OpenVPN Client Cascade

[John2893ax]

I have now set verbosity level "default" for all 3 servers.

Though what I am seeing there is that the local side of the connection shows as not bound to an IP. That's probably what allows it to connect when T2 is down.

Just for information.
All 3 servers use the same "CA" and "Cert" certificate. With "Server host or address" I can also use amsterdam.vpn.com, then a server from Amsterdam1-5 is automatically selected.
Instead of amsterdam.vpn.com, I can also specify the following:
amsterdam1.vpn.com
amsterdam2.vpn.com
amsterdam3.vpn.com
amsterdam4.vpn.com
amsterdam5.vpn.com
I'm not sure if this is the reason for conflicts.

I will try to add other servers. For example, Basel, London or Paris and see if there are still conflicts.

You could check that in /var/etc/openvpn/client1.conf

Here is client1.conf:

dev ovpnc1
verb 1
dev-type tun
dev-node /dev/tun1
writepid /var/run/openvpn_client1.pid
#user nobody
#group nobody
script-security 3
daemon
inactive 604800
ping 5
ping-restart 120
ping-timer-rem
persist-tun
persist-key
proto udp4
cipher AES-128-GCM
auth SHA512
up /usr/local/sbin/ovpn-linkup
down /usr/local/sbin/ovpn-linkdown
tls-client
client
nobind
management /var/etc/openvpn/client1/sock unix
remote 85.17.28.145 1149 udp4
auth-user-pass /var/etc/openvpn/client1/up
auth-retry nointeract
capath /var/etc/openvpn/client1/ca
cert /var/etc/openvpn/client1/cert 
key /var/etc/openvpn/client1/key 
tls-auth /var/etc/openvpn/client1/tls-auth 1
ncp-disable
comp-noadapt
resolv-retry infinite
route-nopull
hand-window 120
mute-replay-warnings
persist-remote-ip
reneg-sec 3600
resolv-retry 60
tls-cipher TLS-DHE-RSA-WITH-AES-256-GCM-SHA384:TLS-DHE-RSA-WITH-AES-256-CBC-SHA256:TLS-DHE-RSA-WITH-CAMELLIA-256-CBC-SHA:TLS-DHE-RSA-WITH-AES-256-CBC-SHA:TLS-RSA-WITH-CAMELLIA-256-CBC-SHA:TLS-RSA-WITH-AES-256-CBC-SHA
tls-timeout 5
tun-mtu  1500
fragment 1300
mssfix
remote-cert-tls server

I'm not sure you can force that in pfSense. What you could do would be to add floating outbound block rules on WAN for the T1 and T2 server IPs so only T3 can connect directly.

Let's assume for now that pfSense cannot force this. How exactly do I create the rules?

If you can copy/paste the actual logs into replies using he code tags it's much, much easier to search than pictures on the logs.

I can't add logs because the VPN provider is reported as spam.

[stephenw10]

Like this:

And the same the T2 server IP. Only the T3 server IP should be seen as an outbound connection on WAN.

Steve

[John2893ax]

What you could do would be to add floating outbound block rules on WAN for the T1 and T2 server IPs so only T3 can connect directly.

And the same the T2 server IP.

Okay. I understood that I should only create two rules.

Like these?

T3 can still connect, but the others are (pending).

Only the T3 server IP should be seen as an outbound connection on WAN.

I don't know how this is meant.

[stephenw10]

I mean if you look at the states for port 1149 (:1149) on WAN you should only see the T3 client.

Check the logs to see what the T2 client is doing. It should be trying to connect on the T3 client interface. If it isn't what is it doing? Did it error out trying to connect before T3 had connected and stop?

Steve

[John2893ax]

Sorry for the stupid questions, but are floating rules for t1 and t2 correct?

Only the T3 server IP should be seen as an outbound connection on WAN.

Does this refer to floating t2 rule or to a new one with t3?

I mean if you look at the states for port 1149 (:1149) on WAN you should only see the T3 client.

Here is the output:

Check the logs to see what the T2 client is doing. It should be trying to connect on the T3 client interface.

At Diagnostics-> States?

The same is also for T3.

Does that mean that all 3 tunnels run parallel and not tunnel through tunnel?

[John2893ax]

Edit:

Different city clients seem to work better than a group of clients from one city.

I currently have the following servers:

When I restart pfSense, I get completely different results than when I start the servers manually.

1. the 2 floating rules work

2. T1 and T2 shows only ICMP protocol.

3. The traffic goes through T3, but there is no internet connection

When I manually restart the clients, the servers do not start again.

[John2893ax]

Edit2:

Maybe I have to set the routes manually in the OpenVPN client under "Remote Network(s)"?

Like for example here?

But which settings would I then have to set for T3?

[stephenw10]

Did you set the direction as OUT on those floating rules?

Did you reset the state table or reboot since you added them?

You have at least one state on WAN that should have been rejected by that outbound floating rule.

You should not see any states on WAN foe OpenVPN tunnels except tunnel 3.

The fact they are up means they are not running tunnel-in-tunnel as you say.

Steve

[John2893ax]

Did you set the direction as OUT on those floating rules?

Yes.

Did you reset the state table or reboot since you added them?

I always enabled "Reset the firewall state table" under Diagnostics/States/Reset States and pressed [Reset]. In any case I assumed that it would work. Only with a reboot the floating rules and the start of the tunnel sequence worked simultaneously.

You should not see any states on WAN foe OpenVPN tunnels except tunnel 3.

Without remote network(s) entries in the OpenVPN client I see all 3 servers under States/WAN. So they are not running tunnel in tunnel.

But I have to test again if with remote network(s) only the third server is visible.

[John2893ax]

OK. Whether with or without remote network(s) makes no difference.

The rules in the image currently do the following after a reboot:

1. Under States/WAN I only see T3.

2. Under States/T2 I see nothing.

3. Under States/T3 I see T1 and T2. I do not know if this is correct.

4. There is no internet connection with floating rules.

Do I understand correctly that the rules must look like this?

• Under States/WAN I should see T3.
• Under States/T1 I should see T2.
• Under States/T2 I should see T3.
• Under States/T3 I should see WAN.

Would that be correct?

[stephenw10]

No. You should see~:

States on WAN - T3
States on T3 - T2
States on T2 - T1

So you need a floating outbound reject rule on T3 to reject the T1 destination. It should only be able to create states on T2.

Steve

[John2893ax]

@stephenw10 said in OpenVPN Client Cascade:

So you need a floating outbound reject rule on T3 to reject the T1 destination

Unfortunately I do not know how to configure this.
Also I don't know which rule should be at the top and which at the bottom.

[stephenw10]

The ordering is not important since this will be the only floating rule applied to the T3 interface.

Thinking about it you could just edit your existing floating rule for the T1 server destination and make it apply to WAN an T3 so can only ever open on T2.

Steve

[John2893ax]

It makes no difference whether with these rules

or with these rules

In both cases the T1 client is down and I have no internet connection.

[stephenw10]

But it does prevent the T1 connection coming up in the wrong place?

It just fails entirely?

Steve

[John2893ax]

@stephenw10 said in OpenVPN Client Cascade:

But it does prevent the T1 connection coming up in the wrong place?

Yes.

It just fails entirely?

I do not know how to check it.

Under OpenVPN Log always says after reboot:

Oct 31 18:29:10 	openvpn 	28024 	write UDPv4: Permission denied (code=13)
Oct 31 18:29:10 	openvpn 	28024 	write UDPv4: Permission denied (code=13)
Oct 31 18:29:11 	openvpn 	28024 	write UDPv4: Permission denied (code=13)
Oct 31 18:29:11 	openvpn 	28024 	write UDPv4: Permission denied (code=13)
Oct 31 18:29:12 	openvpn 	28024 	write UDPv4: Permission denied (code=13)
Oct 31 18:29:12 	openvpn 	28024 	write UDPv4: Permission denied (code=13)
Oct 31 18:29:13 	openvpn 	28024 	write UDPv4: Permission denied (code=13) 

I have:
States on WAN-T3
States on T3-T2
States on T2-nothing

T3-T1 is no longer present.

I can T1 no longer restart manually.

[stephenw10]

Permission denied like that usually means the firewall is preventing it. Which either means it's trying to start on WAN or T3 and getting blocked or the rules are incorrectly blocking it on T2.

If it's the former I'm not really sure what we can do from there. There doesn't appear to be any way to set a specific outbound interface for it to use when that interface is dynamic.

Since you know the destination IPs here you could set a route to each on the correct client.
So try adding it as a remote network (/32). I.e. add the T1 server IP as a remote network on the T2 client. That should add a route to it and the T1 client should then use it.

Steve

[John2893ax]

When I add T1 server IP as a remote network on the T2 client, the following happens:

• After reboot T1 stays down.

• The message "write UDPv4: Permission denied (code=13)" remains.

But I can manually restart the OpenVPN client order T3->T2->T1. The internet connection is available after that.

If I add T1 server IP as remote network on the T2 client and if I add T2 server IP as remote network on the T3 client, the following happens:

• After reboot all 3 OpenVPN clients are online, but "Local Address" of T1 and T2 is set to (pending).

• The message "write UDPv4: Permission denied (code=13)" remains.

But the internet connection is not available. I have to restart the sequence T3->T2->T1 manually.

In both cases (after reboot and after manual restart) I see~:

States on WAN - T3
States on T3 - T2
States on T2 - T1

Also in both cases, I had to deactivate "Don't pull routes" in the OpenVPN client to make it work.

What else can I do?

[John2893ax]

@stephenw10

I still have some questions, just to get it right.

The specification of interfaces in the OpenVPN client secures the order, so that the traffic only goes via T1->T2->T3, right?

The specification of floating rules determines the routing order, right?

The specification of remote network(s) in the OpenVPN client additionally determines the routing order?

But there is no way to determine which client is started first and which client is started last, right? Because after a reboot the internet connection does not work, but after a manual client restart it works.
If this is the case, how could I solve it?
If pfSense offers no other possibilities to solve the problem, would a script be able to restart the order of the OpenVPN clients?

[John2893ax]

Edit:

@stephenw10 said in OpenVPN Client Cascade:

There is a chance it will just work fine since if, for example, tunnel 3 went down when it came back up it would restart tunnel 2 since that is running on it. That in turn would restart tunnel 1.

That did not work for me.

If T3 stopped, then T2 and T1 stopped, but restarting the clients did not work. Would it be possible that I would have to activate something extra for that?