<![CDATA[FreeRADIUS terminating abnormally, no clues in log file]]>I'm having an issue where every few months, clients are unable to connect to the wireless network. Authentication is being handled by FreeRADIUS running on pfSense.

Upon inspection the FreeRADIUS service is in stopped status. Manually restarting it resumes normal operation.

I had a look at the system log (snippet here and it doesn't seem to indicate a reason why the service terminated.

In the log file, May 23 00:34:59 was the last time a client successfully authenticated.

May 23 09:30:56 the service terminated for no apparent reason which required a manual restart on May 24 11:37:11.

Any ideas?

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/topic/143637/freeradius-terminating-abnormally-no-clues-in-log-fileRSS for NodeWed, 07 Oct 2026 10:39:31 GMTFri, 24 May 2019 01:54:53 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to FreeRADIUS terminating abnormally, no clues in log file on Sat, 25 May 2019 07:22:31 GMT]]>@NogBadTheBad
Appreciate it. FreeRADIUS seems to start just fine and will run for many weeks without an issue, until it stops and doesn't automatically restart.

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/844764https://forum.netgate.com/post/844764Sat, 25 May 2019 07:22:31 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to FreeRADIUS terminating abnormally, no clues in log file on Sat, 25 May 2019 07:18:42 GMT]]>@Spicy-Spice said in FreeRADIUS terminating abnormally, no clues in log file:

@NogBadTheBad
No, nothing is entered into the "advanced" fields. Nevertheless, this isn't an issue with authentication, it's an issue with the service itself.

"IMPORTANT: If you don't format this field correctly, FreeRADIUS will not start because of syntax errors.
Verify your changes by checking the authorized_macs file (View config > Users)."

Thats why I mentioned it.

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/844763https://forum.netgate.com/post/844763Sat, 25 May 2019 07:18:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to FreeRADIUS terminating abnormally, no clues in log file on Sat, 25 May 2019 06:39:24 GMT]]>@NogBadTheBad
No, nothing is entered into the "advanced" fields. Nevertheless, this isn't an issue with authentication, it's an issue with the service itself.

@Gertjan
Thanks, I'll give that a go, see if anything pops up.

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/844760https://forum.netgate.com/post/844760Sat, 25 May 2019 06:39:24 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to FreeRADIUS terminating abnormally, no clues in log file on Fri, 24 May 2019 12:38:11 GMT]]>@Spicy-Spice said in FreeRADIUS terminating abnormally, no clues in log file:

Upon inspection the FreeRADIUS service is in stopped status. Manually restarting it resumes normal operation.
I had a look at the system log (snippet here and it doesn't seem to indicate a reason why the service terminated.
In the log file, May 23 00:34:59 was the last time a client successfully authenticated.
May 23 09:30:56 the service terminated for no apparent reason which required a manual restart on May 24 11:37:11.

Processes like FreeRadius can get a 'signal' to restart.
It will actually stop - to restart on the fly.
Why it didn't start upon restart, is not shown in the logs - it probably died, so no more logs.

To see more info, open a console access, option 8 (SSH into it - use a big window back log as can be setup in Putty) - stop FreeRadius in the GUI? and start FreeRadius manually, with

radiusd -X

Leave it there. You will have more log details, ready to analyze when something went wrong.

I'm using FreeRadius also, coupled to an external MariaDB SQL database, and it's up for weeks if not months. It better be, clienst of our company are using it all the time. What I want to say it's stable.

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/844637https://forum.netgate.com/post/844637Fri, 24 May 2019 12:38:11 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to FreeRADIUS terminating abnormally, no clues in log file on Fri, 24 May 2019 12:40:05 GMT]]>@Spicy-Spice

Have you entered any additional in the 3 windows at the bottom of the user or mac fields, if you have it’s likely to be associated with that.

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/844603https://forum.netgate.com/post/844603Fri, 24 May 2019 12:40:05 GMT