<![CDATA[How often to reboot/restart pfsense?]]>I have successfully run Linux production systems for several years without a restart, so expect that this would be the 'general rule' for BSD & pfsense. However, please consider the following scenario:

During setup of a new pfsense installation, especially for a newbie, there will be multiple configuration changes, bridge changes, Firewall rule changes. I understand that committing these changes should be final - but is there a necessity to reboot or restart after major configuration updates?

The reason I ask is that I experienced an unusual connection today.

As discussed in another post, I had a few setup issues and temporarily bridged my LAN & OPT1 interfaces. I have since fixed this and separated the interfaces, including reenabling DHCP on OPT1.

Today, I switched on a device that had not been authorised as a DHCP client on my LAN, but did have the Wifi credentials - it acquired a DHCP lease from my OPT1 scope.

This is not the behaviour I would like, and although it may be firewall related, my initial question is should I (need to) reboot pfsense after major configuration changes?

Many thanks.

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/topic/110278/how-often-to-reboot-restart-pfsenseRSS for NodeWed, 07 Oct 2026 10:34:32 GMTSun, 15 Jan 2017 07:56:08 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to How often to reboot/restart pfsense? on Sun, 15 Jan 2017 20:01:29 GMT]]>

misconfigured…

I found the culprit: when I said that I had deleted the bridge, it turned out I had not! pfsense was running with a Bridge between LAN/DMZ with DHCP on both. Not what I intended or wanted.

I had deleted the 'Interface Group' instead of the Bridge! I'm not even sure what it is or how to use that.

Now that the Bridge is really gone, all appears normal.

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/672840https://forum.netgate.com/post/672840Sun, 15 Jan 2017 20:01:29 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to How often to reboot/restart pfsense? on Sun, 15 Jan 2017 13:05:41 GMT]]>Only time my pfsense gets rebooted is when it updates to new version, or I update the core esxi host software.  Or extended power outage that exceeds my ups.  Or some other maint related reason..  I have had my esxi host lock up hard on a different vm.. While pfsense was still running and giving internet.

I had to restart the host to clear up the other vm, that sort of thing.

If your getting weirdness from your dhcp servers - prob has to do with you running more than 1.. We talked about that at lunch its a bad idea to do that ;)

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/672784https://forum.netgate.com/post/672784Sun, 15 Jan 2017 13:05:41 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to How often to reboot/restart pfsense? on Sun, 15 Jan 2017 11:52:10 GMT]]>@heper:

in theory …

Many thanks, that's what I expected - means I have most likely misconfigured something…

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/672773https://forum.netgate.com/post/672773Sun, 15 Jan 2017 11:52:10 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to How often to reboot/restart pfsense? on Sun, 15 Jan 2017 10:19:10 GMT]]>in theory you should only reboot when updating.

that said, it some edge cases you can end up with a broken running system that is easiest to fix by rebooting

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/672763https://forum.netgate.com/post/672763Sun, 15 Jan 2017 10:19:10 GMT