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

    CARP/HA not working

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Official Netgate® Hardware
    28 Posts 5 Posters 2.8k Views
    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.
    • N
      nick.loenders @stephenw10
      last edited by

      @stephenw10 Hi, we will use port ix0 as OPT1/SYNC port , that should work right?

      Also at this moment the FW1 is connect to SWITCH1 and FW2 is connected to SWITCH2, but there is no link between the switches, apparently that needs to be done as well, so we'll do that too.

      Also now FW1 is connected to WAN ip 1 and FW2 is connected to WAN ip 2 like:

      5f15d677-cdd3-48a0-aa15-5d50c1c8c93f-image.png

      But I guess I need to add a switch for this as well, for the 3rd WAN IP ? like:

      3d06dbc8-4072-4426-90fd-fa23f0faf6a9-image.png

      ??

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

        ix0 will work for the SYNC interface, yes, but since it's doesn't use CARP SYNC can be on one of the Eth ports. You just need to configured the internal switch correctly.

        Using ix0 as either WAN or LAN is a much better use if you don't have an expansion card.

        You need to have a layer connection between the nodes on all interfaces that have CARP failover, yes. So, yes, you need a switch on the WAN side.

        See: https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/recipes/high-availability.html

        Steve

        N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • N
          nick.loenders @stephenw10
          last edited by

          @stephenw10 so how do I configure the ETH8 then, so it is configured correctly for CARP SYNC ??

          if I leave ETH1 for WAN and eth2 for LAN .

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

            You have to add ports 9 and 10 as tagged members of VLAN 8 in the switch config as I said.

            Currently you have VLAN 8 only using port 8 so nothing is ever passed to to the internal LAGG.

            Make sure you can ping between the nodes on the SYNC interface IPs. It's not required for sync but adding rules to allow it makes troubleshooting much easier.

            Steve

            N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • N
              nick.loenders @stephenw10
              last edited by

              @stephenw10 said in CARP/HA not working:

              ou have to add ports 9 and 10 as tagged members of VLAN 8 in the switch config as I said.
              Currently you have VLAN 8 only using port 8 so nothing is ever passed to to the internal LAGG.
              Make sure you can ping between the nodes on the SYNC interface IPs. It's not required for sync but adding rules to allow it makes troubleshooting much easier.
              Steve

              So like:
              ea3b051e-72a6-4d3f-ba1b-ed36abeec6bb-image.png

              So, if I add 9 and 10 as tagged to vlan 8, even though 9 and 10 are not physical ports, it might start syncing to the other firewall??

              (I have no access to the other FW at the moment as I fucked it up a little bit and I need to go to the datacenter ...)

              stephenw10S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • stephenw10S
                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator @nick.loenders
                last edited by

                Yes, that is the correct switch setup. You should be able to use port 8 for sync with that on both firewalls.

                Steve

                N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • N
                  nick.loenders @stephenw10
                  last edited by

                  @stephenw10 Hi, I changed the vlans on both and also added a rule:

                  f17243c8-6d84-489a-be03-d101d2927e37-image.png

                  but I still cannot ping the other SYNC ip address.

                  N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • N
                    nick.loenders @nick.loenders
                    last edited by

                    @nick-loenders I have found it.... The DHCP on the 2nd FW was still enabled and that was a mistake...

                    Resetted both devices and began from scratch, now with DHCP disabled on the 2nd LAN
                    And now it seems to sync well.

                    OK Stage 1 complete :)

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

                      You should have DHCP enabled on both nodes for subnets that need it. You just need to setup the DHCP servers for failover operation.
                      See: https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/recipes/high-availability.html#modifying-the-dhcp-server

                      Steve

                      N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • N
                        nick.loenders @stephenw10
                        last edited by

                        @stephenw10 Thanks, it all seems to work fine now.

                        It is normal that I loose +-5seconds when one device is lost?
                        And +-10 seconds when the device is back online?

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

                          Lose that how?

                          If CARP is functioning correctly you might lose, for example, a single ping during the failover. For pings with a 1s period that is.

                          Steve

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