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

    SMTP notification uses default gateway instead of IPSEC

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
    17 Posts 6 Posters 2.3k Views 3 Watching
    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.
    • jimpJ Offline
      jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
      last edited by

      Or use VTI IPsec and a regular route. Easy peasy.

      Remember: Upvote with the 👍 button for any user/post you find to be helpful, informative, or deserving of recognition!

      Need help fast? Netgate Global Support!

      Do not Chat/PM for help!

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
      • F Offline
        Fabio Giacobbe @chamilton_ccn
        last edited by

        @chamilton_ccn

        Hi,

        I have the same problem, I tried your solution but it doesn't work.

        has anyone solved the problem?

        Thanks

        fabio

        chamilton_ccnC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • F Offline
          Fabio Giacobbe @stephenw10
          last edited by

          @stephenw10

          these are our GW

          f68b41cb-2f88-4a56-8dfc-4e405c65e139-image.png

          SMTP is 172.16.43.254

          this is the static route

          10ea0a64-6872-4523-8307-05bdab5bb90a-image.png

          disabled because is not working.

          fabio

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • stephenw10S Offline
            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
            last edited by

            That route should be a subnet not an address. Use /32 there if you want a single IP.

            Can we see the IPSec Phase 2 config? Is it actually carrying that?

            Steve

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • F Offline
              Fabio Giacobbe
              last edited by

              Hi Steve,

              thanks a lot for your help.

              I try to explain better:

              The problem is on our PFsense Firewall installed on our China Plant; We don’t have a ipsec VPN tunnel, but we have a dedicated line for our Italy plant.

              So the PFsense has a default gateway for the local traffic, and an Interface for the traffic to the IT LAN with a static route.

              This is the logical schema:

              b0763419-dc90-4b33-abfc-9f441140b668-image.png

              These are the interfaces:

              9729365a-4407-4a71-a1ef-237dca4ae535-image.png

              gatewas

              bc40af59-09e7-4a17-9299-b08a1ccc9278-image.png

              static route to IT LAN

              a3dcfdfd-3ddc-4326-be8c-36f5e033f384-image.png

              everything is working well, but the SMTP notification NOT.

              We have a SMTP gateway server on the IT LAN and we have to use it.

              SMTP server: 172.16.43.254

              If I try to ping from firewall it fails:

              3237849d-9c1b-48f2-97b7-79827e70745f-image.png

              but if I choose the interface the ping is OK:

              b4944f15-e6d2-4e97-b752-8acf626e9bc1-image.png

              the solution should be can choose from which interface to start the SMTP connection, but I don't know if it is possible.

              If I activated the gateway as suggested:

              c0ac702b-bbb5-4a33-a868-514e27062eb1-image.png

              it don't works, this is the ping response:

              3783b643-5d3e-409b-b34d-4e0bbaae17d8-image.png

              also don't work ping from other hosts from LAN, but first yes.

              thanks againg for your support.

              fabio

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • stephenw10S Offline
                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                last edited by

                Ok, then you don't need the LAN gateway or the statis route. That only applies to policy based IPSec connections. Remove them.

                With a direct routed connection as you have both smtp and ping traffic should use the system routing table to decide which gateway to use. The route you have to 172.16.40.0/22 should be sufficient, if it is in there correctly. Can we see the routing table from pfSense?

                Steve

                F 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • F Offline
                  Fabio Giacobbe @stephenw10
                  last edited by

                  @stephenw10 said in SMTP notification uses default gateway instead of IPSEC:

                  ufficient, if it is in there correctly. Can we see the routing table from

                  a9c9d6b7-b388-43a8-8bd1-a3e5d05bb603-image.png

                  fabio

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • stephenw10S Offline
                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                    last edited by

                    Ok, that should work.

                    Maybe you have something that was already trying to connect and opened a state via the default gateway and it's still open.
                    Check the state table for any states to 172.16.43.254. Delete any ICMP or SMTP that are present.

                    Steve

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • F Offline
                      Fabio Giacobbe @stephenw10
                      last edited by

                      @stephenw10

                      Hi Steve,

                      I understood: it was a NAT problem!

                      For BT interface the NAT from China LAN is disabled, but other network are not trasported to Italy!

                      Now I have defined this new NAT rule:

                      9d959c64-006a-4fe6-b9df-0441cc8e96d9-image.png

                      details:

                      860b8987-a223-4177-86d1-7f6385bb2f86-image.png

                      now the ping is working:

                      1f6c0883-5d74-4aca-8131-f7534029b659-image.png

                      and also the SMTP test is OK:

                      a3c2efa9-f2f6-4bd0-99ea-870dee6b57f3-image.png

                      many thanks for your time and help!

                      I'm sorry I didn't understand earlier that the problem was somewhere else and it was a NAT problem.

                      bye

                      fabio

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                      • stephenw10S Offline
                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                        last edited by

                        Ah, cool. 👍

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                        • chamilton_ccnC Offline
                          chamilton_ccn @Fabio Giacobbe
                          last edited by

                          @Fabio-Giacobbe The scenario I posted was specific to IPSec. But don't feel bad, we've all been in similar NAT-induced (read: confusing) situations. Glad you got it figured out!

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