix, Hulu, QVC won't stream at all, Prime streams fine:
but not sure how to call out the Roku for the DHCP lease.
You don't need to touch the roku device.
All you need to know is it's MAC address.
And gues what, if rock obtained a lease in the past - just hook it up and boom .. you have it - you have already all the details needed.It's even better :
Just click on the button, and the "Add static mapping" :
Over here :
you fill in a IPv4 that must be outside of your network's DHCP pool - a host name, so instead of BGTR458755fDRR you can give it a real short easy device name, and a description if needed.
Done.
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Thanks for the help. This is the saga. I changed the network to 10.1.1.0\24, allocated 10.1.1.10 to 10.1.1.235, Got DNS to config Roku @ 10.1.1.237, and the spare bypass @ 10.1.1.236, Created the Firewall pass rule as shown... and when I tried it, got no internet. Nothing going out the wan, at all. So I screwed around with it, but couldnt get it to work. Rolled back a config version to the 192.168.1.1 network, re-did the DHCP, rules, etc and Everything but Roku was working. So, obviously I am missing something crucial to make my LAN 10.x.x.x based. Any Ideas on this would be helpful.
On the Roku, some stuff works. Some channels from Spectrum, my local provider would not populate. In the channel listing, the channel number would not show, and the programming would not play. The DHCP for the Roku IP address did work.
Then I had to pull the firewall back out and reset everything to get the Roku working again. My next experiment is to try a computer on the other VPN-bypass alias and see what IP address is showing from the outside. Any other ideas? Thanks -
@bill1 said in Roku TV - pfSense - OpenVPN - : Netflix, Hulu, QVC won't stream at all, Prime streams fine:
pull the firewall back out
What firewall rule ?
Btw : first make your network usable over WAN. If after a while you know everything works fine, start adding VPN stuff.
If needed, make exceptions, like, among others, Netflix devices -
@Gertjan Thanks for helping. I am trying hard to learn this. Here is what I have done so far. BTW, i started from a complete image with the hardware, pf sense, and PIA
So I start with setting the IP subnet address
then config the DHCP server
leaving the high end addresses for fixed lease
assign the RokuCreate a bypass alias for roku + 1 more
VPN bypass rule (thinking that the destination may not be right)
with gateway setup in advanced
and the WAN rules
What do you think? Am I getting close?
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@bill1 said in Roku TV - pfSense - OpenVPN - : Netflix, Hulu, QVC won't stream at all, Prime streams fine:
Am I getting close?
Looking good to me, except the last image : WAN rules. The last two shouldn't be there.
Note if the VPN_Bypass rule on LAN works, the counters in front of the rule 0/0 right now, start to count. This means the rule matches traffic.
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I deleted the last 2. Now I get a message that all incoming connections will be blocked until pass rules are enabled. Is this right ?
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@bill1 Yep, nothing will come in from the outside world, the internet basically. And that's the way you want your WAN interface to handle traffic, unless there's a very specific reason to allow traffic in.
pfsense sets up "states" for any internal traffic talking out to the internet. This is traffic that the internal machines initiate first, then a server or other computer out on the internet answers back. This type of traffic is passed normally. When you DON'T want internal machines answering outside computers is when the outside computer knocks on your door (firewall) first, without an internal machine asking for it. That is bad. pfsense is programmed to NOT accept, or answer back, to this type of outside traffic.
https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/book/firewall/firewall-fundamentals.html#firewall-stateful
Jeff
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@bill1 said in Roku TV - pfSense - OpenVPN - : Netflix, Hulu, QVC won't stream at all, Prime streams fine:
I deleted the last 2. Now I get a message that all incoming connections will be blocked until pass rules are enabled. Is this right ?
Deleted these :
that were present on the WAN interface, right?What messages ?
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@bill1 said in Roku TV - pfSense - OpenVPN - : Netflix, Hulu, QVC won't stream at all, Prime streams fine:
Now I get a message that all incoming connections will be blocked until pass rules are enabled
You see that message if you removed all the rules from an interface. That doesn't include the auto generated block private IPs and bogons though. So, yes, that is right if you removed those two rules from WAN.
Steve
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That was my bad. On the WAN, i do want to deny incoming connections. Its a Firewall right?
I still have a feeling that the Roku issue isnt resolved yet. I have to put the firewall back in and try. The problem is that my wife is working from home and needs the internet, so I cant screw with it at just any time. Plus, the equipment is in the background shot for her Zoom meetings. (The initial problem is that certain Spectrum channels will not work)
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OK, just spent 5 or 6 hours on this. I learned a lot, except how to get what I want to work. Generally, Roku works for the most part.
When I follow directions to route my alias VPN_Bypass to the WAN_DHCP gateway (under advanced>gateway) Roku does NOT work. It will work, however, if "default" is selected. What I do not understand is why, because when I look up under settings, they seem to be the same. Even with Roku working, my cable modem provider, Spectrum, on their Roku channel, very few channels will work. The message is something like "connect to the internet" for the channels that dont work, which is most. A very few channels will work though. I dont know what to do next. Here is another tidbit, If i disable the VPN_Bypass rule completely, nothing changes (Roku works, Spectrum same)
Any ideas anybody? Would it be possible to put another switch after the cable modem, plus the Roku and firewall into that ? Seems un-elegant. -
@akuma1x So help me understand whats going on here. Below is my log and the WAN is rejecting tons of requests IPV4 & IPV6
LMK if I am posting something I shouldnt. thanks -
Hi,
Yours is checked ?
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When you specify a gateway all traffic matching that rule us forced via that gateway. When you leave the gateway as default the system routing table is used.
What DNS server is being handed to the Roku via DHCP? If it's the LAN address that will not work with WAN_DHCP set because it will be forced via the WAN and never reach the pfSense DNS service.
With default set it will reach it (Unbound or DNSmasq) but if those are configured to use the VPN, as VPN providers often instruct people to set, it will cause a problem for streaming because the DNS lookup location will not match the WAN location.
You probably need to pass an external DNS server to the Roku to use that will then be valid via the VPN_Bypass rule.The firewall should block unsolicited connections on WAN which is what those are. You have posted your WAN IP in that log which is generally unadvisable. If your WAN is dynamic it's not a huge deal though.
Steve
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@Gertjan yes, I was logging
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@stephenw10 I have 2 gateways, plus the default. WAN_DHCP does not pass traffic. I dont know where it comes from or how its configured. The Gateway field in the DHCP config is empty.
OVPNC_VPN4 takes traffic through the firewall to PIA, my VPN provider. This will pass traffic and seems to work ok. The default gateway will also pass traffic through the firewall to PIA. My goal was to find a way to route Roku traffic directly out through my ISP gateway and avoid the VPN. So far I have been unsuccessful following other posts on how they handled this.
What I have done for now, is to place my previous 4p Switch/ WIFI right after the cable modem. Then I plugged my switch that feeds the Roku into that. I also plugged my firewall in there and my other switch onto the firewall. I will continue to try to figure out how to get traffic around the VPN. Do you have any suggestions of things to try? Thanks for your help.
