pfSense Open VPN LAN Side issues....
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Ok...so maybe it didn't work.
It seemed to be working, however, I kept getting a ton of disconnects.
So, I have a different question.
Can I just make the tunnel and remote networks the same?
So, when I connect to OpenVPN, I get a 192.168.0.X network, same as the internal network.I've tried this and I still can't reach the hosts on the internal network.
Just wondering why that would be.
Thanks
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What you are describing is a tap (compared to a tun) setup.
However, it won't solve you the disconnects issue. (what kind? logs?)
This has to be investigated on its own. -
@netblues adding routes to windows machines is never a good idea.
can you do it? sure. there's a better way. you could have had him set up virtual ips or aliases... would've worked too and been a lot easier.
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@mcc85 What are we talking about?
Static routes not working on windows? Really? Who said that? On what grounds?
Now, in this situation there is no control on the router serving default gw.
So no routing options there.
We are talking about 7 hosts. (and a single route), with no probability to grow to 70.
And as for aliases and vips, please expand your thoughts. In networking usually there are more than one solutions.Now, for the disconnection issues, we need more info.
What gets disconnected? The tunnel? Maybe just browsing windows shares? Name resolution issues? Broadcasts? -
Well I got into the conversation because I’m doing something similar so I figured I would take a look at the first couple comments and I saw someone failingly recommend to open up static routes. That’s old school. People don’t do that anymore unless you’re hardcoding an old database or legacy software so that it’ll work. In this day and age you wanna use more dynamic approach, less hands on. Sure you could make a script that would replicate with a batch or shell script.. but think about how the internet evolved from tcp and dns.
What most people also can’t tell you is that if something is not working, then open up every possible port you can to eliminate the issue. Turn off firewalls. Open up the Dmz. Test the ports internally with software that you know can scan those ports. I can’t give you specific suggestions as to the nature of your issue, I’m not the most knowledgeable person there is but I know when some advice is less good than others.
It sounds like you have a ttl or port closing issue. Check it internally. If it stays running locally then the answer is that the port is getting disconnected between your routers. I spent weeks trying to get a home brew postfix server running only to find out that my isp was blocking my smtp relays and wouldn’t set me up with a reverse ptr record. Huge waste of time. Probably would’ve been better off having a vpn to a clean business grade Ip that didn’t have smtp blocked but meh. You live and learn.
The problem you’re having is not that dissimilar. Use some online ping tools or port checkers if you don’t see an issue between the sites, perhaps it’s a bad ocable? It happens. And it’s a pain in the ass to have done all that work to find a silly reason it wouldn’t work.
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alright maybe I should’ve read into it a little more I just glanced over - I’ll take my foot to the mouth.. I’ve had plenty of time with VMware and virtubox though.
Maybe you can’t use routing, and that absolutely sucks because if the issue is external then He’s got no real way to troubleshoot it...
What you can do is come up with an overlay and focus on one machine till it’s working. Don’t focus on all 7. Just one. There are a lot of good variables that were suggested.
However... VMware does have some smart bridging finagling you can do. Doesn’t mean some of my advice doesn’t apply though. Disconnections could be something as stupid as a usb/network driver disconnecting... I’m trying to read a little more bear with me
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@mcc85 Can we stay on topic please?
Generic solutions won't solve specific problems.
This isn't a greenfield design and not all options are open.
7 hosts don't even need a script.
One off route add -p.
And static routing is not old school. Policy routing on pf is mainly static too.
So, do you suggest ospf? Is-is ? Maybe bgp?
On windows?
And how exactly the internet evolved from tcp and dns? Shall we switch off tcp and dns? -
@crossentric said in pfSense Open VPN LAN Side issues....:
So, here is the situation:
I have a virtualized environment running on a commercial host, with 11 different servers.It's VMWare, and no I do not have access to VMWare config.
I recently stood up a pfSense VM so that I can shut off public access to things like RDP and whatnot, and only access those through the pfSense OpenVPN connection.
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Static routing “on” windows hosts, that’s definitely old school. Like lmhosts and netbios. I’ve got a better response though still trying to theorize
Lol and only ospf makes any sense if you’re talking about wan routes... static mappings on the router is what I was saying. Someone mentioned adding the routes to the hosts files or something that’s what I was suggesting against. Perfectly fine for routing.
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Maybe a map ought to help isolate the problem. He’s got applications transmitting data to and fro externals, he’s trying to harden permissions and ports before he’s got it all working...
It sounds like trying to change the oil on an engine that’s still running. He’s gotta escalate to more control otherwise he’s gonna lose his mind and bring anyone trying to help along with him.
And no.... Just no.... You don’t use static mappings unless you absolutely have to, but given the circumstances maybe you made the right call. TCP and DNS are dynamic that was the metaphor. But Let’s not get into that. We can split hairs on that some other time, the point was just to find a way that involves less work and the router would’ve been the best way.
“However, I cannot for the life of me access other LAN side resources.” // he says it’s all Ip based though, so if he’s able to ping then it should access the resources fine. I wanna say it’s probably an accounting or permissions issue but it could just be a network file sharing issue or even a missing windows credential. Sometimes you can get one or two clients to connect to a share but if that’s all that’s set on the windows machine then you’re not going to get any other connections. It could also be Samba 1.0 CIFS support depending on what version of Windows, like they pulled it from 1709 and on, so the only option there is to install and reboot on the machine he’s accessing on the far side... if they’re up to date or not, but that’d depend on how he’s accessing the files...
He also said he hooked up one machine and it connected fine but it’s not staying alive... ?
, gedit /etc/hosts will modify most Unix host files but if you’re looking for back and forth then you also need to set the hostname for the machine... firewall-cmd or whichever equivalent of it is there, it’d be nice to know if the windows machines are workin while the Linux machines aren’t cause then the suggestion about getting the static routes to stay over reboot might help... but makes me think it really might just be a samba cifs 1.0 issue
I’d take a snapshot of the way it is set and focus on something far lan side.
Doesn’t sound like it’s just a routing issue if all these suggestions were made
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All, many thanks for the help and the insight.
This honestly wasn't supposed to be difficult.
I've decided to get rid of pfSense altogether and use the facilities my commercial host has. It's not ideal, but it does work.
All I was trying to do was access my private network remotely as I've done numerous times before with a variety of products.
This has just cost me too much time as it is.
Thanks again