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    Using pfSense as the gateway for Bell Fibe bonded DSL

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • JKnottJ
      JKnott @jerfer
      last edited by

      @jerfer

      Did you enable the VLAN ID column in Wireshark? It makes it easier to spot VLAN frames. Otherwise you have to read the frame details.

      PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
      i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
      UniFi AC-Lite access point

      I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

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      • stephenw10S
        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
        last edited by

        Assign and enable the interface the PPPoE is running on. Leave the IP settings as none.

        Run the pcap there, in promiscuous mode. You should then see any VLAN tagged traffic coming into it.

        Steve

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        • J
          jerfer @stephenw10
          last edited by

          @JKnott
          Thanks for the tip! I was inspecting each packet individually.

          @stephenw10
          The interface was assigned and configured with PPPoE as well as enabled for the prior pcap. I enabled promiscuous mode for this run but still don't see any VLAN traffic.

          Is there a way to pcap the traffic from one of the STBs if I run it through my switch instead of directly to the HH3000? I don't mind if it doesn't manage to connect, but it may be worthwhile to understand how it expects to connect back to the IPTV services.

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          • stephenw10S
            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
            last edited by

            Not the the WAN interface which will be configure as PPPoE. You need to assign the interface that is running on. So it might be igb0 etc.

            Then you can pcap on that and see all the incoming traffic including the PPPoE traffic and any VLAN tags.

            Steve

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            • J
              jerfer @stephenw10
              last edited by jerfer

              @stephenw10
              Steve! You're a genius!

              I have VLANs 40 and 41 coming up now. I'm also seeing broadcast packets.

              One of the ARRIS set-top boxes is broadcasting pretty regularly (every 0.5s). I haven't seen any broadcast traffic from the other STB, which is the PVR. My suspicion is that the STB which is broadcasting is looking for the PVR STB.

              The HH3000 (Sagemcom) is broadcasting spanning-tree packets to VLANs 40, 41, and default (no VLAN).

              Both ARRIS set-top boxes are sending multicast UDP packets to 239.255.255.250. These are the only UDP packets in the pcap. I tried running a traceroute to 239.255.255.250 from my workstation but it has no route to that address, indicating that there's some static routing going on that I'd need to replicate, I think.

              JKnottJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • JKnottJ
                JKnott @jerfer
                last edited by

                @jerfer said in Using pfSense as the gateway for Bell Fibe bonded DSL:

                239.255.255.250 from my workstation but it has no route to that address

                That's a multicast address, so there should never be an interface with, let alone a route to that address. With mulitcast, it's up to the router and sometimes switch, to decide whether to pass multicast.

                PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
                i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
                UniFi AC-Lite access point

                I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

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                • stephenw10S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  Yeah, that will be the set-top boxes trying to subscribe to multicast streams I imagine.

                  You might need some IGMP proxy config (or something in pimd) if you want to have them connect directly through pfSense.

                  Steve

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                  • K
                    kjoseph
                    last edited by

                    Hey,

                    I have a guide that may help you, but it involves eliminating your HH3K. Take a look and let me know if it helps. I don't have Bell TV, but from what I am aware you need to establish a 2nd WAN vLan36 to your Bell Fibe. TV boxes will need to route to vLan36 in order for them to work. Sorry, don't have much more info than that on the TV side.

                    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1A661DBQYLh8LdSkuoABJXwqFSfCDMInC/view?usp=sharing

                    Karl

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                    • J
                      jerfer @kjoseph
                      last edited by

                      @kjoseph
                      Hi Karl,

                      Thanks, but I'm in a different situation. Not being served by Bell's FTTH (fibre to the home) service, my HH3K is both the VDSL modem and switch. The HH3K internally handles the VLAN switching for the TV boxes and I've not been able to figure out how to replicate that with a pfSense box in the DMZ.

                      To be honest, I've given up on the whole endeavour. Just when I thought I had it figured out, with TV working on the PVR, I realized that it was only working because the non-PVR TV box was bridging its WiFi and Ethernet connections and the PVR box was being routed over Ethernet to the non-PVR box over then over its WiFi to the HH3K. Everything stopped working the minute I unplugged the non-PVR box. I was actually quite impressed at the level of resilience that was designed into these boxes, they're quite opportunistic.

                      In any case, I've shelved the project until FTTH becomes available here.

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                      • C
                        claferriere @jerfer
                        last edited by

                        @jerfer For your internet connexion to work, did you have to change the MAC address in pfsense ?

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                        • J
                          jerfer @claferriere
                          last edited by

                          @claferriere

                          No, I didn't have to spoof the HH3K MAC address for the internet to work. I tried it using the real MAC and the HH3K MAC and was able to get internet access in both cases.

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