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    Installation of PCI-e network card resets existing install

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Problems Installing or Upgrading pfSense Software
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    • B Offline
      bpb21
      last edited by

      I've got pfSense configured and running on Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU E5300 @ 2.60GHz 2 CPUs: 1 package(s) x 2 core(s) hardware, using the onboard NIC for the WAN connection and an add-in PCI NIC for the LAN.  Everything is configured like I want it, except I want to add a DMZ physical interface.  So, I tried installing a PCI-e NIC card (the only empty expansion slot on the motherboard) and the pfSense configuration essentially reset itself to the initial setup - the NICs reverted to being unconfigured.

      I just removed the PCI-e NIC card and restored from a backup I had done prior to this.

      I had the same thing happen on similar hardware at a different site.

      My question is: is this normal when adding in another physical NIC to a pfSense installation?  I would have expected the settings to remain the same and to just have one new and unconfigured physical NIC in the menu (both webgui and terminal).  Instead, the addition of another NIC seems to reset the entire config.  Is that normal behavior when adding another NIC - specifically a NIC that won't be an additional WAN connection?

      If so, if I were to install the NIC card, then configure just enough so I could revert to the good backup of the pfSense system just prior to installing the NIC, would that produce the desired result?  (The desired result is the exact same configuration, plus one new and unconfigured network interface in pfSense.)

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      • H Offline
        heper
        last edited by

        the config (probably) doesn't actually reset.

        I think its more then likely, somthing as the following is happening:
        old nic naming:
        -em0 (mac-address = 00:00:00:00:00:0x)
        -em1 (mac-address = 00:00:00:00:00:0y)

        new nic naming (after adding)
        -em0 (mac-address = 00:00:00:00:00:0z)
        -em1 (mac-address = 00:00:00:00:00:0y)
        -em2 (mac-address = 00:00:00:00:00:0x)

        yes i'm aware mac-address' can't have an X/Y or Z ;)

        In any case, when such a re-ordering occurs, pfSense detects this and needs to run the assignment wizard to make sure WAN & LAN are mapped to their correct physical interfaces.

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