Vouchers getting Expired before remaining Time
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The timestamp (also called epoch) is the number of seconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970 at midnight UTC.
You can convert a timestamp to date on website like https://www.epochconverter.com/
I'm not seeing anything wrong in the 6 active vouchers...
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Hello,
I am having a similar strange problem: We operate around 170 sites with a wide variety of HW and PFSense releases. The following problem appears ONLY for one site with stable version of 2.5.1 on APU1D4 hardware: A voucher roll of 50.000 vouchers has been created, validity is 43.200 minutes = 30 days. The system has gone live on April 7. So far around 80 voucher have been activated over the course of April. When I look into the Captive Portal now it says 272 vouchers already expired. How can that be? I am getting complaints from users that their vouchers expired earlier that 30 days. And they are right: Today is May 1st, the system has gone live on April 6. This is certainly less than 30 days ... Any idea? We are operating the same config (50.000 vouchers in the local db) in many sites with release 2.4 oder even 2.3.x without any problem.
Any idea is appreciated. My customer hotline folks are somewhat annoyed...
BR,
Volker
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@refugeesonline hi,
Same reply as before : could you open the file
/var/db/voucher_{$cpzone}_active_{$roll}.db& check what's inside?The format of this file is
{voucher_number},{timestamp_of_activation_time},{allowed_time_in_minutes}.Could you specifically check :
- For "in use vouchers", do the allowed time in minutes & the activation timestamp correspond to the reality ?
- Is there any expired voucher still inside? (It should not be the case, but just in case, could you check?)
- Is the time on the pfSense appliance is correct?
Also, are you in an "High Avaliability" configuration (two pfSense appliances, one master & one backup) ? or that's not the case?
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Hi!
I checked the file and inserted my answers to your questions below:
For "in use vouchers", do the allowed time in minutes & the activation timestamp correspond to the reality ?Volker: The allowed time in minutes is fine (43200), however, the activation timestamp is not. It seems all vouchers have been activated between May 1st and May 2nd. This is weired and nonsense.
Is there any expired voucher still inside? (It should not be the case, but just in case, could you check?)Volker: No, none of the expired voucher is inside this file.
Is the time on the pfSense appliance is correct?Volker: Yes, it is.
Also, are you in an "High Avaliability" configuration (two pfSense appliances, one master & one backup) ? or that's not the case?
Volker: No high availabilty config.
I tried to find the differences between the appliances working fine (ie pfSense 2.3.5_2) and the APU1D4 running 2.5.1. The older versions have all created voucher rolls represented by files in /var/db/voucher_zone_xyz_active_roll#.db and /var/db/voucher_zone_xyz_used_roll#.db. The one running 2.5.1. only has the file corresponding to the voucher roll in use.
Best,
Volker
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2.4 & 2.5 Development have no issue. only facing this issue with 2.5 Stable & now 2.5.1 Stable. everyday people coming with expired voucher complaints. One month voucher is getting expire in few days ( not specific time )
another issue there is no reporting for expired vouchers only from LOGS you can trace which is not convenient for clients.
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Hi!
I tried to investigate this a little deeper. Here is what I suspect: If voucher rolls are created running 2.4.x the upgrade to 2.5.x deletes the db-files in /var/db. On the first login of an existing voucher, the respective db-files will be re-created, but with wrong activation time stamps. (No evidence. just a thought!)
What helps:
Delete all voucher rolls. Upgrade to 2.5.x. Create all voucher rolls again. Check if all corresponding db-files are present in /var/db.
However, there is a BIG disadvantage: All voucher history gets lost, especially vouchers which were expired will be valid again unless you manually expire them!!!
BR,
Volker
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You might be right
I can't / didn't test an upgrade, as I'm on 2.5.1 already. I'm not using voucher neither.
DB files ate filled with the time info, when vouchers are used or activated.But :
With the option set, DB files are backed up ....
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I have Fresh Install and everything created from Scratch. I have two site still running development version of 2.5 and there is no issue
I planned to upgrade them to 2.5 stable but facing problem with vouchers early expiring in two new deployments ( Built on FEB-2021 ). so Postponed it.
There is some kind of bug unable to trace yet.
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@wazim4u said in Vouchers getting Expired before remaining Time:
I have Fresh Install and everything created from Scratch. I have two site still running development version of 2.5 and there is no issue
What is the actual snapshot date?
Could you provide more information and create a bugreport?
https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/development/bug-reports.htmlMay be related to https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/97
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Voucher system working perfectly on this snapshot
2.5.0.a.20210107.2142 ( Development )
up to 2500 captive portal users renew monthly basis and there is not a single issue reported about voucher's early expiry.
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Aaargghhh. It happended again. Even the way I though will work (delete vouchers, upgrade to 2.5.1, create vouchers again) is failing. Around 280 vouchers expired way before the end of its validity period. And we have a lot of happy customers on our hotline ... :-(
The system was rebooted due to a power outage and this reboot may have caused the corruption of the voucher db. Just a thought ...
I am going to roll back all the respective sites to 2.4.5 now. This bug is severe - at least if vouchers are being used.
Regards,
Volker
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Please create a bugreport:
https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/development/bug-reports.html -
Done!
https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/11894
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Hello!
Are you using RAM disks?
John
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@refugeesonline said in Vouchers getting Expired before remaining Time:
Aaargghhh. It happended again. Even the way I though will work (delete vouchers, upgrade to 2.5.1, create vouchers again) is failing. Around 280 vouchers expired way before the end of its validity period. And we have a lot of happy customers on our hotline ... :-(
The system was rebooted due to a power outage and this reboot may have caused the corruption of the voucher db. Just a thought ...
I am going to roll back all the respective sites to 2.4.5 now. This bug is severe - at least if vouchers are being used.
Regards,
Volker
What is your complete configuration?
Are you using RAM disks or Captive Portal HA sync?
Please provide more info -
I can prove now that there is serious bug in system . given below are details for two vouchers showing expired today.
Voucher : 976522494 ( Expired after 2 days )
May 6 01:14:49 logportalauth 14356 Zone: smg_camp - FAILURE: 976522494, 6c:c7:ec:4b:11:c3, 172.17.228.225, voucher expired May 6 01:14:49 logportalauth 14356 Zone: smg_camp - 976522494 (6/50) already used and expired May 4 04:28:01 smg logportalauth[24061]: Zone: smg_camp - Voucher login good for 516420 min.: 976522494, 6c:c7:ec:4b:11:c3, 172.17.228.225Voucher : 7929393872 ( Expired after 6 days )
May 6 08:04:05 logportalauth 61082 Zone: smg_camp - FAILURE: 7929393872, 2e:64:bd:c8:d3:4f, 172.17.120.210, voucher expired May 6 08:04:05 logportalauth 61082 Zone: smg_camp - 7929393872 (6/18) already used and expired Apr 29 12:03:47 smg logportalauth[46095]: Zone: smg_camp - Voucher login good for 517452 min.: 7929393872, 52:62:b0:80:78:00, 172.17.230.152 -
@serbus
Yes, /tmp and /var are RAM disks -
@viktor_g
Yes, /tmp and /var are RAM disks. No Captive Portal HA sync, only local dbs.What I noticed: System has been upgraded, all voucher rolls were deleted by the admin. No db-files in /var/db. Then the admin created 3 voucher rolls and the corresponding db-files are present in /var/db.
Then reboot. All of the sudden 286 vouchers expired (which is weird as only around 70 were active at that time). In /var/db only the db-file for one roll (the one containing active vouchers) is present - the others disappeared. Even more strange: All remaining active vouchers were set back to original validity (43.200 mins). It looks like the reboot has had a severe impact on the /var/db contents ...
Two things are a pain in the neck: Active vouchers are expired way earlier before the nominal validity (consequently, our hotline has a lot of calls). Secondly, the remaining vouchers start again with full validity. (consequently, we are giving access for free as active vouchers are kind of reset to square one). -
Tried to switch off RAM disks.
Result: Captive Portal does not work anymore ....May 6 15:11:51 logportalauth 360 Zone: zone_01 - Trying to modify DB returned error: table captiveportal has no column named traffic_quota
May 6 15:11:51 logportalauth 360 Zone: zone_01 - Trying to modify DB returned error: table captiveportal has no column named traffic_quotaI am closed to give up on this ....
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@refugeesonline said in Vouchers getting Expired before remaining Time:
Yes, /tmp and /var are RAM disks
and then :
@refugeesonline said in Vouchers getting Expired before remaining Time:
It looks like the reboot has had a severe impact on the /var/db contents ...
True : RAM disks are lost during reboot.
edit : I presume that's a common knowledge .... Am I wrong ?When I read all this :
I do not have the confirmation that the captive data base files are retained.
Data (files) that are kept between reboots are mentioned !
The captive portal database files are NOT mentioned ....
So ..... I vote for : they are lost.
edit : the manual confirmed this.There is probably an issue, but using RAM disks and the using the captive portal - and using vouchers == asking for another issue.
@refugeesonline said in Vouchers getting Expired before remaining Time:
All remaining active vouchers were set back to original validity (43.200 mins).
Yep - this seems normal to me. These data base files - per portal and per role - are created when at least one of the vouchers of a roll is activated. The voucher code and the time stamp of their activation is recorded.
Loosing these file makes the voucher 'available' again with the original duration.No "help me" PM's please. Use the forum, the community will thank you.
Edit : and where are the logs ??
