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    Pfsense Dhcp Log

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved DHCP and DNS
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    • johnpozJ Offline
      johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
      last edited by johnpoz

      I looked at his first post again.. And yup its an iphone doing this - just like my wifes does..

      hisdevice.png

      So if you don't like it - you could set it never go to sleep ever.. Not sure if that is an option to be honest? ;) But that would sure suck for its battery life.

      Other thing is you could set its IP to static for this specific ssid

      click the little i when your connected to the specific wifi network

      Screenshot 2020-12-26 at 11.21.41 AM.png

      That should stop it from doing any dhcp on this network..

      Other option you could do is set your log to show more than 25 entries ;) You can set it up to 2000..

      An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
      If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
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      • ? Offline
        A Former User @johnpoz
        last edited by A Former User

        @johnpoz That would get rid of the log entries. I guess you could also ignore that log unless you are working through a specific issue.

        99% sure that you have no control over the power settings on an iPhone.

        johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • johnpozJ Offline
          johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @Guest
          last edited by johnpoz

          @jwj

          Well his whole concern is the log.. I agree with you that wouldn't have effect from the device moving between AP or connecting disconnecting from the wifi.. But it would remove dhcp being done - and fix up his logging issue ;)

          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
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          • ? Offline
            A Former User @johnpoz
            last edited by

            @johnpoz Agree 100%.

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

              I could see this being problematic if you had lots of iphones doing this ;)

              I can easy tell from the logs when the phones are "sleeping" ;) heheheh

              With such a low number of entries being shown (his 25 setting) that would fill up quick and that would be all you would see.. I hope he doesn't think seeing the number entries shown keeps the log size small?

              That really has nothing to do with the actual size.. But you can adjust that here
              https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/monitoring/logs/size.html

              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

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              • ahmetakkayaA Offline
                ahmetakkaya
                last edited by

                I need to keep my logs for 2 years

                pfsense client messages log record size increasing

                need a more rational solution

                the client is not a mobile device, there is acces point Ap and continuous pfsense dhcp communication

                bingo600B ? johnpozJ 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • bingo600B Offline
                  bingo600 @ahmetakkaya
                  last edited by

                  @ahmetakkaya said in Pfsense Dhcp Log:

                  I need to keep my logs for 2 years

                  pfsense client messages log record size increasing

                  need a more rational solution

                  Log to an external server
                  Build a litle linux server with a large disk (or raid) , and stop worrying. With logrotate the logs would even be compressed.
                  1TB or 4TB disks are cheap

                  If you find my answer useful - Please give the post a šŸ‘ - "thumbs up"

                  pfSense+ 23.05.1 (ZFS)

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                  • ? Offline
                    A Former User @ahmetakkaya
                    last edited by

                    @ahmetakkaya said in Pfsense Dhcp Log:

                    need a more rational solution

                    Get rid of the misbehaving client? There is nothing pfsense can do about a client that repeatedly makes dhcp requests. Nothing.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • ahmetakkayaA Offline
                      ahmetakkaya
                      last edited by

                      Thanks for your consideration, but there was no result you wanted :)

                      GertjanG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • GertjanG Offline
                        Gertjan @ahmetakkaya
                        last edited by

                        @ahmetakkaya said in Pfsense Dhcp Log:

                        but there was no result you wanted

                        Who is you ?

                        @jwj, @johnpoz, @bingo600 have no issues.
                        Me neither.

                        Show your setup. Copy paste images in your forum message (copy - Ctrl-C the image and use use Ctrl-V while writing your forum message)

                        Example :

                        My wifi network with 4 AP's is 192.168.2.0/24.
                        pfSense is 192.168.2.1
                        AP1 = 192.168.2.2 - and I set this AP using static IP settings :

                        43f776ef-45bb-431c-afe7-24d31c22c1c3-image.png

                        AP2 using 192.168.2.3 - identical
                        AP3 using .... etc.
                        AP4 ... etc.

                        The rest of the network, 192.168.2.5 -> 192.168.2.254, is the DHCP pool.
                        There are iPads, PC's, Phone and iPhone : I just checked and did not find any device on the wifi network that was asking a new DHCP lease info every 1 minute : I would ban it right away !!

                        @ahmetakkaya said in Pfsense Dhcp Log:

                        Hello dhcp log communicates with the client every 1 minute.

                        The log does not communicate.

                        The DHCP client process, running on the cliuent, like a pHone, PC, Pad, or whatever, contacts the DHCP server, running on pfSense for IP 'lease' info.
                        The pfSense DHCP server will propose the client a IP (and other info) - and logs what it is doing, as a result.

                        No "help me" PM's please. Use the forum, the community will thank you.
                        Edit : and where are the logs ??

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                        • johnpozJ Offline
                          johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @ahmetakkaya
                          last edited by johnpoz

                          @ahmetakkaya said in Pfsense Dhcp Log:

                          the client is not a mobile devic

                          Yes it is... Clearly from what you posted its an Iphone..

                          If its not the iphone... Then how about you clearly point out what specific device is asking for dhcp every minute other than posting up a screenshot with iphone all over it..

                          As to keeping logs for 2 years - that is nothing pfsense would ever have been able to do because the logs are circular. Export your logs to a syslog server if you need to keep them.

                          As to AP?? Point it out in t log you posted.. Make it a static IP!!! if its asking for too much dhcp..

                          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

                          ahmetakkayaA 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • ahmetakkayaA Offline
                            ahmetakkaya @johnpoz
                            last edited by

                            @johnpoz said in Pfsense Dhcp Log:

                            As to AP?? Point it out in t log you posted.. Make it a static IP!!! if its asking for too much dhcp..

                            I have manually defined an IP address for the AP device.
                            the result has not changed
                            AP device is a tp-link AP500 model
                            I disabled the AP device
                            The new device is a Unifi and the problem is solved.

                            Why is Tplink causing problems?

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

                              OMG - there is clearly is some sort of translation issue going on here.

                              Not sure how many times it has to be said if you had set a static IP on the device - it wouldn't be asking for dhcp ever!!

                              What you posted clearly showed a iphone asking for dhcp multiple times.. ie about every minute..

                              Wifi devices are going to do this. If you have some AP where wifi clients connected and disconnect to it - its going to generate dhcp traffic. If you goal is logging this for 2 years because of governmental controls.. Then you need to have your dhcp log to say syslog server..

                              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

                              ahmetakkayaA T 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • ahmetakkayaA Offline
                                ahmetakkaya @johnpoz
                                last edited by ahmetakkaya

                                my settings are as they appear
                                rental duration 5 minutes
                                result 3 minutes comebacks ?

                                1.JPG

                                2.JPG

                                3.JPG

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                                • MikeV7896M Offline
                                  MikeV7896
                                  last edited by MikeV7896

                                  If the lease is only good for 5 minutes (300 seconds), the renewal attempt comes at 50% of the lease, or 2.5 minutes (150 seconds). So seeing a renewal that soon would be expected with a lease so short.

                                  The S in IOT stands for Security

                                  johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                  • johnpozJ Offline
                                    johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @MikeV7896
                                    last edited by

                                    ^ exactly... Why would you ever set a dhcp lease so low? That is nuts..

                                    Do people buy access in 5 minute increments?

                                    As mentioned clients will renew around the 50% mark, and if they don't get a renew - they will try again, and again faster and faster until they do.. Or the lease expires - then they will send out discover..

                                    With such a short lease - yeah your going to get bombed.. Especially if you have lots of clients.. And if you have any sort of issues with renew more and more attempts will happen faster and faster..

                                    What exactly are you wanting to accomplish with such a short lease? Other than lots of dhcp traffic? ;)

                                    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

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                                    • ahmetakkayaA Offline
                                      ahmetakkaya
                                      last edited by

                                      How should the ideal rental period be

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

                                        5 minutes seems pretty low ;) For a rental period.

                                        And that would/should be controlled at the AP not via dhcp leases..

                                        If your not authed you shouldn't even be able to connect to the wifi, if you can not connect to the wifi your dhcp server would never see a request for dhcp..

                                        I would set your dhcp lease time to be enough time to support the max number of different clients you might see in a day.. Which would also go hand and hand with the size of your scope /24, /23, /22.. How many different clients might you see in a 24 hour period?

                                        Setup your dhcp and scope to handle that many.. Then setup a lease for say 24 hours..

                                        Where you could also run into issues with this stuff these days - especially if you need to track user to IP given is clients using private mac when they connect to wifi, and the mac changing - latest ios does this.. You know for the privacy of the user ;)

                                        If this is for legal reasons in your country - you really need to make sure you tie user to auth, and logs list all of the IPs and Macs used for that auth for any given period of time..

                                        Such logging is quite often beyond the skill sets of say bars and small restaurants or businesses just trying to provide service for their customers. Easier solution to not get in trouble with local laws for such businesses is just not provide wifi.. Some of the legal restrictions on logging is not very realistic for a small shop..

                                        Pfsense is not going to be able to provide with with detailed logs, they are circular currently - I believe 2.5 changes that.. But if you need to log for years - you really need to have those logs on something else other than your edge firewall, and backed up, etc.

                                        What is funny about the whole thing - is your natted.. So lets say the reason for the logging was IP address (your public did something bad) and the authorities want to know who did that.. Your not logging all firewall traffic are you? Those logs are circular as well.. So if authorities come to you and say hey 3 months ago your public IP did xyz that was bad - how exactly which 192.168.x.x went there at 2:13 pm on a tuesday the 3rd of September? etc.. And if you don't log user was tied to mac that had 192.168.x.x at that time.. All you know is some random mac (private mac) got that IP.. While you might have the dhcp logs, do you have the firewall logs to match the traffic up..

                                        Like I said such logging gets well beyond the small business guy ability very quickly..

                                        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

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                                        • ahmetakkayaA Offline
                                          ahmetakkaya
                                          last edited by

                                          thanks all my friends. šŸ‘

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                                          • T Offline
                                            tabmow @johnpoz
                                            last edited by

                                            @johnpoz He isn't wrong here technically. I also have a TP-Link AP (RE350), it is set as a static address on the network (192.168.1.50), but for whatever reason, it 'tries to get a lease from my DHCP server every minute for the same IP (in my case 192.168.1.113). Other than that, clients that connect through the AP work fine. It is super weird and I haven't gotten down to the bottom of it. I don't really care to much about it either though but maybe one day I will dig a little deeper.

                                            It looks like this might fix it - https://community.tp-link.com/en/home/forum/topic/156045
                                            It's some stupid TP-Link thing obviously... nothing to do with pfSense.

                                            @ahmetakkaya see link above.

                                            johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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